Magazine Analysis - XXL (Inside)

There are 142 pages within the XXL magazine. Out of these 142 pages there are 35 advertisements, this means 24% of the magazine is adverts. The adverts within this magazine could be put into groups such as clothing, cars, alcohol and music albums/gigs.

Clothing: Nike sportswear, Mauri Shoes, Rocawear, Pelle Pelle, Versace, Arctica Watches, New Look hair gel and Old Spice shower gel.

Cars: Nissan, Continental Tire, Mazda, Falken Tire, Forgiato, Pirelli, Black Ice alloys and Verde custom wheels.

Alcohol:Heineken, Paul Masson Brandy and Remy Martin.

Music: Trey Songz, Musicians Institute and Krizz Kaliko album.

They also have odd adverts such as warnings on tobacco and video games.

The main articles are as follows: interview with Ciara, interview with Keenon Jackson, favourite lyrics from top ten artists, article with various pictures by Kanye West, article on Kid Cudi and interview with rapper SHYNE.

There are 14 double page spreads within the magazine, these are:

• Beats Rhymes & Life - showing Kanye West as the number one of ten of the best producers and rappers.
• Six double pages for the article by Kanye West, containing photos and his story of becoming a rap artist.
• Blade Runner - an article on Kid Cudi and a medium shot of him.
• Two double pages on Nikki B, explaining her career in the music video industry.
• Two double pages on rapper SHYNE, showing his story of his music career.
• Two double pages on music DJ Funk-master Flex showing his involvement with Harley Davidson.

Within the XXL magazine there are a small number of advertorials, because they have a large advert taking a full page, next to an article. For example there is a page with an interview with Charlie Boy; an American rap artist, and the page opposite is a Rocawear advert, there is also a small advert for Heineken within the article on Charlie Boy which may portray an article and advert within the same page.

I believe the magazine achieves a unified House Style as all the pages on Kanye West are in black and white, this matches the theme of the front cover as the image of Kanye West is also in black and white. The text on the front cover about Kanye West's story is also followed within his article as quotes from the text have been enlarged and changed to be the same font as the front cover, it is also black text on a white background. The font used for the interviews is also the same, I believe it is either Arial or Comic Sans, this shows the house style as they have followed a trend with text size and font. The style has also been followed in the Kanye West part of the magazine as each image he has the same sun glasses on as his photo on the cover.

I believe this style is appropriate for the target audience because it shows articles along side with adverts that may appeal to young men, such as Versace and Rocawear advertising clothing. I also think that the black and white images make the articles flow better, as the colour scheme is the same throughout these parts of the magazine, this will appeal to the target audience as it makes the magazine easier to follow.