CREATING MY FRONT COVER MASTHEAD

I used the magic eraser tool and a saved image of gold foil from google to create my masthead. I had to individually cut each letter however I felt it was worth it because it created a strong hip-hop vibe for my magazine. 

DRAFTING OF MY FRONT COVER

 I chose to add a barcode to the bottom left of my page to finally make it look like a magazine front cover. This is not the final addition to my front cover however I wanted to add it now to make it look more like a magazine and to help me see what else is missing. 

DRAFTING OF MY FRONT COVER

I chose to add an option to win through a competition to the front cover as it would increase the chances of my audience purchasing my magazine. I decided to keep the font the same as in the title, inside the masthead and the quote as it kept the tone of the magazine chilled. I chose to use a competition within my magazine as from my survey it became apparent that they would like to see a free giveaway/gift/competition option. 

I decided to keep the text in a column as it created the tone of organisation and is very conventional to do so. 

DRAFTING OF MY FRONT COVER

I chose to add a quote to the front cover as I felt that it would increase the chances of the reader actually reading the information presented rather than skipping to the inside. By adding this to my draft I feel that the addition of a quote to my final front cover would be a positive addition as it tells the reader what is going to be included in the magazine. 

DRAFTING OF MY FRONT COVER

I added the title of Drake's album as from my survey, my audience decided they would prefer to see a review of a recent album or single. I wanted to use a similar font to the one used on his actual album cover, this happened to be the same as the title and writing inside the masthead. Therefore this intensifies the idea that the magazine has a chilled tone. There is also a nice contrast of the meaning behind the words and the font used as it is a serious matter that is toned down with the type of font. On the actual album cover, the font is more jagged and almost destroyed. Therefore by changing the font, it makes the magazine look more organised.  

DRAFTING OF MY FRONT COVER

I decided to add Drake's name above his image in a large font allowing the reader to relate the image to the artists name above. I wanted to use the same font as the masthead's inside writing as I felt that it created the tone that Drake is very chilled like my magazine. 

DRAFTING OF MY FRONT COVER IMAGE AND ADAPTATION OF MASTHEAD

I used google to find an image of Drake. I chose this image as I liked the link of the gold printing on his jacket and the gold of the masthead.
I used the quick selection tool in a small size and in small sections to carefully and precisely cut out Drake without removing any of the image itself. By doing this it meant that there wasn't much more to cut out using the lasso tool and that it was just for final touches. I used the lasso tool to cut out the smaller areas that I previously missed beforehand as a final touches tool. I wanted to ensure he blended realistically into the black background like this was the original image of him at his concert. 

I decided to change the font used inside my "P" and "G" as I felt it was a nice contrast from sharp to smoother from the outer shape. I originally was set on the old font, however after fiddling around with the fonts to ensure my certainty, I decided it was a better fit to my magazine to change the font to a smoother one as I want to create the tone of calmness and chilled rather than angry and violent tone. It therefore expresses the idea that not all rap music is violent, it has smooth underlying tones. 
I also decided to cut down the masthead in height as I felt it took up too much of the page as conventionally masthead's take up 1/3 of a front cover. 

DRAFTING OF MY FRONT COVER MASTHEAD

I chose to use gold for my background of my masthead as i feel it signifies the chains worn by hip-hop artists. The effect upon this simply states that this is a hip-hop magazine and the stereotypical artist would wear gold chains and rings etc. The use of a enlarged P and G, was purposely done to look similar to the "PG" symbol in cinemas as a warning. I chose to do this is represent that hip-hop music has explicit language used which younger readers may not know about therefore it is a pre-warning that this is what the music they write includes.

AUDIENCE PROFILE

AUDIENCE PROFILE FOR HIP-HOP/RAP MUSIC MAGAZINE from keshialavallsmith

DESIGN BRIEF

From competitor research and my own research, I have concluded that my magazine will include the following:

• I will use a solo male artist for my front cover
• My front cover will include the colour scheme of Black, White and Gold which will continue onto my Contents Page
• Within my Contents Page I aim to include 50:50 image to text ratio and ensuring that they of various sizes
• My main focus when making my magazine is to ensure it is a magazine that someone would actually want to buy
• Within the Contents Page I want to ensure that it can navigate the reader throughout my magazine and fulfill its purpose
• On my Double Page Spread, I want to make sure that the colour scheme is different when compared to my Front Cover and Contents Page but to ensure it still creates the vibe of a Hip-Hop magazine
•  I will include a free gift/giveaway in my magazine as it was a preference when carrying out my own survey towards my Hip-Hop magazine. 
• My Double Page Spread will be of a review of a recent single/album and will be informative and informal as well as chatty
• My Front Cover shot will be a medium close up and will allow me to capture more detail for the reader as well as make it more personal for the reader
• I think that my colour scheme for the Double Page Spread will be Black, White and one other colour to ensure it continues the theme of informing the reader, keeping the magazine professional looking and also clean and tidy
• I will use a group shot within my magazine however not for the front cover, I feel that it will be featured in my Contents Page and I will do this because I feel that by including this shot it includes the opinion of my audience
• The general mode of address for my magazine is informal as well as chatty as it makes the magazine more fun and more modern

SURVEY MONKEY QUESTION ANALYSIS - QUESTION TEN

I had a clear response for what my audience wanted in terms of their preference towards the mode of address of my magazine. They chose to opt for Informal. I agree with the response given and i will make this priority when writing the text towards my magazine. I also would like to make priority to making my text chatty as this was the second preference to the magazines mode of address. I want to include both of these within my magazines text as i feel that by doing both, it makes it more personal and also fun for the reader. 

SURVEY MONKEY QUESTION ANALYSIS - QUESTION NINE

My audience had preference over two titles for my magazine. The first option was "concrete culture" and the second was "Parental Guidance". I like both of these title options, I lean more towards "Parental Guidance" as it expresses more innocence than the other options. It also expresses the idea that all Hip-Hop and Rap music should involve Parental Guidance as it isn't innocent what they speak about. 

SURVEY MONKEY QUESTION ANALYSIS - QUESTION EIGHT

The prefered option to how many images my audience would like to see on the double page spread is 5-6. I agree with my audience's response however I feel that a mix of large and small images would be more effective is it would be more pleasing to the readers eye and appear more professional. I will aim to make them more small than big to ensure that I can still ensure that my magazine will fufil its purpose to inform the reader. 

SURVEY MONKEY QUESTION ANALYSIS - QUESTION SEVEN

The most common response within the first choice was that the front cover and whether there is a famous person featured makes them interested in buying a magazine. The most common response within the second choice was that the featured article/double page spread is also important when buying a magazine. The most common response within the third choice was whether the magazine included a free gift or giveaway. Therefore I feel that because my audience finds this important, I also find this important and will use this as a guide of priority when completing my Hip-Hop magazine. 

SURVEY MONKEY QUESTION ANALYSIS - QUESTION SIX

There was also a mutual response for whether the colour scheme should be continued onto both the contents page and the double page spread. I gave the options of "YES", "NO", "YES FOR THE CONTENTS PAGE AND NO FOR THE DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD" and "YES FOR THE DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD AND NO FOR THE CONTENTS PAGE". It was shown from my results that "YES" and "YES FOR THE CONTENTS PAGE AND NO FOR THE DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD" were the most popular options. I feel that the better option between the two would be for only the contents page purely because I feel the continued colour scheme onto just the contents page makes the magazine look more professional and smart looking. I feel that by not continuing the colour scheme onto the double page spread it shows the reader that the magazine has individuality. 

SURVEY MONKEY QUESTION ANALYSIS - QUESTION FIVE

There was a mutual response with the image:text on the contents page being either 25:75 or 50:50. I feel that it would be more appropriate to have 50:50 as it balances the page, it makes it look more professional and would help to show to the reader what kind of artists would be included within the magazine to be combined with the text so they have a greater insight into what the magazine involves. I feel that by these two options being the most opted for, my readership is more interested in reading informative language than visual learners therefore they would prefer a balance or have preference over text. 

SURVEY MONKEY QUESTION ANALYSIS - QUESTION FOUR

The voters opted more for a group image for who they would prefer to be in the feature article photo. No one voted for a shot of a solo female artist. Only a couple of votes were for a solo male artist shot. However, I feel that for my feature article photo, I would rather use a male solo artist as I feel it captures the idea of a Hip-Hop magazine more clearly. I will use multiple small group shots within the contents page, as I liked the idea of having a group included. I feel that this would make the magazine look more serious if it was only one artist on the cover. A group shot would make the magazine appear more friendly and would create a tone of a less professional magazine which isn't what the tone wanted. 

SURVEY MONKEY QUESTION ANALYSIS - QUESTION THREE

The most common vote was towards having a review of a recent single/album for what would be their preference on what they want to read on a double page spread for a Hip-Hop magazine. I like the idea of doing a review as it means there is more opportunities for photos of the cover artist. This allows greater detail to be expressed about the artist to the reader than if it was to be general information of the artist. 

SURVEY MONKEY QUESTION ANALYSIS - QUESTION TWO

The majority of voters went for a medium close up shot for the feature article photo. I agree with the choice of the voters as I find it more personal to the reader and allows greater detail to be captured than with a more distant shot. I feel this was more commonly voted for because readers of the magazine want to see detail of the artist as it makes the image more informative. 

SURVEY MONKEY QUESTION ANAYLSIS - QUESTION ONE

The majority voted for Black, White and Gold as the colour scheme. I lean more towards these colours myself than towards the other colour schemes, therefore the results helped me to clarify my opinion. With the majority of people answering to this colour scheme, it suggests that they would prefer to see a glamourous colour scheme which fits the "hip-hop" theme with gold representing chains and "bling". 

SURVEY MONKEY QUESTION ANALYSIS

DEMOGRAPHIC SURVEY QUESTIONS

XXL MAGAZINE DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD ANALYSIS

XXL MAGAZINE DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD ANALYSIS from keshialavallsmith

XXL MAGAZINE CONTENTS PAGE ANALYSIS

XXL MAGAZINE CONTENTS PAGE ANALYSIS from keshialavallsmith

XXL FRONT COVER ANALYSIS

XXL MAGAZINE FRONT COVER ANALYSIS from keshialavallsmith