Evaluation

For my media coursework, I created a front cover, contents page and a double page spread of a music magazine of my choice. The genre I chose was Hip Hop because I found that the conventions of a Hip Hop magazine are easy to follow.
The conventions of a Hip Hop magazine include a masthead which is usually very bold though use of colour and block capitals. The colour of the masthead is commonly red or white or black because these colours are connoted to be masculine and a Hip Hop magazine has many masculine elements because target audience is mainly males. The number of different colours used in any magazine front cover is a maximum of 3 colours. They also restrict the number of different fonts on the cover to a maximum of two, usually without san-serif which makes the font bold and clear and the typography is almost always in capitals. Also the balance on the front page is maintained by keeping the amount of text on the right and left side almost equal which makes the magazine more organised. The cover image is of an artist and the artist’s pose is very stereotypical of what is known to be ‘gangster’. Moreover the barcode is located in the bottom right hand corner. The colours and sometimes the fonts are kept constant throughout a Hip Hop magazine and the medium shot image in the contents page is usually located on the left while the text is on the right. Also the contents pages use boxes for some of the text which looks very authentic; this is also carried out on the double page spread. The double page spread however has one page that holds just an image and the other page which contains the information.
My media product does follow the conventions of the existing Hip Hop magazines by use of colour; I used a maximum of three colours which were red, white and black. These colours are mainly used in existing media products due to them being clear and dominant to the eye. In addition; instead of using a boring straight layout, I used a very edgy layout by placing text in various ways e.g. the triangular effect on the front cover and ‘The’ in the title was rotated vertically and ‘Reload’ horizontally; because it links to an urban culture style that Hip Hop Magazines conventionally have. One of the strap lines concluded what artists are present in the magazine to beat competition by offering more to the audience. To make my product look like a good quality magazine; I tried to include little amount of text and to make the layout clear. Throughout my product there are more words than images because Hip Hop is about expression through words and it makes my magazine more informative. I also used boxes which many existing magazines have to hold sub-headings. Furthermore to finish my double page spread off, I used a border which followed the conventions of some of the Hip Hop magazines I had researched. I used appropriate fonts without san serif because this also follows the codes and conventions of a Hip Hop magazine. The images played the most important aspect of the magazine. I used a close-up for my front cover because existing magazines use close-ups and in my research medium shots were used on the inside of the magazine; so I followed that. In order for my magazine to look like a Hip Hop magazine, I took pictures of people with a serious look and their costumes had to reflect on the existing Hip Hop Artists. In addition to make my double page more authentic I used complementary colours and I also made a box quote which is aligned within the text as this is what an existing magazine included.
My media product represents teenagers and younger adults in the Hip Hop business as well as the teenagers who tend to read Hip Hop magazines. My project was aimed at these teens and so I produced it so they would like it and want to buy it. So I tried to make it unique yet simple and not too wordy. The colours used are dark and dominating which relates to the target audience I was going for. The target audience I was trying to attract were mainly boys however girls are not excluded. My media represents my target audience by linking my magazine to the target audience. The black culture is the main ethnicity that most Hip Hop magazines are aimed at including mine. Their interests include self-expression through rapping and MC. Also the types of clothes which they wear are usually baggy jeans with ‘hoodies’ and caps. Moreover they are normally into the biggest labels of clothing i.e. Nike. Therefore I focused a lot on my cover-image so the clothes and attitudes of the models in my images reflected on reality and my target audience. The images convey confidence and a ‘mean’ look which also relates to my target audience.
The media institution that I think would distribute my product would be one involved in catering for teens to younger adults and informing them of the Hip Hop culture because that is what my project is aimed to do. A well known music organization that can distribute my magazine could be Hip Hop Village or Deaf Jam who are dedicated to promoting the best up and coming independent Hip Hop artists. Another institution could include Bauer Publishing which is the largest privately owned publisher in Europe, publishing in many different countries. It includes titles such as Arena, FHM and Zoo magazine.
The target audience would mainly be boys aged between 15-24 years as I think they would be the ones most interested in the Hip Hop industry. It is aimed at an audience who are hungry to know what behind the scenes of the Hip Hop industry and acknowledge what artists think and do for their careers not just the music. The target audience would focus on people who live in urban areas such as the city. In order to attract this type of audience I used quite masculine colours and the images are very stereotypical of the Hip Hop music culture so the target audience are able to automatically identify the genre of my magazine. The fonts and aspects of using borders and boxes make the magazine appealing because they are also quite fixed and masculine. The carries brand values of a man as being sharp and contemporary in order to reach my target audience.
In making this project I have learnt that magazines do take a lot of work and research to produce and the images are the most important part in appealing to the target audience. I also learnt that you can edit images and add many things such as boxes, shapes etc jus by using Photoshop software and publisher but the best choice is to make the magazine simple yet stand out to the audience. But it does take a lot of thought and planning into how to produce a magazine because the tiniest thing can make a difference e.g. the use of boxes. I also learnt how to use Photoshop and Publisher and you can use a variety to things on these software to create a lot of effects. At the start, I also experimented with the effects which you can make on images but using the least amount of changes is the best option because the magazine will look more authentic and not just amateur and fake. In Photoshop layers must be inserted so you can add different elements to the page. To add text in Photoshop I added a new layer then I used a text box tool which allowed me to type text where I wanted it, for the front cover I rotated the text so it stood vertically. Furthermore I added auto shapes by clicking on the auto-shape tool then I filled these shapes with the colour I wanted. I also air-brushed my cover image and I erased the background using a rubber which I changed to a grey colour so the background turned grey. By using Publisher I created my contents page and half of my double page spread. I used text boxes after I had inserted my images as the background. I chose to use the font ‘Bauhaus 93’ for my double page spread heading because it looks very cool and stylish. Then in my double page spread I added a quote in a text box in the middle of the page by making the layout square so the other text goes around it. I also added a border to the image page by clicking on insert shape, then I selected my shape and selected no fill but outline it to make it look like a border.
In finishing the project, I understand that magazine front covers should ideally use a close-up image which I did not know while in the preliminary stage. I now acknowledge that my preliminary task could have been improved by using less colour and more outstanding font because the font did not relate to the target audience. In addition, I don’t think I should have used so much information and images in my preliminary task because the cover looked too busy; little is more. Also throughout my project I always needed to remember the target audience and what they look for in a Hip Hop magazine and planning beforehand is essential.

Final Double Page Spread