Analysis of VIBE magazine

Analysing a second front cover, contents page, and double page spread of VIBE magazine as

part of my ‘Research and Planning’ stage

MASTHEAD

The masthead is very clear. The bright yellow colour that is used on the font contrasts very well with the grey scale background

and because of this we can read it well. The font used is all bold, and the masthead is very predominant on the page, thus

allowing us to recognise this as the title of the magazine.

COVER PICTURE

The cover picture is centered. This is unusual in magazines as photographers often use the rule of thirds when taking pictures, however it is a common

theme in VIBE magazine that the model in the picture is dead centre. This attracts the audience directly to them. The Artist in the picture also uses a

direct mode of address so that when you are drawn to him he almost ‘looks you in the eye’ creating somewhat of a ‘relationship’ with the reader.

COVER LINES

Once again, the cover lines are aligned right and left according to which side of the page they lie on, this is to

keep the middle of the magazine free so not to draw attention away from the direct gaze of the cover model.

SEMIOTICS

The plus sign is often used as a semiotic because people often look at a plus sign and thing, positive, or more, a higher value. If there is more inside, then the audience is attracted by the use of this symbol

and will buy the magazine.

VIBE CONTENTS

Analysis of a contents page that VIBE magazine used in one of their production pieces.

PICTURE

Only one picture is used on the contents page to stop any over crowding of the page due to the magazine

being heavily text rather than pictures.

SPLIT PAGE

The contents page is split about two thirds of the way down by an intricate design which is more than likely part of the house style of the magazine. The top section of the page allows us to discover what features are inside the magazine and the bottom section shows us features from the VIBE website

where you can access news and galleries online.

CROOKED TEXT

Something very commonly used in VIBE magazine is the way in which they split the word ‘CONTENTS’ into 3 different lines. It gives it a ‘jagged’ look and also connotates to what hip hop is

all about. It is about going against regular things in society and by not having the word in uniform they are conveying this

convention.

PICTURE CREDITS

Written in a very small font on the picture is the picture credit, notifying the reader who is responsible for the photography so that

they know who the photographer and stylist was for the photo shoot for this picture in the magazine. It is meant to take up

minimal space on the magazine and is therefore written in a very small font size in order to not take attention away from the image

itself.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

Analysis of a double page spread written by VIBE magazine

IMAGES

The photos on this double page spread are similar to those of that I have already analysed. They take up only one section of the page and are not placed right in the middle, for example. This is a good use of the page furniture by VIBE because as I mentioned earlier, it is very text heavy, and buy having the photographs to one are of the page allows them to maximise the amount of space they need for the body copy.

THE LEAD

The lead is used well here, it is a small paragraph that allows us to get an idea of what the article is about

before going into the body copy.

BODY COPY AND DROP CAP

The body copy in this double page spread I would say was around 1000 words in a size font between

8-10. Very commonly in magazines you will notice that the first letter of the first paragraph in the article will be maybe 3 lines big. This is known as a drop capital and just lets the reader know where to

start reading from which is why VIBE have used one.

RULE OF THIRDS

For some reason, VIBE magazine choose to ignore the rule of thirds in their photographs. They very often centre

their artists and because I have seen this a lot in my research I will look to also ignoring the rule of thirds in

my final production.

FIN