Vibe contents page - Ciara

There is the big ‘V’ outlined in white in the background; this is there to represent the company: Vibe. Ciara’s legs are also shaped in a ‘V’ shape and this is because she is the main model image and is representing the company in this issue. She has a direct gaze and this makes the emotions more personal as the audience feel like she is looking right at them. She has a promiscuous pose; this will attract both males and females. The males will be attracted by the figure and looks whereas the females will be impressed by how she looks and may be inspired by her appearance. She is wearing jewels around her neck and arm; this puts across that she is wealthy and classy; this also means that the magazine is for classy as she represents the magazine.

 ‘Contents’ is written in an abstract and unique way as this attracts the reader and differs from vibes competitors. “Contents” is written in white whereas the background is dark grey/black to make it stand out. The contents are separated into two parts to make it easier for the reader to find which section they are interested in. There are also subheadings and page numbers so that the reader will be able to find the area they want without searching for it. In addition, there is information about the article. Some words have been written in bold to highlight their importance and the reader can skim through the information and take in the important details.

The background is plain and it complements Ciara’s glow which makes her stand out.

Vibe front cover - Beyonce

The audience for this magazine cover is aimed at males as there is a seductive woman on the cover wearing a white see-through top. The masthead is covered by Beyoncé as it puts across she is the main focus of the magazine. It is a medium long shot so that the audience can see her facial expression clearly as well as the hands and leg position. This shot also allows us to see her whole outfit. Her direct gaze makes the audience feel like she is looking right at them which emphasises her facial expression. Her body is arched to highlight her curve which was done on purpose to attract attention. The masthead is also universally recognised therefore it doesn’t matter if she is covering a couple of letters as the audience will still know it is ‘Vibe’. Vibe is written in red along with some of the other writing on the page; the red connotes lust and the connotation goes well with her outfit. The masthead is the largest font on the cover because people will recognise that first. The main cover-line says “Beyoncé strips down...” this is the second largest font on the page and excites the male audience and influences them to buy the magazine so they can look inside. This is also written in red to connote lust. This is an anchorage and supports the image. Under that it says “10+ pages of B like you’ve never seen her” this puts across that this vibe issue is unique and no other magazine will have this content; this is known as the teaser. The skyline gives us information about who else will feature in this magazine.

Vibe DPS - Solange Knowles

This double page spread is taken from a Vibe magazine. Along the top of the two pages; there is numerous black and white pictures and this puts across that Solange Knowles is an entertaining person and could show that the article is also going to be entertaining. This double page spread can appeal to both male and female as she is wearing a revealing dress (to attract the male audience) and her outfit is fashionable (to appeal to the female audience). The colour scheme is black and white apart from the main model’s name and the picture of Solange Knowles. This is to place the focus on the star and the main model image. She is looking directly at the camera; this is known as the direct mode of address and it makes the article feel more personal as it psychologically feels like she is looking right at the reader. The pull quote is towards the right hand side and is slightly larger and bolder than the rest of the writing to force the reader to read that first as it is an interesting point of the article and it will entice the audience to read the rest of the article.

XXL double page spread - 50 Cent

The title of the article is “over here hustlin”, this straight away attracts and interests the target audience as they have used colloquial language that the target audience are likely to use. This makes it feel like they can relate to 5o Cent and are likely to buy the magazine or read the article. The language used in the article is fairly informal as he says things like “you know what I’m sayin” and this makes the article more suitable to the target audience. The article seems chatty and more realistic unlike other magazine articles, this will entertain the reader and make them more comfortable with reading it. He uses slang such as hustling to make the tone more informal but casual which is appealing to their target audience which is about 15 years old to 30 years old. There is only black and white on this double page spread to make the appearance simpler and more professional. The title is in bold and capitals to make it stand out and this will attract the audience when they are flicking through the pages. The font also matches the content of the article, they are both formal. There is a Drop cap at the start of the article and this conforms to the conventions of articles. Contrasting colours are used in the image and this reflects the whole colour scheme of the double page spread. 50 cent is wearing jewellery in the image and this shows that he is wealthy and prosperous. The cross he is wearing can be linked to the white and connote purity.

XXL contents page - 50 Cent

The title of the contents is in a simple font and this font gives the contents page a rich feeling and it can relate to the money. The lower case letter contradicts 50 Cent’s personality as he is well known and classed as upper class. It was done like this to magnify how rich and famous 50 Cent is. The word “billin” is used and this is a colloquial term. They used it to apply to the target audience and the genre of rap. The audience this magazine is aimed at will be used to using words similar to this and they will fell like they can relate. XXL have put their logo on the top right hand of the page, despite it being small; it still stands out as it is in red. Along the ride side, famous artists have been named to attract the audience to that section and the names used are relative to the genre to interest the reader. 50 cent is not holding on to the briefcase tightly and this puts across that he is not worried about losing money, as he has so much of it. There is a lot of money scattered on the floor and this tells about how prosperous he is. The direct mode of address is used in this image as it shows that he is a conventional rapper. He has a stern face and this shows he is unsympathetic; a stereotype of a rapper. Again XXL have used a light grey background to bring out the main model image and also to make the writing stand out. There is a borderline for the writing and the line also works as an underlining for the title, this provides an organised appearance.

XXL front cover - Jay-z

This XXL magazine cover is aimed at a wide range of people, it is advertised to people that are enjoyed in hip-hop as it says hip-hop in bold writing. It is aimed at both males and females as both genders can enjoy his music and this front cover appeals to both. The largest font is the masthead. The XXL masthead is universally recognised and this is the main selling point as it is a well-known magazine. The XXL masthead is always in white with a red box behind it and they keep it the same as it is their main selling point; people trust this magazine to entertain them and the audience knows it is a good magazine therefore they will buy it. The main model image is Jay-Z and he is an extremely famous and successful artist. He will boost their sales as more people would like to know about somebody that is famous rather than someone unknown. He is wearing all black and this shows that he has a dark side about him. Black connotes authority and power and they have clearly done this to make him seem overpowering. The sunglasses are also black and it connotes that he has a dark personality and also shows he has a good fashion sense to appeal the younger audience. They are showing him to be taller than skyscrapers; this connotes how much power he has. The second largest font on the cover is the main cover line. The main cover line also backs up the image; this is known as anchorage, as they are asking if he is bigger than hip hop, they have made him bigger than buildings so they are showing he is better than everyone else in hip hop. The background (buildings and sky) have been made lighter to make Jay-Z stand out as he is the main model image. The camera shot is looking up at him and this makes him seem more supreme and dominant. They have used a formal font to make the magazine seem more professional and easier to read. People are more likely to buy a magazine when it is simple but also informative/entertaining. The colour scheme is also simple as they have used 3 main colours; black, light grey and red.

parts of a front cover of a magazine

Analysis of a front cover

• Drop cap – the first letter of the article is usually in bald and is a capital.
• Demographic and socio-economic – audience profiling.

 

• Audience – male.
• Masthead – title; universally recognised. Person is in front of the masthead as she’s the main focus.
• Semiotics – denotation and connotation.
• Denotation – what you see; signifier.
• Connotation – messages, symbols and the meaning that is given; signified.
• Main Model Image – the image on the cover (type of shot).
• Direct mode of address – psychologically makes it seem like the person is only looking at you (to highlight facial expression).
• The largest font – masthead.
• Second largest font – main cover-line.
• Anchorage – message backs up the image.
• Pull quote – to make the audience more interested.
• Lower left third – showing when it’s on display and is viewed first.
• Skyline – additional information that features on the magazine.
• Teasers – teases the reader and makes you buy it.
• Psychological pricing – makes the buyer think it’s cheaper.
• 3-4 colour scheme – make it look simplistic and not overdone.
• Formal font – make it simplistic and suitable.
   
  -Also add:
• Barcode
• Date
• Issue
• Branding

Evaluation for my double page spread

Evaluation

The first section of the journalism task was the research, which was the easiest part as it wasn’t very difficult to find facts and statistics about the music industry and about illegal file sharing. My strengths were finding key information which helped make my magazine article interesting and helpful. This is the information that would make my article appealing to the target audience; this means that they would buy the magazine and this is the outcome that is needed. I used various websites which helped me with information and finding these websites was a weakness as a lot of websites contained information that was irrelevant therefore wasn’t useful to my audience.

Writing out the actual article was harder than the research as I had to think clearly about how to make the language clear and fascinating this was a weakness. Interests depend on the person; not everyone likes the same thing therefore it was difficult to make it perfect. But then I thought about target audience and what they will like to read. I tried to make the language style simple so it was understandable but factual at the same time in order to make the article useful. My strength for this was planning out bullet points which helped me with the points that I was going to mention during the article.

I have learnt how to use InDesign for my magazine article as you can sort out the layout and arrange how you want the article to be. This was helpful but I struggled at first because it takes time to get used to it. The bad thing about InDesign is there are not many colours for fonts and background. This doesn’t allow me to make it as aesthetically pleasing as it could have been if there were more colours available. Also there is no spell check therefore if I spell a word wrong InDesign would not notify me. On the other hand there were positives; i could use a unique layout different from anyone else’s and InDesign helped me to keep it neat with assistance lines that informed me when i was in line with a paragraph or an image.

Audience feedback was very helpful to me as i know what I done wrong and what i can improve on next time. My audience also informed me of what I had done well so i know to keep this the same in order to get full audience satisfaction.

double page spread file sharing

Arguments for and against file sharing
Do you think file sharing is okay? If you think it is, here are some points which may make you think otherwise…
You are ripping artists off, committing a crime and could be fined, maybe (on some occasions) even sent to prison. Instead of being fined an average of £250,000 would you not rather pay for the music legally and have prevent the hassle of paying a fine? In addition to that, many of these illegal websites have perilous viruses that can take your bank details while you shop online. So you will be robbed of all your money, just like how you are robbing the music artists!
There are many different websites to illegally download music, the most known ones being flvto, YouTube to mp3.

Surprisingly there are a lot of people in the industry that do not mind if their music is taken illegally. Musicians including Robbie Williams, Annie Lennox, Billy Bragg, Blur’s David Rowntree and Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien said that the public should not be prosecuted for downloading illegal music from the internet. This is because their music spreads and they could end up being more rich and famous than they already were.

They say it doesn't matter but do they know all the facts? Up to $250 billion are lost per year due to piracy and nearly  750,000 jobs are lost. There is an extremely large amount of unemployed people in the U.S and UK; it is staggering how many people are struggling to find a job and piracy is a big factor contributing to the unemployment figures. how would you feel if you were the cause of someone losing their job and all you done was download a free song?

to sum up the positive things, piracy can be seen as a positive thing as musicians can become more known through illegal file sharing and therefore become richer. When someone is more famous they are more passionate about their work and this will influence them to carry on with what they are doing. A lot of people do not have enough money to buy even the essentials, how would they have enough money to buy CD’s? you cannot expect people to buy CDs when they are struggling to live due to lack of money. Others will say music in the present is not as good as it used to be before when people actually used to pay for it. You wouldn'tpay for something that is not worth buying, right? In addition, a person might only like one song out of a whole CD which may contain 15 songs; they wouldn't want to pay for 15 songs when they only wanted one of them.

Just like all arguments there is a negative side... the quality may not be as good as the original so many people will rather pay for it and get a high quality recording compared to getting it for free and
listening to a bad quality song.

This is probably a negative factor which will scare a lot of people and prevent illegal downloading; illegal file sharing websites contain deadly viruses that can hack into your bank details when you are shopping online.