This magazine cover analysis discusses the design elements of a music magazine called "XXL". Key elements discussed include the masthead using a catchy but partially obscured title, a main cover image featuring multiple artists to indicate the genre, and short descriptive text phrases in bold fonts that clearly convey the magazine's focus on hip hop music. Overall the cover utilizes simple layout, bold colors and fonts, and visual cues to eye flow to effectively communicate its brand and contents to the target audience.

1. Magazine Analysis

2. Masthead Selling line Model credit Cover line Bar code Dateline Main image - Loads of images instead of one main image Price Website Strap line Explanatory text Left third

3. Masthead- This magazine is called ‘XXL’ however the ‘L’ is covered by one of the models. Looking at other ‘XXL’ magazines it shows that usually the ‘L’ is covered however the title may not be easy for the audience to read as they may not know what the masthead reads. Other then that I believe the masthead has a catchy title that is short and memorable. It uses a sans serif font which is suitable for a masthead as this is usually used for large headlines and small amount of text to make it standout. Image- I mostly like the image they have used for the front cover. There is more than one person in this image and it stands out more as they all have different poses. The image shows the audience what the magazine inside is about which is good as it gives a clear view on what genre it is without having to read any of the text. This is shown by the artists put on the magazine even if the audience do not know the artist they can assume the genre it would be on by looking at there dress code. Also the colours they wore are colours that go with the magazine and don’t look out of place. I also like the fact that the model wearing red and white matches with the title as the masthead is behind his head. Barcode- the barcode has the price, dateline, and website of the magazine. The dateline and website stand out from the price. This is done by having a black background with bolder writing. The website is much larger than the dateline. The dateline uses sans serif font and the website uses serif font making it easier to read. By having a website the audience can go on it for more information and find out when the next magazine is published etc. this is usually found on most music magazines. The price is clearly not meant to appeal to the audience as it is not noticeable.

4. Coverline- This magazine only has one coverline breaking the conventions which I liked as it is the image that is meant to be the most noticeable. The coverline ‘DEF JAM 25’ is appealing and obvious for readers to see and also is the largest text from all the text in the magazine. It again is short and catchy and it uses a serif font which is usually used for large blocks of text such as this text. The coverline gives away what this magazine is about, informing audience it is a music magazine as ‘DEF JAM’ refers to music based things. It also tells the reader what type of music it is, which is hip hop and rap. The explanatory line reads ‘YESTERDAY, TODAY, FOREVER>>>’ the arrows point to the right is indicating the next page where the rest of the explanatory text is. This is written in a sans serif font and is appealing. I like the phrase used in this as it is engaging with only 3 words. Selling line- ‘HIP-HOP ON A HIGHER LEVEL’ is written in a sans serif font as well and clearly states what the magazine is about by having ‘HIP-HOP’ which emphasises this. The phrase is straight forward and to the point and also catchy. This magazine has short phrases which are all catchy. It has short and sharp description. This half of the magazine is folded inwards allowing the audience to only see the left A4 size. The white background makes the image stand out more as the models are wearing darker colours allowing the readers attention to go to the models. Also the writing is in capital letters and is bold making it clear and attractive. As well as that the sizes of each text shows us the importance in each of them. Furthermore the layout of the magazine is nice and simple.

5. Strap line- The strap line makes readers want to look inside as the text has things like ‘WHAT KANYE SHOULD’VE DONE’ etc giving the reader a hint in what is inside, making the reader involved and interested in it. the artists names are highlighted in red making them stand out from the text showing what type of artists are shown in the magazine. Model credit- The model credit is shown on the next page stating all the models from the left side. Mode of address- the language of this magazine is all indirect language as it doesn’t directly speak to the audience The Register- the register of this magazine is informal as it has some slang such as ‘DEF JAM’. This magazine is exclusive as it only appeals to a certain target group which is people who are into hip-hop and rap. Camera shot- the shot of the image is a long shot which is levelled as it shows everyone from head to toe and the surrounding. this shot works for this image as there are more than one person and the poses of them in this case matter to show it is clearly for a certain genre. I like how the image gives a clear view to the audience what the magazine is about and showing different artists of the same genre clearly shows what genre it is as well. Moreover the fact that there isn't much writing as the information has been put in short description also making it clear making the image stand out more. Also the colours used are all colour co-ordinated making it look professional. The colours red, white and black go really well making it look attractive and not too over the top or too dull. The white used on the masthead makes the masthead stand out more as white is not used on the other text.

6. Eye Flow- The eye flows from the third left of the masthead to the image and than to the cover line which has arrows making the eye flow to the next page. This is shown with the line showing where the eye flows in the image. I chose this magazine as this is the type of genre I am looking at and this will help me with ideas.