Audience Profile and research into Complex Magazine and The Source

 

 

RESEARCH INTO THE MAGAZINES THAT INFLUENCE MY MAGAZINE PLANS 

 

COMPLEX MAGAZINE!

Complex is a New York-based media network and was founded by the fashion designer Marc Ecko. Complex consists on updating people on trends in fashion, music, art and design, technology, sports and video games with a focus on niche cultures such as streetwear, sneaker cultture hip-hop, and graphic art. Complex Media as an online magazine currently receives over 120 million unique monthly visitors and 1.4B monthly pageviews. Complex was established in 2002 by the founder of the ecko ultd brand, Marc Ecko, as a print magazine aimed at providing young males a report of the latest in hip-hop, fashion and pop culture without regard to race. The name Complex evolved from a slogan developed to promote the Ecko website: "Ecko.complex". The idea was to create a men's magazine that combined Ecko's streetwear and hip-hop attitude along with the style of Japanese men's magazines by providing consumer guides. This was achieved by creating a magazine in two sections: one traditional magazine, and the other a shopping guide.In 2005, Complex was joined by the former senior editor of Vibe magazine, Noah Callahan-Bever. He became editor-in-chief aar later; a position he still retains as of February 2014.

 

The influence 'Complex' magazine has on the way I carry out my magazine is that Complex magazine does focus predominately around rap and hip hop music but it focuses on all elements of that whether it being American rap or British rap. Complex also challenges the stereotypes given to male rap mainly black artists as, as you can see below all the main images below don't include 'gang signs', 'several chains around their neck', or 'baggy clothes' which we would associate with these artists in this genre of music because of how the media portrays them. From looking at the front covers, I can analyse the fact that complex use the location, the NVC of the artist and the props featured symbolise them as a person and not just an artist and their style of music. The location of the Pusha T front cover issue is very classic and ancient. As the swimming pool his feet are placed in have an old-fashioned pattern that has been placed within the stone. Moreover, the curtains behind and the leaves placed all around look egptian but old fashioned like in the era of pharaoh. In addition to this, the black and white filter placed on the image further enforces the classic loaction and makes the issue unique. Lastly, Pusha T looks cool and collected in his shorts and t-shirt that we can see is very modern which juxtapose with the location. Also, the simplicity of the outfit reflects the challenged stereotype placed on rap artits.

The J Cole issue of Complex reflects him as the artist he is enormosuly as J Cole is a rap artists that poetic in the way that he raps about him, others and the history that his race has overcome, and I feel that complex completed this reflection in the fact that the wall that is overcrowded with images behind him are filled with iconic rap artists both female and women. It includes legends like Tupac and Biggie smalls and we can see this connotes how empowered he is by these people. Furthermore, the image in the portraying his latest album 'Forest Hills Drive 2014'. This can be reflected by the note pad that is placed in his hand and the NVC of the pose he displays as he looks up at the images as though he were inspired by all these people. J cole looks unusually relaxed and at peace, as he's dressed very casual and humble. This outfit portrays Cole as the artist he is and the person he appears to be. As well as this, in this issue of Complex the masthead of the title 'Complex' is emphasised as its bold and capitalised, which can also represent J cole's music in itself as it is complex, and you have to show an understanding to interpret what he tries to message to his fans.

 

The Drake issue of Complex magazine is very unique in the fact its a mid-shot of the artist placed on a vinyl that is being held. Drake is a very quirky rapper as he also sings like many rappers but he explores the emotions of people and is very sutle. The underlining of the name Drake, allows the magazine to enforce importance on him, as the simple underlining makes his name stand out from the image. The words 'kinda blue' are done in blue and not white also making that stand out, as well as this the cup he holds is blue which could connote what his drinking is making him 'kinda blue' or could symbolise a new single.

 

The main thing that stands out as a whole for this magazine is that Complex do not include straplines on the front cover and this is something that is most of the time important on a magazine front cover as this is what catches the audiences' eye, however, Complex have replaced this with the use of the eye-catching locations.

 

THE SOURCE MAGAZINE!

The Source is a United States-based, monthly full-color magazine covering hip-hop music, politics, and culture, founded in 1988.The Source was intially founded as a newslettter in 1988.The Source was originally conducted by two Harvard University students who were influenced by Hip-Hop music and wanted to give praise by devoting coverage to the rising music genre. It is the world's second longest rap periodical, behind the UK's- based publication 'Hip Hop connection' .The publication has over eight million subscribers worldwide and remains one of the most popular hip-hop magazines in the world. The Source mainly focuses on males as there are the target influence for this magazine again. However, on their online website there is a link called 'Her Source'which focuses on females and fashion,music and culture etc. So it does as a whole include both genders.

The source magazine consistently produces simple colour schemes on the front cover of their issues. However, they always stick with their noticeable masthead. In the School BOY Q addition the colour scheme is just black and red, these colours make the issue bold, and straightfoward. The source intially doesn't add something that reflects the artist as an whole like Complex. But it does have a main image that captures the NVC of the artists' facial expression. In this issue with School BOY Q, we can see that the medium- mid shot enables the magazine to display the cool in his face, and the relaxation he shows. 

These two issues of The Source feature legendary rappers; Tupac and Dr. Dre. These are old editions of the magazine but we can see how the source has stuck with its bold masthead on the frontcover and the strapline above it. Moreover, we can see how political the magazine was, as the tupac issue has 'tupac free?'. And the Dr.Dre issue has him holding a gun to his head.