2. z
Research
With our research we looked into existing products to get a real feel of what we
needed to make and what ideas design wise we could incorporate into our own
work and I really think this helped as I was not very confident with what a fanzine
was at this point and I needed the research to help me know what exactly this
project consisted of. So firstly I researched some simple ones so I could get an
idea of what I needed to include which helped a lot. And then I really started looking
into style and the aesthetic qualities. At first I wanted to do a punk fanzine because
I thought it would have been a cool concept due to it being how fanzines really
started, however as much as I love punk music I don’t know a lot about it and I
thought I needed a subject I knew more about and something that I was more
engrossed in so that I could write a lot about it. I was lucky I made this decision
early because it stopped me from having to change my idea later on which would
have slowed down my process. So researching existing products really put my
heart onto a punk fanzine because of the history but I think the way that I actually
went was way better for me because when I was getting into writing things it made
it easier.
3. z
Research Continued
The research is always something I quite enjoy with the analyzing small things within existing
products because I think it helps you develop as a designer and helps you really realize what
you want to do and gives you other ideas. I think the research process went quite well within
this project as a researched 6 existing products however I think I should have tried to research
some products that were more related to my project that I wanted to do. However at this point
in time I had my heart set on a punk fanzine therefore I think it was understandable that I didn’t
research any rap fanzines that were like mine however I did get a lot of my design ideas and
the colour scheme from a fanzine I researched about reverb in music which helped me decide
the colour scheme definitely along with other things that inspired me along the way while I was
doing other things before making my fanzine, therefore the research although it was on another
type of fanzines it was all still music based and still definitely helped me along the way before I
got into the project. In addition I think although I researched six existing products I think I could
have gone into more detail in hindsight but I think that’s just something I can work on in the
future and the amount of research I did still did help me. All in all I think researching the existing
products went quite well and I was happy with the amount that I did research wise for this
project.
4. z
Research Continued
We then started pitching ideas for our work and then thinking of other things and working on
some main ideas that we wanted to develop further for our work. With this it definitely changed
my mind with the ideas that I wanted and I settled on a fanzine of rap culture rather than a
punk fanzine. My initial ideas were a Punk fanzine which I didn’t feel like I knew enough about
to write a whole fanzine about it. Then I thought a streetwear fanzine which I do know enough
about it however other projects that I’ve done have been all about fashion and things around
that subject therefore I wanted something that I could do to change up my initial go to ideas so
that this project could show that I was doing something different therefore I stuck with the rap
culture idea which I think really worked out in my favour due to me knowing a lot about it and
being able to work with in in a different way and not use as many photos to show things like
have done in the past with fashion magazines. I wanted it to be more text as that isnt
something I’ve really done before due to me always sticking in my comfort zone. I think
comparing ideas really benefited this project for me and im very glad that ive done something a
little different to my usual work.
5. z
Idea Development
Within my idea development I started off with doing some mood boards. The first one I did was with
things that I wanted to include within my magazine so I decided on some rappers that I wanted to
cover and some things such as the deaths that I wanted to write about so I screenshotted the cover
lines about the things that I wanted to write articles on for this project. I definitely managed to include
everything from my first mood board and it was something I worked on a lot because I knew exactly
what I wanted to include. Planning this helped with my work a lot but this was only a start. Then I did
another mood board more based on the colour schemes which I knew I wanted to be very pink
based which I made clear from the start. I think my mood boards definitely helped however with
things such as fonts I didn’t actually use and I ended up finding different fonts that I liked so I think
although I did stick to some initial ideas my final product could have reflected my idea development
more. However what I did was developing the idea that I had a lot of ideas already on. I also looked
at some pages on instagram which inspired some aesthetic qualities I wanted to include within my
work which I think was why i wanted it to be with the rap aesthetic but also with the slight punk look
because lil peeps instagram has a slightly grunge/punk look to it because he loved that kind of music
aswell therefore I wanted to incorporate that into my work which I think I did well.
6. z
Idea Development Continued
I then went onto making a pagination which I think was the biggest help of the idea
development because it helped me plan everything I wanted within my magazine and I
liked the fact that I could plan what articles I want in my work and therefore I knew what I
needed to write and design. It really gave me a good outlook on what needed to be done
within the weeks of production therefore its something that I will definitely work on within
other print projects I do. I also did a physical copy of my pagination where I made a
booklet that was the same size of what I wanted my fanzine to be so that when it came to
printing it out and folding it I knew how to layout the whole thing which again helped but we
did have a template so that wasn’t that much of a big deal but it still gave me ideas.
Although I had to change a few pages because the model I wanted to use was unavailable
and so what the person I wanted to interview therefore with things like that I did have to
improvise was slightly irritating but it worked out well in the end so the only thing I would
mainly change within this would be to make sure everything I want to do is doable and I
can make sure everyone I want to be involved can make themselves available for a day. I
then also made a schedule which I didn’t really stick to that much but I think I will in the
future even though I got everything done in time I think getting myself into the routine of
using a schedule isn’t a bad habit to have.
7. z
Copy
Within my copy power point I think this was the most organized of my power points
because I enjoyed it the most. I planned out my questions for my interview firstly.
However I did pretty open ones and some specific ones depending on who I was
going to interview as I wasn’t sure who I was going to interview which I’m glad I did
because my interview with the original person fell through. Therefore I was glad I did
this. I was thankful for the copy power point because it meant that all my articles were
all in the same place. In addition because I was writing about something I was
passionate about it was easy to write the articles so it was something I got done fairly
fast and definitely one of the parts I was quite proud of within this project. It was
something that I think helped a lot because it meant that once I’d done the designing I
just had the articles to drop in and arrange around the design work. I also wrote up my
interview which helped a lot because again it meant that it was easy to access. It also
want I didn’t have to time writing into my production time and production could just be
focused on design and things like that which helped a lot.
8. z
Production- Type of content
The type of content I included could have been classed very controversial due to me
writing an article about the drug use within the industry but I think the things I included
were important and writing the content was a personal favourite part of this project. I
think the things that I included are important to the audience that I aimed it towards,
that being fans of the rap community and more specifically the sound cloud scene. I
included a interview with a fan to get his opinion on the situations within the industry
which I think worked really well because I think that it is important to give people’s
opinion within a fanzine just because it gives people a chance to either agree or
disagree and includes the readers and they get to get other people’s opinions and give
fans platforms to give their opinion as the whole situation is quite controversial and
everyone has different opinions on them. I think Im very happy with the content that I
have in my fanzine but if I’d of had time to do more I would of loved to of made more
content for it and included more but I think what I did include was great and I do wish I’d
of had more time to include more.
9. z
Production- Design
As for the design side of things it was mostly inspired by a rapper called lol peeps
aesthetic as shown through my mood boards and things that I made in my idea
development. I think I did well with channeling his aesthetic within this fanzine as
he was one of the first big emo-rappers to really blow up. I tried to create a punk
look with the header fonts because I thought it worked well as his style was quite
punky which I ended up being very happy with the overall look and the pink was a
very good choice as it also matched the entire look as the main thing I wanted to
go by was peeps album covers and instagrams therefore it worked out very well
and looked very much like the way I wanted it to. I also incorporated the tattoos
that a lot of them have which I liked and I think it gave it a very unique look as I
wanted it to look different and have a little bit of an edge to it. I also thought that the
tattoos are very iconic to the scene and the rappers therefore it was an important
part to include within the fanzine and I think the way I incorporated them worked
well with the whole look of the fanzine. As for things like fonts the general font was
something I wanted because it was simple and looked good with the entire
aesthetic. I wanted it to look like it had been typed up on a type writer because it
was a good look. I think the only thing I’d change would be to maybe draw out the
tattoos myself because that would’ve been an interesting addition and to add some
extra things to make it look more unique.
10. z
Production- Subject and context
The subject of this fanzine was the culture of rap nowadays more specifically the
soundcloud rap scene. It’s something I am interested in and love therefore was
something I could write a lot about. I wanted my writing style to be fairly informal
because the generation that are interested in this scene are primarily young adults
or teenagers and that was something that I knew therefore I knew they wouldn’t
want to read something formal. I was quite proud of my writing style and I think it
did work well with the way that I wanted it to go. The context of the magazine is that
it was written when the rap scene is in a difficult position. The entire scene is a
massive controversy at the moment due to the amount of deaths due to drugs so
although the scene is very relevant it’s also very hard to write about because
everyone has their different opinions on the situations and the entire culture of it. I
thought it was an important thing to write about due to this though because things
in their prime of controversy need to be written about. The interview was also a
great way to show different peoples opinions on it and I did try to include
perspectives from a multitude of different people so that it worked well I think. The
whole subject and context is very relevant therefore I was very glad I did this
project on this specific subject at the time that I did.
