The document summarizes the target audience of Source magazine based on information from its cover and media kit. The target audience is predominantly male, African American, aged 18-44, well-educated and living in urban areas. They enjoy hip hop music, films, celebrities, technology and fashion. The magazine's cover uses conventions like images of famous rappers and headlines about music, politics and money to attract its core audience of dedicated hip hop fans.

1. Source
For the third magazine which I
am going to analyse the front
cover is source magazine.
The front cover of the
magazine attracts its audience
with the conventions and
codes. By analysing this
magazine I will see how the
audience is addressed using
the codes and conventions.

2. Source magazine
overview:
Audience:
Publisher: The NorthStar
Group
Editor: Kimberly Osorio
Circulation: 300,000
Readership: 1,500,000
Frequency: monthly
Audience: Country: U.S.
From the front cover of this magazine, I would assume that the target
audience is of hip hop fans, which may be well educated. They may also
enjoy reading information about the subject. The audience will be from
urban backgrounds and may be men with the average age of 20. The
audience will enjoy reading about politics as well as music, which
suggests they will be well educated. Most of the readers will also be
regular to purchasing this magazine as it has numerous issues.
http://www.thesource.com/2009-source-media-kit2.pdf?thesource-
prod
This link shows the Demographic statistics and detailed information
about SOURCE’s target audience. This link is to SOURCE magazine’s
media pack.

3. Information on the target audience:
• The readers are usually from urban inner cities
• The average age is 25 (targeting 18-44 year olds)
• They are predominantly men with 58%
• They are predominantly African-American with 50.2%
• They are well-educated with the majority in employment with
73.9%
• They also enjoy reading about music, films, celebrities, technology
and fashion
• They will be dedicated music fans
• They are most likely to spend their money on films, video
games, clothing, grooming products etc.
Audience profile:
• Age: 25
• Gender: Male
• Ethnicity: African-American
• Employment: Well-paid job
• Geographic's: New York (Similar to VIBE)

4. Who are the core audience?
• The core audience for this magazine targets 18-44 years old. From looking
at the front cover, I can most defiantly see that this is true as it is presented
with a sophisticated manner throughout the whole piece.
What are the attitudes, values and lifestyle of the audience?
• The predominantly male audience are well educated with the majority of
them in a well-paid job. This helps them to pay for their social
background, as they are most likely to spend their money on films, video
games, clothing and grooming products. The target audience are also very
technology savvy which is also paid for using the money earned from their
well-paid job. The target audience of predominantly African-American’s are
extremely loyal to the hip-hop genre and will therefore purchase this
magazine.
Why is this audience attractive to advertisers?
• The target audience of SOURCE magazine are predominantly influenced by
the artists from the hip-hop music subgenre. They have many interests and
will therefore, be attracted to the advertising within the magazine if it
appeals to them. They are well groomed fans who want to make as much
money as they can, and will be more influenced by products promoted
within this well-known hip-hop magazine.

5. Codes, conventions and
mode of address
• The front cover of the magazine attracts its audience
with the conventions and codes. By analysing this
magazine I will see how the audience is addressed
using the codes and conventions.

6. Masthead
• The masthead of this magazine is bold which uses the colour green.
The green calligraphy gives an environmental feel to it and makes the
magazine stand out. The masthead also has a drop shadow and
outlines around each letter, which will help the magazine to stand out
from the rest of the magazines on the shop shelves. The colour of the
masthead also contrasts with the plain white background to stand
out to its target audience. The usage of bright colours will attract the
fashionable young audience. The masthead has been slightly covered
by the image of the magazine. This holds connotations of identity and
loyalty for its audience. It shows the audience will be able to tell the
identity without seeing the full masthead.

7. Image • The dominant image overlaps the
masthead, which suggests it is a well-
known magazine. It is a close mid-shot
and also suggests that male readers will
read this magazine as the image is very
macho and also promotes to the
audience that the magazine is based on
hip-hop subgenre of music and will
therefore be interested to read about
this particular genre. The dominant
image of this magazine shows a well-
known artist. This will instantly attract its
target audience, as it will appeal to its
predominantly hip-hop fans. The artist is
shot smoking, and burning money. This
reinforces the genre of hip-hop and will
instantly attract its well-paid target
audience. The artist has also been shown
to wear fashionable clothing which again
will appeal to its audience to their high
trend look. The artist is also shown with
what looks to be expensive jewellery
which helps to promote to its high-
waged audience and if their interested in
fashion.

8. Banner
• The banner or boost helps to sell the magazine. It is
bold and fits in with the colour scheme. The colour
black used for the boost contrasts with the white
background which further helps to make it stand out.
The banner is situated the top of the masthead which
is of a convenience to its audience due to it being the
first thing that they will see. The banner states ‘Legal
marijuana: The stimulus debate’. This will attract the
hip-hop fans of this magazine as stereotypically they
are known for drug use. The fans will notice the banner
due to it being placed at the top of the masthead and
recognize the bands shown.

9. Strap-lines
The main headline says ‘Busta
Rhymes’ this relates to the dominant
image of the front cover. By
supporting the image, this headline
will pull the audience into seeing
what is in the contents of the
magazine.
• The strap-line underneath ‘Busta Rhymes’ explains to the
audience what the main title of his article is. The headlines
and strap-line are used with contrasting colours to stand out
to the audience; it also helps to determine the difference
between them. The colours used amongst both strap-lines
follow the house style of the magazine which helps to create
an identity for the magazine and therefore, stand out instantly
to its audience.

10. • This strap-line will stand out instantly to its
target audience. The strap-line reads ‘The
green issue’ which could show an
environmental issue which will be backed up
by the colour green used. Or it could be an
article about money. This will appeal to its
target audience as they have a well-paid job
and would enjoy being rich.

11. • Again this strap-line will appeal to its audience
as it is an article within the magazine about
how to save your money, how to not lose any
etc. It will appeal to the hip-hop audience as
they have well-paid jobs.

12. Other
• This quote from the front cover of the magazine
acts as anchorage. It will instantly appeal to its
hip-hip based fans as the magazine states that
it is ‘a bible of hip-hop music, culture and
politics. Therefore this magazine will help to
attract the diverse audience.
• The pricing is given in dollars which suggests it’s
an American based magazine and therefore, it
will be aimed at people living in the U.S. This
magazine will most likely not be exported and
just published in the U.S.

13. Representation of social
class:
• From the front cover, I will consider the issues from
analysing the headlines and conventions of this magazine
front cover. On the front cover of this magazine, there is
information about politics. This suggests that a well-
educated target audience will read this. The information
about the number of issues suggests that loyal customers
will read this magazine. The artist’s stated on the front
cover of the magazine suggest that the magazine is
predominantly about hip-hop subgenre of music, which will
therefore attract the diverse target audience. The colours
used, green and black have been used in a conventional
way to attract the audience. It also follows a house style
which gives the magazines an identity.