RWD Magazine Front Cover Analysis

Analysis of Amerie RWD magazine cover

I have chosen to analyse the magazine RWD a grime music magazine aimed at young teenagers. It is the only music magazine that focuses entirely on grime music emphasizing that there is niche in the industry for this genre of music. Therefore I will be analyzing two different version covers of the same magazine for my front cover analysis. Analyzing this magazine will help me find out what to feature in my magazine.

TITLE OF THE MAGAZINE
The term “RWD” is slang for rewind. This highlights the fact that this is a music magazine. The word rewind means going backwards perhaps into the week and focusing on events that happened that week. This suggests people may read the magazine to catch up on the week’s coverage. The RWD masthead further emphasises the point of going back and rewinding back by featuring a rewind button sign. The word “rewind” can also mean relax as suggested by the phrase “rewind and relax,” indicating the magazine offers a “chill-out” factor.
THE PUBLISHER OF THE MAGAZINE
The editor is Hattie Collins. The publisher is Nigel Wells. The magazine is published monthly. The magazine is free in most stores however it states in the magazine that where the magazine is sold, it should be priced at 25p. The magazine can be found in urban clothing shops and is rarely available in supermarkets, bookshops or normal retail stores. This is probably due to the target audience being mainly people who have an urban lifestyle and visit urban style shops.
The magazine has a website www.rwdmag.com. It is now published internationally in the US and it features different genres of the magazine. There is a house, USA and alternative music genre of the magazine and on the website you can navigate through the different genres. The magazines are very different in the style and the artists featured. The UK RWD magazine features British artists such as Kano, Ghetto and H Two O & Platinum whereas the American RWD features artists like the Pussy Cat Dolls.


FRONT COVER
The December 2007 issue of RWD has a very unusual front cover. There are two sections of the front cover. The front sleeve of the magazine is quite simple. It shows the Nokia N81 8GB show as a camera phone with R&B artist Amerie in the shot of the camera. It is as though the reader is taking a shot of Amerie and the quality of the image is so good implying that the Nokia N81 8GB takes good quality pictures. Already the magazine is marketing the phone before selling the magazine itself. This is perhaps because Nokia are a major sponsor of the magazine so RWD had to agree to advertise the phone in order to get sponsorship. The white simple background helps us focus fully on the contrasting black phone and the vibrant red colour of the image.
The familiar “RWD” logo is still featured on the cover which familiarises us with the magazine.
The image of Amerie is half hidden as if to almost tempt the reader to open the magazine to see the whole image. Her seductive pose would definitely appeal to most male readers and they would be tempted to see the rest of Amerie.

The second part of the front cover features Amerie as the main image. The main colour is red which connotates love, seduction and strong passion. These connotations are then accompanied by Amerie looking “red hot” in hardly and clothes. This is perhaps to attract a male audience.
Her body language also expresses sex appeal. She is winking at the reader in a Marylyn Monroe pose which is famously known as a seductive pose. Her legs are clearly the main focus of the magazine as they are the most revealed part of her body.
The red colour theme is also linked to the fact that it is Christmas time as the magazine is published in December. The colour red is often associated with Father Christmas.
Most of the coverlines on the page are also red meaning they do not stand out that much. The coverline in white is the only one that jumps to the reader’s attention. It reads “all the gadgets you’ll need for Xmas” which links with the fact that the magazine is launched during Christmas time so they publishers know what’s on the readers mind at this time.
The magazine cover of RWD contrasts with other magazine covers in many ways. Because the magazine is a free there is no barcode on the front cover and there is no selling price. There are not many coverlines on the front cover

“Style” and presentation of magazine
The magazine is glossy and looks quite expensive despite the fact that it is free. The quality of the magazine is better than that of magazines like Top of the Pops which you actually have to pay for. This is perhaps because the magazine is sponsored by wealthy companies such as Nokia.

TARGET AUDIENCE
The core audience is listeners of Grime, Hip Hop, UK Garage, Drum & Base & House music. However the magazine is also targeted at young people particularly young aspiring artists who are perhaps looking for advice and inspiration from successful artists. The magazine is also targeted at young black youths perhaps to distract them from anti-social behavior.

Mode of address
The magazine uses informal language. It contains a lot of street slang and terminology. For example shoes are referred to as “creps” in the “Enough Jelly, Already Creps” article.
Other examples of colloquial language used are words such as “tosser” used to describe what is deemed to be an unpopular person or a loser.
The articles featured are mainly interviews of musicians on topics to do with society and everyday topics and issues. For example one article is interviewing artists on their views on smoking and cancer.
One article that features in all issues of RWD is the “Last Word” article at the end of the magazine which is an interview with an artist asking them personal questions about the last time they did a particular thing i.e. “last time you dated a famous person.” This would be popular amongst fans of the artist in question as they get to find out personal information about the artist which they may find aspiring or amusing.