research magazine

1. Research
Your Name

2. Existing Product
Front cover Double Page Spread
Audience Profile

3. Existing Product
The masthead is simple and and stands out with the black and
gold text. The color scheme of this magazine is very simple
black gold and white. The white suggests purity , gold suggests
wealth and power. The main cover line states “The world’s
flyest human Asap Rocky” this suggests to us that in that we
are going to see Asap Rocky fashion and style tips. This will
attract the audience as fans of Asap Rocky will want to by the
magazine because of this issue being about Asap Rocky. The
main image is Asap Rocky and this image will attract the
audience and fans of Asap Rocky as they will notice him from
the main image of him. Asap is wearing a gold chain, and a
gold blazer this suggests Asap has power and that he is
wealthy and has a lot of money. This could encourage people
to buy this because they look up to him and they want to look
rich , powerful and wealthy so they will buy this magazine to
buy into this lifestyle. The text is simple on the and easy to
read and the articles tell the consumer what to expect in the
magazine such as “the big holiday wish list ”. The headings are
in bold black text so the most important part of the cover line
stands out more than the parts of the cover line which are
less important

4. Existing Product
The double page spread is very simple it has a main image of Rick Ross which has been used on the left side of
the page. This image of rick ross is a medium shot which allows the audience to see the whole artist in the
shot. The white could suggest purity, wealth and success of the artist and the balloons in the background also
show his success of the album and his successful career. Rick Ross is wearing a suit which shows us he is
dressed smart and he is holding a glass and a bottle which shows us he is celebrating at somewhere posh
Then on the right side it has a plain white background and a headline that says “man made” which has been
put upside down then flipped. Underneath this is it has a article about Rick Ross and talks about his tour,
albums and EP’s etc. At the bottom of the article it tells you who the story is by which in this case is Shaheem
Reid and then on the right hand side at the bottom it credits the photographer. The color scheme is very
simple as its just black and white.

5. Existing Product
Front cover Double Page Spread
Audience Profile

6. Existing ProductThe color schemes used in this magazine are
black, white, red and yellow/gold. The color
red is often used in XXL magazines and is
always used in the masthead as it’s the color
for their brand XXL and because it’s a well
known brand and they have the confidence
to hide their logo as it’s that well known and
the audience can solve the visual based
problem of the brand name being covered
up as they can tell by part of the logo and as
well they can see it’s a music magazine. The
color red used within the logo could suggest
the magazines love for music whilst white is
suggesting purity
The main image of the magazine is a image of
Drake looking into the distance with a very
serious facial expression which could suggest
Drake is very serious with his music and very
serious about what he does. Having a photo
of Drake on the magazine will immediately get
Drake fans to want to buy this magazine. The
image is very big so that it stands out and fans
can see it straight away. The image of Drake is
in black and white which adds more emphasis
on the cover lines. Having Drake in black and
white could also suggest he’s been doing
music for years and is still at the top of the
game. Drake is positioned
Barcode at the bottom left of the magazine with the
date of the magazine and the price which will be
used for when the customer buys the magazine and
so the shop owners know how much inventory that
have left . It is a requirement to have a barcode as
it’s a commercial product and it needs to be placed
so it can be scanned
The main cover line at the bottom says
“Drake watch the throne” with the word
Drake being bigger than all the other
words and being on its own line. This
shows the audience Drake’s power and
“Drake” is used as a buzz word to attract
the audiences attention for the magazine
as it stands out from a distance. the font
used here is bold and a gold color. This
makes the font stand out and the gold font
could suggest that Drake is the king of rap
and he needs to “watch the throne” so no
one else becomes king of the rap game
These are sell lines for the magazine and
the use of various artists names helps sell
the magazine because of all the other
artists names that have been used within
the magazine and that we expect to see in
this magazine as these are topics / these
people will be talked about in this
magazine. The color used here are black
and red which fits into the color scheme
of the magazine.

7. Existing Product
Drake is wearing a blue Shirt and a white T-Shirt and blue jeans. We can see Drake is dressed smart by wearing a shirt however wearing a t-shirt
and jeans shows he’s also dressed casual as well. He is wearing a gold Rolex watch which suggests power, wealth and success and he is also
wearing a gold chain which again links into power, success and wealth. Him wearing blue links into freedom and its his progress from working in a
retail store to know having the freedom to do what he wants as he is now his own boss and can do what he wants. The color also links to
confidence. The article on the left side of the page most common color is gold. This again links into the Drake being successful and being wealthy.
The article name is “Drakes Progress” and they’ve used a photo of him where he isn't showing much emotion and this shows he is focused on
success and focused on his progression and that’s his main goal. The background of the image is a plain picture so that all the attention is on Drake
and this shot is a medium close up which allows us to see his facial expressions clearly and see what he’s wearing clearly. They have a quote that
drake said in the middle of the page with text going around it which is quite unconventional in magazines as I haven’t seen this done often
however this allows the audience to see what it says and have a rough idea of what the article is going to include and talk on. We can see Drake is
looking at the camera this shows him being serious about what he does and again being focused at what he does and it shows he is confident and
not insecure because he’s able to keep eye contact as from looking at the image it looks like Drake is making direct eye contact with the audience.
By having Drake looking powerful and successful this will motivate the target audience and they will want to buy the magazine so they know how
rake became successful

8. Existing Product
Front cover Double Page Spread
Audience Profile

9. Existing Product
This main image on this page is a picture of the rapper Big Sean. Big Sean is
positioned in the center of the magazine as he’s the main person in the
magazine and who . The camera angle is a close up which allows us to
clearly see his facial expression in detail. By looking at his facial expression
we can see he looks powerful and he looks serious which suggests he’s
serious with his music and he doesn’t take it as a joke and he's not to be
messed with. The lighting used in this image shows us his face clearly
however towards the left hand side of his face its a lot darker than the
rest. This use of lighting links in to him being mysterious as we cant see
that part of him clearly and it could also link into another element of
power. We can see he’s wearing a gold watch which looks like a Rolex and
these watches are very expensive so him wearing a expensive watch
suggests that his time is very precious and that his time is worth a lot of
money which is why he’s looking so serious because he doesn’t want his
time wasted. As well as this his watch could also show his success as its
gold and gold links to wealth and success of his career and how successful
he is. He has3 gold chains covering his face and again gold links to power
and him having all these gold chains is so he can prove to the audience
how successful he is and how he can afford to wear and own these
expensive gold chains not just one but 3. The chain pendant he has are
lions and the connotations of lions are strength, power and the strength of
lion are often compared to God who acts as a leader for the people so Big
Sean holding these up to his face shows that he is powerful, not scared by
anyone, he’s strong and it suggests to us he is the God of rap and he leads
people and he’s at the top. If you look at his teeth he has a gold tooth
which is just another way for him to show of his success and wealth. This
image will attract the audience because first of all the image is big and take
sup the whole page this means that the magazine can be seen from a
distance so when Big Sean fans see this it will immediately catch their
attention and him showing off his wealth and power will inspire the
audience and then they will want to read about him
The main cover line here is telling the audience what to expect in the magazine so
from this we immediately know there will be a article about Big Sean and how he
lives his luxurious lifestyle. The text “Big Sean” is bold and is bigger than the rest of
the text and this could be for 2 reasons . The first reason is because its selling the
magazine so them having these words bigger than the rest will make it stand out to
the audience so they audience are going to see this from a distance and want to buy
it because its Big Sean and second reason is because this also links in to him being
powerful so the font size has to be bigger than all the over text on the page
At the right hand side there is a
barcode which again has to be placed
on the product in order for shops to
sell the magazine and for stock control
so retailers know how many copies
they have left . By looking at the
barcode we can also see the date in
which the magazine came out. we can
also see the from the barcode the xxl
website url and we can see how much
the magazine costs
Behind Big Sean we can see various
artists names such as Mac Miller ,
Kendrick Lamar, Chris Brown and A$ap
Mob this is another selling point for
the magazine as if the audience are
fans of these others artists they are
likely to buy it to read about them. It
could also show how Big Sean is more
successful than them and more
powerful than them as he’s in front of
them and theirs names are behind him
and he's covering some of the artists
names
We have the masthead at the top and Big Sean is also
covering up the logo just like in the other magazine
where Drake was covering up the logo as the brand is that
well known they have the confidence to do so. The red is
a good color to chose because it stands out and it works
well with the white where the audience are going to
immediately know the brand. Along the left side o the
magazine we have the date it was published and the issue
name which is “hip-hop on a higher level”

10. Existing Product
The color scheme used here is very simple and mainly consist of 3 colors which are black and white and they use a very
small amount of red however it works very well as it is very aesthetically pleasing for the audience. The main part that
stands out the most is the red serif text with the massive black outline saying “Kendrick” this has been done because it
will immediately grab the audiences attention so that they will then go onto reading the article. The image on the right
hand side so when the reader turns the page over this is the first thing that they will notice and this shows Kendrick
looking towards the article on the left. The shot here used is a medium close up which allows us to see his facial
expression very clearly however in this case he doesn’t really have many facial expressions however he is looking very
serious and it looks like he is thinking and after reading the article it could suggest to us that he is thinking about his life
and if we didn’t read the article and just see the picture of Kendrick this would make the audience want to read the
article so they can find out what he is thinking. He is dressed in white which represents purity and success and he is
also wearing a gold chain which links into power and being wealthy. The writing here is written as a interview which will
help the reader have more of a personal connection with the artist

11. Research Analysis
• What common features do the researched
products have?
Common features that these magazine all include are they have the artist covering the
logo. Another common feature is that they all try and look powerful and they show of
the expensive things they own such as the gold chains and Rolex's. another common
feature is they all are fairy simple and basic and they don’t have much detail. Another
common feature is that the have the artists name very big so that it stands out and
can be seen by the audience from a distance
What aspects of the research will you include
within your on work?
In my work I will include thing such as making the rapper look powerful and
wealthy and all the other conventional features to make my magazine look
like a rap magazine

12. Bibliography

13. Bibliography
1. https://www.gq.com/story/asap-rocky-gq-style-cover-story 9/1/19 (Asap Rocky gq magazine)
2. https://sharonchebrot.weebly.com/textual-analysis.html 9.1.19 (secondary source) (double page spread)
3. https://itsthedaily.com/2013/08/07/artwork-drake-covers-xxl-magazines-150th-issue/ 9/1/19 (Drake xxl
magazine cover)
4. http://shortyrecords.weebly.com/research.html 10/1/19 secondary source (drake double page)
5. http://parceltofrance.blogspot.com/2012/12/chris-brown-covers-xxl-magazine-i-try.html?m=0 10/1/19
(Big Sean Magazine)
6. http://laurynreidasmedia.blogspot.com/2016/09/textual-analysis-of-two-magazines.html 10/1/19
Secondary source (Kendrick Lamar)
7. http://hiphopsince1987.com/2012/news/kendrick-lamar-best-buy-nyc-in-store-102312-photos/ 10/1/19
(Kendrick audience)
8. http://hiphopsince1987.com/2012/news/kendrick-lamar-best-buy-nyc-in-store-102312-photos/ 10/1/19
(Drake audience)
9. https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjnspKilePfAhUFxhoKHfmnB_8Qjh
x6BAgBEAM&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vice.com%2Fen_uk%2Farticle%2Fzng95x%2Fsupreme-ss16-
london-drop-photos&psig=AOvVaw0OY1rTJy_I6rgeCCj_X9rx&ust=1547208038139054 10/1/19 (Asap
Audience)