Question 1 Of My Magazine Evaluation

2. Starting with the colour scheme, I chose the colours of red, black, white & gold as this was used by the hip-hop magazines I initially took inspiration
from – XXL and The Source - and noticed that these colours were common as well as effective in attracting readers. However, I added the gold feature to
mine, which makes mine unique as I wanted to add that ‘exclusive’ feel to information relating to my featured artist. I kept this colour scheme running
throughout my magazine. The light blue of the backgrounds and in the images adds a cool summer feel to my magazine, which is what I aimed to create
as one of the features of my magazine is ‘Summer Styles’ and the city of Miami, Florida was an inspiration for my work. Consistency is a key feature of
all magazines, especially in music magazines where they’re usually focused on a particular artist, which is why I kept the main artist the same on all
three sections as well as the house style which includes the same fonts, colours and the location of the background images, all of which were taken in
Miami. I used the Freshman font for my main headings and titles as this is Stereo Typed Magazine’s default font as explained in my pitch and I used a
simple font for smaller text, so it is easier to read. I also used a different font - Mistral - when the text was relating to the cover artist and therefore used
this as his ‘signature font’ which can also be seen on the album cover and track list. This is explained on my blog, under the creation process of the front
cover. Overall, my layout develops the convention of magazines especially due to it’s consistency across the pages which I amended several times after
feedback from my target audience.

3. The Masthead
The masthead is one of the most important features of a front cover of a magazine. The use of the ‘Freshman’ font is targeting my young audience as it is a common font typically used in
American high schools & universities. This challenges the conventions of the hip-hop genre as my magazine is specifically aimed at the younger generation, whereas most hip-hop music
is for adults which is why the content is usually protected by parental advisory notices. The use of a unique font and bold effects help to make the text stand out and it also develops the
colour scheme and style for the rest of my magazine as the subheadings throughout all three pages follow the same style with varied colours. This was very significant to me as I aimed to
make my masthead distinctive to my magazine, making it easily recognisable amongst others.
Features
The features are also one of the most important features to a
magazine. With the masthead, title & the main image gaining
most of the attention, the features are often a key factor in
whether a reader buys a magazine or not as they want value
for money, meaning, they want as much entertaining content
as possible. For my front cover, I stuck with the same font and
style for the features as I viewed them as subheadings that
needed to be seen by the reader. I chose to include other
artists names as the features on the cover as a potential
buyer is more likely to see a name they recognise and then be
encouraged to buy it, rather than names of featured stories or
articles. After doing lots of research, I feel that my features
make my magazine conventional as all of the other hip-hop
magazines I looked at also featured several artists on their
front cover.
Headline
The headline is essential to any magazine, in any genre.
Because of its significance, it needs to be one of the most
noticeable features of the front cover. For my cover, I chose to
make the text larger than everything else on the page as well
as choosing a separate font to emphasise the differences. The
top line is in a gold text with a black background, making it
standout against the image even further. I think that the
difference in fonts works especially well as during my
research I found that most other hip-hop magazines featured
the headline in a different font to their signature mastheads,
so I followed this idea.
Banner
Although not all music magazines have banners on the front cover, it is still an important feature to my magazine. I used mine
to advertise the website & social media pages for my magazine as when banners are used in magazines, they are usually for
advertisements. The social media advertisement is very common in music magazines as over the past few years, the internet
has grown significantly and many magazines have Twitter & Facebook pages such as @XXL which has 487,000 followers on
Twitter. This will help attract my target audience, who are all active users of social media.
Date, Price & Barcode
A date, price & barcode are all standard conventions for magazines
across all genres. Looking at magazines like XXL, I noticed that these are
all close together, which is why I chose to include mine all in the same
place too.
Main Image
The main image for my front cover is very conventional as it sets the
foundation for the style and colour scheme of the rest of my magazine.
For example, the red & black hat & the red & white text with a thin black
outline on my artist’s sweater goes with the red & white text seen across
my magazine, which is also styled with a black stroke as well as being in
capital lettering. This was a very conventional choice as the main image
on the magazines I looked at, also inspire the rest of the magazine. I also
used a medium shot for my main image. This is both conventional and
effective as it shows the artist in detail as well as leaving enough space
around the page for the text and features, rather than having a long shot
where the artist seems further away or a close-up where the artist takes
up too much of the page. The image is also conventional as the artist’s
outfit in terms of the style, accessories and clothing brand are all related
to the genre of Hip-Hop, making the genre easy to tell at first glance. It
was directly inspired from the artist I looked at towards the beginning of
my blog.

4. The Layout
I had already produced a layout guide of how I wanted my contents page to look as well as producing my drafts to test different font sizes & other formatting. I feel that my layout is very
conventional as I have the different parts of the contents page separated distinctively, making the page easy to read and understand, without looking too ‘crowded’. The different texts are
all in their own rectangular text boxes & I’ve included relevant and clear images as I didn’t want my page to look boring because the contents page is supposed to showcase the best parts
of the magazine, making the reader want to buy it. Because of the fact that my text is clear & simple & I’ve used relevant images, I feel that my contents page is very conventional.
Regulars, Features & Extras
During the process of creating the sections for the regulars,
the features & the extras of my contents page, I made sure I
kept a sense of continuity by referring to the front cover and
making sure I had the ‘Summer Styles’ advertisement as well
as the featured artists. I followed the colour scheme and style
by using the same font as I had decided in my pitch, as well as
using a plain font for the longer sections of text, as it makes
my magazine easier to read. I used a different colour for the
page numbers to the headings as I also wanted them to be
easier to read & felt that if I had done them in red, they
wouldn’t have stood out at all & would have blended in with
the article names. Another way I made my magazine
conventional was by adding a brief summary of what the
article about, rather than just the name of the article as when
I looked at articles of The Source, they also gave a brief
description.
Images & Colour Scheme
To follow a consistent theme and house style, I decided to use the same
background image for my contents page as my front cover. The images
used were taken using a timed camera & tri-pod as well as me taking
them myself before editing them in Photoshop. I feel these images are
all very conventional as they all include the colours of red, black & white,
which match the colour scheme and the clothing choices & props used
such as the Beats by Dre studio headphones & the Air Jordan & Patrick
Ewing sneakers are all distinctive to the genre of Hip-Hop as explained
on my blog post titled ‘Final Costume Ideas’.
Editor’s Note
An editor’s note was a very common convention when looking at The
Source and XXL. It enables the readers to connect with the editor and the
mind behind the magazine & it also allows the audience to feel like
they’re an important part of the Stereo Typed brand, which they are and
they can also appreciate the efforts the editor has out in to make the
magazine the best it can be, in order for them to be happy. It is also used
as a selling point for my magazine as it can encourage readers to buy the
next issue, to keep up with the editor’s progress in creating the
magazine.

5. The Layout
The layout of my double page spread is very conventional as it has separate images, text, pull quotes and headings which are all of the features I found when researching the conventions
of a double page spread. As well as keeping my page conventional and consistent, I wanted to make it unique and different to the pages I saw in The Source and XXL, which I feel I did very
well.
The Images
The images I decided to use for my double
page spread were conventional as they
are different images of the same artist in
different clothing, which is a common
feature in the magazines I looked at as the
artists usually had at least two different
outfits. The images are effective as they
go with the article where the artist talks
about skateboarding and the whole
concept of not being a stereotypical
rapper. Also, in the right hand side image,
the artist is looking directly at the
audience which is a very common
convention in magazines and can also be
seen on my front cover and contents
page. The location of these images are
also conventional as they relate to the
artist and the article, as they’re at a
skatepark, rather than being in a random
location like a road, which has no
significance. The clothes are also
conventional as they are also featured on
my blog & are distinctive to Hip-Hop.
Album Advertisement
The album advertisement is a common convention to music magazines as they usually
feature them, however, I took this convention and made it my own as I included it into
my double page spread when they’re usually found towards the back of the magazines. I
added a tracklist to give my magazine that exclusive feel and also a QR code to scan as
once again, I was thinking of my target audience who are all users of digital technology
and prefer to download music from iTunes rather than buy a hard-copy disc.
The Article
The article is in a standard, simple font, with the
same style from the previous pages, including a
change in colour when differentiating between the
interviewer’s questions and the artist’s answers. The
first part of the article is a stand first, which is an
introduction to the artist. This introduces the artist to
the reader and sets a background to the upcoming
interview and this was seen in XXL magazines before
their interviews, which makes my magazine
conventional. The rest of the article features specific
Hip-Hop terms such as ‘dope’, which my target
audience will be able to relate to straight away. The
pull quotes are used to highlight key parts of the
interview and I used the different font and the red
rectangles to make it stand out even more. The title
and quote are in gold to add continuity from the
advertisement of the ‘Exclusive Interview’ on the
front cover, which was also in gold.