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.
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