To make my magazine look as convincing and authentic as possible, I looked at a range of different genre music magazines. I took into account the layout, house style and models used to help invent ideas for my own magazine. My chosen genre was Hip Hop, but I wanted to aim it specifically at women. To do this, I looked at the codes and conventions of other Hip Hop magazines and adapted and altered them to suit my magazine.

 

 

 

 

 

Although, all three magazines are representing the same genre, they essentially show different aspects of the magazine through the colours, font, layout and musician used. The three aspects being: a more ordinary and relatable looking rapper, then the more suave rapper turned businessman, then finally the all-American, rock and roll rapper. All of them are relatable to their target audience for these attributes, and to make my own magazine successful I have to also make the target audience very well. But also reinforce the ideology, that this a male dominated genre.

The research I did into Hip Hop images came up with a large number of them with artists on the cover with serious facial expressions, very few were comical. So I therefore, followed this code and convention, by using an image with the model having a serious face and quite dark clothes. I think this adds to the hard image that the genre tries to convey through their artists. However, as my audience is female, her pose was quite feminine. I think it was important to play on the hardness of Hip Hop music and lifestyle, and the softness of femininity, as my primary audience were young women that love Hip Hop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The house style is very simple. I used a black and white gradient, which is more appealing compared to a plain colour. It also allows the purple and gold used for the fonts to stand out more. I used the gold and purple because they are not adversely feminine and are refreshing and vibrant colours that would appeal to its target audiences.

The main social groups represented in my magazine are: women and minority ethnic groups. The two models shown are women and one of them is of Ghanaian descent and the other Iranian. These are social groups that are rarely mentioned in the media and when they are it is usually for negative press.

The BBC articles were limited and focused on the struggles, poverty and traditional beliefs of the African country. The Ghanaian model used in the images, also belongs to the social group ‘Black British’ and with her age taken into account she and many others are referred to as ‘black youths’. This term has especially been widely used following the summer riots in 2011, the steady rise in gang culture and knife and gun crime. The connotations of this label are extremely negative but so widely seen through different medias. I think that’s why it was important to show a more positive light on this social group, to remind people that that is a very small side of that group and that there are people doing various positive things for everyone around them.

The model used on the front cover and she is Iranian. There are two connotations of this group; the powerful influence of the western world but also the conflict between the people and their leaders. In terms of Hip Hop there are very few Iranian rappers that successful outside of their native country. By also using a female, it was breaking new boundaries as Iranian women are usually restricted by old Islamic rules and traditions.

The most prominent group represented is women. Although the magazine genre of Hip Hop is so dominated by males, I wanted to make a Hip Hop magazine with women as it primary audience and really change the image and perception of women in the industry. The costume, makeup and tone of voice in the article are very important to convey a better and improved representation of women. The appearance of the models said a lot about their character. So I had them modestly dresses in dark colours, with clothes that were overtly demoralising. The balance between beauty, being sexy and sophistication was essential. By being able to get this balance right, it could change the connotations of women in Hip Hop. In the double page article I talked about entrepreneurship, success and women having both of these qualities, which will inspire the audiences and improve the representations of all of these social groups. In terms of the written aspect of the magazine pages, many Hip Hop magazines had strong tones of intellect and also passion for their beloved genre. I therefore used words like ‘refined’ and ‘dropped the hit’ and to get a sense of intelligence but also exude the Hip Hop culture that the audience is very passionate about.

The main audience for my magazine are young women between 17 and 24 that may still be in school or just starting to work that love Hip Hop but want to see them-selves represented in the magazines. Themselves being; women that are motivated to do better for themselves, be independent and successful. These women are absolutely in love in the power that the genre has, to take someone that is less fortunate but with plenty of talent to whole level of successful beyond their dreams. The powers to address political issues and have millions worldwide listen; especially through new social media like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

Visually I tried to attract the audiences through the images and layout of the magazine. The image itself on the front cover is very vibrant, and by enhancing its brightness it really should. The golden brightness of her hair helps keep up the gold in her buttons, these subtle details help make a lasting impression on the audiences and lure them into purchasing it. The free gift advertised also brings a lot of focus to the magazine, as J Cole and Nicki Minaj are two of the biggest rappers of the moment. As well as generating a lot excitement from their own fan bases, it also attracts keen Hip Hop fans that enjoy keeping current with new and successful talent. The name of the magazine itself, speaks volumes about the power within women. Empress being a women with power over royalty and I think this allows my female audience to feel a sense of power from within themselves.

The contents page and editors letter is the second chance I have at appealing to the audience before the make the decision to buy the magazine or not. The main ambition for the editors letter and editors favourites was to start building a relationship with the reader, so they could look at the magazine as a trusted and valuable source of information. I used plenty of personal pronouns to include and engage the reader for example ‘I’ and ‘You’, to really create more of a conversation with the reader. The ordered and precise layout of the contents allows the reader take in what the magazine has to offer, without over bearing them with a lot of text or busy images. Colour is used less on this page but I didn’t want to take away from the richness of the content, which should be the central focus point of the readers. I talked about relevant and current Hip Hop news while still referring back to past events to involve an older audience, for example ‘Sneakbo’ and ‘A Tribe Called Quest’.

The programmes I have used while doing this project are: InDesign, Photoshop and Microsoft Word. I was relatively familiar with Photoshop, but there was plenty that I learnt whilst making my magazine.

To manipulate images I used Photoshop. The tool circled in red, was one I had never used before but while changing small details in the face on one of models, I found out that this tool picks up colour on the face and could use it to cover up spots and dark circles. There are two variations: the spot healing tool and the healing tool. They enabled me to make the small but needed changes to the images without using it the way I previously had, which was time consuming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This tool allowed him to makes these changes quickly but I will need to continue practising to use this tool to perfect my skills.

InDesign however was completely new to me and it time before I could warm up to it and start making my magazine. Although it is relatively similar to Photoshop, there are elements that are very different. For example, when choosing a colour for the background or text, you have to create a ‘swatch’ which is initially hard to do but after a you become accostume to it. On Photoshop, you have layers that you build your image on, on InDesign they have simplified it so that you simply use the left click of a mouse and press ‘send back’. This at first is annoying when you want to hide layers like u can on Photoshop. I really liked the option of being able to lock objects on indesign, it helped me to make decisions and manipulate layouts around text or images easier.

Here, for example I was able to play around with different  ideas for the background of the contents page because of the tool that anabled me to lock objects. I decided not to go with the image as the background, which is similar to Vibe and Source, because the image take too much attention from the text even after I faded the image.

One aspect I never managed to overcome on InDesign was changing the colour of the gradient for the front cover. Although it wasn’t completely needed, when making creative decisions it helps to have options to compare. However, perhaps this hindurance was really useful as it allowed the image and taglines to contrast vividly against the background.

In terms of institutions, in my research I partically focused on Source magazine, which is published by a small African-American publishing and entertainment group called ‘The NorthStar Group’. It also publishes Jones Magazine, which is a fashion and lifestyle magazine aimed at affluent, black women.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think this company would be perfect for publishing my magazine, as my music magazine is essentially a combination of the two. It looks at the lifestyle issues that would come up in Jones magazine but with a Hip Hop prespective.

Looking over my six final pages that I have created, I think I could have strengthened the imaged used on the front cover, as the image to me seems slightly more pixelated then I wanted. I also think I could have made the edges sharper as there are still traces of the original white background which discredits the image altogether. For me, my favourite page was the editors letter because I was able to address the audience as myself and give my opinion through a tone that was relatable and friendly. I learnt it was important to pay close attention to the research I did, and continue to look at magazines while makign the magazine, as the simple details of image manipulation, tone of voice and relavance to current events is what appeals to the audience and makes your magazine successful. The introduction page for the double page was really made to show my own knowledge of manipulation of images and to give the impression that this article was on a elevated level. It also showed the importance of visual appeal, as I learnt from the looking at photographic journalism that visual appeal is paramount to attracting audiences.

My audience feedback was helpful because it allowed me me to explore my weaknesses but also be aware of what I did well in for this project. I therefore made a survey, to know what the public thought about the magazine overall. 75% of the respondants were women and 50% were under 24, and these two groups represent my main target audience. They thought the images looks ‘illuminating’ and ‘professional’ and the contents page was described as ‘very sharp’. Overall, the overview was very positive and the audience seemed very interested in what the magazine stood for.

Even though I had taken nearly 100 images for the magazine for plenty of variety. But looking back on my finished project I think my magazine could use images showing a wider range of social groups, and appeal to more groups other than my targeted audience. The school magazine helped me to understand the new programmed we were using (InDesign) and also showed me how important it was to try different creative ideas that would apply to your audience. These skills from the preliminary task enabled me to make my magazine.