Analysis - RWD Front Cover Issue 100

Target Audience

The main target audience for RWD magazine is working-class (social graded between C1 and E) black men aged between 15-30, who are the main target audience for the rap genre of music, which is the main genre covered by this magazine. All of the conventions on the cover are targeted towards representation of this group and their needs.

Masthead

The masthead of RWD magazine is barely seen, with the majority of the masthead hidden behind the main image. This is a commonly-seen convention of music magazines, possibly implying that the musician is bigger and more important than the magazine itself. The font used for the masthead is modern and technological, and appeals well to the target audience, who must be able to use a computer fairly well to download it.

Layout

The style of the magazine shows the front cover, with the artist featured, Tinie Tempah, tearing through the front, which also shows an image of him. This follows Hall’s theory about youth, that they enjoy ripping, tearing and destroying things for fun. There is no bar code or price tag on the front cover, however this is a download-only magazine, and therefore a price tag and bar code would not be needed. To the right of the main image, a short list of other artists are shown, as teasers for the articles inside.

Colour

The main two colours featured are white and pale blue, with black being a spot colour. This continues onto the main image as well, with his clothes being coloured white and blue. This connotes that a male target audience is the desired target audience, because these are two colours that they enjoy.

Imagery

There is one main photo on the front, of the featured artist and star vehicle, Tinie Tempah. However, the photo has been taken to make it look as though he is tearing through the image. This is a metaphor to show how he has been “tearing up” the official charts. It also follows Hall’s theory about the youth being vandals, and how they will do anything, legal or illegal, in order to have fun. It is a close-up image, in order to get more emphasis on him. Overall, this image connotes that the magazine will accurately represent black men aged between 15 and 30 because the person being shown is supposed to be the same as them, even trying to dress similarly to how the working class are supposed to dress, and he performs the music that they enjoy listening to.

Typography/Text

Much of the text shown is in rather youthful, graffiti-style fonts, that all seem more appealing to the target audience. Names mentioned in the teaser along the side as featured artists in the magazine include names such as Wiley and P Diddy, two very well-known artists who act as star vehicles. This would help to bring in fans of these artists, and also shows that this magazine is trying to appeal to people from both the UK and the US, as P Diddy is an American rapper, whereas Wiley is a British rapper.

Conclusion

Overall, I would say that this music magazine follows the majority of the conventions of the front cover of magazines, and is an accurate representation of what appeals to the target audience, as well as a fairly accurate representation of the audience themselves.