[Music Magazine] Double Page Spread Research 2

This is a double page spread from a hip-hop magazine which features hip hop artist Lupe Fiasco. Both pages are the same colour which is black. What makes this page different from a usual double page spread layout is that the headline isn't at the top of the page. Instead it is in the lower third of the first page (on the left) going across the main image in a rectangle as shown below.The article is on the page to the right and it takes up half of the page. The article is feature-based article with the purpose to inform as it is explaining what the artist Lupe Fiasco has been doing and plans to do. The text differentiates between two colours to make it clear of the sections in the text. Cohesion and organisation is created through the colour scheme of white and yellow which is maintained on both pages.

Notice the main image shows ideologies and creates representations of the normal hip-hop artist through his expensive jewellery such as the gold watch and dark clothing. The characters holds a careless pose which shows a sense of arrogance. However, in comparison to the double page spread showing r&b artist 'Jamelia' (Research 1) who is doing a sexy pose to draw in her audience, Lupe fiasco is wearing glasses which conveys the reporesentation that there is a lot of intelligence behind his music. This makes the audience picture him as an intelligent person instead of just a cocky rapper.


 The rectangle creates organisation as none of the text will be coming out of the rectangle and allows for easier alignment of the text. The headline in this double page spread is describing the what the article is about. In this rectangle they've also written the byline for the artical. This lets the reader know who the creator of the article is straight away; also the topic of the story straight away. The byline is much smaller than the headline which creates a clear understanding of which is the byline and which is the headline.  The colour scheme is kept through the variation of white and yellow colours in the headline and byline text which creates cohesion throughout the pages.

Here there is a small section of the magazine dedicated to the call-out/pull-quote which is next to a dark sub image which can only just be seen. Some words in the quote are in white while the rest of it is in yellow; Which contrasts with the main body text which is white with the other sections in yellow. The important words being in white makes the reader think about the quote and adds a sense of importance to these words. This sectioning of the quote and image give the page structure as the main body text then takes up the rest of the page. The two columns on this page are clear and organisation is also clear. The sub image shows the artist performing which conveys represenations of hip hop music due to his cocky pose, aggresive facial expression and wealth is shown through his jewellery. This picture being only blue and black makes sure that it doesn't stand out too much drawing attention away from the pull quote, but is still seeable enough to inform the audience of his character. Representations of music are also shown through the prop of a microphone in his hand which makes it clear to the audience that this is part of amusic magazine.

[Music Magazine] Contents Page Research 2

Contents research 2

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[Music Magazine] Double Page Spread Research 1

Double page spread research 1

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[Music Magazine] Contents Page Research 1

[Music Magazine] Front Page Statement of Intent (RE-ENTRY)

Front page statement of intent

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[Student Mag - Preliminary Task] Evaluation

1.    After doing research on professional student magazines; I used the arrangement of the magazine as a guide to my own. For instance, the main image being in the middle of the magazine and the mast head being at the top of the magazine. Also that the masthead should be the largest text on the page. While researching I found that the target audience would be teenagers aged 13-18, so this meant I had to monitor the language used as to not make it too boring, too difficult or patronising. The identifying characteristics of a student magazine would be that the layout of inside pages and sometimes the contents page holds most of the space for information/text and only a few pictures. You would expect to see images of teenagers, classrooms and books/study work. I made sure I used appropriate images when creating my front page and contents page as to not confuse the audience of the genre of the magazine.

2.    Ideologies in student magazine spread to around gender, class of persona, age and ethnicity, There are the ideas of females working better in all-female schools/sixth forms and boys working better in mixed gender schools/sixth forms. There’s also the idea of people working better around there own ethnic community, it being easier to learn the younger you are and people in a higher class have a better chance to learn well compared to those of a middle or lower class. Taking these ideologies into consideration I tried to make sure my front page and contents page showed people from all different communities. I tried to include all different activities also, such as the two boys of different skin colours both playing guitars together.

3.    Student magazines are mainly sold in college or student events such as a summer fete or winter fete. They are displayed on stalls at student events and displayed in the college store or handed out during form lessons to the students. The sub-genre of the magazine effects where the magazine might be purchased as it would not make sense for a student magazine to be sold at a local shop or supermarket as it is irrelevant for the majority of shoppers in those sorts of shops. Sales would be at a minimal compared to if it was sold at a student fete etc. They are sold at student fates on in college as it relates to the students as it is about them, so sales are most likely to be maximised at these places.

4.    Majority of my design decisions and representations were based on my research. I found out that student magazines usually use bright colours throughout the magazine as a way to attract the young audience as bright colours are more often associated with youth. Representations and expected stereotypes of a student magazine include the presentation of books and images of students working and taking part in extra curriculum activities such as football/rugby/debate club etc.

5.    I used the colours green and red as they are bright colours and also complementary colours which mean they draw u in and are easy on the eyes. The main image consisted of a student shaking hands which a teacher to show the relationship between teachers and students. It was placed in the middle of the magazine with two cover lines to the left and right on the image as to make sure the page doesn’t look cluttered. However, there are 3 images in a Polaroid type frame with two to the right of the magazine and one in the middle of the main image which after discussing with my class I realised was poorly placed. It would have been better if they were all in one line as how it is now makes it look as if the images aren’t supposed to be on the cover. A strong point of this cover however is the masthead which consists of the colours green and red. It is placed at the top of the magazine and is the largest text on the page making it clear to read and understand. The magazine logo slightly overlaps it with the date line above the masthead and the slogan underneath. The logo adds a ‘fun’ feeling to the magazine due to the smiles on the ‘smiley’ emoticon pictures and the 824 in the middle of the two emoticons.

6.    The programs used for the creation of my student magazine front page and contents page were Adobe Photoshop CS3 and InDesign CS3. Photoshop allowed me to put the whole front page together. It provided the tools to cut parts out of an image such as a person, to write the text for my mast-head and cover lines and position them according to how I want them. It also allowed me to put in any extra images I wanted to with no complications. Photoshop CS3 also allowed me to add effects to the text and images on my front page and contents page, and allowed me to create a background for my contents page, which made it easier to work on InDesign as I only had to deal with the boarders, columns, rows and text in InDesign. However it didn’t give me much direction as to where I should place my text, unlike InDesign. As said earlier, InDesign allowed me to create my columns and rows to arrange my contents page correctly.

7.    I’m yet to explore how to position effectively on my front cover which I plan to do for my music magazine. When first designing my magazine it kept on looking like a poster until I developed it correctly which is something I learnt throughout this task. I developed my experience with the use of Photoshop and also InDesign which I had never used before this task. I also need to develop my knowledge of the features needed for a contents page and better layouts as to make my magazine pages seem less cluttered. I did learn and develop how to use tables and position and create mastheads effectively.      

[Music Magazine] Letter Of Intent (Front Page)

Ayotunde Adetoye – Statement of Intent – YKO5

I had three possible names for my music magazine. These included:
• ILL (ILIVELIFE)
• TURN
• HHW (HIP HOP WORLD)
Out of the three names I have chosen ‘ILL’. The reason for this is that I feel it is the most creative of choices. It isn’t too forward/blunt and is abbreviated into a slang term usually associated with hip hop which shows the relationship between the title and then genre.
My music magazine will be about all the happenings in the hip-hop world today (although all stories will be artificial, artists names will be used). It will cover interviews, exclusives and give consumers the chance to win competitions such as winning a free music video.
I plan for the majority of the magazine to hold the colour scheme of red and white. However, the front page background of my magazine will be dark due to the ‘dark/gangster’ feel that is usually associated with the hip hop genre. The positioning of the masthead will be at the top of the magazine, underneath the strapline and it will take up the whole width of that section. I plan to use the font “Impact” with the ‘I’ in ‘ILiveLife’ to be a lower case ‘I’ and to be white, while the ‘Live Life’ will be in red with a fairly thin white stroke around it. The ‘ILL’ logo will then slightly cover the ‘I’ and the strapline will be above. This can be seen in the image below.

I have planned for the main image of my magazine to be an image of a male aged between 15 & 20 holding/using/being close to any type of musical equipment such as a microphone or headphones etc. and dressed in urban clothing. This is to make it clear that the magazine is music related, so it should catch the eyes of the audience.
Considering the image will be using many conventions of Hip-hop, I believe my target audience will find the image appealing. It clearly shows the music related equipment so the audience can immediately tell the main genre of the magazine which is music. The sub-genre is then clear due to the urban clothing and dark style of the magazine, which will draw the audience in.
I may include another image of a person showing the conventions of the hip-hop genre to make it clear and emphasise it. However this isn’t confirmed.
The target audience of my music magazine are hip hop fans and producers interested in modern day hip hop music, meaning majority of the consumers will be teenagers and young adults. It also broadens out to young music makers that want the chance to display their music. I know that this is my target audience as after my research I realised that it is majorly young people interested in modern day hip hop music. The ages would range from 13 - 19. When researching about my target audience i realised that people from this age and society use certain terms of slang which should be implemented into the language used in the magazine as a way to attract more customers; such as 'Ill' and 'Sick' instead of 'Good'.

The front cover will use no more than two fonts as to not make the magazine look too over-the-top. Using only two fonts will make the magazine a lot neater and more organised. It will range between the colours black, red and white and the audience should find them appealing as they are easy on the eyes and are dark colours.
My chosen fonts will depict the genre of the music magazine as the font I am using is bold and sans-serif which is also what the majority of hip-hop music magazines use. I found this out after my research.