Monday 27 December 2010

Magazine Cover Analysis


Here is a magazine cover which is made by vibe who are 1 of the biggest hip-hop magazine makers in the world. As you see it looks professional and is done to a very high standard. I love the way it is simple as well as still making it look effective. As you see the picture is the most important factor of the front cover; if you look at this picture it takes up most the room on the magazine and is a very high quality shot this is done so it attracts the audience to the magazine due to the fact his face is known by the target audience who read this magazine so when they see his face they are interested in what the magazine may have inside. The colour use within the magazine is very important as well if the colours do not fit with each other the magazine will look out of place; as you see on this magazine cover all the colours compliment each other so the audience can read it without any trouble therefore making it overall much better. The title on the top is important as well; you always need a important title to attract the audience. As you see this magazine has the title 'making of notorious 10 big secrets the film won't tell' this is what there target audience love as it is a hip-hop film therefore attracting the audience to buy the magazine just to find out the '10 big secrets' of the notorious film. On the magazine they have made the big famous names in the hip-hop institution stand out with a different font which draws your eyes to there names; they have made 'Kanye West' name biggest then most texts on the page and also a bright colour so the audience look at that first. This was done because his name is established in the hip-hop game therefore if they have his name standing out it attracts the audience to come read it, it is a big marketing Technic. The colour of the title was a good choice because it goes with the background of the magazine; also the title colour relates to what Kanye west is wearing as well on his jumper his top bit of it is blue. This is good because it shows they have a relevance to each other making the magazine seem more professional. Finally the background of the magazine was again a good choice as the fonts titles within the magazine front cover do not clash with the background at all making it easy to read and understand everything within the page; this is good because it makes the magazine look more professional and makes it look just better. Overall i think this magazine is up to a very high standard as they kept it simple and not to complex but they made it effective due to there use in different fonts, colours, different font sizes just doing simple things to give it that original effect and it worked. I would give this magazine cover 9/10.


This is another magazine which is for hip-hop music. As you see they have gone quite complex with this magazine front cover; i like the way the picture has 2 different famous hip-hop artist faces split in half and put together to make it look like it is one man. I like this because it is original and different and when anything is original it attracts the audience to go look at it making it a big market Technic. I like the way the picture stands out from the rest and gives it that hip-hop feel to the magazine. I don't like the way they have packed so much information onto this front cover due to the fact you want titles which will be snappy and simple to read for a audience as he may just be walking past and looking but if he sees this he cant just have a quick glance to see if he is interested he would have to take his time to read it which want on my magazine. I like the way they have got the different background colours on each side of the page showing that they are 2 different people and not just one. Also i like how they have got the main article which they know the audience will want to read the most at the bottom in huge writting bigger then the title of the magazine is good; this is good because it makes the wonder what is it about as it says above the 'ultimate fight' 2 mainstream big hip-hop artist so the audience may wonder if there going to have a fight making them interested to come and read it. I like the way the main image on the magazine looks like it is sticking out and sort of 3d this makes it look amazing and totally different to anything any magazine has done before. The colour use within this front cover in my view is too simple and does not stand out enough apart from the big title at the bottom of the magazine; if i created this i would of had some bright colours to make it stand out from just any normal magazine. I do like the way they have things over laying each other in my view it just makes it look better and more professional, for example as you see on the right side at the top there is a title saying 'mac' but over it is a little sticker which says about something within the magazine i think it gives it that feel of professionalism.Overall i think this magazine front cover is very effective to attract there target market audience as it has that sort of mean hip-hop look on the picture and also the title stands out with the big mainstream artists names above it again adding more interest to the target audience. I would give this magazine cover 8/10.

Monday 20 December 2010

Genre Chosen

I chose to do rap/hip-hop genre for my magazine as you can probably tell as all my magazines covers and everything on my blog is from a hip-hop culture. I chose do to this because it is what i like to listen to therefore i know much more about it then other genres; also i feel comfortable being able to decribe certain things within it therefore making my project overall better.


Hip-Hop/Rap is all about there imagine as you see most of them love to flash there bling and show how much money they have got; the hip-hop culture is different to other genre as it is individual in all sorts of ways and the things they look at and like i enjoy looking into; this is why i picked rap/hip-hop as i can reflect on it and when decribing and making my magazine i have the ideas mind of a hip-hop magazine designer as it is music i enjoy listening to.

(Lil Wayne big hip-hop artist)

Friday 17 December 2010

Content Page Moodboard


I created a mood-board for the content page which shows a different types of content styles and choices which i could do when making mine. There is not that many content page pictures within Google or on the internet so i found it really hard to get different variations of picture types for this. This mood-board is good because it helps me see what a professional contents page looks like for the big hip-hop magazines. The content is all about a decent picture and then with writing which is easy to read and understand for the audience therefore they can get round the magazine easy and simple. It is not meant to be complex like the front over it is meant to stay simple as it is a page where the audience look to find were certain things are within the magazine. As you see still the pictures within the content are very good and have been picked perfectly for the page this is very important as it is still about how it looks and every page has to be up to a high standard. The writting on every contents page is simple and easy to read; again this is needed so the audience can see where to look on this page to find the interview etc they are looking for. The layout is very important as well as it either makes the content page look amazing or terrible; where you place pictures and writting has to be tested first and played around with before you find its perfect spot (its either the make or break for this page). Overall i believe i did this mood-board to a high standard and choice images which reflect to my genre and how i want to lay my content page out.

Tuesday 14 December 2010

Double Spread Page Moodboard


This is the double page spread mood-board i did. As you see it has a few images of example of what a mood-board would look like and how good standard it is done. It was very very hard to find pictures for a hip-hop genre on Google for a double page spread so i made use of every image i found. As you see with a double page spread it is all about writing and photos basically half photos half writing; this makes it look professional and not just boring as there photos for the audience to look at as well as writing for them to read. Colours are useful on the double page spread as you don't want it just to be boring and with no colour due to the fact it does not look interesting. The writing on the content has to be a easy to read font which the audience can read with no trouble at all this is important so they can actually read what the double page spread is about. Overall i'm very happy with my double page spread mood board as it has a variation of different types of double page spreads.

Friday 10 December 2010

Moodboard Magazine Covers


I created a mood board of a variation of magazine covers to widen my knowledge of what my type of musics magazine look like. As you see they all have that certain 'cool' touch to them, that certain factor that defines weather there a big Hip-Hop artist or if there a small Hip-Hop artist therefore already i have decided i need my magazine to create this factor when a audience member looks at it. As you see in a non-racist way it is normally a black guy who leads the Hip=Hop scenes or magazines; there our expectations such as 'Eminem' who is 1 of the biggest rappers in the world and is white. But due to the factors of how common it is to have a black person withi9n the magazine cover i have decided again to have me at the front cover. My skin colour is mixed between white and black which makes me half black therefore created that sort of mixed magazine cover as it is not all black vibes from the front cover it has also white vibes. As you see none of the artist on my page at all smile towards the camera at any way; this is because they portray a sort of 'gangster' reputation and smiling on the front cover would destroy this therefore another decision i have made is for there to be no smiling within my final cover of my magazine to create the realistic common factors which a normal magazine would create. Its all about the artist within the magazine cover and as you see on all the magazine covers it has the whole main artist mostly filling the page making most the magazine cover to rely on the artist popularity to draw the audiencee in. Overall i have learnt a lot from making this moodboard and also i believe i did the mood board up to a high stand which makes me pleased of my post.

Tuesday 7 December 2010

Welcome Post

hey I'm Josh , i will get straight into what i am going to do and why i have choice this. I love Hip-Hop/Rap music this is the only type of music i listen to; i am going to designn a magazine which is of the genre due to the fact my knowlegde of what the audience like within this genre. Hip-Hop is all about style and is loved by the artist, style, money, girls and reputation is key to them to be able to be a good artist within this game. I have a few ideas within my head at this point but as it is only the start i have not decided or tested any ideas within each other. I really think within this i will create a really good magazine cover, double page spread and contents page therefore at this present time i am very confidant with this task i have been set. But all i will say is welcome to my blog :) enjoy :D