Media Evaluation Music Magazine question 1

2.  The front cover which I had produced was inspired mainly by
XXL magazine, although I had intended to base my magazine
on Vibe magazine I did not as I preferred XXL magazine's style;
this was due to its bold yet simple layout and design. When
designing a music magazine there are conventions which all
genres tend to follow, this includes the way in which the page is
laid out. Many music magazines look similar in layout, this is
due to positioning things such as the masthead and main image
in a similar way. The conventional positioning of these items are
having a main image in the centre third of the page with the
masthead across the top of the magazine in a bold font. Due to
these conventions I decided to layout my front cover in the same
way in order to show it was a magazine.

3.  These two magazines show the conventional layout of music magazines,
however whilst looking at these there are clear differences with the two.
This is due to the different music genre conventions there is; the genre of
music has a massive impact on the overall appearance of the magazine.
Pop magazines tend to be more colourful and contain more images in
comparison to hip hop magazines which are more simple in style and
only have one main image. As the genre of music I have chosen is hip
hop the style of my magazine is more simple like the XXL magazine
above. The conventions of hip hop magazines include the way the main
artist is clothed along with the facial expression which he is supporting.
On the front cover of many XXL magazines the artists are shown to be
topless and covered in tattoos, this is to show that they are from the
"hood/ghetto." This further implies that they are strong and tough, many
of them portray themselves to be gangsters, this is a convention many hip
hop magazines tend to follow. However for my magazine front cover I
chose to challenge this specific convention as I felt the same image and
portrayal could be showcased without having the artists topless or
covered in tattoos. I did this by having my artist dressed in a black hoodie
whilst supporting a snapback ;the reason behind this choice of clothing
was due to the fact many hip hop artists have been known for supporting
similar looks, making it a conventional dress type. In addition to this the
use of a hoodie in the colour black also created a sense of danger as
hoodies are often associated with "gang" members and "thugs";
furthermore by making my artist wear a snapback a shadow was created
creating a more mysterious look adding to the dark, violent style of my
magazine. By having my artist dressed like this if further developed
stereotypes of hip hop artists being "thugs" and violent. Furthermore
whilst focusing on the appearance of my main artist the positioning was
also key; for the positioning of my artist I placed him in the centre whilst
using a medium close up as this was conventional of music magazines.

4.  Continuing on my front cover I ensured that the rest of my magazine
appealed to the conventional style of hip hop magazines, I did this by
researching XXL magazines front cover; this gave me inspiration for
my colour scheme, masthead style and also the types of sell lines that
would feature. Whilst looking at XXL magazine I came up with the
overall colour scheme for my front cover. I had decided on using the
colour red, black and different shades of grey. These colours provided
the masculine and fierce side to my magazine, furthermore these
colours where used largely on the front cover of XXL magazine
providing the magazine with a bold and unique look. Due to this I had
decided to use these colours, the use of the colour red featured
heavily on my front cover; this was due to the bold statement the
colour made in contrast to the blacks and greys. The colour red was
used as it provided the connotations of blood and danger this
developed ideas of hip hop artists being involved in a violent lifestyle
which involved danger and death.

5.  Linking to this idea of colours, the
colour scheme for my masthead was
based on the connotations of colours.
XXL magazine used the colour red and
white for their masthead, this was
effective as it created a bold statement,
however I felt it lacked uniqueness
therefore I decided to alter my
masthead to provide a unique feel. For
my masthead I used the colour black &
red as both these colours had the
connotations of danger and also
mystery. Furthermore the use of red
against black created a stark contrast
providing a bold look. In addition I
ensured my masthead was large in
size in order to stand out against the
other writing and also to entice
customers straightaway: plus I placed
my masthead behind my artist as it is
conventional for music magazines.

6.  When creating my music magazine I had to think of
multiple sell lines to feature alongside the main image; I
gained inspiration from previous XXl articles. In order to
create my sell lines I had to keep in mind that they had to
be short and snappy as this was conventional, linking on
from this I had to keep in mind the size of my sell lines and
also the colours used. When I was looking through XXl
magazines front covers I realised that the amount of sell
lines used was limited as it created a simple look.
Therefore when I finally wrote out my sell lines I kept them
short and only featured two sell lines on my front cover,
this created a sense of mystery which would encourage
the target audience to buy the magazine to find out more.
The first sell line which I had wrote out was "Top Tracks",
this was placed at the right hand side of the page slightly
overlapping the main image; the colour used for this sell
line was a golden colour making it stand out against the
dark colours used on the rest of the page. My second sell
line was about a well known hip hop artist making it
enticing for the target audience as they would be familiar
with the artist already. For this sell line I used a simple bold
font in the colour black to fit in with the colour scheme of
my page. However one of the words I decided to create in
red as it made it stand out and attract the target audience
attention. Both these sell lines followed the conventions of
hip hop magazines as they were kept short and snappy
whilst enticing the target audience.

7.  Linking on from sell lines, my main sell line was created to
stand out against the other writing on the page. I laid out
my main sell line in the middle towards the left slightly
more as this was the conventional positioning for main sell
lines for hip hop magazines. I continued to follow the
conventions for my main sell line by ensuring a large font
was used and also a bright colour. For my main sell line I
used the colour red again as it stood out against the dark
outfit of my artist and also the connotations of the colour
linked in with what the main sell line was about. The use of
a bold font and colour attracted the target audiences
attention straight away. The writing underneath my main
sell line further enticed the audience as it was coloured in
white with one word in red. My main sell line followed the
conventions as it looked similar to main sell lines on many
hip hop magazines. In addition another convention I had
followed was having a barcode placed in the left hand
bottom corner of the front cover, this displayed the price
along with the barcode. However I decided to place my
barcode landscape not portrait as I had a puff. One of the
ways in which I challenged conventions of hip hop
magazines was by having a puff; on hip hop magazines a
puff was not visible however for mine I decided to place
one to further entice the target audience by giving away a
"exclusive single".
This shows the
similarities with
both the main sell
lines.

8.  Overall my magazine followed all the music
magazine conventions and also many of the
conventions within the genre of hip hop music. By
doing this it provided a authentic look to my
magazine and also made my front cover look more
professional . However I also did challenge certain
conventions such as having my artist clothed and
not topless covered in tattoos and also by having a
puff featuring. In conclusion I felt that my front cover
followed more than it challenged the conventions of
hip hop magazine and was effective in doing its job
of enticing its target audience

9.  For my contents page I also looked at XXl
magazine for inspiration, by doing this I created a
contents page which followed all the conventions of
music magazine contents pages. All music
magazines contain a contents page which informs
readers which page articles feature; however
similar to the front cover the style of each contents
page is dependent on the genre of music chosen.
For pop magazines their contents pages tend to
include numerous amounts of images and bright
colours in comparison to hip hop contents pages
such as XXL which contain one main image and
writing only.

10.  The typical conventions for any contents page is
having a title across the top of the page in a
large bold font in order to attract the audience;
along with this there is also the different articles
which feature inside the magazine listed along
either the left of right hand side, furthermore
these articles are numbered with what page they
feature on. In addition to this a brief description
is often given underneath the title of the article to
give readers an inside to what each article is
about. However as by looking at the two
contents pages above it is obvious that there are
conventions for each genre when creating a
contents page. When creating a hip hop
magazine the contents pages tend to be kept
simple using dark colours similar to the front
cover and only feature one main image in
comparison to pop magazines which tend to
heavily contain images and bright colours. By
becoming aware of these conventions within the
genre I created a contents page which followed
all these conventions.
There are clear
differences with
both the two
contents pages as
one is more bright
and colourful
whereas the other
is more dark and
serious.

11.  My contents page design was kept simple as many of XXl
contents pages did not feature a lot of images and bright
colours. To follow conventions of contents pages I made
my title bold and large and positioned it at the top of the
page. This was to alert the reader that this was the
contents page. The colour which I had used was black,
this was so it would fit in with my colour scheme of black
and white. The main image was positioned on the left hand
side of the page, this was the conventional layout for a
contents page. I used a medium long shot in order to
display my artists full outfit. The use of this shot was
effective in showing what the artist was wearing,
furthermore to use a mid long shot for a contents page is
seemed as conventional as it is often used.

12.  For the contents I positioned this on the right hand side going down; this was
the conventional layout for this page. In order to continue following conventions
I made the main story in a larger font compared to the other featured articles.
Furthermore for each heading I ensured the font was bold and large to make
sure the reader could differentiate between each new story heading. Another
convention which I had followed was providing a brief description of each
article; for this I used a smaller font size and also a different colour in
comparison to the headings. By using black for the headings and subheadings
and white for the description a stark contrast was created making the entire
section stand out against the black and white colour scheme. In addition to this
I decided to use red once again to entice the reader's attention, the red box
reads "Cover Story" this was effective in showing that this was the main sell
line on the front cover.
 Furthermore I remembered to include the date of issue as this was
conventional and a must when creating a contents page. I included this above
the main article, in a white font to make it stand out against the dark
background. This was effective in following conventions. In addition to this I
had placed the logo of my magazine behind the text in order to keep brand
identity throughout the magazine.

13.  The Mise-en-scene which was
used helped remind the reader
that they were reading a hip hop
magazine. My artist wore dark
colours to develop this
stereotypical idea of hip hop
artists being "hood" and
dangerous; the connotations for
the colour black is danger and
mystery. By having my artist
dressed in these colours it further
enhanced these stereotypical
views.

14.  Overall my contents page followed and
developed existing conventions and
stereotypes. For my contents page I decided
not to challenge conventions of contents
pages as I wanted to create a professional
look. I felt like I achieved this by sticking to
conventions.

15.  After creating my contents page I moved onto
creating my double page spread for this I
ensured I followed conventions of existing
magazines. Before creating my double page
spread I researched XXL's magazines double
page spreads by doing this I gained inspiration
for what i would include and how the overall
layout would look like. Many of XXL's double
page spreads included one page full of text and
the other with a large image that would take up
the whole page. By looking at this I decided to
follow a similar layout.

16.  My double page spread follows conventions of
several existing magazines, many double page
spreads include a long shot therefore I found it
convenient to include one of my model. This type of
shot is mainly used to show a full image of the artist
who is being interviewed, furthermore it gives
readers an overview of the artist almost as we can
see how he is dressed allowing readers to relate to
his style of dress. For my main image I dressed my
artist in all black attire once again to show his
"hood" dress sense; furthermore due to the artist
wearing a similar black hoodie to the one in the
front cover a sense of continuation was created. In
addition this my model supported a gold watch, this
was to show his wealth. By looking at the two
magazines above, the one on the left being created
by XXL and the one on the right by me a clear
similarity is shown. Both models were shown
wearing a black hoodie with a gold watch, this
shows I tried to follow conventional dress wear in
order to keep my magazine looking professional.
Furthermore amongst the image I situated the logo
on the left hand top corner to remind the reader of
the magazine they are reading and also to stick to
conventions whilst maintaining brand identity.

17.  For the title I had to make sure it stood out against the rest of the writing that
was going to be placed on the screen therefore I ensured the font size was
larger than any other form of text on the page; in addition by having
underlining the title it showed it was the main heading. Many double page
spreads found it conventional to have a large title situated on one side of the
page, typically above the article. Furthermore due to the article being a
interview I decided to take out a quote from the interview and enlarge it across
the right hand side page. This would attract the reader whilst they flick through
the magazine as it is a inspirational quote directly from the artist. This method
is used often to attract the reader's attention and make them want to read
further.
 Many magazines include a interview on their double page spread therefore I
chose to have a interview, however by placing a large amount of text on the
page it did not see appealing. Due to this I referred to previous double page
spreads and found that many of them inserted texts in 3 columns to keep the
writing neat and also to keep the page from looking overcrowded. By using 3
columns I stuck to conventions and also could layout my interview more
effectively. For the questions I used a different colour to the answers this is
often done in order to make it easier for the reader to differentiate between the
two.

18. Overall I conformed to the conventions of
double page spreads and also reinforced
stereotypical views of hip hop artists. By
conforming to these conventions I created a
sleek and professional styled double page
spread which provided the readers a intersting
article and enticing main image.

19. To conclude my 3 media products which I created
mainly followed there conventions; by doing this I
successfully created a magazine which the target
audience would easily depict as a hip hop
magazine. Although I did challenge some aspects I
ensured it did not create the image of the
magazine not being based on hip hop music. In
conclusion I believe my media products conform
to conventions of existing music magazines.