Adverts

Below are the adverts I chose for my magazine. I chose both of the adverts because they were related to rap but both have deeper meanings. For the first one on the left – Eminem Recovery – I chose it because in my article, my artist spoke about how Eminem was his inspiration to music and how he was the reason the S.M Logic was got into rap in the first place, so it seemed quite fitting to advertise my stars idol. To the right of that is an advert for a popular clothing brand among artists. It has reshaped the fashion choice among rap artists. The artists that wear these brands don’t usually intend this to happen, but it is a very subtle and accidental advertising method as fans will want to wear similar clothes to their favourite artists.

These adverts suit my audience as they are both linked to the hip hop genre. Eminem is one of the greatest and most popular hip hop artists of all time so it seemed fitting to put an album release advert in my magazine. Supreme is a very popular and high quality clothing brand which make a lot of their money from selling hoodies. A lot of current hip hop artists wear Supreme branded stuff as it is their style and is good quality lasting produce.

Complete magazine draft

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The feedback given from my teacher was:

Front cover

  • Make masthead bigger – fill the space
  • Issue date too specific – make that text bigger
  • Feature advert – spelling mistake, add another feature, align to left
  • Main coverline – Remove gap between main cover line and quote
  • Quote – include quote in the main article
  • Pug – Change colour so it doesn’t blend in with the background

Contents

  • Page number – put it at the bottom
  • Feature page numbers – spread further along the pages
  • Title – Make ‘Inside’ larger and move ‘The lyrycyst’ further along to the left
  • Page colour – Use a colour associated more with rap instead of pale yellow

DPS

  • Stand first – Better colour and font
  • Columns – Print margins are too small – outspread them out and use a better font
  • Page – something to anchor the page – graphic design features, add page numbers

This feedback will help me edit my magazine and make it look more authentic. The feedback is very specific so I will be able to see exactly what I need to edit to improve the overall quality of it.

A New Improved Contents Page

Below is my redesigned contents page:

Peer assesment:

  • Good colour scheme – red bars match t-shirt stripe
  • Magazine name reference – matches page format
  • Model cutout – Clean cutout picture
  • Page layout – well put together
  • Inside – Dark outline potentially

I made a lot of changes from the previous version, those changes were:

  • Flipped my picture of Jake to face him the other way
  • Added a split colour scheme
  • Added 2 red bars – one solid along the bottom right and one fading going up from the horizontal red bar
  • Changed the size font and colour of the word ‘Inside’ at the top of the page above Jake
  • Changed the font and colour of the rest of the page to match the ‘Inside’ at the top of the page
  • Added two more feature articles to fill space on the features pages list
  • Added a ‘Latest News’ section at the top of the page to give the reader insights and snippets on the high profile contents and its page number

These changes helped develop my contents page from looking like a bland, unconventional blue page to a contents page that looks more conventional and authentic, presenting the Hip Hop genre better as it is still simple but it is bold and catches potential readers eyes.

A New Improved DPS

Below is the second draft of my double page spread:

The changes I made from the first rendition were:

  • I input my full article to see how it would fit on the page
  • I added page numbers
  • I added 2 more pictures to fill white space on the page
  • I added ‘by lines’ for both the photography and the article
  • I rearranged the positioning of the main article columns
  • I enlarged the picture of Jake so he would fill up more space on the page, allowing it to be evident that he is the main star in the article

The intent of these changes were to give the DPS a more authentic feel and have it look full but not to feel too crowded, hence why I enlarged Jake with his foot up and added a picture of Sam and another of Jake. For my final draft, I intend on adding some graphic design features to anchor the text and choosing more suitable images that will work well with the article.

New and Improved Feature Article

Below is my new feature article after taking into consideration the feedback given from my teacher

The changes I made were:

  • Include the quote, ‘I got no faith in your writers, I don’t believe in ghosts’ in the actual main article so it’s not just a random quote
  • Re-wording the start of the stand first to allow the first description to make more sense
  • Included a story to lengthen the article and to give my character more of a personality

From these changes, I hope my article has become more interesting to the reader to make them want to understand it better and read further into my artist, potentially expanding his fan base.

 

Feedback and Reflection on Draft DPS

Peer feedback on my first DPS draft was:

  • Clear colour scheme
  • Image choice
  • Stand first is hard to read as it blends in with the dark shorts
  • Consistent text colour and font
  • Rearrange column spread to allow words to flow
  • Main attention drawn to main star image and text – don’t make other pictures too eye catching as to distract the reader from the text

From my peers feedback, I am going to change:

  • The amount of total images from 4 to 3/2 to allow the reader to stay focused on the text instead of wondering around and looking at the images
  • Rearrange the columns so they fit on the page but won’t split up the text, allowing the article to flow

I am hoping that these changes will help me to redesign my magazine to help it look more authentic and presentable.

Draft of the Double Page Spread

Below is my first draft of my double page spread. A good DPS should include an introduction to the artist being written about, whether it be a biography or an interview, called a stand first.  At the beginning of the main feature article, the first letter of the first word should be a drop capital, which is essentially a larger letter which shows where the article starts. Should also include more obvious features such as a page number, the by line – stating who the article was written by, columns – around 2-4 – for text, a headline – e.g a quote or story title and an image of the subject of the article – in my case, my model.

 

 

Conventions for hip hop DPS’ include:

  • Dark colour schemes
  • Article including a beef/fight between the star and another artist
  • A title with a hidden meaning – mine being ‘The Rise’ as my artist became a household name overnight

My magazine DPS doesn’t include all these conventions, which is why this is another draft and not my final product. I intend on darkening the background or adding darker features to it, include an argument between my artist and another artists to liven up m main article and give my artist character.

Second Shoot Contact Sheets & Evaluation

Here are the contact sheets from my off-site photo shoot at St. James:

  

In my opinion, I thought that this photo shoot went very well overall, and I think my pictures presented my idea and mission statement in the way I wanted them to – to portray unique ideas and styles in the Hip Hop world. One my favourite images was img_0146 because it shows his bright clothes in a subtle way while he has a big grin playing the organ. This could be seen to present the idea that even off the stage and at a photo shoot, the artist enjoys their lifestyle and has genuine enjoyment and fun in the workplace. Overall the photo shoot was really successful and presented the mission statement really well in my opinion. It allowed my to stick with standard conventions of hip hop such as gun finger poses and using the mic, but also challenge them by having Jake dress up in bright colours, flowing against standard hip hop dress, black, big brands, hats.