Cover Page Analysis- VIBE

Vibe is the music and entertainment magazine founded by producer Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip hop artists, actors and entertainers. The magazine owed its success to featuring a broader range of interests than its closest competitors The Source and XXL, which focus more narrowly on rap music. After shutting down production in Summer 2009, Vibe still attracts vast amount of audience through the use of Internet. This is the issue of December 2007 and the price of the magazine is £4.99. On the front cover, there a medium shot of the hip- hop singer called Keyshia Cole. , Keyshia is also known as ' the Princess of Hip- Hop', not only due to the outstanding production of songs but also due to the look. This could be argues is a very stereotypical image as many covers include a woman gazing into the camera. In this case Keyshia is represented as sultry, alluring and showing lost of skin for the male gaze. The image already gives a clear indication of who the potential target audience of this particular magazine. The target audience of the magazine is vastly men, between 16-32 years old, who are very interested in the hip hop industry.  Furthermore, the image could certainly help to increase and boost the sales levels of the magazine, as the male audience would want to see more photos from the photo shoot inside.  The cover uses warm but at the same time very powerful and eye catching colors- red and white. As the issue of the magazine is before Christmas, color red would represent in the theme of love and passion. The color red, as already mentioned eye- catching, which could possibly lead to the competitive advantage where the audience would pick up the VIBE magazine instead of other publications. On the top of the page, there is a strap line, which outline one of the key articles which the magazine includes. The title of the magazine, has a very big font in order to been seen from far, but Keyshia’s body covers half of it, so the title is to be seen on the background. On the left hand side, there are other famous artists which are mentioned- Nelly, Bow Wow etc., which gives an understanding that there are many interviews included. These are big names in the Rap industry making the magazine seem more important in comparison with the direct competitors. The cover lines certainly differ in size, but the main articles either written in bold or bigger size of the font, this had been made in order to outline what this issue of the magazine would vastly concentrate on. In this case, the magazines outlines two major articles- '' American Beaty Keyshia Cole'', and '' 51 best Myspace rappers'. By looking at those specific articles, I can understand what kind of audience ( age, lifestyle and gender) the magazine is trying to attract and persuade to buy the magazine. Even though the cover lines range in size and color but the font is generally the same.

Furthermore, it is important to outline the price of the magazine. Vibe costs around £4-£5, which would certainly have a direct impact on the quality and possibly the quantity (number of pages) in the magazine. In my opinion the quality of the magazine is high, which is proven by high circulation levels (approximately 900,000).

Editor-in Chief Jermaine Hall


Company InterMedia Partners