XXL Contents Analysis

XXL Magazine Contents Analysis by Amelia GouldNo presence information on 12/12/2012 10:01 AM ​ The contents page for XXL magazine has been spread out over two A4 pages, both with very different style set outs. The first contents page you come across in the magazine is ‘the A-side’ this page has been set out fairly similar to the front page allowing the theme of the magazine to run through the page. The image on the page is of the feature article artist but with a slight change to the posing of the individuals within the image. Wiz Khalifa manages to remain his strong and steady stance towards the camera but isn’t looking down at is as much as the feature article image on the front cover, this shows that may be he has less power than he gives off. The female next to him (his girlfriend) has completely changed her positioning and is now shown on the side behind him, revealing the rebellious tattoo amongst her arm. This tells us as the audience there is a more rebellious side to the innocent character she originally portrays although comparing her to Wiz Khalifa’s appearance she is seen as clean and almost ‘heavenly’ with white clothing (underwear) she is wearing, her lightly coloured hair and pale coloured nail varnish. The fact they she remains behind him shows he still has a lot of control over her and she looks to him for protection, with her hand still remaining on his chest he changes and places his hand on top of hers showing to us as the audience that there is a caring and lovely side to the hard faced, rough appearance we first get when looking at Wiz Khalifa. Like the feature article image on the front page the image used on the contents page is also black and white which gives off a calm atmosphere between them both, a sophisticated read to the target audience and also gives the impression of maturity within Wiz Khalifa himself. Even though the jewellery isn’t the first thing that catches your eye when looking at the image, it doesn’t take you long to realise that they are revealing their love in the thought of marriage. As well as the ring they are both subtlety wearing rather large diamond earrings, Wiz Khalifa is also wearing a heavy change around his wrist and neck as well as a large watch on his other wrist. This says to me that the wealth of Wiz is trying to be portrayed in the article and images. I also believe the relieving of the designer ‘Calvin Klein’ underwear is meant to do this as well. The page number for the feature article has been set in a larger font size compared to the rest of the page number involved on this page as well as the text displayed. To help highlight to the audience the main feature of this magazine edition they have separated the text by using en extremely thick red line so it is boxed off and given importance on the page. All the text on this page of the contents has been aligned to the left, flush left so the magazine can keep a high quality appearance. The contents pages are then separated by an A4 page of advertising and on the other is ‘the B-side’ of the contents page. The magazine has clearly made a changed between the layout of the two pages and the advertising in-between helps to breaks this. The images appearing on ‘the B-side’ are all in colour and don’t contain a filter and unlike ‘the A-side’ contains a variation of images (size, colouring, positioning, etc). Although there seems to be a lot more going on amongst this side of the contents in actually contains less information than the other side (the A-side). Just like the other side the contents titling are the same as each other (black, red and white usage). This helps to keep a theme throughout the magazine introduction as the front cover also has the use of black, red and white). The image3s on this contents have been separated by using black lines to create almost box shapes to show the different articles within. The use of boxed images helps to break the articles as well. The large page numbers and ‘plus’ text also catches your eye on this page as it has been set up to larger than the other fonts upon the page.