The document analyzes how a student-created hip hop magazine represents particular social groups through its visual content and design choices. While featuring mostly black male rappers to align with the genre's origins and core audience, the magazine also includes some Asian
2. Masthead - in bright blue font
Main cover line anchoring the
main image.
blue, black and purple font
and colour scheme –
creating a house style
Main image of a rapper on
both magazines
Barcode, price, issue
number
Banner summarising what's
inside, follows house style
colours
3. Similarities and Differences - Front Cover
Both front covers have similarities and differences, both covers have a bright blue
masthead at the top of the page, this introduces the house style colours for the
magazines and the colour is repeated throughout the page. Both covers have a
male rapper as the main image, to demonstrate the hip hop genre of the magazine.
Both covers also have the main headline anchoring the main image, this keeps the
cover organised and clear to read and understand.
Some differences of the covers are that the VIBE cover has a close up image of a
male rapper where as my cover has a mcu shot of my rapper. My front cover has
two colours as the background which are black and white which are very masculine
colours, I did this because I did not want to use a “normal” background for my
magazine which is why I chose 2 different colours so that it looks different to other
magazines at a shelf in a shop. Whereas VIBE have used a plain grey background.
The VIBE cover uses purple, black and blue font as their main cover line because
they have a black background where as I couldn’t use white font because my
background was white too, so it wouldn’t of stood out or looked eye catching. My
cover has a banner at the bottom of the page where as the VIBE has it at the top of
their front cover., it doesn’t have a flash or a banner. I used a banner to just
summarise what is inside the magazine. I also noticed that on this magazine VIBE
have not got a barcode on the front cover which is unusual, however they might
have it on the back or somewhere inside the magazine.
4. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
small images on the
page. Links to
information on
contents page.
Pictures also have
page numbers on
them.
House style colours
repeated- black and
white background
Page is split in half, text on
the right going down in
page number order and
pictures linking to the
information of pages.
Page numbers in a different
font colour from the rest to
make them stand out
5. Similarities and Differences - Contents
Both contents have page numbers next to each page summary so that it
is clear for the reader to see what is on each page. Another similarity is
that beside each picture there is a number of which article links to the
image so my audience can guide themselves easy through my magzine
which makes my magazine look readable and reliable.
Both contents page’s have different layouts as you can see my magazine
has 3 images on the left and the contents on the right. Whereas the hip
hop weekly magazine has only 2 images and one is placed at the bottom
and one at the top. Also the hip hop weekly magazine has sections such
as entertainment, style etc... Because there magazine is a worldwide
magazine whereas Yolo magzine is a new and not established magazine.
Some other differences of the contents pages are that my colour scheme
is more eye catching and is the same as my front cover which is
professional, where as the other contents page keeps the colours to a
minimal (white background)
6. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Main Image on the left hand side of the
page.
Grab quote – quotes in better copy to
draw attention to important quotes
Question and answer format
Columns
Red jacket on both musicians
Images of smashed bottles to blend into the
graffiti background.
Main image is related to the article – both
articles are interviews/information about the
person in the image.
Main image reflecting what the article is about
– the article is about Dizzies troubled past
7. Similarities and Differences – Double Page Spread
Both double page spread have a similar layout, they both have a main
image of a male rap artist, this is who the article is mainly about. They
both have this image filling the whole left half of the page, and then the
writing on the right side in columns. Both have pictures on the bottom
right of the double page spread. Also both double page spread have the
logo of the magazine on the top right hand side of the double page
spread so readers get familiar with the company logo. Another similarity
is that both double page spread have used drop caps at the start of the
articles which make the magazine as a whole look professional.
Some differences in the double page spreads, the dizzee rascal article
contains a title for the article whereas mine does not which makes my
magzine look unprofessional and not reliable to my audience. Also in the
dizzee rascal article there are more pictures of other objects such as
stereo’s and glass bottle which relate to dizzee rascals lifestyle which
gives the audience more of an understanding of the rapper dizzee rascal.
8. 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
When doing my magazine I was aiming to target it at young people from the age 16-19
who are interested in hip hop music. I think by sticking to the stereotype of hip hop, my
magazine would appeal to the audience I was aiming for which was young males. I
concentrated my magazine on males purely because I think that from my research
males are the larger target audience for this type of magazine. I think my magazine
portrays young people as people who listen to this kind of music and like things like
bright colours, concerts and like socialising by going clubbing etc. I think this is a fair
portrayal as it is only viewed as a negative to some other social groups. For example
elderly people would be an example of people who have this opinion of young people.
Hip-hop artists are stereotyped and associated with wearing hats or hoodies over their
heads and quite serious looking, they have confidence and attitude. My photos can
represent a social group as they represent the R&B/hip-hop culture, they are wearing
the latest trends in fashion, they have their own unique styles and there’s a variation of
ethnicity. I have made the people in my images dress the way they have because I
found that it gave them their own identities and styles. I chose these photos because
they had similarities to professional images. I challenged the stereotype of having
people in hoodies as afro Caribbean by using a Asian British person in my photo.
However I still used pictures of black male artist throughout my contents page.
9. These are the pictures I used in my media magazine and as you can
see they are a stereotypical view of the hip hop world because I used
black male artists who are seen to be the people who listen to it
more. Also they generated this kind of music in New York in the
1970’s. However I chose to add an Asian artist too as many Asians
are now listening to hip hop music and even making there own as I
have seen on YouTube.
The clothes used within the hip hop culture are usually hoodies,
snapback hats and bright clothing. As you can see I told the people in
my magazine to wear these clothes so they represent hip hop in my
magazine.
10. 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
On my front cover, I wanted to represent a young Asian male rapper
who I knew would appeal to the target audience of young males
aged 16-19 years old I was aiming for. He is wearing a snapback hat,
red hoodie and is also wearing a gold watch which many other hip
hop artists wear too. The model in the photo looks as though he has
had a rough childhood and is now a successful artist as you can tell
by the rich style of clothes he has on e.g. gold watch. I wanted my
rapper to influence other upcoming artists which is why he looks
like this. He looks very proud of his work and looks as if he has an
ego which links in with the content of the article, it also reinforces
that hip hop is a young and successful genre. The bright colours I
used also reinforces the young target audience and theme of my
magazine, it draws people in and would make them want to buy and
read the rest of the magazine.
11. 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
On my contents page I used 3 images, one of a Asian male who is dressed
in stereotypical hip hop clothes. I used this image to show that hip hop
genre doesn’t just include black males, it also can be targeted at an Asian
audience. However I did still use 2 other black males on my contents
page as hip hop was generated from a black background. This shows that
for my magazine the social groups I was trying to represent working class
people who have lived like some of these artists, by having a troubled
childhood but hopefully they see how music can make them become
successful. The models in these photos have a more serious, aggressive
expression which was similar to the model on the front cover, this is
because my magazine is not full of happiness and smiles, it is a more
serious magazine which explains the artists life story so the audience can
obtain a greater understanding of the artists. The models are wearing
stereotypical hip hop clothing such as snapback hats, hoodies and some
have piercings. This shows a contrast between young peoples attitudes
and the aggressive expression which is reinforced by the connotations of
red. I also used an image of some decks, to reinforce the music theme
and edited the image to purple and green to fit in with the genre of the
magazine. I wanted my contents page to represent young people which I
think I achieved with the colours added on the image of the decks, and
also the clothes the model is wearing in the other picture are widely
recognised brands with young people. This means young people can
relate to my magazine and are more likely to understand the content.
12. 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The artists I have used in the contents page
are majority black artists, this is because from
my research of hip hop music I found that the
majority of the hip hop audience are black
males, I wanted to appeal to the audience
that would buy my magazine, if I designed a
magazine aimed at white males, it might not
sell as well. However I did mention a white
and Asian artists such as “Machine Gun
With the images I used, I did focus the Kelly”(MGK) and “Sparkaman”.I did this
images on a black male rappers. because I wanted to show that although the
However I did use an Asian rapper on my history of hip hop is mainly black people,
front cover as I believe a lot of Asian there are increasing numbers of whites and
people listen to hip hop and my research Asian hip hop artists and I wanted that to be
on YouTube as shown many Asian males recognised within my magazine.
rapping, I also focused my article on him
too. Although in the contents I didn’t
include an image of a white male to
again represent the change in hip hop
audience and show that although it is
dominated by black males, they are not
the only audience type.
