Evalution Question Seven

Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?


When creating a school magazine for my preliminary task, I had a completely different approach to the one taken in my main task. In the process of creating my school magazine, I was basing all elements on what i personally thought looked 'OK', not once did I take into account the desires of my audience, and I did little more than briefly look at other products in the same area.

When researching for my main product however, I realized that there is a lot to be learned from other magazines in the same genre, and that any successful magazine must cater for a specific target audience. This new approach to my work ensured that I created everything properly, following codes and conventions I had previously seen and knew to be successful.
In creating my main task, my magazine's image was more planned and more conventional than my school magazines image. When planning the picture for my main work I took into consideration everything I had learned, this approach contrasts heavily with the plan for my preliminary picture, which I just took with no previous thought or planning.
I also learned that when creating the layout for a magazine, you must again concentrate on what the audience want, and not simply fit everything in the space that seems to look best. You have to know the conventions, and follow them.
I learnt that when writing cover lines and a masthead, I must again, follow convention. If I was to redo my preliminary task now with all my newly learned skills, I would use different fonts, such as ones that resemble casual handwriting or the ones you find on school science equipment labels, in a hope to represent the content of the magazine, and its audience. I would not do what I did before learning about audience needs and representation, and just pick one that looked fairly good.



When editing images in my preliminary task, I didn't really understand what tools to use and where to use them, which resulted in a poorly cut picture that I then blurred and subsequently had to create a cover line to fit my new blurred image. This lack of planning need to improvise and work around mistakes was removed as I learned more about how the technologies I was using worked. In my main task I could cut and shape images exactly how I wanted them.
Another area where improvement can be credited to things I have learned is my contents page. My old contents page was extremely rushed and contained absolutely no planning. This cause the entire page to be quite poor in quality. This made me realize that leaving work so late would ensure failure, and so from then on I learned to manage my time better and work with more care, free from a fast approaching deadline.



Overall I think that my main product is much better designed due to advances in skill, more sensitive to genre, conventions, target audience needs and audience representation that my preliminary task was due to the things I had learned from progression between the two.

Evalution Question Six

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

My product was created with the hardware of only an Apple Mac and a Sony camera.

All my work was created on the Adobe Photoshop software. I had previously used Photoshop before starting this course but had little knowledge of it, however in creating my product, I have learnt the software in greater detail, enabling me to create more advanced work and solve problems that I would have had to previously work around.

Tools discovered during the process of creating my magazine that I have used:



I learned to use Blogger when creating my product. Blogger was a useful tool for helping me track and record my progress. This enabled me to manage my time efficiently and get a clear perspective on how well I was doing. In addition to this, blogger allowed communication and receive feedback from classmates. I could then act on this to improve my product.

Evalution Question Five

How did you attract/address your audience?

I believe I have attracted and addressed my target audience through emulating the codes and conventions I have seen in other products aimed at the same audience. In taking ideas from many other Hip-Hop magazines, as well as other Hip-Hop media, I believe I have created a product that successfully attracts and addresses my target audience.

My audience will be attracted to my magazine as it offers the conventions of other Hip-Hop magazines proven to be successful.

These conventions are used by the former leading magazine in the Hip-Hop genre, Vibe. Here are some of the conventions seen in Vibe that I have developed in order to attract my audience.




My magazine also keeps a consistent colour theme, something that all Hip-Hop magazines do, making my magazine more appealing to my target audience. Aside from the conventional aspects, my magazine does however hold many features unconventional of Hip-Hop magazines, I believe this to be my magazines unique selling point. I think that as my magazine pulls ideas from other magazine genres like rock and indie, it becomes more rounded and not purely focused on Hip-Hop alone. I think this will be appealing to many people as it is something not currently available. I hope that in not looking like an entirely conventional Hip-Hop magazine, I can attract a wider audience and retain the hardcore Hip-Hop lovers through my use of many Hip-Hop conventions.

Some of my magazines unconventional aspects:


As well as the above, my magazine's contents page is very unconventional of a Hip-Hop magazine and much more like an indie magazine. I can fit more on the page that way and i think it looks better. I believe that in doing this I am creating a better magazine as my audience can see a straight forward contents. I think that a magazine with this feature will attract the audience more as it offers more diversity within the magazine. Conventions of Hip-Hop can still be seen on my contents page in the way that I have stuck to my colour theme, but I have mixed it up with Indie conventions to create a more attractive and appealing look. This is my magazine's unique selling point.

In the article on my double page spread, I have used an idea I saw on a web interviews with 50 cent, Eminem, Snoop Dog and Ice Cube. This four are all leading figures in the Hip-Hop industry, and so I thought that the way the audience was addressed here would be a style to emulate when creating my own interview.

Here is an extract from an one of the interviews...

I like it when people talk shit. Because if people weren't talking shit, there would be nothing for me to come back with. I need that. If I don't have any ammo, what am I going to say?

There's obviously a limit to the things you want people to know, but I've pretty much put most of it out there. Maybe people don't know what kind of underwear I wear, what color.

Boxers. Pink.

As you can see, this article doesn't address the audience at all, It just shows them what they want to see and removes need for standard questions and answers, the interview is more like a monologue. I have copied this style as I think that my audience do not want to be addressed, they want to just see what the artist is saying. In the modern culture of Hip-Hop artists need to look like they are the boss as this is what attracts the audience to them, answering questions is not really a 'boss' thing to do. So I have made my artist just tell his story to the audience, not answer their questions.

Evalution Question Four

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My media product is aimed at anyone following the modern Hip-Hop culture, this is usually a niche group within the music industry but is still a very large amount of people. Unlike Indie and Rock, Hip-Hop artists have their personal lives brought into the media on a large scale. People who follow Hip-Hop do not only follow the music but they follow the lives of the artists. The music is just part of this, and is one of the main ways in which Hip-Hop artists express their feelings towards certain issues in their lives. So the personal lives of the artists and the music they make go hand in hand.
There is no specific person who follows the culture, but it is usually young males from about 15-25 who take the biggest interest. These people are likely to want to emulate the style of the people they see on the magazines. This means that they will usually shop in Blue inc, Madhouse, River Island, Burton and other shops like them. They will probably like listening to Kiss on the radio.

I have researched the social group I am aiming at on uktribes

Evalution Question Three

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

The magazine industry is largely dominated by Bauer media group. Bauer media are a large German publishing company that own the rights to publish in 15 countries world wide, these include many European countries, China and the USA. This means that if Bauer was to publish my magazine, it would be in circulation all over the world.
Currently, Bauer's most popular magazines are Kerrang!, a rock magazine and Q, an indie magazine. I believe they would be interested in publishing my product as it belongs to the mass-audience Hip-Hop genre, which is an area of the industry that Bauer are not currently competing in. I think that what would make Bauer even more inclined to publish my product would be the recent downfall of Vibe magazine. This removes the biggest competition my magazine would face and leaves a huge hole in the market that my magazine, with the help of Bauer, would fill.
Vibe magazine used to release 12 issues a year. The magazine aimed its product at the primarily young generation following the urban Hip-Hop culture. The magazine had a circulation of 817,825 in the United States. This is similar in scale to the circulation or Kerrang! which is 104,544 in the UK, so in proportion to population which is 308 million in the USA and 61 million in the UK, Karrang! is more popular. This would suggest that Hip-Hop has a smaller audience than rock, but still very large. I believe that Bauer would be interested in publishing my product to meet the high demand set by the audience left behind by Vibe as it has publishing rights in the USA aswell.

Evalution Question Two

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine helps represent my target social group of young males with an interest in Hip-Hop through emulating the codes and conventions set by other magazines targeting the same group. Magazines like ‘Vibe’ are in high circulation and are popular among the social group I am targeting, so in using the codes and conventions in ‘Vibe’ magazine, I have created an image that represents my target social group.



The postures of the two models are very similar but not identical, as my picture is facing down more. However the posture used in both pictures is still upright and straight. There is nothing interesting in the posture and it shows no emotion, this helps the audience focus on other aspects of the picture.
Both pictures use natural low-key lighting. The light does not help to high light any part of the face at all. Again, this shows no particular emotions and adds the conventional plain look of Hip-Hop pictures.
Both the models are wearing a black suit with a thin tie. I think this shows sophistication and importance, appealing to the audience, as this is how the audience will see the artists. The skinny tie adds a modern twist to the look. The models are both wearing sunglasses; this shows a further element to the modern look that represents the audience; it also ads to the sophistication look which represents the artists superiority from the audience.
The expression in both pictures is simply plain and gives nothing away; they are both just blank faces, making the models look mysterious and unreadable.
The pictures are also both in black and white, I think this makes the pictures look more modern to an extent, but it also adds to the mysterious look they have.
The size and positioning of the models are also similar to each other. Both of them show the bust of the model and both their shoulders are cut off the page on either side. Their head covers part of the masthead. This allows the picture to dominate the cover. So all the audience see is a smartly dressed, mysterious and plain-faced artist. This causes them to want to know more about them.

Evalution Question One

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

After researching the Hip-Hop magazine genre, I gained an understanding of the codes and conventions they follow. In creating my own magazine, I took this knowledge into account and used it to help me create a professional looking front cover. However, I did not treat the conventions as law. There are many ways in which my work develops and challenges the forms and conventions of a Hip-Hop magazine.

Front cover

My magazines front cover was designed following the conventions I had researched, and challenge them very little.



Masthead- my front covers masthead is the feature the challenges conventions of a Hip-Hop magazine the most. While conventionally, Hip-Hop magazine masthead typography is bold and smooth; I have challenged and developed that convention in making mine bold and distorted, I believe this gives my magazine and unique style that looks slightly more Indie that the conventional Hip-Hop magazine, I have seen the convention challenged in other magazines such as 'XXI' which has its masthead on the left, just like an indie magazine. I believe this challenge to the convention will distinguish my magazines appearance from other Hip-Hop magazines. The distortion, is not extreme like it would be on the front cover of a rock or heavy metal magazine, but makes the text look as if it was once smooth, and has taken damage.



The colours used by my masthead are conventional; I have used a colour gradient from black (top) to red (bottom). I have seen this style used conventionally throughout my research and I believe that in using it myself I Have followed the codes and conventions set by successful Hip-Hop magazines, and in doing so, given my magazine a professional and well-made look.
The positioning of my masthead follows conventions set by real media products. I have made my masthead fill the entire top of the page. With a few exceptions, nearly all Hip-Hop magazines I looked at do the same thing.

Cover lines- my front cover’s cover lines use and develop form and conventions set by real media products. By convention, Hip-Hop cover lines are a jumble of colour, font and size. I have taken this into account and used the idea when creating my own cover lines. My largest cover line is to the left of the picture and it displays the name of the artist. This is something I saw frequently in my research, and so I used the idea.


I have used the convention of mixing fonts to create a more professional look to my cover. The majority of my cover lines are in fonts that I believe to be similar to fonts I have seen in real media cover lines.
The variation in size in my cover lines is another convention I have researched and used. I have, like on many professional covers, used a variation and mix of size for individual words in my cover lines. The more important words are larger, to make them more eye catching. They will be the first things the audience see. I have seen this convention followed by every Magazine I researched.
In coalition with the size differences, I have also used colour to help place emphasis of particular words and help brighten my front cover. I have used a minority colour in each cover line to help highlight the key word.
The positioning of my cover lines also follows convention. They are spaced equally around the picture, and they do not crowd the page, leaving it looking conventionally tidy. The size I have used for my cover lines also matches the conventional size used by many Hip-Hop magazines.



Picture- my picture uses, develops and challenges conventional pictures in music magazines.
The Picture its self has followed conventions set by real products. I have used a young male model as in almost every magazine I looked at, there was a young male artist featured on the front cover. The mise en scene of my picture also follows convention. I have dressed my model in a dark, plain suit. I saw this used in many other magazines and believe it shows sophistication. My model is also wearing sunglasses that obscure his eyes, making him look mysterious and unreadable, like many models on professional covers.
My picture has been rendered black and white; I have seen this effect used on many professional front covers and think it ads style to the cover, however I have challenged the convention in making the tie red, fitting with my colour theme. I think that this effect makes the picture look more professional and makes the cover look more interesting.
The size and positioning of my picture follows conventions I have seen throughout my research. I have used a shot from the shoulders up, and placed the picture directly in the centre. I think this gives the cover some symmetry and makes it look more professional.
The expression on the face of my model is blank. This is a conventional feature of nearly all Hip-Hop magazines that I have used. The blank expression gives nothing away and ads further mystery to the model.

Colour and layout – I have used a colour theme in my magazine. Conventionally, nearly all Hip-Hop magazine covers use a similar theme, usually with a single colour mixing with black white and grey. I have used red in my magazine, as it seems to be a common form used by many real products.
For my magazines background I have used a black and white gradient. This is something I have seen many real products do to give their covers a more professional and appealing look. I have also placed a gradient behind the masthead, making the area behind it unnoticeably darker as this seems to be a convention among Hip-Hop covers, and it makes my masthead stand out more, I have seen this on many real covers and I think it is very effective.
In designing my main layout for my magazine, I used researched conventions to help me. I placed the picture in the middle, surrounded it with cover lines and placed the masthead over the full width of the page at the top, with a few more cover lines above it. This was the layout used by nearly all Hip-Hop magazines I looked at.


Contents Page

Much like the front cover’s masthead, my magazines contents page displays the conventions of a Indie magazine, rather than a Hip-Hop one. My contents page actually contains more Indie conventions than Hip-Hop conventions. I think this gives my magazine a unique selling point as the content is still Hip-Hop orientated, however it is presented in a more Indie style.
My contents layout looks much like the layout seen in the Indie magazine ‘NME’. It follows more closely Indie conventions than Hip-Hop conventions. Hip-Hop contents pages are usually very empty and plain. Indie contents pages on the other hand, are by convention packed full of text. My magazine follows these conventions in the way I have created multiple boxes, each showing different sections of the magazine.
My colour scheme also sticks with conventions, as it is consistent with the front cover colour scheme. Although my magazine contents page is largely composed with Indie conventions in mind, I am still keeping the colour scheme and typography in Hip-Hop conventions, and I am keeping these conventions consistent, as is convention in a Hip-Hop magazine.

Double Page Spread final

Contents page final

Double Page Spread and Contents - Drafts

Double page spread draft

Double page spread layout plan

The picture will be one of the pictures taken for my front cover, as the front cover picture is directly linked to this page. It will, like the cover one, be expressionless. I plan to have a brief synopsis of the artist to the left of his face in order to fill the gap. I will put a small background square behind each word as I have seen done in other double page spreads. I also plan to slightly distort to border between the picture and the interview, I will do this in a box-like style to retain consistency within the page. The picture will be in black and white like the one on the MCR page, and the page will be primarily black, with white and red text (mainly white).