Analysing cover 3: Rollingstone, Wiz Khalifa May 2011



The rollingstone cover of March 2011, featured the image of Wiz Khalifa, the new hip hop sensation,  this magazine cover is a typical rollingstone style, simple and very effective, this is done my the plain white background , so all the emphasis is on the main image there is no background images to distort the main image, not make the front cover to crowded, which rollingstone were looking for, the image which has been used also is very specific, a mid shot from shoulders up, this style of shot is used for the customers to feel a personal attachment to Wiz, you can see him close enough to see his tattoos, i.e. get to know him, and this is would of been the reason for rollingstone picking this image, it also shows Wiz personality, with the cheeky wink, the care free style which he has. This adds depth into the image, instead of a simple straight forward image of his face.

The mast head which has also been used, is layered behind the main image, this has been done because of the popularity of the magazine and the style which goes with the magazine, the name of the magazine doesn’t need to be the main image on the front cover, if it was it would take away the effect of the overall picture which its creating, cutting part of Wiz hair would be ruin the image which has been created, and the overall image is what makes the front cover.

With the columns which have been used on the right hand side, with three different sizes and two different sizes and colours used, with the most important features in bigger font, i.e. the ‘new faces 2011’ and ‘Wiz Khalifa’ with different font for wiz, which shows individual and the feature of the magazine, compared to the ‘new faces 2011’ where its in the same font as the others, but in red and a bigger font, so its important and grabs the attention, so its shows that it is a main feature, but not the main one. The placement of the column has aligned the text to the right, shows order but also has a sense of freedom, created but the overlapping of the text and the image, but not intruding the image to much to distort it and create mess.

Most rolling stones magazines have the same blueprint, with differences between colour and flow but overall has the same style throughout the year and that what it makes is so successful.