Complex Magazine Analysis

Complex Magazine Analysis: Front Cover

The colour scheme for this issue of complex is going against all the conventional colours within Complex’s colour scheme which are red, white and black (a very common colour scheme). With the bright blue, pink and green colours making this issue stand out completely on the magazine shelf, the masthead is almost completely visible so that people can still identify the magazine as Complex as their recognisable red masthead is not in use. Complex, as a magazine, tend to break their colour scheme quite often compared to the likes of NME who tend to stick to their colour scheme a lot more. I think the colours used on this front cover really reflect the personality and music of the artist, Kid Cudi as he tends to have a vivid imagination and produce some ‘wild’ music.

The image itself is a mid shot which appears to have been taken from above the artist as he seems to be looking up at the cameras slightly. The pose he is pulling fits the genre of music he is associated with as his pose implies he is opening his jacket in such as way to reveal possible illegal items he may be selling and hip hop as a genre tends to revolve around illegal activity such as drugs.

Above the masthead, a skyline is used which contains the important features included in the magazine that are likely to draw the reader in on first glance as this will be easily visible on the magazine shelf as it is at the top of the magazine so will be visible over the magazines stacked in front of it. The bright blue patterned background should instantly catch the audiences eye and the skyline will provide them with intriguing information about the magazine which may make them choose to purchase this magazine if they are not a frequent buyer.

The colour of the masthead could have been chosen in conjunction with the colour of the artist’s watch to form a colour scheme.

There are not many cover lines used on this front cover and I think this adds to the effect that this issue is focusing mainly on the artist in the main image. Therefore, having little or no cover lines obscuring the audiences view of him may represent the fact that their wont be anything obscuring him inside the magazine resulting in the artist having a large section of the magazine about him.

Complex Magazine Analysis: Contents Page

This Complex contents page is simple yet effective as it given the non-conventional name of “Table Of Contents” oppose to the conventional “Contents Page”. This implies to the audience that the magazine is trying to be different and could be targeted at an alternative more niche audience with interests similar to the magazines contents.

The colour scheme for this issue of complex is a conventional three colour palette consisting of white, black and yellow. This is some blue used for text but not as often as the three main colours. Although Complex’s traditional colour palette is white, black and red, this is often broken by the magazine with the use of different colours in various issues. This gives each issue of the magazine a different edge and could make the magazine more visually satisfying for the audience.

This contents page is heavily picture dominated as the top and bottom thirds are made up of four different pictures all relating to an article within the magazine. The amount text is small in comparison to the images but still provides information for the audience on where to find specific articles under three sections. The use of colour throughout the text is a lot more interesting than just plain black text and the text highlighted in a different colour intrigues the reader and draws their eye towards that article.

The pictures on the contents page all fit the genre the magazine is and all feature the artists wearing high end fashion items with the focus being more on what they are wearing rather than themselves as people. The bottom left image could be encouraging the male gaze as the woman is attractive and is stood in an arguably seductive pose. This fits the target audience of the magazine as it is mainly aimed at men.

The pictures and text are separated by numerous straight black lines in an unorganized fashion creating a quirky image for the magazine implying that the magazine will not conform with all the conventions people assume to be on contents page linking back to the title being a little different and out of the ordinary also. This reflects the target audience as the perception of the target audience is that the less you try , the ‘cooler’ you may appear and the magazine may be trying to conform to this stereotype of the target audience.

Complex Magazine Analysis: Double Page Spread

This Complex double spread uses a slightly unconventional four colour palette of white, black, red and blue which represents the American flag in this case. The white background allows the majority of the text in black and red to be read easily whilst the eye catching quote is blue is still easily read. The quote is placed is blue to catch the reader’s instantly and draw them into reading the full article.

The picture to text ratio is around half and half with one page being predominantly image and the other page being predominantly text with a bit of text and few images on either page. This is conventional amongst magazines of similar genres and is something I am going to seriously consider in the design process of my magazine as I believe it is the right balance for a double page spread and looks the most professional if done right.

The article itself is an interview and the questions and answers are show through the use of red for the questions and black for the answers. This allows the audience to easily distinguish who said over the course of the interview and allows the interview to be read easily.

The pages in this double page spread work well together and compliment each other as the use of colour in the Obama like picture on the right are emulated in the text on the following page to create a colour scheme throughout the double page spread which shows the audience that both pages are connected and that this is a double page spread and not two separate articles. This also gives a sense of continuity to the audience over the double page spread.