Artist's Style of Dress

My model for the images in my magazine is going to wear a black-coloured/purple-coloured t-shirt with jeans and white-rimmed shades. These colours will blend in well with my colour scheme of black, purple, gold, and white. Also, black and purple are both bold colours and have connotations of power and elegance. Hence, these colours will portray connotations of richness too. The white-rimmed shades will give my model a refined look as well.  


In addition, my model will wear a silver-plated thick chain and a watch which will give the 'cool' touch to his outfit. Jewellery is a major feature of an artist in the R&B/hip-hop genre as it has connotations of prosperity.  

I like this casual yet trendy look because it relates well to the genre of my magazine but I've not overdone the style to give a typical representation of an artist in the R&B/hip-hop genre, as I want to keep my model's look simple but classy and mature at the same time in order to make my magazine style original.     

Pitch Feedback

The feedback I received from my magazine pitch has allowed me to reconsider some of my ideas so that the final draft of my magazine is just right. 

One of the things I got feedback about was my desired colour scheme - black, red, gold, and white - red is quite common in other magazines to match with the colours I'd chosen. Therefore, to make my own magazine unique I've decided that I want to have purple instead of red in my colour scheme, as purple is still a bold colour which will blend in well with the other colours I've selected (black, gold, and white). In addition, from this feedback I've decided to have the masthead on the front cover of my magazine in gold as it's a rare colour that's used, especially on a front cover, so it will add to the originality of my magazine. My magazine will stand out by using this exclusive colour palette - black, purple, gold, and white. Gold isn't used much in many magazines and using it for the R&B/hip-hop genre will portray the connotations of class, wealth, and how the genre is a multi-billion dollar industry, as gold is a flashy colour. Moreover, I've decided that I want the outline of my model to be in gold as this will draw consumers' attention to them, so it'll make them look conspicuous thereby encouraging sales as the target audience of youth aged from 16-28 are usually attracted to appealing innovation.    


The type of music lover that would buy my magazine is obviously someone who is interested in the R&B/hip-hop genre (my magazine is aimed at a niche audience). People who are interested in this kind of music are usually from urban backgrounds.

I've also come to a definite decision about the name of my magazine; I want to name it YOLO, an acronym for 'You Only Live Once' (obviously the meaning of the acronym will be displayed somewhere - ideally in the top third of the front cover so it's easily distinguished by readers). This name has been inspired from a song by Drake (featuring Lil Wayne) called 'The Motto'. I think this would be an ideal name for a hip-hop/R&B magazine as a lot of singers/rappers live up to the acronym - it sums up how they live their lives to the fullest. 

Pitch

Publishing Company of My Magazine

'THE NORTHSTAR GROUP', which was established in 1997, is a marketing, consulting, and media company, which is minority-owned, and focuses on entertainment, music, sports, and commercial schemes. Clients are helped to reach their business and promotional targets using a mixture of both non-traditional and traditional advertising techniques, incorporating access exclusively to celebrity authority.  

I've decided that I want 'THE NORTHSTAR GROUP' to publish my magazine as it has also published the number one hip-hop magazine 'The Source', so I think this particular publishing company will be ideal and reliable as it uses high-quality, professional publication methods. In addition, I think that 'THE NORTHSTAR GROUP' will want to publish my magazine because it will be an entertaining music magazine which will include lifestyles of celebrities in the music industry. This relates to what the publishing company specialises in.  

Ideas

Ideas

Moodboard

This is a moodboard I've created for my magazine pitch that includes inspirations and ideas for the R&B/hip-hop genre of my magazine and the song used in the background (Diddy - Dirty Money ft. Swizz Beatz - Ass On The Floor) gives an ideal representation of my magazine genre and the type of music I'm going to be focusing on. 

The images I've selected are ideas as to how I want to perhaps design the front cover, contents page, and double-page spread and how I want my model to pose and the kind of outfit I want them to wear. Also, the images are ideas as to how I want to depict an effective representation of the R&B/hip-hop genre. 

Audience Profile

Name: Shivam.
Age: 18.
Location: Leicester.
Personality: Likable, outgoing, upfront, determined.
Occupation: Student at Wyggeston & Queen Elizabeth I College (QE) studying A-Level further maths and physics.
Music Interests: Hip-hop and R&B (listens to artists such as: Drake, Lil Wayne, Kendrick Lamar, Rick Ross, The Weeknd, etc) - regularly listens to his iPod and uses iTunes to update his iPod with new music. 
Other Interests: Likes socialising with friends, partying (particularly enjoys going to clubs and bars, such as Republic and Chilli White in Leicester), smoking shisha, attending concerts (going to Drake's 'Club Paradise' tour in April).
Clothing Style: Prefers to dress in casual, trendy wear (jeans, chinos, shirts, t-shirts, jackets, hoodies, trainers, etc) from well-known brands such as: Nike (Air Force trainers are one of his favourites), Adidas, Lacoste, Lyle and Scott, G-Star, etc. 


I think Shivam will find the type of magazine that I'm going to design appealing to him because he listens to hip-hop and R&B music quite often and the images of the model who I'm planning to include in the magazine will follow a similar style to him. 

Readership of 'The Source' Magazine

Readership of 'The Source' Magazine

I've decided that I want to target my own magazine at youth as well but from the age of 16-28, instead of 18-34 which is the age group that 'The Source' magazine targets, as I think this will be more applicable because many youths from the age of 16 are also interested in reading about R&B/hip-hop music, which is the genre that I've chosen for my music magazine, and 16 is a critical age when youths have found and settled on particular interests. In addition, I've decided to target my magazine up to the age of 28 because according to the demographic statistics of 'The Source' magazine, 28 was the median age. Therefore, I feel that targeting my magazine up to the age of 28 is suitable for the genre of the magazine that I'm doing.  

Analysing Magazines - Double-page Spreads

Analysing Magazines - Double-page Spread - Kerrang!
Analysing Magazines - Double-page Spread - Rolling Stone
Analysing Magazines - Double-page Spread - The Source

Analysing Magazines - Contents Pages

Analysing Magazines - Contents Page - Kerrang!
Analysing Magazines - Contents Page - Rolling Stone
Analysing Magazines - Contents Page - The Source

Analysing Magazines - Front Covers

Analysing Magazines - Front Cover - Kerrang!
Analysing Magazines - Front Cover - Rolling Stone
Analysing Magazines - Front Cover - The Source

Evaluation of Preliminary College Magazine - Front Cover and Contents Page

An existing magazine that I looked at for inspiration was The Source. I liked the idea of this magazine having a particular colour scheme so I decided to incorporate this convention into my own magazine by having an indigo-black colour scheme in order to maintain a house style. Also, I overlapped some of the layers. For example, the main image on the front cover of my magazine has been overlapped with the masthead, which is another convention that I took a liking to from The Source magazine. I thought that the main image stood out well in this way as its importance was highlighted by overlapping it with the masthead. 


By doing this project, the main things that I have learnt to do are how to cut and feather images and make them sharper by altering the brightness/contrast. In addition, I've developed the ability to arrange layers in an appropriate way. 


The aspects of my preliminary work that I feel were successful was how I arranged the layers and the usage of a specific colour scheme. Moreover, the size of the images were altered suitably and enhancing techniques had been used to make them look clearer. The font sizes and styles of the cover lines on the front cover look eye-catching and make it look exciting and busy as well.   


However, several improvements could have been made. The edges of the images on both the front cover and contents page could have been smoothed out more and I also think that the contents page looks quite dull, as it doesn't really have a professional layout. Therefore, it could have been improved by dividing the page numbers and names into different sections with different headings in order to make it look more attractive and easier for the readers to spot a subject they want to read about. Furthermore, the image on the contents page could have been edited as the flash is shown to have reflected off the model's glasses.    


     

Preliminary College Magazine - Front Cover and Contents Page