ANALYSIS OF ‘VIBE’

Rian Eades

MASTHEAD

The masthead of ‘VIBE’ magazine is often overlapped by the main cover photo. This is not a problem for the magazine because they are so well renowned that the masthead is iconic. This means that when

people see the masthead, even if it is covered, then it is instantly recognisable as ‘VIBE’ music

magazine.

COVER PICTURE

The cover picture on this edition of vibe has two artists, because the main cover line to the bottom right suggests that this edition is about both artists and not

simply one. The picture takes up a vast majority of the page and there are cover lines that are on top of the picture. This, in essence, is allowed because the colours used are that of which contrast well with the dark clothing that each

artist is wearing, therefore making the text easily readable.

COVER LINES

This is the main cover line. It is aligned right because it is on the right hand

side of the page and a bigger font size is used in order for us to establish it

as the main cover line. We also know that it is the main cover line because it corresponds with the two artists used

in the cover picture

These two cover lines are aligned left as they are written on the left hand side of the page. They are written in a smaller font so they do not confuse the reader and make them think that one of these could possibly be the main cover line. The cover line overlays the picture but this is ‘allowed’ because colours are

used well

BAR CODE

It may be hard to make out on this picture, but VIBE actually do something very clever and creative with their barcode. They

extend the bar code just enough to be able to fit on their website as a way of marketing/advertising. They also put on the price of their magazine with the barcode so that they do not have to put it anywhere else and therefore overcrowd

the page. I like this feature a lot.

VIBE Contents Page

LOGO

VIBE use this letter V on their contents page as a logo for part of the house style. It is pretty much there so that they do not have to write out the full title again

and can therefore use just the letter ‘V’

Double page

As this was a special edition vibe, they used two pages for their contents layout to ensure that one

page didn’t become over crowded while trying to fit all of their contents and features in.

USE OF WHITE SPACE

VIBE have used white space really effectively. Sometimes pages can look pretty bare if there is too

much white on the page however they have organised text and images in such a way that the

white space helps define the page.

HEADLINES

Headlines in the contents page are important because it lets readers know what title goes with what page, I have cropped it out but there are page numbers above all of these headlines that correspond with each headline. The headlines can’t be too long and in this case they

aren’t.

Double Page Spread

TEXT

The double page spread in this edition of vibe is very text heavy. This is because it is an interview. Usually a double page spread

would consist of around 600-900 words depending on what content is involved in the text. I would say this double page spread is around

the 2000 word margin.

TITLES

I like what vibe have done the these titles. The effect used on them is subtle enough to allow you to still read the words but it

is a very extreme effect at the same time. It gives the title a sense of flare. The colours used are a part of the house style for this magazine and we see them used constantly throughout the

magazine.

WRAP TEXT

Text wrapping is very commonly used in magazine articles as it allows the magazine company to expand out a quote from within the body copy, usually explicit, in order to entice the

reader to want to find out more on the subject.

THE LEAD

The lead is an introductory paragraph that leads into the body copy. VIBE have done things a little differently here because although they have written it in bold to set it

apart from the body copy, it is much too long, however they are able to get away with this as it is a very text heavy article, or interview in this case.

FIN