An analysis of the music magazine Vibe's front cover

1. Sell lines are in bold and
scattered around the entirety of
the page, this differs from the
norms of a music magazine with
the main sell line that
accompanies the main image is
normally positioned in the
lower half of the page, under
the main artist however the
main sell line is near the top.
His could signify the importance
of the main article so needs
higher president over other
stories so is shown higher.
Aspects of the main sell line
overlap the masthead,
highlighting its importance that
It can cover this important
feature.
Other sell lines vary in size,
showing the unconventional
style of the magazine.
Sell lines also do not overlap the
main image (the main image
even overlaps the main sell line)
highlighting his importance
The main image pictured well
known rapper ‘Eminem’. He is
shown with a mid shot looking
face of at the camera. He is
shown as masculine with a
straight, serious facial
expression and his arms
exposed is a sleeveless shirt,
showing his tattoos and
muscles, in an intimidating
pose of his arms crossed. This
is a typical convention of the
portrayal of male artists in
music magazines as strong and
masculine, whilst women are
shown as feminine and playful
or glamorous. Also the
revealing clothes could link to
the main articles sell line of
‘comes clean’ showing him to
be exposed and revealing
everything. The main image
also overlaps the masthead
‘vibe’ whilst not being
overlapped by any text at all,
this shows both the musicians
importance and how the
magazine is already well
known and recognisable
without full exposure of the
name.
The colour scheme of the
front cover is consistent with
black and red consistent
throughout, showcased in
both the sell lines and even
the artists clothing. This
colour scheme has been set
by the gradient of colours
shown in the magazines
masthead.
A semantic field of rap is used
throughout, the reason for this is
shown through a plug in the top
right corner with shows the issue
to be a rap issue.
A variety of rhetorical questions are used, this highlights the magazines user
intractability, this links to the website advertised in the bottom left hand corner,
next to the data (shown in the smaller font on the page.