Conclusion Of Research

I learnt many things from my research of real magazine covers, contents pages, double page spreads, fonts and types faces, all of these tend to aim at a male audience. They all include the likely conventions that are likely to appear inside a hip-hop magazine which are; Often a male rapper, with jewellery, caps and tattoo’s. However you can find females featured on the front of the cover, these will aim at a male audience due to the female usually showing a lot of there skin. 

Also the colours that are used often for a music magazine are dark. This is mainly to show the hip-hop artists ‘gangsta’ side of there life. The background will also usually be black or white to make the person on the front of the cover stand out more. Black and white are usually the best colours to pick for a magazine, they work very well with each other due to the contrast in colours. 


However it is important to have that 3^rd and maybe 4^th colour, just to break it up.

The fonts used for all the parts of the magazine aim at males. They have that rough and gangsta look to it, which is a usual convention also for a hip-hop magazine. They are not always just targeted towards males, as some can be curvy which tend to aim towards females also. So it is important to get the correct Typeface for a magazine.

The conventions are also a main part of the magazine. These are the sort of things that will make it obvious that it is a hip-hop magazine, the mis-en-scene that can be used are; Hats, Scarves, Tattoos, Jewellery and also showing the physique. These will all be key elements that I will be thinking about when designing my own magazine.

All the images used in the analysis are all necessary and have meanings. They must link to the story and must also be effective. I must know where to place the imagery and make sure it is as affective as possible. The text layout must be thought about also, so that it meets the layout letter which can be T, Z and I.  


Lighting is also important. The angle, colour and brightness will all have to be though about on the imagery to make it as effective as possible. 

I will be thinking about all these things when designing my magazine after looking at popular magazines there is a consistent convention, layout and imagery used. I shall try and make it like them too get the popularity and make sure it is as affective as they are. 

Type Faces

This font looks very urban and street type. The blocked lettering makes it seem very masculine and also because the font has not been written in a straight line it makes it seem more Masculine. This font would be appropriate for a Hip-Hop magazine because of this and as it aims at a specific target audience that is most likely to purchase a hip-hop magazine.

Though this font has rounded edges and it would most likely appear in a female magazine, however it does look modern and funky. Nevertheless if it was to appear in a music magazine I feel it would most likely appear in a pop magazine. This font would mainly target young males and females from the ages of 15-24.

This is the type of font most likely to appear in a hip-hop magazine. The spiral lettering and partially blocked lettering all aim towards the male audience which is necessary for hip-hop readers. It looks like graffiti and also very street type, so it would be good for it to feature. It would aim towards just men and from the ages of 15-24. 

This font is very good for headings and mastheads in hip-hop magazines. Due to its scruffy and battered look I feel that it would aim towards the male audience. Males are not always the cleanest, especially the Teenagers; which are the target audience. This would be a great font type and could feature in a hip-hop magazine. 

Double Page Spread Analysis

Colour Scheme

Colours are an important aspect you must consider when designing a magazine. The colours will give the target audience a simpler view for your magazine. For example, if you was designing a magazine for children you would expect to have red, yellow and green, as they are the more happy colours that will give of a friendly vibe towards there targeted audience. I am designing a hip-hop magazine so I cant use these brighter colours as hip-hop usually features more street wise people and aims at a teenage and young adult audience. The colours I should be thinking about is the darker colours. However I cannot make the colours too dark because I do not want to give a negative vibe of to my audience.

Colours such as red give of a different interpretation. When we see the colour red we can think of different thinks such as love and blood. So when your using red you have to use it wisely and make sure it fits in with the theme of your magazine. Green and yellow are bright colours, so would not be expected in my hip-hop magazine. However for my school magazine it could be used. The reason is I would be aiming at the younger audience and bright colours will appeal to them and catch there attention.

Flat Plans

This flat plan is suitable for a magazine that can have a large image on the front cover. The layout would be of the letter I. This flat plan would look very processional as it can cover the whole of the page. You still have the necessary requirements of the cover lines, large image, features, bar code and of course the masthead. 

This flat plan has the masthead, main cover lines, large image, features, the bar code and the flash button. This is a good flat plan as the layout for this would be of a backwards C. It would cover the necessary things a reader would be looking for and should get them interested in purchasing the magazine. 

Music Magazine Contents Analysis

Music Magazine Cover Analysis

Introduction

The genre I have chosen to base my magazine around is hip-hop / r n b. I have chosen this genre of music because I myself enjoy listening to this type of music and being a fan of these genre’s I feel I have a slight head start in the music genre compared to other genres such as rock. I also feel that this is the most popular genre in the music industry and is becoming a world wide genre. There are many new artists that are instantly becoming famous due to there music.

I will need to think about the following:

Target audience

Age

Colour coding

Fonts

Layouts

Research popular themes and gimmicks

Skills:

The skills I feel that will work of mine are to use Photoshop effectively and create a magazine to the best of my ability and make it as realistic as possible for the targeted audience. In order to do this I must firstly take suitable photographs that are necessary to the target audience and other things that will have to be thought about. 

Typefaces