3. •
Preliminary Project – Research & Planning
How did you think about target audience?
I conducted research on various types of magazines, such as music magazines and compared them to student
magazines. I analysed the different conventional features used in student magazines in comparison to different
types of magazines. I noticed that in student magazines they used cover lines more relevant to the lifestyle of
students. For instance the cover lines would focus on technological appliances such as Blackberry’s, as this is
relevant to students. Through research, I found out that student magazines tend to use language relevant to the
youth, this is called an field specific lexis. The student magazines that I researched didn’t use a range of colours
for its text, they tended to use two colours for text, this develops consistency. Whilst other types of magazines such
as music magazines conventionally use more colours, perhaps to develop interest. Before constructing my
artefact I wanted to ensure that my cover was clear in it’s theme and purpose hence why I planned for my main
cover line to have the term ‘youth’ in it, and for through the mast head being called ‘spoken minds’. These two
textual features of my magazine cover will make it clear that my magazines target audience is students.
• How did awareness of that audience impact upon your visual design and choice
of language?
Through developing my awareness and understanding of the target audience, I ensured to apply a visual design
that was relevant to the youth. Through my research I noticed that student magazines tend to have the use of
warm colours for text, this is why I chose the colour choice of yellow for a lot of the text. When conducting my
front page, through using a student as the main image, allowed the target audience to be easier to identify .
Through noticing that the cover lines used in student magazines are about recent and relevant events regarding
students, when constructing my cover I made the cover lines about relevant things to students such as youth
employment and social networking. With my use of language when conducting both my contents and front
cover, I tried to use some colloquial terminology relevant to the youth such as ‘swag’, I ensured not to use too
much colloquial language as it could come across as cliché. As my magazine employs a theme of expression
emphasised by the masthead ‘Spoken Minds’, I tried to use motivational and forceful language through terms
such as ‘empowering’ and ‘upsurge’
• What key points did you learn about Adobe Photoshop and InDesign in
constructing your artefacts?
Through utilising the InDesign software I was enabled to produce a structured contents page. InDesign gave me
the ability to incorporate document grids when producing my contents page; this allowed me to align my text
accordingly to how I wanted it. When conducting my research on contents page I noticed they tended to use
two columns or three columns, using InDesign allowed me to follow this generic convention in which I divided my
contents page into two columns. A key tool that I used in Photoshop was the magic wand tool that allowed me
to crop out a main image from it’s background, efficiently. This allowed my pictures to look more professional.
5. •
Reflections & Feedback
What would you do differently next time?
If I was to construct my magazine cover and contents page again I would conduct a wider range of
research on various magazines. Through a wider range of research I would be able to see conventional
features of different types of magazines i.e. a music magazine may conventionally have a particular font
whilst a student magazine may have something different.
Despite making numerous prototypes and rough drawings of my cover and contents page, if I was to do it
again I would ensure to create more prototypes and rough plans. As the more prototypes that I produce,
would make it the product much clearer and easier to produce, as I would have a clearer picture of what I
actually want the outcome to be.
In terms of my contents page, having conducted a lot of research on contents pages and finding out that
grids, rules, column’s and margins conventionally used. When producing my contents page I generally
followed these rules. However, if I was to create a contents page again I would try to break the rules slightly
more, as this would develop a more unique contents page which could be more effective in making the
contents page more interesting to the reader.
• What kind of feedback did you get that might influence you?
Whilst in the production stage of my magazines artefacts, I received feedback that influenced me to make
changes and adjustments. In my original prototype(hand drawing) of my magazine cover, it was
bombarded with too much going on, in terms of the pictures being too big and too much text. I wasn’t
using my whitespace effectively. This influenced me to adjust my prototype, to have more white space.
Through using my white space effectively I was enabled to make the text and images look more effective.
• What aspects of your understanding of Adobe Photoshop & InDesign do
you need to improve?
In terms of the use of Adobe Photoshop I need to enhance my ability to use auto-shapes effectively, as I
think this is a essential tool in making a unique artefact. I also need to improve my ability to make to edit
my pictures with the more advanced tools, to create effect. In regards of using InDesign I need to develop
my ability to use tools such as the document grids and baseline margins to more effect. When using them I
worked with the tools appropriately but to develop I think I need to be able to use these tools in a more
advanced manor .
6. The music genre of my music magazine is:
• My chosen genre is Hip Hop.
• I have chosen my title of my magazine to be Raps Royalty. I
have chose this title as it clearly represents the genre through
the term rap. Additionally I have tried to create a catchy
title, that is memorable to the audience, through the use of
the language feature alliteration. I aspire to create a
magazine that represents the positive aspects of Hip Hop
culture and genre, perhaps propaganda. This is why I have
chosen the noun phrase ‘Raps Royalty’ as the title.
I wanted the title to correlate with the identity that I am trying
to create for my magazine. As I want my magazine to
extract all the positive remarkable events in the Hip Hop
genre hence the term “Royalty”. My articles will mainly
consist of news about the top mainstream artists who could
be perceived the “royalty” of the hip hop genre as they are
on the forefront, but also the up and coming rising talent in
the industry. Additionally through the use of the word royalty
it connotes the glamour of the hip hop genre and the ‘bling
bling lifestyles’ that rappers have hence their jewellery and
flash cars.
7. So I researched this genre of music
publication and studied:
• Model 2 • Model 1
8. What I learned from this was…..
• Cover Lines • Cover Design
They tend to have aligned cover lines on one side of the
magazine. The aligned cover lines are the same The design tends to have a consistent colour scheme to
typography. Whilst the main cover line is clearly separated make the front cover more cohesive. The cover tends to
from the rest, with a different typography. They use big artists be divided into two or three columns. They utilise their
in the industry in their cover lines to attract their audience. main image as the main attraction of the magazine,
This helps make the magazine stand out from other through normally positioning the main image over the
magazines when on the shelves as the majority of customers mast head, this makes the main image come across in
will purchase dominant and important. Through creating my artefact I
have placed the main image over the masthead, for this
• The cover lines used tend, especially the main cover line reason.
tend to have good phonology i.e. through the use of good
alliteration such as “rebirth of rap” or it may use slang or The main cover line always correlates with the main image
colloquial term relevant to genre such as “cook’in up” to the
in the picture, making the cover more cohesive (flows
Hip Hop genre. They tend to use esoteric language, as the
Hip Hop magazines are ultimately targeted at elder better).
teenagers, hence the use of some words that elder people
wont understand. Esoteric language is used to develop a There cover tends to use vibrant colours to develop their
relationship with the target audience. brand identity. For instance ..
• The main cover line tends to have the main artists name They tend to position the main image over the masthead
enhanced or singled out. For instance in one of my accentuating the artists dominance. Through having a
magazines I researched they used a different colour for the dominant main image of what is normally a big artist in the
main artists name whilst a different colour for the rest of the industry represents their dominant position in the music
cover line. Through doing this it enhances the main cover genre. The main image tend to be medium shots or
line and makes it’s more eye catching at a quick glance medium close ups. They chose this as this shows the main
from the audience. Additionally it shows the dominance of images gestures and facial expressions in the miss-en-
such artists and their mark on the Hip Hop music industry.
scene clearer.
9. For my music magazine….
• Target Audience:
The target audience will be between the 16-19 year old brackets. The target
audience will have a thorough understanding of the Hip Hop genre; they will have a
firm knowledge and understanding of the genre. Due to my target audience having
a shared understanding of the Hip Hop genre some of my cover lines will attain field
specific words that are relevant to the genre, such as ‘Beat-Box’ or jargon relevant to
the genre such as ‘whip’ indicating a car. The hip hop culture is rooted in the black
community in the projects in America, however over the year it has expanded so due
to this my magazine is aimed at all ethnic groups that has an interest in the genre. The
economic backgrounds of my target audience will be middle class and working class
as they are more likely to be able to relate to artists who have been through tough
circumstances prior to becoming an artist, however my magazine isn’t just subjective
to those classes.
• Frequency
My magazine will be distributed monthly. This will allow the magazine to focus
on the events of the month. Also through it being monthly instead of weekly,
makes it more affordable for the target, as they won’t have to purchase it as
frequently.
10. •
For my music magazine….
Cover price:
The cover price will be £1.99. I have chosen this price due to the target audience being
considered to be of the working class and the middle class. This is why I have chosen a
price that isn’t too high, such that it is affordable for the target audience.
• Publisher:
I would seek to make IPC Media the publishers. This is due to the fact that they are the
UK’s leading publishers as they publish over 60 magazines such as NME. However,
through looking at their music magazines that they publish, they don’t have any Hip
Hop magazines. This makes it clear to me that my audience is a audience that they
don’t currently attract, if they published Raps Royalty, this will enable them to consume
my audience to which means they’ll have a wider audience to appeal to, which can
bring more revenue to IPC as they’ll have a wider audience to advertise to, for
instance.
• Unique Selling Point:
My magazine will focus on the mainstream artists like all Hip Hop magazine. But it will also focus on
the latest and the best underground talent in the genre. As from my research Hip Hop magazines
tend to only focus on the mainstream artists that have already had commercial success. The closest
competitor on the market with my magazine would be Rewind mag as we both share the same
audiences in the 16-19 year old market. This will be through the main article being about an
upcoming rapper bursting onto success in the industry.
• it will focus a lot of it’s articles about artists tour’s, as from conducting my research Hip Hop
magazines don’t have articles about artist’s tours and travels. This will be demonstrated through an
article in my contents page dedicated to a artists tour experience.
11. This is the face of the
magazine
• Front cover
• This is how it works
The typography used in my masthead has been used to
correlate with the hip hop genre. As the font connotes a
sense of grittiness and roughness. This is relevant to the Hip
Hop genre as the genre was found in the projects of
America. The rough deprived parts of America. Additionally
I have embedded a microphone prop, with a tight fist
clench around it. This connotes the Hip Hop genre as this is
how rappers hold microphones conventionally.
Through my main image and the supporting image I
wanted to capture the Hip Hop genre mainly in the mise-
en-scene. This is shown through the use of props such as
headphones, jewellery and a microphone. Additionally I
have focused on body language & facial expressions which
capture the genre.
Influenced by my research I have used a consistent colour
scheme, as from my research Hip Hop magazines
conventionally use three or two colours. This helps to make
the magazine more cohesive.
12. Here are the 3 original photographs
I shot for the project……
13. I modified each photograph; here is the
original next to the final version:
• Raw 1 • Final 1
• Here is how I changed the photograph
and why
I used a range of tools to edit this picture using Photoshop. As the contrast and
brightness in the raw image was relatively low, I used the Brightness and
contrast tool to get a warmer skin tone complexion. In addition to making the
complexion warmer I used the saturation tool. As I only wanted the person in
the image I used the quick selection, magic wand and the eraser to crop out
the surroundings in the image. I also enlarged the size of the image to allow
the person to be bigger, as it was to be used as the main image on my double
page spread.
14. And the second one:
• Raw 2 • Final 2
• I used the quick selection and magic wand tool in Photoshop,
which enabled me to accurately crop out the background.
Additionally as I wanted all my images to be vibrant through
having warm colours, led to me enhancing the contrast and
sharpening the image when editing the effects of the picture.
15. And the third one:
• Raw 3 • Final 3
Initially through using the magic wand and quick selection tool I
removed the background from the image as I only wanted the
subject. Then I increased the image size through photoshop
which enabled to make the person in the image larger without
affect the quality of the image. I enhanced the contrast by a lot
and sharpened the image, these two image effects enabled me
to bring the photo to life as the warmer colours made it more
vibrant.
16. Here are a couple of research models
for my contents page…
17. This is my contents page
• Key features of my contents page are
the use of boarders to separate the
• Contents Page
articles and differentiate them, as
features are specific to this months issue
whilst regulars are in the magazine every
issue, making it clearer to the audience.
• Additionally I have tried to make my text
cohesive through linking the pictures to
the articles through the use of
numbering the articles and the
corresponding images.
• I have ensured to make the contents
page link to my front cover through the
placing of my masthead in the contents
page and also by placing a smaller
version of my front cover in the top right
corner of my contents page. This is
perhaps a subversive feature to my
magazine as I have challenged the
conventions of contents pages as they
don’t normally place their front cover on
their contents page.
18. How does the contents page link back
to the cover page?
• I wanted to ensure that my contents page linked with my front cover
and my double page spread. Due to this I placed my masthead in
my contents page and also duplicated the front cover to allow it to
link to the front cover. I tried to keep the same colour scheme to the
one on my front cover, however due to technological issues I
couldn’t get the exact same colour s correspond with the blue used
on the front cover.
• I also wanted to make sure that my contents page was cohesive and
it was clear for the audience to interpret, this is why I have used
boarders to separate different parts of the contents page and also
used columns to separate the articles from the supporting images. I
made it clear to the reader to interpret by placing page numbers
next to the image in correspondence to the article aligned on the
left.
• I have also made it link to the cover through the use of the same
typography Microsoft Sans .
19. Key points of contents
page
• How have you made the reader want to read on?
I have made the reader want to read on through my description of each article by using engaging adjectives
such as “exclusive”. Additionally through giving a visual representation of the articles as well makes the reader
want to read on.
• What are the links between images and words?
I have linked the articles with the image through the use of page numbers. This will allow the audience to
navigate easier around the contents page, also making it easier for them to interpret and understand. In
addition the use of pictures are visual representations of the article so it gives the audience an additional
method of understanding.
• What determines the dominant stories?
The cover story is the article at the top. I have made this article stand out above the others as it has a larger
typography, whilst is also have a supporting box around it with the text in the box stating ‘cover story’, thus
making it clear to the audience. In addition the size of the images is relevant to the dominance of the stories,
as the cover story has the largest image.
• How have you gone about ordering the information on
the page?
I have constructed boxes to separate between the features and the regulars. In addition the articles that are
about an artist are deemed as features, as that specific artist is unlikely to be in every issue of the magazine.
Whereas the regulars aren’t specific to an artist as seen by one of the articles being ‘Mixtape Of The Month’,
for this reason it is a regular as it can appear every issue as it doesn’t‘ have a specific participant.
20. How does the contents page flag up
your double page spread?
• My contents page supports (flags-up) my double page spread
through it consisting of the same colour scheme consisting of a grey,
white and navy blue. This colour scheme is used throughout my
artefacts thus making it more cohesive.
• Additionally I have placed my masthead in both my contents page
and double page spread which enables them to link as it clearly
shows the identity of the magazine- Raps Royalty.
• The cover story in my contents page is the main article in my double
page spread, this enables them to link as the contents page initiates
the audience’s reading of the story whilst if they want to read on
they’ll go onto the double page spread which is referenced through
the numbering of pages by each article in my contents page.
22. This is why I think that double spread
•
works
The layout of this double page spread have various features. The double page spread looks
cohesive through it’s consistent colour scheme of the colours gold and white. The colour scheme is
consistent through the main images jewellery, costume and the text. The consistency of the colour
scheme in this layout makes the double page spread cohesive. The page consists of a headline
that takes up near to half of the second page. The white space has been used effectively in this
double page in addition i.e. the main image on the left has a lot of white space surrounding it, this
makes the main image have more emphasis upon the reader.
The layout of this double page spread comes across as relatively simple, but it is very effective. It
has a simple layout but has included a range of conventions of a double page spread and it has
used them well. They have linked the double page spread to the front cover through the use of the
masthead in the folio.
• The pull quote has been used in this double page spread has been utilised well. It takes up near
enough half the space in height. The typography is bold making it more eye catching. The content
of the headline represents the rap genre well as it is a quote from the artist in the main image.
• Additionally the use of two images are effective as they show the artist from two different
perspectives one where he is performing and one where he appears to be posing/thinking. The use
of a main image and a alternative supporting picture contributes to the double page spread
creating an accurate visual representation of the artist.
24. This is how all three components are
linked together….
• I have linked all three components together through the use of
placing the masthead in all three documents. The masthead is used
in the front cover, it is used in the double page spread in the folio,
whilst it is placed near the title of my contents page. I also linked my
contents page back to my front cover in a subversive but very
successful way through the use of placing the front cover in what
would have been white space in the top right of my contents page.
The key area where I linked my artefacts together was through the
use of keeping a consistent colour scheme throughout, the use of a
grey background, white and navy blue font. I also linked the
artefacts through the costume in the miss-en-scene, as all the images
costumes consisted of blue. Additionally, I used ceelo as the main
artist within this article of Raps Royalty, whereby he is used for the
main headline in the front cover, the cover story in the contents page
and the topic of discussion in my double page spread. Thus making
the stories cohesive and link together.
25. This is my re-drafted
cover page
• Key modifications from feedback • Cover Page
• In my initial front cover the main
image wasn’t of high enough
quality. This led to me replacing the
picture through using a better
camera of higher megapixels.
• Additionally I was told I could make
the body language more relevant
to the genre of Hip Hop. This led to
me making the new image using
hand gestures that are relevant to
the Hip Hop culture.
26. Evaluation
• You can find my blog here:
( www.blogspot.omezc.com)
And
You can find my evaluation with responses to the 7
questions here:
(www.blogspot.omezc.com)
