Magazine Research

XXL MAGAZINE - 2018 FRESHMAN ISSUE

XXL is a magazine which focuses on music, primarily hip hop. Many features of this front cover support this and signify the type of magazine it is.

The colour red, is a primary colour in this magazine and is used for the tagline "We Got Clout". This colour could connote danger, as if these up and coming artists featured on the front cover mean business and are going to shake up the music industry. The font used is similar to that of a neon sign for a store, as if the cover is trying to make everybody aware of the importance these artists have in the future of hip hop. The phrase itself uses modern slang, which could appeal to a younger audience, perhaps teenagers and young adults. This is a very similar target age group to which the genre of hip hop generally appeals to aswell, which is why this magazine cover could effectively attract fans of the hip hop genre.

The main image is that of the artists within the '2018 freshman class' list that XXL presents within the magazine. The positioning of each artist makes them equally visible - no one is hidden behind another artist - and their gestures and poses link to that of the youth as they appear to look trendy and appealing to younger audiences. They are all wearing streetwear, mostly designer. Below the main line, the cover lists every member of the 2018 freshman class. White text is used for each artist's name, separated by yellow forward slashes. This allows for their names to stand out and for the consumer to see who they may recognise as well as new artists they are yet to discover.

The skyline along the side details the other topics and articles included within the magazine that are perhaps less relevant to the most important part of this special issue of XXL, which may explain why they appear more subtly than the main point of this XXL issue, with the dim yellow font. The text that says '2018 freshman class' appears to be in the style of a stencil, which reminds me of the military, and how the words and phrases appear on items such as crates and dog tags. This could be to signify that these artists are a threat to other artists (perhaps older ones) and now they are coming with force to take their places.

PC GAMER MAGAZINE

This magazine focuses on not only videogames, but exclusive titles for the PC gaming market. This particular issue debuts information on the latest Hitman game (at the time of publishing). The main image displays this and highlights the anticipation for the title.

The main image is of the protagonist of the 'Hitman' series of games. His name is Agent 47, which is detailed in the lines at the bottom of the cover.