Evaluation Q7

 Since doing my preliminary task I have learnt many skills that I use in different subject that have helped me progress to the full product. One thing I learnt was the layout of a magazine as shown above I was not clear of how a magazine was supposed to look like but this pushed me to do a better job of the Music Magazine the final product. My college magazine was good but unorganised and not every cover line was related to the magazine.

Also learnt some new trick from my previous task that have taken my final product to the next level and above in my opinion. The help improve the quality of my magazine as it made it look more professional. Unlike the previous task I was unable to manipulate images how I wanted because of the limitation put by the teachers.

On my previous task my front and content page were strong however I made such that my music magazine was 10 times better and professional.

Through the my progression I also learnt how to fully attract the audience for example the colours and the cover lines and effect the make your magazine stand out from he other magazines. I also learnt how to focus my magazine on a particular social group; my music magazine has a specific audience so more and I as able to make my magazine more focused suited to that target group. This meant I had to research my target group and put some thought at what type of people to I want reading my music magazine.

Evaluation Q6

From the process I developed further my picture taking skills and Photoshop skills. Firstly I had to adapt to using a Canon E0S 400D camera to take my images. My images were taken in a studio and on a basketball court to connect the sport side of Hip Hop, another reason for taking pictures in a studio the images can be controlled in a sense that’s the lighting can be changed and there a still back background to work with. I was able to take the pictures with ease, I steadied the camera focus and took a multitude of pictures then I decided on the best one.

As my Photoshop skills were very advanced I had the knowledge to play with the images and the typography as much as I wanted until I feel they looked as realistic to a real music magazine as possible.  I started by changing the blue background to black as it looked better, then I processed to changing the contrast of the image. I selected images the adjustments and used Hue and Saturation, Levels, Brightness Contrast and Gradient Mixer to end with the front cover I created.

 To create the text I use text boxes. To upload to blogger I had to convert the Psd files into Jpegs so being good with Photoshop this was a quick process.  I decided to create a background of my own so I download some brushes that gives a smoke effect and created it via Photoshop and the why I have a smoke background. Also this made it unique and professional. 

Evaluation Q5

Using my audience research as my guideline I feel I attracted my target audience in different ways. Firstly, one of the ways I attracted my target audience was through my front cover is the most important part of a magazine because it is the reasons why people pick up a magazine to read it. On way I felt I attracted my audience was by choosing a model that looks and dresses like a rapper and looked to fit the audience research. Also my model is fairly attractive so that does attract my target audience well. My model is wearing clothes advertised by the Hip Hop genre hence brands so make his look not as individual as other artist. I choose to add accessories because it made the magazine look more realistic and relatable in which that would attract my target audience.

Another way attracted my audience was by focusing on the Hip Hop scene and the music. I did this through cover lines and article throughout the magazine. I used some well-known names and some up and coming artists on my magazine more original and unique. Instead of including a competition in my magazine I kept the cover lines focused on music and media news. 

In my magazine I used a mixture of two fonts ‘Nuclear Accident’ and ‘Cooper Black’ because the clash together well and complement each other so the magazine looks more professional and realistic. I download ‘Nuclear Accident’ via dafont.com; the name and effect of the text made the typography stand out to make my magazine look different and more individual. I choose effects that would make my magazine look unique and some reads would want to buy the magazine because it’s unique and different.

Another way I attracted my target audience was through the colour scheme. The colour scheme of my magazine was mainly red; black and white as these are my target audience indicated in my research that those were the colours that they would link with Hip Hop music. The colours are strong bold and eye catching colours that grabs people attention. I also used the colours to appeal to both genders equally, for instance although my model is dressed in a way to suggest strength and dominance. I has attracted and addressed my target audience through the type of language I used for example I used slang to and formal English to appeal to teenagers and above. I chose to do this to make my magazine readable all over the world. I am targeting a wide range of readers intelligent and otherwise.

Furthermore to further attract my target audience I keep my magazine simple and clear so that the reader does not have a hard time trying to read and understand the layout it’s straightforward.

Evaluation Q4

In my audience research it stated that the targeted age is 14 and above USA audience. This is because USA has a very strong Hip Hop scene and USA artist tend to dominate the Hip Hop scene worldwide.

I decided to target a younger audience as the artist that are featured in this magazine are young so a younger audience would be more appealed to a young artist, for example Scooter Smiff, Diggy, Small Change, Lil Twist and Cymphonique. My magazine appeals to both younger and older audience because of the wide age range my music magazine is in because many people in there 40s read a Hip Hop music magazine. The focus of this magazine is Hip Hop.

In terms of ethnicity, most are black people however there has been some great white MCs in the last 20 years. This genre target all races male and female making one of the most iconic genres in the music industry. This makes the magazine more relatable and original. The magazine target an audience that’s going to read about a new song and go download or buy after to listen to every day via their MP3 player. 

Evaluation Q3

I reference to the publishing conducted a search II discovered a publishing company called ‘The Source’. David Mays started The Source originally and Jon Shecter while they both attended  Harvard University in Cambridge Massachusetts. Mays and Shecter were influenced by hip-hop and wanted to give praise by devoting coverage to the rising music genre. Mays and Shecter decided to hire their college friends James Bernard (as senior editor) and Ed Young (as associate publisher), and the four men immediately became equal shareholders in the ownership of the magazine. At the time, Mays handled duties as the publisher for the magazine, and Shecter was the editor in-chef .  The magazine's offices were moved from Massachusetts to New York City in 1990, a move that was made with the intention to expand the magazine into a mainstream market publication.
The magazine featured cover stories on the crack/cocaine epidemic, police brutality, and New York's investigations of high-profile emcees. The magazine also included many notable features, including the famous  Unsigned Hype column. The publication has over eight million subscribers worldwide and remains one of the most popular hip-hop magazines in the world.
Secondly I thought about distribution and I conducted a search and discovered the my music magazine would sell better in ether Whsmith or HMV because of the genre and the amount of publicity it would get. 

Evaluation Q2

My music magazine is made to target teenagers and above both male and female who listen to Hip Hop. I represented the particular social group through the images used in my music magazine. Firstly the model on the front cover represents the Hip Hop style and way of life.

One of the ways this is done is through the clothes he is dressed in; he is wearing a cap, a puffy jacket, stripe jumper and some Sony headphones. This suggests urban stereotypically associated with hip hop artist. In addition, the clothes are flashy so to further represent the Hip Hop life style and genre. The clothes are natural exclusive so that the target audience would want to purchase the magazine to copy the look; also the clothes suggest the type of genre that the magazine will be. The clothes that my model wore was design to look flashy so that the clothes draws attention to the magazine, this also represent the expensive lifestyle of a Hip Hop artist.

The headphones and the cap the model is wearing is not the usual type of accessories worn by Hip Hop artist to appeal my target audience because it’s make my model and in turn my music magazine original and individual and the social group this magazine is aimed at are attracted to individuality. The pose of the model is to so that he is not afraid to look anyone on the eye making the model more dominant over the target audience. The straight facial expression on the models face shows the dangerous and mysterious aspects of a Hip Hop artist and this is a normal in the Hip Hop genre. 

Evaluation Q1

Before creating my music magazine I started by researching the conventions of a music magazine and the differences between music magazines. I kept to the conventions but I added certain things for example like ‘Smokey background’ and ‘urban text’ to represent the Hip Hop style. I emulated real magazine by creating a masthead for the name of the music magazine to make my product look more professional. To make my magazine more unique I added a masthead that stand out from the magazine so that the audience is more attracted to the magazine. I also used the colour red for the masthead because it reflects well in light and is easier seen compared to other colours. I downloaded a font from dafont.com that promotes the Hip Hop life style. This will attract a wide range of audience from 14 and above because it will stand out in shops.  Another recognisable convention I used is placing the masthead behind the model: I chose to do this as it makes the magazine look more interesting and more professional. 

I choose to not to add a selling line which challenges the conventions however makes the music magazine unique compared to others. Instead I added a bar name which included names of popular artist in Hip Hop. As my magazine is a Hip Hop magazine the addiction of a name bar instead of a selling line communicated to the target audience what magazine this really is. 

Also to follow the conventions of a magazine I used a barcode and a dateline, I displayed the dateline at the bottom right of the masthead but I decided to place the barcode in the bottom left of the magazine. To make the barcode more original I made it my self with Photoshop manipulation.

To attract my target audience I had to use cover lines – another convention used in most magazines as they give a quick look into what will be featured in the magazine and they will attract my target audience, as they are short, colourful and eye-catching. I used the same fonts for all the cover lines to attract my target audiences as the font is featured on my magazine. Furthermore the main cove line and the image act as the main selling point of the magazine so it had to stand out from the rest of the magazine. Instead of including a competition as a cover line I kept it just on the music. I arranged my cover lines around the image and on the image breaking the conventions but this made my music magazine more effective because the cover lines are clear to read and stand out on the page.

A common convention of a music magazine is to use a medium close up shot as the dominant image, in my music magazine I used a medium close up shot so the image stands out from the magazine and creates an interactive feel that brings he target audience closer to the model. In continuation the model is dressed and posed to represent Hip Hop and I feel will appeal to my target audience.

My content page followed the conventions used in a real magazine. Firstly I added images that represented Hip Hop and the change it has been put through also, I added images because many real music magazine content pages have pictures that link to article inside a music magazine however this all depends if the target audience has read pass the front page. To appeal to my target audience I included images that transcend the front page to give a sense of constancy.

I also included categories arranged vertically around the page, which is popular convention used in most music magazines as it makes it look organised. However it could be argued hat I developed the convention by arranging the categories around the pictures to make the content look more unique and different and I feel it works and it does appeal to the target audience.

Similar to the content page, my double page spread uses developed conventions. First I used a mixture of colours blacks, reds and whites to create a modern and professional look. Also I arranged my article into two columns with a headline, however to tailor the double page spread to the genre I added urban fonts and smoke background. This in turn forces the target audience to read the article to get a better understanding.