2. All front covers are from the front cover of Source magazine and so they have all been
designed with the intention of attracting fans of Rap/ hip-hop and RnB music. I have
carried out an investigation into what the conventions and repeated patterns are of
Source‟s Front covers, I will do this by comparing them to each other.
The eight Source front covers above all feature typical magazine front cover
conventions. The ypical magazine front cover conventions pop such as the main image
which dominates he ntire front cover and the sll lines either side of the main image.
Here are also featured artists lines to show readers who is featured within this
weeks/months issue.
Moreover to this , we see other repeated patterns. Each of the front covers features an
artist as the main image. This is something we expect to see on the font of a music
magazine. Although the regular appearance of a solo artist on Source indicates that
groups and bands are few and far between in the Rap industry. This could possibly be
due to he kind of music Rap is: Full of hymes and is personal very much associated to
topics such as drugs, gangs and sex. In each of the front covers, we can see that the
artist artists being featured stike a pose and are always facing the camera.
fascinatingly enough, every artists featured on the fornt covers of these Source issues is
male, this is telling in it‟s self. So this shows that the rap industry is dominated by men.
There are females who break through but most prodominantly it is males. This also
applies to the list of artists appearing above the Brand name „Source‟ . This could
reflect how females are undeepresented within the Rap industry.
We can see other similarities in the mise-en-scene elements that are presented on each
front cover. In terms of attire, the artists are similrar in the way that most of them are
wearing a chain o show where they originated fom their „ Ends‟. Half of the arists are
also wearing a snapback (hat) and a few have beards to connote hwo they don‟t
care or they are rebellious etc. On one of the front covers we see 2 of the artists
wearing suits, this is a change to the clothes we are familiar with seeing on the cover of
Source. This type of costume is an unfamiliar site, but could be a sign that the 2 artists
„are ready for business‟ on the other hand, this could be a way of showing that they
have made it from nothing, as usually rappers were poor at the start and now they can
afford suits and have become a man and a „Big man‟ in the rap industry as they have
made their name known. The dark seems to be a common look for rappers and having
their hair in the form of a „shape-up‟. This is a clean, sharp and short haircut, professional
and neat although this can be contridicted due to some rappers beards which are
really bushy and not cut. (just grows into a natural form/position.)
Another shared feature across the eight front covers is that they all include feature a list
of artists as a sell line. normally, you would‟nt see something like this on music

3. magazines, but this is something which Source tends to have on all covers. It is normally
located above the brand name. The fact that space on the front cover is devoted to
the artists who are featured, shows that the fans like to know this information and based
on the actual artists named, fans will make their decision on whether or not to purchase
the magazine or not.
On each front cover, the signature Source masthead appears in exactly the same
graffiti font and in exactly the same position. every time, the masthead is in a stand out
color with another stand out colored outline. The main image is always laid out in front
of the masthead so if the image is quite big than the artists head will cover a part of the
mast head making it not completetly visible. This wouldn‟t be something that a new up
and coming magazine would get away with as it is not a wise move. Source can get
away with this as they have repeat customers, a loyal fanbase or a popular Brand. an
additional repeated feature is the way in which the masthead is formed with the word
„THE‟ tilited 90 degreed to the left as compared to the rest of the text on the front
cover. Source have adapted this to beome their brand image and this is an unfamiliar
concept. They may have done this so that the word „Source‟ would stand out more so
that you remember the word, this leads to the brand image being more easily
recognised.
captivatingly, sell-lines are something that is not very oftenly presented on the front of
Source as they have been replaced by artists names, you could say this is a sell line
however this is not your typical sell line for a magazine. This is apart of Source‟s image
and how they represent themselves. The only sell lines that are shown are short and
snappy with something intresting like “Kanye gets Mic-d” This is‟nt a very clear piece of
information, so this will make fans want to read so tht they understand wheat is meant.
This may be due to Source wanting the main image to stand out even more and sell
lines may ruin the main image as fans must see it clearly. as a final point this could also
be due to the artist on the front are not big enough to sell the magazine alone so other
artists are named on the front so that they may meet most peoples needs as in fans will
like atleast one of the featured artists.
Source seem to use a similar colour scheme. They always have bright colours around
the main image and used in the mast head. The main colours used are White, black
and red, these colors reflect the people who make the music within the magazine as in
their colour. The red could connote gang war and bloodshed within them.
Having carried out this overview, it is obvious that Source has its own brand identity and
signature look that can be easily recognized by its target audience. This is maintained
through the repetition of stylistic and layout features from issue to issue and is a fantastic
technique of helping the magazine to sell and succeed.