Use of semiotics in XXL

The magazine XXL relates to the genre that I want to do for my magazine. There are a variety of ways semiotics is presented on this front cover. I am going to deconstruct XXL to show you the ways in which they are shown. From the people used on the front cover, we can tell that they are the class of 2011. Without the text 'class of 2011', we wouldn’t have been able to figure out what year the picture was taken. Unless you look at the barcode which has the date it was issued. However, I only know this due to the text they wrote on right. Without out that, I would've also thought the same. This is because of the books on the desk which suggests they are at school. Many of them don't look very happy which suggests maybe some of them haven't graduated?

The topless man on the front at the right is an artist and maybe the word on the board he's holding suggests that they are his lyrics? The man with the slingshot at the back shows he's the mischievous boy of the class and causes a lot of trouble. If they were smartly dressed without any text, the reader would automatically think that it's a school/class photograph. At the bottom of the magazine, the word 'featuring' is in a different font. This might suggest the producer of the magazine wants the reader to be drawn to the names of the artists in the picture.

Without the text at the bottom, the audience won’t know the names of the artists. The text at the top 'the 4th annual freshmen issue' suggests that the words 'the 4th annual' is more important than the words 'freshmen issue'. I can tell this because the first three words are bigger and the other two which suggests the producer done this purposely to attract the reader. This might be of interest to the reader because it shows that there are more magazines issued before it which may make the reader want to buy the previous editions.

More about the use of words! On the right hand side, there is a use of the rule of three 'rappers, rhyming, and relatives’. The word 'rappers' is bigger than the other two words which suggest the importance.

How I carried out my research...

As part of my research to find out what my audience want, I created a questionnaire. I did it by using a website called survey monkey. At the end of creating my questionnaire, I was given a link that I got people to sign. I posted the link on a social networking site like Twitter. From there, my followers would see this on my timeline and eventually click the link and fill out the questionnaire. I also used BlackBerry Messenger to broadcast the link which I kindly asked the contacts to fill out. Here are some print screens of how I broadcasted it via twitter.

5 different type of magazine titles - similar genre

As part of our research for my music magazine, everyone in my class has to research about 5 different music magazine titles and we have to discuss what their names connote in relation to their magazine. As my genre is hip hop/RnB, I will be looking at a wide range starting from vibe - my favourite!

The title 'Vibe' is always in bold is consistent in every magazine. What I've realised is in the title every letter is capitalized except the 'e' at the end being lower case. It could be to represent the male audience as it big and powerful being capitalized. The title is red which flows with the magazine as there's not a variety of colours used and only two. Red and black are normally a good combination of colours which is very eye catching. This attracts customer and is recognisable from a distance. As red is both a males and females colour, anyone can read it so it appeals to both males and females. The title is behind the artist (Nelly) and is a convention as the same position is in every magazine. I've noticed that in each and every one of their magazine covers, they have used either two/three colours which go well together. Using two/three colours which blend together well, allows the audience to be attracted to it as it isn't busy, being colourful doesn't always appeal to your audience! It's the layout and how it's portrayed attracts your customers in my opinion.

Another music which is a hip hop/RnB based magazine is 'The Source'. The title is large and is sans-serif which makes it looks professional. 'The' in The Source is smaller than 'Source'. This could symbolise that the word 'Source' is much more important than the word 'The' as it's much bigger and bolder. This is eye catching to their audience as it is the first thing they notice after the picture of the artist. The title is positioned behind the artist. Notice, it's the opposite from vibe. They've also used a colour that appeals to both males and females so it attracts both genders. The colour gold connotes wealth and good health which relates to the the artisit (nas). He's a rich, well known famous artist as he has sold over thirteen million records in the United States alone.

XXL is a rap based music magazine. The colours for the title is always white and red. Everytime I look at the title, I feel as though it has been stamped onto the page. Maybe that's what they want there reader to think? White symbolises cleanliness and peace whereas, red symbolises passion but war and violence. The red relates to the picture as his hands are guns which suggest violence and aggression. This could put the customers off buying this particular with this artist on it. However, if the customer is a 'The Game' fan (the artist on the front cover), then they are likely to be attacted to it.

Flavour is another popular magazine that caters for Rnb artists. It's a free magazine which is difference from the ones above. The white, yellow and black colours work well together and are consistent throughout the front cover. Another difference between this one and the others above is that the title is place in front of Cher Lloyd (the artist). The colour white symbolises purity, the colour yellow symbolises joy and happiness and the colour black stability. The hand gesture of her having her hand over the mouth suggests many things. It could either suggest that, she is shocked and she just found out something. Or it could suggest that she is keeping a secret by covering her mouth. One thing that I have realised that throughout Flavour's magazines is that the heading 'Flavour' is always either behind or in front the artist. However, in Vibe, the title is not consistent and is always behind the artist.



The last but no least is 'Respect'. Another magazine that catera for RnB artists. Straight away, the reader is drawn to the image as it's the most important thing. From his facial expressions, you can tell that he is serious. The pull quote used at the bottom left hand corner, shows that he is being boastful about his current position in the music industry. Brown symbolizes self discipline which could link to the serious look on his face. However, there is not a lot of information on the front cover which is one factor that I dont like.

deconstruction of two magazine covers

One of the magazines I have chosen is Vibe. The music they promote is R'n'B and hip hop artists which is the music audience I want to use in my magazine. This cover inspired me as I liked the consistent type of font for the heading it uses. This is how people recognise that it's Vibe which is a unique thing about it. The cover never looks too busy and always two consistent colours throughout. One thing which makes a cover eye catching to their target audience is colour. If there are more three colours used, then wouldnt appeal to their target audience and is unlikely for them to make any sales. Talking about sales, their magazine cost £4.00. This is cheap as compared to other music magazines and is one of the best selling. Also, in every Vibe magazine, the artist that is on the front page always overlaps the heading, which was another reason why it inspired me. That's what I want to do in my own magazine with the use of two consistent colours. In their magazine, they include a gossip column which intrigues the reader to read more their artisit which makes them feel involved as they know more about what is going on about them.




Another magazine cover which inspired me was 'The Source'. The also promote hip hop music and first started in 1988. While researching about this magazine, I found an interesting fact about it. I found out that 'The Source' was found as a newsletter when it had first started (1988). As you can see, the heading is in front on Lil wayne (the artist) However, if you look at other magazines produced my 'The Source', they own use this type of layout very rarely and use the type of layout 'Vibe' uses (the heading behind the artist). Their heading is bold as though it has been stamped in compared to vibe. One thing which attracted me to this magazine was the matching colours. Lil wayne is wearing a red hat which matches with background of the font used. There are three colours here red, black and white which all go together well. There not too bright and too colourful althought it is busy. I've realised in most of the front covers, they use a close up shot of the artist which is another difference between the two well know, popular magazines. So you must be thinking about how much it costs? Well, the price is £3.95, cheaper than vibe but good quality. 'The Source' is exclusive and different from vibe as it has its own radio and TV station.

Mine & Maria's Music Research Magazine



Preliminary Task - contents and front cover

This is my final front cover for my preliminary task. Choosing an appropriate colour scheme took me quite some time to do. However, I used red and chose colours from the image of the girl wearing the shirt which shows enables my magazine to flow. The blue star matches with the colour of the shirt with the image of the guy which also enables it to flow. By putting the line underneath my title, it makes it stand out. Without out, it would look as if it is floating. I feel as if it was unnecessary using the page number below each of  the story lines. Also, looking at it now, I would've been better if I cropped the image out which would give me more space for text as it looks quite plain. Overall, I happy with my end result, but I believe there was room for improvement if I had enough time.










I didnt keep consistency through out which made my magazine look unprofessional. I tried to make my pictures not float by adding a boarder around it which made it stand out much more. However, the line underneath the 'contents' shouldn't of have been faded out as it loses the boldness of the title. I took more pictures for my contents page rather than my front cover which was a problem. This is because I could choose from much more in contents page than in my front cover which didnt give me much of a variety. The starting numbers are not in line and I should've used to a ruler to measure everything out.

Music Magazine Project

Today we were introduced to our new project - to create a music magazine. We have to create, the front cover, the contents page and a double page spread for our magazine. Our teacher showed us in lesson today both good and bad examples of previous music magazines students had created. This gave me a rough idea on the layout of my front page, the contents pages and the double page spread which made me aware of what not to do. Our teacher gave us a task. Our task was to get into pairs and chose a well known magazine (from the choices that were on the board) to talk about by friday.