My magazine shows the hip –hop and R&B convention of a magazine by a number of things; cover lines are written in a font of a bold size. The image follows the convention as the front cover image is a medium close up, which most hip –hop and R&B magazines use in order to show face expression of the artist and furthermore to show the artist themselves. The contents page follows a layout of a traditional content page and therefore follows the conventions such as little pictures of other artist who will appear in the magazine. The double page spread follows the conventions in the layout of the page. There is a picture of the artist on one side and the text this also follows onto the other page where is an image then text next to the image.

I decided to represent the target audience which is 16 to 25 year old for both genders. People who are in employment or college and have attended college before are the most likely people to be interested in my magazine. The person on the front cover is a male who goes to the college and is male, this will attract the male and female audience more particularly those who attend college as they lie in the same age group. The wardrobe management and direction was done by the photographer I asked him to wear clothes that he would wear out but not to a party just if he was to meet him friends this represent a particular social group because unlike some of the images used on the magazines not all the artist wear big gold rings and big gold chains out. By doing this I wanted the audiences to feel that the artist is just like them.ted pose.

Media institution that may distribute my magazine is publications such as Harris Publication Inc. The company publishes other magazines such as XXL. They are a Hip Hop based publication and therefore they may be interested in my magazine as it also aims to this genre. Harris Publication further may wish to invest in my magazine as although it is aimed at people interested in Hip-hop my magazine also includes the genre of R&B and therefore I feel my magazine would stand out more and appeal to Harris Publications Inc.

The type of audience that would be attracted to my magazine is people who are interested in R&B music and Hip hop. The age group for my magazine would vary because lots of people of all ages like to listen to that genre of music however if I was to give it a specific age group then it would have to be 16-25.

I attracted my audience by using a famous name of an R&B artist in order to attract them to pick up my magazine. I also used colours that would attract my audience such as black and blue. Also a limited use of colours only 2-3 would not make the front page of my magazine look like there is too much going on this could make my audience not feel attracted to it. Another way I attracted my audience was by introducing one main big image with text around the sides, this would attract my audience as they will be able to see the image of the famous artist properly furthermore it was important to use a artist that is acosiacted with my genre of music instead on someone who is not, this could lead to the audience becoming confused about what genre the magazine actually is.

I have learnt various techniques from the process of constructing my magazine about technologies. Before the task I was familiar with Photoshop however after making my magazine I have become better equipped and now am able to use Photoshop without much help from anyone. For the magazine industry Photoshop has a lot to offer as you can easily by the touch of a button edit a photo and make someone’s eye colour change. Another technology that I become familiar with was the blog software. The blog was new to me however after facing some difficulties at first after I become used to it was easier to use.

Since doing my preliminary task I have progressed a lot, I have learnt more about Photoshop. I have learnt ways to manipulate images and tried to blend them into a new background and also adding text and color into a background. From the preliminary task I have learnt to uses images that are more appropriate to my magazine and to also have larger text, I have done this in my main task. However looking back I wish I had done more research on my magazine genre as this would of allowed me to have given my magazine a more authentic look.

This is my final magazine front cover

This is Content page.

This is my double page spread.

This is my last page of my double page spread

The double page spread that I analysed was taken form a German magazine.

This double page spread is taken from a magazine and is about a band. This is an article about the band and not a interview which is quite common in double page spreads. From looking at the double page spread the reader can immediately notice that there is no colour used on the double page spread however this works well and the reader is still interested in the article. You can also see the image is bigger and overlaps onto the second page and takes up most of the room. Also there is less text and more images. There is also a little pop up box with a picture about the main artist this takes away from the other text and does not let the reader become distracted as it is neatly boxed therefore the reader is not drawn to reader the other text. Also you can tell the genre of the this magazine by looking at the clothing worn by the artist and also the types of instruments they are holding in the image you are able to tell by all of this the type of genre and also the target audience can easily recognise if they will like this magazine.

The second double page spread.

This is my second double page spread. From looking at the double page spread you can tell that an interview style double page spread. The page has fewer images and more writing but the writing the broken up by images of the band and also by quarter of the page being black and the rest being white this breaks up the page and separates the interview from the general information about the band. The colour of the font used is red to show what the questions are and the black is the reply this makes it easier to see the response of the band. There is also quotes taken from the interview and put across the page this lets the reader see what kind of responses the band have given and also allows the target audience of the magazine the opportunity not to read the interview if they don’t like the response, however the quotes could make you want to read on aswell.

Contents pages


This is a contents page from a magazine for the genre of R&B. The contents title is written so that it does not go fully across the page but however you are still able to make out what the title says. The magazine might have written contents like this because it is unconventional and also so it would take up little room so they could have a large image of an artist without it being overtaken with the title. Also the by not using a background the colour on the back of the page the audience can easily make out the written detail.
Also the magazine have used the rule of thirds on the contents page by not centring everything in the middle but instead by spreading it out onto the sides in order to appeal to there target audience more.

The second content page I analysed

This is also quite similar to the above content page with the image however this content page is very unique. For example no where is there written content page however by the layout of the page you can tell it is one and also the image has anchors something which is more common on the front page. However this makes this content page very good because it gives it a fresh look and therefore the target audience is more likely to read what’s inside the magazine. Also this content page has a skyline again something which is uncommon in a content page. Also the magazine has followed a certain colour scheme that is probably taken off the front page this is known as the house style. The use of the gold gives the magazine an expensive look and shows the magazine is aimed at a certain audience.

One of the magazines I looked at was a popular American magazine called Vibe.

This is an example of one of Vibes many front covers.


This is an example of vibe magazine with Ciara as the main image on the front of the cover. The fonts used on this magazine are very bright and also the background works well with the lighter blue although the normal convention of a magazine use a maximum of 2-3 colours this magazine has used 6 but this makes it stand out more and also the different colours are used to show the different events and artists going on. There is also a skyline on this magazine compared to a gossip magazine the skyline featured in this issue of VIBE magazine is of an artist in a gossip magazine the skylines tend to be more about free holidays.

Another magazine I looked as was Rap UP magazine this is a mix R&B but also includes some Hip Hop artists.



This magazine is called Rap Up magazine. From looking at the front cover you can instantly tell that it is an R&B magazine because of the main image and also because of the straplines around the image. This magazine has only used a two colours on its front page and has also used no more than two types of font this is important. The magazine has also got a background colour that works very well with the colour of the font. Although the main image is on top of the main title you can still tell that this is a Rap Up magazine because of the U having an arrow at the top you can still make out the name of the magazine. The image also follows the rule of thirds as a result the reader is drawn to the main image and then the straplines.

Research

To insure that my magazine followed the conventions of an R&B magazine, I did a number of questionnaires and also annotated other R&B magazines. I asked a number of pupils in my class a series of question regarding colour scheme and main images that they would find on an R&B magazine. This helped my make a decision on an image that would be suitable for my magazine and it also helped me choose appropriate colour scheme for my target audience. By analysing existing front covers and double page spread of R&B magazine I was able to get an insight into the convention of a R&B magazine.
This is the result of my questionnaire.

What do you think is the most common colour to appear on an R&B magazine?
Red and black I I I

Pink and blue IIII

Green and yellow

Other I

What type of image would you expect to see on an R&B magazine?
One big image IIII

Lots of little images I

Mix of both III

Do you listen to R&B music a lot?
Yes IIII III
No I

Would you like an R&B magazine that tells you about the artists and what they are upto?
Yes IIII
No IIII

From this you can tell the most popular selection of colours is the pinks and the blues or the black and red. And when asked about the type of images they would find on a cover and inside a double page spread was of one artist on the cover and an even amount of text and images to give it a fair balance.

This is my final cover for my school magazine and also my contents page aswell.

This is my final content page.