Process of Contents pages

At first i did not follow my layout because i had an idea. i put photos of my main image together merging them after making them opaque so it looks like he is in motion doing it like a animation. I changed my mind with this layout because it looks boring and regular so i changed my mind and sticked to my layout which proved to be a lot better.

Following my layout got a positive reaction from me because it looked very appealing once i had finished. I made the text border my main image so it does not cover him up also helping with the visibility of the text and photo. I highlighted the number so the text does not blend and i added stroke to the subtitles blend with my Masthead and appeal to its audience in a typical rap graffiti look it has. I added a cd to help clarify what i mean next to my subtitle i also did this below next to 'Tour Reviews' so it appeals to readers.
I reduced the size of the CD i put and tuck it behind its correlating sub title because i thought it would look classy, neat and also professional and not childish. I added a shape with some text about exclusive posters and competitions. This is to appeal to my audience with the contrast writing colour and the exclusive content. I added contents to the masthead to make it clear for readers where they were because not everyone has common sense. I added the initials of the magazines name opaqued in the background to my pages because i think it gives a very sophisicated look and connotes a sense importance.

Here i have decided to turn my magazine into Landscape and i also made the Logo the same colour as the front cover so it all looks organised. My contents page conforms to normal conventions of magazines.

Process of Front Cover

My first draft my music magazine cover did not go so well because i was unsure of the colour i should use for my background. I realised that doing so does not look professional as i would have to use half of my main image and my perception of that was basic. I liked the colour and i wanted to use gold, olive, and dark colour so i thought about introducing the colour for some of my text.

For my second draft i used my main image to cover the whole background and i have edited the magazine to how i envisioned it. I have followed the layout i planned and it has turned out to be successful but i still believe i have to tweak my magazine as i think it needs more content and visual stimulation. For my Masthead i made it look like bubble writing a typical rap feature which i think would appeal to my audience.
























I added more content to my Music magazine cover by filling in the blank spaces where there was potential for info and appeal. i added and insight photo of the contents relating to my main image to give potential readers some interest and curiosity. I put a satin window look on it so it looks even more appealing on the contents page. I also added a plus sign with some other featuring artists that come up in my magazine.

I adjusted the position of some of my text to fill the page and not leave blank space so it attracts attention but not too much so it also looks classy and neat. I added a exclusive sign to add curiousity and appeal to the contents in my magazine.

Photoshoot

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The pictures i took for my rap magazine were intended to look 'hard' and 'tough' and i think i have achieved this. I took pictures with my imaginary rapper 'Gabz'. I wanted to portray him as a reserved rigid person. Thats my reason for not doing a typical photoshoot. I took my photos in his home as he getting ready to go out. He is a hard person to get a hold of and doesn't like being told what to do so he only wore one outfit for the shoot at his home. To portray his hard look i took photos of him working in the gym.

I posted my main cover image on instagram to see how many people liked it for the idea i had. 272 liked it and this was approval that this was a great idea for my front cover image. I only took one photo of my artist because he stated that he was too 'buff' a slang term for good looking and that i would only need one photo. He said i would be wasting time taking more. His over confidence was accurate and my first photo looked successful and got successful feedback. For my double contents page spread he was more exposed and did not say a nything while i took more than one photo.

For my front cover i made him wear a jacter over a hoodie because this has been a popular trend during winter and a lot of people think it looks good. i made him wear a hat which added to his star image being cool and in fashion.

Schedule

By Dec 6th Research

 Research Into: conventions of my magazine genre, Colours, Layout, and Typography.

Analysis of 3 different existing Rap/Hip-Hop music magazines – Contents/Double Page Spread & Front Cover

Analysis of 2 front covers for other magazines containing an idea for my own magazine.

By Dec 13^th Research into your chosen genre

Analyse conventions and apply to my ideas base content on the appeal of my target audience.

Research the main publishers for Rap/Hip-Hop magazines. Make note of particular conventions.

Analyse artists associated with my chosen genre

By Dec 20^th Start of Planning

Questionnaire to establish my audience more accurately/interview

Results and evaluation of my research

By Dec 27^th Finish Planning and drafting

Final choices for the design of my magazine themes, font etc

Hand Drawn Designs of my magazine plan.

Camera shots: Mid shot. Location: Bedroom in front of dresser and gym. Props: Dumbbells, snapback.

Plan your two page spread article/interview

By Jan 6^th Production

Complete photographs for Front cover, contents page and DPS

Write your two page spread article/interview and complete front cover, contents and dps.

By 17th January

Production Finished – Front Cover, Contents and Two Page Spread

Upload layouts and explain the decisions you've made and denotations/connotations, with reference to magazine conventions

By 24th January

Feedback and Evaluation

·         What has your audience said about your finished magazine?

·         How does it compare to other music magazines on the market?

·         What have you changed as a result of this? What effect has this had on your finished magazine? Upload any amended layouts and accompanying analysis.

·         Multimedia evaluation uploaded to include at least three of the following: text, images (screen grabs etc.), hyperlinks to research, video footage, voice-over.

Layout

I can't picture my layout on my magazine but i like the way i have organised the look. It's simple and clear but i may end up adding more content to it like images and text because i will need to appeal to my audience. A new basic looking magazine will not attract attention without popularity.
My contents page will be quite interesting because i want the text to border my main image. If my contents do not take up too much space i will add images to enhance the appeal of my content titles so it appeal to my audience

Colour

Color in design is very subjective. For my theme, rap, the colour will sub conciously attract Rap magazine readers. Colours subconciously evoke reactions so i will need a colour that is suttle but also quite loud. The attire of my main attraction will have to blend well with the colours present therefore i have used gold and shades of green.
These colours i used are similar to camo print which i think connotes a masculine feel.

Hip Hop & Rap Magazines

In Hip-hop/Rap terminology is very important as it distinguishes Rap from other genres and also the audience. Terminology in Rap usually stems from ghettos and gang and occasionally the slave trade. Words like 'Nigga' 'Swag', 'G', 'yo’ 'turnt up'.

Material possessions are very important in the rap industry as it portrays wealth, status and image. Iconography in rap consists of guns, chains/jewellery, snapbacks, drugs, stacks of money. Designer clothes are also a big factor in the rap industry because without it there is not a lot of appeal to you. Rappers are usually very common and things they do and get up too are very stereotypical but their are also unique rappers who stand out and are very popular. Artists like this change rap industry. Rap is forever evolving. 
Females in the rap industry are very strong very tom boyish there are not many but the female artist out there are completely the same. Stereotypical women are viewed as being sex objects. Close up or low angle shots are used to show that they are big, powerful and strong They a have a snarl or an angry facial expression to look intimidating and powerful. 

Personalities of artists tend to be very similar in the rap magazine. Stereotypically they are angry, rude, aggressive but this is not always the case and you do get the complete opposites. Artists will be in front of the magazine masthead to show that they are powerful and it makes them stand out.The images I used to gather information about these conventions were from Vibe magazine, XXL,The Source and Rolling Stone.

You can not get a lot of insight about a rapper through his music because in interviews they are completely different people than you expect them to be.

Typography

I need to consider my audience, typography and other factors. I need to decide my theme and background before I can finalize my typography and layout. From research I have realised professional magazines use black, white and grey with a main contrast colour. Contrast colour in my magazine is important because that will be the significance from other magazines so I want to use Gold, this similar to this magazine:

 

 The font style is an importance. I want to use Arial because it is a popular font and it is a general a clearly readable. Font is very important because magazines are all about content and if readers cannot read the content it defeats the purpose. Arial has the appropriate lines and letter strokes to lead people with reading disabilities to next words. I want to style my headlines with a different font than the content to give appeal to readers.

The size of my text will be necessary and medium size 14 and 16.  This is typical magazine size.

 

 

Ideas

Based on earlier research into Rap music, I have decided to use the colour scheme of Red, Black, and White. I have chose these colours for my magazine because the three colours are common in magazines. I think this will be a good idea because white will make a good background and red and black contrast it well for  all abilities of readers. These colours will stand out on the shelf because of the bold writing i will use along with the great contrast not a lot of magazines use these colours. I may also use gold to style my magazine.

Audience Research

I believe that the type of audience rap mostly appeals to is men with a minority of females. Both are likely to be of younger age as it tends to be liked more by younger generations than older. I expect the rap audience to know some foreknowledge about rap artists, history, and the genre. The audience usually know of rapper's backgrounds as rap music is normally expressed through their mentality and childhoods.

African Americans are the central producers of rap music. Young adults between the ages of 16 and 30 are the most likely age group to consume rap/hip-hop music. In rap a lot of derogatory lyrics condone relationship violence, sexual aggression, and gang culture stereotypically and rap has been infamous for blamed for a lot of youth' actions.

Questionnare Results

1. What do you think is the best name for my magazine?

A majority of my feedback chose 'Turnt Upp !!!' as the best name for my magazine.

Feedback from to of the participators. 

Josh "It is a popular word in the rap industry at the moment"

David "It is a word that emphasises rap culture in many ways, like the energy in it and loud attributes"

2. Would you be willing to pay for your monthly Rap magazine?

There was a equal amount of answers, 5 people agreed to paying monthly and 5 did not.
The five that disagreed were not regular readers of magazines in general.

If yes, how much will you be willing to pay?

The majority of my feedback chose £1.00 as the price they would pay monthly for a Rap magazine, htey all agreed that a cheap magazine with loads of content will sell really well at this price.

3. What articles would you be most interested in seeing in your monthly magazine ?

The articles which were the most popular were gossip and interviews. Research says that people who follow artists from genres are interested in their lives and personal business as music does not always have this insight.

4. Do you currently buy or read a music magazine? 

Half of the feedback i recieved told me that 50% of the participators read magazines while the others did not. I asked why and most of my replies were general due to laziness and time management.

5. What colours would you like to see in an Rap magazine?

I had an equal amount of answers for this question so i will try and use both types of colours in my magaine so it would appeal to more people 

Questionnare

I am going to generate a questionnaire to research what people would enjoy in my magazine and how much they would pay.

QUESTIONNAIRE:

Introduction – I am conducting a questionnaire on my target audience for my AS level media assignment. 

To provide results for my questionnaire i asked 5 boys and 5 girls within the age range of my target audience. The layout of my questionnaire is simple and only demands 'Yes or No' answers and multiple choice making it easy and time efficient.

1 What do you think is the best name for my magazine?

• Rap Central
• Industry Central
• Vibe
• Turnt Upp !!! 

2 Would you be willing to pay for your monthlyRap magazine?

YES NO

If yes, how much will you be willing to pay?

• 10p
• 20p
• 30p

3 What articles would you be most interested in seeing in your monthly magazine ?

• Tour dates          
• Rap Battles
• Gossip
• Advice for upcoming Rappers         
• Interview
• Reviews

• 4 Do you currently buy or read a music magazine? 

YES NO

5 What colours would you like to see in an Rap magazine?

• Bold and Bright
• Dark and dull 

Star Image

Without a star image, it would be hard for quite a lot of celebrities to be famous because no one would know of them. Star images typically consist of fashionable clothes and celebs wearing the newest trends. To appeal to fans and also to conform to the likes of society. Stars will go to certain restaurants and meet with other stars for tabloids and gossip. From time to time even fake relationships for the media's attention. By doing these things they will be seen in magazines, newspapers and will be talked about on Tv.

This is a star image of a famous rapper, kanye west, he is giving a piggyback to his newly born baby. This picture is well favoured by the public as kanye west is perceived as rude and glum while her he is smiling. This appeals to the public, the public pry into celebrity lives. Especially Kanye because he is a very private person.

Kanye west released his debut album, In 2004 which was very popular and debatably the start of his career.

Layout : Ideas

I like the layout of this magazine because the main attractions, the models, are very relaxed. They are all dressed in trainers and chains and jackets. I have seen past magazines with people dressed like this so i will do something similar. I want my to be in an relaxed enviroment and because the award shows have been going on recetly i want to inherit a smart loo fir my cover and a more rap attire for my contents page. I like this because this is typical Rap/Hip hop and they rereent theri background. The mise en scene of the magazine is relaxed but i always feel an intensity because not all of them are smiling. I will put my sell line down below just like this magazine along with the barcode. I like the font used and i want to use a similar font in bold. The colour scheme is simple and i will also do this.

Target Analysis

The masthead in bright black & white stands out and is one of the first things you notice. This has a potential effect on buyers making it attractive. The purpose of the skyline is to tell us the genre/lifestyle and target audience of the magazine.

The colours are simple black and white with a contrasting gold to differentiate the contents and the main features of the magazine. The masthead being the only bright colour gives a prestige look to the magazine as the its ambience is relaxed but still stands out.

Brand of Target Audience

XXL is an American Hip Hop magazine, XXL released their first magazine in 1997. XXL is owned by Harris Publications a large magazine publisher in New York. XXL targets people from urban backgrounds. XXL grows with Hip Hop as the culture evolves and delivers prior to this in their magazines. XXL is the most influential rap magazine in the business.

Conventions of a magazine

The skyline/sell line talks of this magazine issue being the 150^th making it a special edition. This has an effect on the potential buyers and it stands out and is clear meaning it would get the attention of a reader. The Masthead stands out in Red and white making it attractive. The masthead has been placed directly in the left hand top corner has been placed parallel with the skyline, with the main image it on top of it. This is an effective representation of the main image highlighting his importance.