Planning- Double Page Spread

Planning- Contents Page

Planning- Front Cover

Final Contents Page

Final Front Cover

Schedule

Friday 28th November- Friday 19th December

14th November- Finish all analysis of exsisting Hip Hop magazines' Front cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spreads
28th November- Finish all planning for my magazine- Front Cover, Double Page spread and Contents page.
4th December- Ensure all photos have been taken ready to create my magazine.
9th December- Front cover is completed.
13th December- Contents page is completed.

16th December- Double Page Spread is completed.

17th December- Check over magazine to see if theres any changes that need to be made.

18th December- Evaluation completed.

19th December- Hand in all coursework.

Analysis of Two Content Pages

Similarly both content pages title the contents as "Features" instead of 'contents'.

Also the main focus of both pages is the image; the image catches the eye of the reader more than anything else on the page and the image is of the artists contained in the magazine. A medium shot for the image is used on both pages. In addition both magazines have a quote from the artists in the image which is located on the left-hand side. The contents are positioned on the right-hand side in columns but the Hip Hop mag theres two columns not one. In addition the same colours are used; red, black and white because these colours are very bold and masculine. The page numbers are in one colour while the contents of that page and the title of thar page are in a different colour. In addition, both pages have used boxes for the titles and the 'rock' magazine uses boxes for the content texts. There is a mixture of upper-case and lower-case letters to make the upper-case letters stand out more as they are more important.

Analysis of Hip Hop Connection- Front Page and Contents Page

The colours are consistent thoughout the magazine; red, white and black are used again in the content page with suggests that the target audience is aimed at men. The red is used for the titles on the pages because it is more prominent than the other colours. In addition the image used is a medium shot because a close up would be too in-your-face. The artists captivated in the images look very serious and are looking directly at the camera; the reader to engage the reader. They are both male artists which suggests it is aimed at males. Also the typography is the similar on both pages however the content page does use lower-case letters for the descriptions pages in the magazine. Also on the contents page the image relates to another page in the magazine and the text is positioned on the bottom left hand corner. However unlike the cover page, the text is positioned on the right hand-side.

Analysis of Hip Hop Connection- A Double Page Spread

The colours are very bold and masculine to stand out which suggests the target audience is young males. The colours have been used in the boxes which contain the texts. These boxes are either black or red to dominate over the background which is violet or white- the least prominant colours. The title of what the page summarises is black. The background of both pages is two different colours; white and grey to distinguish the two. The page with the grey background has a coloured image whereas the page with the white background has a black and white image, this balances out the double page spread. In addition the text has been written in columns and there are margins along the sides and the top and bottom, these aspects are common in magazines. The beginning letter in on each page is typed in a different font compared to the rest of the text so the page doesn't look dull or too compact and full of text. In addition the images are positioned on the bottom of the pages squared in by the text to create edgyness and to look unique. The fonts used are very clear and there are few fonts used. In the main text there is a mixture of regular and bold fonts used; the bold font is used for the artists names so the reader can scan the page and see that all the artists contained in the magazine and the bold is used because the artists names are considered more important. Between the two columns is text written in bold orange font because it relates to the image used so the reader can link the two. Along the right-hand side are images of the CDs which have been mentioned in the text; this is a way of advertising what the CD covers look like in order for the readers to buy them. Also 'Mikey Mike's UK Top Ten' is in a black box to separate it from the original text. Similarly the layout on both double page spreads are the same; image at the bottom and text at the top.

Q Magazine & The Contents Page

Q magazine is catered for a variety of genres as suggested by the Q channel on television. The magazine is also called Q because it's simple and easily recognise as the mast head is covered bt the image and by text. The target audience for this magazine are the late teens and younger adults as the layout of the magazine is very sophisticated and fresh. The Q contents page follows the conventions of the Q magazine front cover. The Q logo is similar on both pages and is positioned on the top left-hand corner. The colours used are also the same; red, white and black which denotates passion, innocence and darkness which links to music and the pose which Madonna is doing; trying to hide away suggests mystery. The typography and font is the same on both pages and the text is all in capitals which is masculine and eyecatching. In addition some of the text on the contents page are in boxes like the box for the logo on the front cover which gives th magazine a more profession and neat look. Also the contents page is in 3 columns like all magazine. The image of the cover is of Madonna who is known world wide which suggets that the magazine is trying to reach out to a variety of people. The image is a close-up and Madonna is giving eye contact to the camera because she is trying to catch the readers eyes to interact with them. The image of the contents page is of a band standing on a hill which is natural which is quite calm and different to the conventional plain background.

Analysis of The Source Magazine

The source magazine is a hip hop magazine aimed at the younger generation of between 15-25 years.
The maximum number of font colours used are 2 colours; red and white and the masthead is a combination of the two to make it stand out more and the "THE" in the title is positioned vertically to create an original style and it also emphasises that the magazine can be identified just by the word "SOURCE". The masthead is covered slightly by the cover image to suggest that the magazine can just be identified by the codes and conventions it follows and the image is the most important element on the cover as it stands out more than anything else on the cover. The typography is all in capitals and the colours used are very masculine which suggests that the magazine is aimed more towards the male audience. The barcode is in the bottom left hand corner and the logo is placed on the bottom right hand corner. The artists in the cover image are making eye contact with the camera and the straplines are evenly distributed on both sides to maintain the balance. Also the artists have their name in the kicker and this is the next piece of text which stands out the most. The white texts stand out the most because they are the most important straplines.

Genre Associated Images

Here are a few images which associate with the genre of Hip Hop/Rap. These will be useful in my magazine because they will give me an indication of what my magazine has to follow in order to reach the target audience for the Hip Hop/Rap magazine.

Identifying the Connotations of Hip Hop Connection

These two magazines follow the Hip Hop/ rap genre. The connotations of these two magazines are that the mastheads on them both are bold, the lower case and upper case letters are the same height and it is only one colour. It is usually a bold colour; in these two magazines it is red and white which are two colours which can be identified as masculine. The colour of the masthead changes which is very rare within a magazine. The masthead also looks quite original as one of “Connection” is placed in “Hop” vertically. Also beneath the masthead is very small text which states “’88 to ’08: The Worlds Original Rap Magazine”.
The skyline is similar as it is offering “Free CD” and the artist who has created the CD on offer is in the image cover. The maximum colours used for the texts are just two colours; for one it is red and grey and for the other it is white and yellow. These colours are all very bold and stand out. The fonts are the same; they are fonts with sans serif but the font for the mast head is not san serif which makes it stand out more because it's much clearer. Most of the text is located on the right because on the left there is an image of the cover of a CD.
The angle of the image is front on making eye contact to the camera. In addition the cover image is covering the masthead because the magazine is very well known which suggests that due to the connotations the magazine is easily recognisable and doesn’t rely upon the masthead to identify the magazines. The image is of very famous Hip Hop artists; Snoop Dog, The Game, 2Pac. Also the background of the image is either just one colour or quite plain so it doesn’t drown out the other elements of the magazine. The pose of the artists are very 'gangsta' and cool such as The Game holding his hat at a tilt. He is also dressed smartly but with an edgy style as he doesn't have his tie tied around his neck buy hanging loosely and his tattoos are showing which also looks very cool and original. In contrast to the Q magazine (from previous posts) which had a Great Britain flag, the Hip Hop Connection magazine has The Game standing in front of the American flag which shows the heritage of the artist. The barcode is located on the bottom right-hand corner and next to it is text which starts off with just one word on one line then the lines get longer. There isn't much text which suggests that the target audience is teenagers who are more likely to be attracted to the magazine by the cover image.

Annotated Kerrang! Magazine

This is an annotated Kerrang! Magazine which is analysed on how it reaches the target audience with the connotations and denotations. As the magazine is called Kerrang!; the exclamation mark suggests that it's loud which outlines that the genre of the magazine is a loud rock magazine. Also the colours used are very masculine and the fact there are 5 men as the cover image suggests that the magazine is aimed towards men.

Finished School Magazine

This is my finished School Magazine Front Cover. The layout and fonts and colours used are very consistent and don't clash too much. My aim was to make the magazine cover look professional.

Draft 2: School Magzine

Draft 1: School Magazine

Dwell Magazine

We were given the elements of a magazine and told to reconstruct the layout, text, font etc to make a consistent magazine front cover.