The title of the magazine is XXL, pronounced "double XL" was first created for rap and hip-hop music, the first copy was produced in 1997 and XXL was used so it stands out from the other music magazines available, as no-one had heard of a magazine named XXL is was original.
The title they use for the magazine is basic, with a red background and white writing, this is effective because it can stand out on many different images, and on this particular copy it does as only black and white are used which emphasize the red.
The strap line used on this copy of the magazine is "Special Collectors Issue", this shows how this copy is a one-off. The colour used the strap line is black, this was done so that it stands out from the white background, and follows the theme of the cover.
The main image used is the artist Kanye West, the magazine may have used Kanye West on the front cover as he is a very popular music artist, as he has covered rap, pop and R n B music, therefore he can attract a larger audience to read the magazine, which will increase sales. The facial expression used is very suave and shows the glamour of being a music artist like Kanye West. The pose that he is doing can promote the rap culture as he is holding a large piece of jewelry, and is covering his eyes with sun glasses. He is also almost looking straight down the camera, therefore engaging the audience into looking or buying the magazine. I believe the image of Kanye West is also effective because he is of similar age to readers, or may even be a role model for the target audience, I also think that most readers will be male and having a successful male artist will attract more buyers.
There are no other images used on the front cover, this may have been done so the main focus is on Kanye West. There isn't much need for more images as Kanye West is a huge artist, and will attract enough readers purely by the main image.
The only content promoted on the cover is "the exclusive story by the man himself", this adds to the main focus of Kanye West as the only cover line is promoting his section of the magazine.
The fonts used for the cover show a simple theme, as the cloned image is a complex part of the cover, the text doesn't distract the reader as there is little of it, the font used is all BLOCK CAPITALS and has no effects such as drop shadows, which are usually used on magazine covers. The colour chosen for the font is either black or white, this has been done as the theme of the cover is red, black and white.
The language used on the cover is very simple, and basic. Each part of text is very short, as it needs to show what is in the magazine but not to give too much away to the reader at first glance. The way they have used "exclusive" shows that they are the only magazine with this article on Kanye West, which will attract more readers to find out what he has said, the fact that the title is "LOVE HATE" may also attract people as it may show what he likes and dislikes, which is interesting to his fans as they want to learn as much as they can about him.
I do not believe this cover is similar to other magazines, as it shows just one image, and very little text, this differs to others as they usually have more than one image and more text to show what variety they have within the magazine.
The cover of this magazine is distinctive, mainly because the main image has been cloned and flipped so that the same image is reflected, the reflection also applies to the text used too, this is very different to other magazines as not many others have used this theme of little amounts of text, cloned image and flipped text. The cover has a unique selling point (USP) which I believe is the article they have on Kanye West, because he is a popular artist any information on him will be wanted by his fans, so the main image of him is the USP for XXL magazine on this issue.
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