Juxtapoz magazine

Overview

Juxtapoz is a magazine that celebrates alternative contemporary art and was founded by artists and collectors in San Francisco in 1994; it is also known for being the number one popular culture and art magazine. Personally, this is my favorite choice, the bright and intriguing colors, symbolisms and strange art patterns as well as combinations intrigue me.  

The main reason I chose this kind of magazine is because it fits the artistic theme I am going for, colors are bright, but not bland, unlike ARTnews, themes are different and unpredictable. Designs are smart, but so out of the ordinary that it attracts people with bizarreness. This is my personal style I am most likely to implement in my final magazine.

Juxtapoz’s target market, like ARTnews are aspiring artists, not exclusive to the teenage age range, that would like to see the latest and up to date contemporary art for their own art inspiration, or casual audiences that are intrigued by the style and look of the magazine.

Layout and Style

In all of these magazines, Juxtapoz maintains the large bright masthead with bright colors that typically compliment or blend with the main image, the font is a very bold, capitalized sans, a stylistic creative statement font. Most notably, the “X” in the magazine is overlayed on top of all the other letters, although I’m not sure of the meaning or intention behind it, I assume this X is used to mark or guide the eye to the massive word as the words seem to be composed from multiple straight lines.

As for the meaning behind the company name, it is reminiscent of the word “juxtaposition” which matches well with the content on the page as well as the content typically written. Juxtaposition hints to an opposite or a contradiction, this is clear here as this magazine looks different to the other glossy and minimalist magazines, setting this magazine apart from others. Another alternative interpretation could be the actual contents on the pages, the many designs contrast and compliment each other. It's strange and bizarre in a creative and artistic way. In itself, Juxtapoz, as a title, attracts artists and passerbyers from the strange and large name.

Analysis

For main images, Juxtapoz usually uses out of the ordinary and unconventional art that are used to attract and interest people. Focusing on one of my favorite examples, the Spring 2022 magazine, depicts a man dancing, as said in their interview it displays “destroyed humanity,” possibly because of isolation during quarantine. The cover artist, Derek Fordjour constructed a body of work that resembles theatre production, it’s a loud piece of art that is full of bright and extreme colours, it speaks out despite the quietness of the pandemic. Much of Juxtapoz’s chosen cover pieces are like this, all holding deep rooted meaning in every stroke and colors that dance around the poster.

These colors are almost always the primary colors of the RYB color wheel,  however there’s the occasional switch of color wheel to the CMYK color wheel. The Spring 2022 magazine uses the RYB color wheel, honing a polychromatic color scheme. As for style, the magazines don’t seem to abide by any concrete style, rather, the covers seem to be created with many references and meanings, focusing on the content and theme of each magazine rather than following a specific style.

Coverlines and promos are non-existent on these covers. This is because the art is enough to attract people. There is no need for any extra bits of information because the art would be obstructed, the art is the main focus and they would prefer not to clutter the page. Alternatively, Juxtapoz may want to filter their owners by pure art lovers that take a liking to the art rather than those attracted by the words on the page.  Although the page is not cluttered, the magazine maintains its volume by the capitalized and bold and large san serif text on the masthead, the only words on the page as to not hinder or take away from the image.