Evaluation Question 6&7

 What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I learned that the process of design requires a lot on the technology itself,for my magazine to look as professional as possible I had to get familiar with softwares like Photoshop and In design to edit and create the finished product.The process started with the photography, so the first thing was to get a professional quality camera and a studio with high quality lighting which helped me get a high quality result.I kept track of my creative journey through my blogger and I find this to be better way of keeping records of work as it it can never get lost and you can easily edit and change anything as and when you need to.As well as that, it is very easy for research purposes to have blogger because if you need to save anything from one computer to another in a quick way you can save it in you blogger as a draft and open in up form a different computer.

Photoshop and In-design were the main softwares that I used throughout creating my magazine. Photoshop is something that used not only within the magazine industry but its used but most creative based task such as editing, re touching ,cut and paste, duplicating there is almost a tool for everything and its become one of the most popular tools within media and technology today.I used it to edit my photographs with tools such as airbrushing and changing the colour and contrast.I used in design for the rest of creating my magazine so things such as contents page, front cover and double page spread.The tools on there are similar to Photoshop but I feel its more targeted publishing as it was a really smooth process creating my magazine and everything was straight forward in comparison to Photoshop which is a lot more challenging.

Overall I felt that the process of design more specifically designing a magazine is a lot more time consuming that I thought.The amount of research definatley adds to the quality of the and result as you get a better understand of what your essentially trying to create and it also help you get ideas if you feel stuck on ideas.I feel that in comparison to my college magazine which was created using Microsoft, I definatley think my music magazine is lot better in quality and you can tell my confidence with programs such as Photoshop and in design.I felt like my college magazine was a lot more rushed and I didn't really have a lot of research or skill to start with but with my music magazine I had a better understanding of what it takes to make a good quality magazine that looked professional.I feel a lot more confident within my skills in reaching and designing media and I feel like If given the opportunity I would be able to create a magazine that shows of my skill with adobe software a lot more.As well as that, keeping my blog up to date was a challenge but I feel like it helped me develop a lot more and it shows you clearly the places that you need work on and the places that you are strong on.Moreover it also allows you to see  how much you have developed withing your work and it easy to go back and reference something if you need to look it up quickly.Overall I feel like I learnt a lot from this task and its given me a taster on what it takes to create a high quality piece of media.

Evaluation Question 4&5

Who is your Target audience and how did you attract/adress you audience

My main aim for my magazine was to create something for the everyday,urban and streetwise man, that wasn't stereotypical or following current forms and conventions when it come to Hip-Hop music magazines.With my magazine being target towards a hip-hop loving, urban and streetwise audience  there are a lot of stereotypes behind the type of people who listen to Hip-Hop. Most of the time there always labelled as  troublemaking , violent criminals because of the types of backgrounds that they come from. My Idea for my magazine was targeting all those people that get stereotyped like that  but with a sleek new twist that it still relatable to  their environment and there up bringing g and a lot of that was to do with the types of artists featured in the magazine because if they recognise a certain artist its easier for someone to want to read something about someone who they know about or relate  to .

I wanted to create something current and fresh for a hip hop loving fan,and something that that was sleek and polished looking but with most of my target audience being males it mean't that I could add a tougher and more urban perspective that was n't so predictable like VIBE magazine but something that was a little bit more challenging and bold.I feel like I represented my target audience well in my magazine by using models who looked like the type of people that would read the magazine because I wanted to relateable to the everyday young man and with some of the content that is featured within my magazine it would definatley be more of some between the age of 16-25 as I feel they are the people that have the time to read magazines.I made sure their needs were met but featuring easily recognisable artists in my magazine but the fresh new twist was they get a stripped back version that is more raw and not so glitz and glam like what some current magazines do.As well as that I also added content like style tips, music suggestions,tour and events calendar and music tips on anyone who is interesting in making their own music as I feel my reader will 

Evaluation question 3

 What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Bauer Media

Bauer Media is Europe’s largest privately owned publishing Group. The Group is a worldwide media empire offering over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations.It joined the Bauer Media Group in January 2008 following acquisition of Emap plc’s consumer and specialist magazines, radio, TV, online and digital businesses.Bauer Media is a multi-platform UK-based media Group consisting of many companies collected around two main divisions – Magazines and Radio - widely recognized and rewarded as being industry innovators. Today, Bauer Media spans over 80 influential brand names covering a diverse range of interests including Heat, Closer, 4 Music and Grazia.

With Bauer being so diverse and experienced in the field, I think distributing my magazine would be a nice addition to the Bauer family as they deal withe a lot of music related businesses and having a magazine like mine would attract a different audience that they might not have had before.As well as that, I feel like my magazine has a different style to something that Bauer do so with their experience the will be a way for to attract a new readership while making a niche for their current readership who might want to purchase the magazine.

Evaluation:Question 2

How does you media product represent particular social groups   ?

http://www.slideshare.net/deemarshal/how-does-you-media-product-represent-particular-social-19191460

Evaluation : Question 1

In what ways does you product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

What I realised whilst in the process of making my magazine is that a lot of aspects of my magazine would naturally be similar to real media magazine in order to attract a certain target.XXL magazine was my main inspiration behind my magazine, being an an urban hip-hop magazine I felt that there were a lot of similarities within the type of content we feature and the type of reader we would have so I used this almost like a template or starting point for my magazine but making changes throughout to fit my style and my audience.To understand their forms and conventions I looked at a variety of XXL covers and I bullet pointed the things that they repeat or highlight throughout all of their magazines. 

• Red, white and black colour scheme
• Masthead uses the same red box and white text format
• fonts usually thick and bold
• Main image very unique and attention grabbing 
• Minimal coverlines
• Informal language 

By highlight the things that made them standout as a magazine I was able to see how somethings could appeal to a certain audience like for example I found out that language choices on the front of the magazine has to be altered to fit the type of person who's going to read the magazine so with my magazine I kept it informal as I was target a similar audience to XXL but the difference was mine is a more younger audience who is really into hip-hop music but their also very streetwise, tough and business savvy so I had to find a way to balance that raw aesthetic that XXL has with a more sleek and well put together style that would appeal to my readers.As shown in the photo above, I mimicked the same format that they used in their masthead but instead I used a thicker font and titled the masthead vertically to add a little bit of edge which is something that I think challenges their forms as I don't see that fitting in with their type of magazine.

I feel that my product definatley uses the forms and conventions in comparison to real products but I feel that in order for my product to feel like a realistic album it had to fit in what is going on in real media.As well as that, I also think that with XXL and my  magazine having the same target audience its inevitable to have similarities as I feel our readership would look for similar things in something that they would want to buy and read

Music Magazine Double Page spread

Final draft of the double page spread

This was the final draft for my Double page spread.I took my inspiration from a spread in XXL magazine and I really liked the way that they duplicated the imaged to get a 3-D effect in the image and the image was kind of the starting point for the spread.I styled my model differently this time, switching a baseball cap with a  knitted beanie which a little more relaxed and dressed down and I really wanted the spread to feel like a more stripped back, up close and personal look at the artist.I kept the colour scheme to the red, white and black and I kept everything very minimal and sleek.I relied on the small details to really make this page stand out and a very subtle changed was I used colour in the imagery this time, so you can really see the model in a more natural and relaxed manner compared to black and white which can be quite dramatic and intense.although I was really please with my double page spread, If I was to do it again I think I would have rearrange the text on the interview as I feel it is a little it too much writing on the page and it is a little intense at a first glance.

Music Magazine Contents Page

Final Draft of Contents Page

This is the final version of my contents page.I kept the colour scheme in the same red white and black from the cover but I changed the background of the original image to a very dramatic black background.I divided my contents page into two sections so I could keep it quite simple and minimalistic.I really liked the image I used  and although it does feature the same person from the cover I felt it worked because this image has a very different feel to the image used on the cover that in this one it really works and its the main focus for the page.I tried to include things like '212 top ten' which features the most current top ten hip hop songs, which is something I believe my reader would be interested in.For my magazine to represent the street wise and urban person my language choice was at times informal so it would be relateable to my readers and I tried to use to many long words as I feel at time it can get a little bit boring and up tight and my readers are laid back and easy going.Although I am very pleased with my contents page, If I was to do it again I would probably have used a different person on the picture and I would have also incorporated more images to go with the titles as it can get a little it boring when there is too much text and not enough to look at.  

First draft of Contents Page

This was my first draft for my contents page and although I was very pleased with it I felt that the text covered up too much of the image in the background and the image being the main focal point on this page I had to experiment with moving things around to see what worked best and eventually I moved the whole text to the left.

Music Magazine Front Cover

Final Draft of the Front Cover

This is the final draft of my music magazine, taking inspiration from magazine such as XXL,SPIN,VIBE and Q I was really inspired by their bold and graphic covers.When I started the research process for my magazine my main focus was my target audience and making sure my magazine would capture the type of person who would be reading this and with it be steered towards a more urban individual, I really tried to make it edgy and bold but still very sleek and minimal whilst still having that tough street vibe.The colour scheme was kept to a very strict red and black which reminded me a little bit of the gangs in america who wear coloured bandannas to represent their gang and that idea was what I was trying to get across, in a sense that my reader (an urban, tough  and streetwise individual) would recognize the colours and immediately know its '212' ,so my main focus was to make it as eye catching and graphic as possible.The masthead was inspired by XXL,SPIN and Q magazine who all user the white text in a red box format but I wanted to give a little twist so I tilted it so its vertical and I think this added a really nice touch and gave the magazine a nice flow which makes it easier to read.

My whole aim was to try and keep it quite sleek and minimalistic so I really tried to little the amount of cover lines but limiting the coverlines, it mean't that they might not stand out as much as I wanted them to so mimicked the same format I used in the masthead for the coverlines to make them standout and by only using  Popular well know urban Hip-Hop artists it would entice my reader into wanting to read more and see the articles.Focusing a lot on attention to detail, I really wanted to make sure every aspect of the cover was a strong as the next, therefore, when taking the images for the cover I made sure my model gave that tough, and care free urban vibe with his arms crossed and legs relaxed and the snapback was just a little touch of street-wear and an easily recognizable item that my readers might be interested in.

Flat Plans

After researching a lot of music magazines I had a rough Idea of how I wanted my magazine to look so I started by drawing quick flat plans of possible ideas.The whole point of this was I wanted to see if the layout would work with what I was trying to do with my magazine and It also helps me figure out were certain things should be placed and what size they should be.What I really like about flat plans is I get to see how my ideas could potentially look without having to spend a lot of time trying to re create every single idea on indesign.

Here are the layouts I will be using while making my magazine but the layout, colour scheme and scale could change if it doesn't work or fit in with the rest of the magazine.

: FRONT COVER

CONTENTS PAGE INSPIRATION

Here is a selection of  contents page's from a wide variety of different magazines that I found really interesting and inspirational for my own magazine

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD ANALYSIS

Double Page Spread inspiration 

My double page spread will focusing on trying to capture the essence and mood of the whole magazine and the artist being interviewed.I really want it to feel as if the audience are getting an up close and personal or an insight into the life of the person that's being interviewed and the key to that will be keeping the question interesting and fresh so it feels as if they a getting to know a side of the artists that has never been written about before.The whole idea of my magazine is to have that cool,underground urban vibe but still very sleek and polished and I think the attention will be an important factor in trying to balance the two together so I will be concentrating on trying to capture that within the images, colour schemes, text and font.

I started with looking at several double page spread from different genres but I was especially looking out for the spreads that I felt captured the essence of my magazine and the ones I feel would work in my magazine as well.Magazines like Q, XXL, SPIN, NME and VIBE were among a few that I found inspiration in.As well as that, I felt that language choices and style of writing within the spreads was a really important factor in capturing the mood of the person and the magazine as a whole and with looking at different magazine I started to see that Magazine like VIBE and XXL, who target a more urban audience would have different language choices and different style of writing to magazines like NME or KERRANG who have a more rock and punk influenced audience.

 

                                                                             

MAGAZINE COVER ANALYSIS

                          Music Magazine Cover Analysis

Vibe Magazine was one of my main inspirations for my Music magazine.I started with researching a lot of music magazines and I started to think about the things that I liked about each cover.Vibe was one of the few that I felt really went will with how I wanted my magazine to look.This cover really stood out to me because overall a lot of the elements that are on the cover I really liked.The cover overall is really sleek and polished but it still has an urban raw edge and that's partly because of the main image.The main image is of international Hip Hop artist Lil Wayne, known for his very out spoken and explicit lyrics and I feel the tried to portray his personality within the image.The angle of the shot suggest that we the audience are slightly looking up at him which could suggest that he is in control or that he has the power which is a little bit intimidating, highlighted by the fact that the decided show all his tattoos makes him look even more scary and the sunglasses at that rock star edge, you could almost imagine him in that outfit walking off the set of one of his music videos.The main coverline ' Weezy still Hip Hop's leading man' really ties in the main image as well and the use of the rhetorical question as a cover line doesn't give much away almost invites you to want to read more know the full story .The colour pallete was very minimal and tone down on this cover and I feel like that was just to keep the attention on the image as its the main focal point for the cover.I feel like its lack of bright colours that keep this cover from not looking to over the top, the simplistic nature of ti is what keeps it very sleek and polished .

Music Magazine - Proposal

Proposal 

Magazine title ideas :

• DMC 
• 212
• EXPLICIT
• VATO
• BLUEPRINT
• NWA 

I think I will be using '212' as my magazine title because I wanted  something short and to the point but still unique and edgy.My whole aim for my magazine is to really try and capture that cool urban hip hop vide and through researching magazines like XXL, VIBE and NME I found out that the shorter titles work best. '212' really stood out to me because I think its really catchy and memorable, as well as that, it is also the title of hip hop artist Azealia Banks' debut single.She was also featured on the cover  the Aug/Sept issue of Vibe magazine along side DIPLO. As well as that, when I was researching ideas for magazine names,I also found out that  212 in an are code in Manhattan New York city.The city was given area code 212, one of the original area codes when they were assigned in 1947, because it was one of the fastest that could be dialed under NANPA's (North American Numbering Plan)  rules of the time.I find that a there lettered/numbered title is effective because the shorter it is the catchier and more memorable it is.In addition to that I find that 212 kind of has that slang or street talk vibe to it which is what I will be trying to portray within my magazine as it is aimed at the more urban and streetwise individual.

The covers that I found the most effective and eye catching to me were there ones that used the colour red within then and I feel it could work well within my magazine kind of like the way XXL have the signature red and white masthead.Red being a colour that symbolises power, passion, anger and lust it is really diverse in the way that you could use it and within my magazine it will be more of a portrayal of power, passion, strength.Although I will be trying to portray a more urban street vibe withing my magazine I still want it to look sleek and well put together and I feel like Q magazine are very good at keeping their covers very sleek and neat looking but still have that little bit of edge and toughness.

Overall I will be trying to create a magazine that combines elements from VIBE, XXL and Q magazine to create my own urban magazine for the more streetwise, tough and hip hop loving individual.Trying to balance a more sleeker neat style with a tougher, masculine touch.I will be working in A4 size so I have a lot of room to play around with the layouts and the colour scheme will mostly be monochrome with splashes of red and burgundys as it will be a winter/spring issue the colours don't need to be as bright and in your face.