Media Magazine evaluation on 'Rap City'

2. 1. Inwhatwaysdoesyour mediaproductuse,
developorchallengeformsand conventionsof
realmediaproducts?
My magazine is focused on Hip-Hop, I
therefore used graffiti as the mastheads
font, this is blatant as I have a spray-can
on the top left of the masthead.
Graffiti is a Hip-Hop convention, like
wise to Hip-Hop it is an urban culture
and they both link to one another,
graffiti can be used to express views
whereas hip-hop expresses it vocally .
There is a fair amount of graffiti in my
magazine, its simply fits my magazine
conventions because Hip-Hop and
graffiti come from the same
background.
Fancy writing is completely
unnecessary for my magazine because
it represents more luxurious one; Rap
City means street.

3. Pug – to usually share exclusive
content inside
Main Cover-line – not in its
usual dominating size; still
stands out however.
Barcode
Cover-lines
Footer - Bar
Masthead
Cover-Star
Motto
http://nasiera1.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/magazine-
front-cover-components.html
XXL Cover-page conventions in
comparison to mine
1.In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

4. Contents
I looked into magazines like Vibe and XXL
and realised that they included images of
featured artists.
I included images of some artists featured
in my magazine; keeping to my magazine
conventions also; by sticking to a blue
theme and graffiti font.
For Better viewing of my contents page:
http://nasiera1.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/my-final-
piece.html
1.In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

5. Double-Page Spread
Nasiera’s twitter
@NASIERAKP
Graffiti on the
background
wall
Colour
coordinated
Shadow
effect
For my double-page spread I just thought about Hip-
Hop and how it originated, I knew that the streets
played a big role.
I tried to discover a way I could add more ‘street’ to the
magazine, after all that’s where most their artists
originated.
Birth of Hip-Hop:
http://nasiera1.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/birth-of-hip-hop.html

6. 2. How does yourmedia productrepresent
particularsocialgroups?
My magazine is aimed at a young male audience between 14 and 27 that
are fans of Rap/Hip-Hop, although this does not include females or people
of certain ages ; it’ll be a bonus if there was a mass interest.
The magazine does appear to have a street theme as Rap City aims to
visually attracts a male audience, the magazine is blue themed which is
stereotypically a male colour and the masthead font as well as its own
name, shows the male focus by graffiti and the noun ‘Rap’ alone.
Hip-Hop commonly attracts interest from groups that are in the inner city
and the street conventions like graffiti further influences their interest.
Hip-Hop is highly dominated by males artists, so some could say that the
genre alone attracts a young male audience.
Questionnaire on target audience:
http://nasiera1.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/magazine-questionnaire.html

7. Cover Star
Nasiera demonstrates someone that is confident and serious through his direct eye
contact.
He also shows rebellious attitude in that his hood is not fully properly, Nasiera
demonstrates a typical youth attitude which would help attract the right target
audience .
When we get to the interview double-page spread his attitude is more open and we a
see a Nasiera that differs from the cover star, as he goes under the microscope.

8. 3.What Kindof media institutionwould
distributeyourmagazineand why?
‘Spin Media’ would be suited into distributing my magazine, it owns a
community of pop culture websites.
Spin Media distributes similar Hip-Hop magazine “Vibes”, my magazine
isn’t completely the same as Vibes because Vibes do RnB as well as Hip-
Hop , RnB is closely linked to Hip-Hop and so is Pop Music .
I therefore I believe we fit their category, not being the complete same as
Vibes but offering something new.

9. IPC is another Distributer suited to my magazine, especially for a niche
market
IPC media advertises a different variety of magazines unlike Spin Media,
they also have a range of ways of distributing their affiliated magazines
because of new technology, creating content for multiple platforms like
Tablets and mobiles for example.
http://www.ipcmedia.com/

10. 4. Who wouldbe the audienceof yourmedia
product?
My Target Audience is for Young Males ranging between teens and mid-
20s (14-27), this is a big gap but most males that listen to Hip-Hop are of
this age range.
Rap City is similar to Hip-Hop magazine to XXL which is not only a Hip-Hop
magazine but it is also aimed at a male audience .
The quiz results http://nasiera1.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/magazine-
questionnaire-analysis.html
The purpose on me doing a quiz was to see what my target audience
generally prefer more, Hip-Hop fans told me that they prefer ones opinions
and values as well as their inspiration ; when I did my interview with
Nasiera he gave his opinions and values.

11. 5.Howdidyou attract/addressyour audience?
My Masthead simply tells you it focuses on
Rap by the name ‘Rap city’, you already know
that it’s a Music magazine by its name
something that isn’t always easy to tell by
magazine mastheads. It also uses typography
as you get a drawing of a city in bottom right
corner of the Masthead. There is also a spray
can on the top left that goes with the graffiti
font, graffiti is a Hip-Hop convention so this
very effective in drawing in the right target
audience
The main Colour used on my magazine is blue,,
using blue aims to attract my male audience as
the colour is highly link to males.
Secondary colour is white, it’s a positive/ clear
view and I believe it reflects a positive attitude
amongst viewers
http://nasiera1.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/why-is-rap-city-blue.htmlMore on Rap City being Blue:
http://nasiera1.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/magazine-mastheads.html
http://nasiera1.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/my-masthead-draft.html
More on Mastheads:

12. Cover Lines 5.Howdidyouattract/addressyouraudience?
I Knew my cover-lines had to be either catchy, persuasive or controversial to make
people want to read it, cover-lines play an important role in selling your magazine.
This is my main cover-line “I’ve returned with the charger” . Viewers have no
idea what is meant by this headline, it therefore persuades them to buy it.
The Main cover-line is not only persuasive towards them but it’s a
controversial quote as what Nasiera means is, Hip-Hop has been struggling
and he has come to rejuvenate the genre, other artists may take this to
offence, but him saying this will create publicity and make more people
want to read into the magazine and into Nasiera himself.
Other headlines I thought of using:
http://nasiera1.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/potential-magazine-
main-headlines.html

13. Images
My Images successfully shows that rebellious teenage
attitude that was needed to attract the right viewers,
Hip-Hop artists like to show this attitude also.
This is the cover-star image, it not only shows that
‘Serious’ look but not being hooded up properly shows
that he don’t really care “ I’ll Wear it how I want”.
Teenagers don’t usually care and neither do Hip-Hop
artists; Hip-Hop conventions.

14. 6.Whathaveyou learntabouttechnologiesfromthe
processofconstructingtheproduct?
Strengths of the programs I’ve used:
Microsoft Word Page Plus Microsoft
Publisher
Paint.Net Blogger
Very simple to use Variety of ways edit
pictures
Extremely
simple to use,
I used it for
older Drafts
of my
magazine
Has layers that
you can use to
structure your
project
Reliable blog
Found Artistic effects
for my magazine
Additional tools
including cut-out
Spell -check
on this also
Able edit
images with
effects
You can edit old
posts if you recognise
a mistake etc.
Flexible, I can change
colour, contrast or
brightness of the
picture
Able to save work
as JPEG
You can drag
fonts and
pictures
around the
page
Can save work
as PNG
Add pictures to
posts
Spell-check to
prevent mistakes
Can save
work as JPEG
and PNG
Flatten work,
meaning all the
layers are
established
together as one
picture

15. 6.Whathaveyou learntabouttechnologiesfromthe
processofconstructingtheproduct?
Microsoft
Word
Page Plus Microsoft
Publisher
Paint.Net Blogger
Unable to save
documents
JPEG/PNG
Can be complicated
to use and takes
some getting used
to
Doesn’t have
enough tools like
Cut-out,
Can get confusing,
by not knowing
what layer has what
component
Sometimes posts
don’t get
paragraphed.
Difficult to move
pictures and text
With a wide range
of options the
program can be over
used.
Limited choice of
shapes and brushes
Had to screen grab
some fonts, making
it less visible
Mistakes can be
hard to erase.

16. 6.Whathaveyou learntabouttechnologiesfromthe
processofconstructingtheproduct?
I Regret not making the most of programs like Page Plus, it had so much to offer but
my artistic effects were from Microsoft Word; I used ‘Photocopy effect’.
Each program played their part in the development of my magazine however.

17. 6.Whathaveyou learntabouttechnologiesfromthe
processofconstructingtheproduct?
Drafting and Planning
In the planning of my magazine . I looked into graffiti fonts off the website
www.dafont.com and this is what came up
http://nasiera1.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/my-masthead-draft.html
My initial plan for my contents page was to take a picture of a street and replace
its street signs with artists featured in the magazine. I felt that it’ll be over
creative and complicated for readers.
I looked into other magazine contents pages, they were very simple, so I
decided to keep my contents page simple and move ideas into the interview
page.
My Cover page features ‘photocopy’ effect, there was no typography related
reason as to why I done this, I just believed it looked more appealing.
Contents plan:
http://nasiera1.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/contents-draft-1.html
Vibes Contents page:
http://nasiera1.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/contents-page-research.html

18. 6.Whathaveyou learntabouttechnologiesfromthe
processofconstructingtheproduct?
Photographs
I aimed to make my photographs link to the text, this way you can recognise the
context in which something was said, for example there is a smiling image of Nasiera
in the humorous part of the interview but as it gets more serious there’s a snap of
him with hands on the back of his head.
Some images, like the cover-page picture had colours adjusted to blue to
contribute to the magazine conventions

19. Lookingback at my Preliminarytask
Preliminary Main Task
Barcode is never usually
left-sided on cover-page
Cover lines way to
small
Main cover-line doesn’t relate the
picture, an appropriate cover-line
would of have been the cover-star
in his school clothes at least
Barcode in
traditional
position
Artist giving
direct eye
contact

20. Overall
Overall I am happy with my final draft, I could have taken more advantage of tools
on Page Plus and could have posted more Blog posts but I am still satisfied with my
work.
Coursework helped me realise what is needed for certain music magazines and
certain age groups/genders and social groups. I feel my strongest page is my cover-
page as it tempts readers to buy the product with cover-lines including phrases
“exclusive” and my Main Cover-line “ I’ve returned with the charger” is tempting and
plays a big role in selling the product.