Daniel McNab

Music Magazine research

GenreThe genre I chose to base my magazine on

is Hip hop and the main reason I chose this is because I have a large interest in this type of music therefore I have a wide range of knowledge already.

Another reason hip hop is a good genre to base my magazine on is it is a popular genre therefore it will be easy to find information on it.

The Source MagazineThe Source Magazine was established in 1988

where it originated as a newsletter and progressed to a full magazine.

Second longest running hip hop magazine behind the U.K. Magazine Hip Hop Connection.

It is Very influential within the hip hop culture and community to extent where it has even been called ‘the Hip Hop Bible’

It is well known for it’s rating system of one to five Mics and only a select few albums have managed to get the full five mics such as Nas’s Illmatic and Jay-Z’s The Blueprint

Target Audience of The Source Magazine

The Fans of hip hop/rap music will be the main target audience of this publication as it is completely based around this genre of music.

It is also appeals a bit more to young adults as this genre of music is more popular amongst the younger generation. On the other hand because it has been around for a long time.

It is also aimed at fans of the whole hip hop culture not just the music which is to do with things such as dress sense.

Analysis Of Source MagazineThe title of the magazine is all in capitals and in big bold letters to make it stand out as much as possible. This grabs the reader’s attention.

Central Image is of popular rapper Lil’ Wayne. He has a mean expression on his face and tattoos on his face which makes him look tough and can be to do with the gang culture.

The colour scheme uses red, white and black which are bold, striking colours which attracts attention.

XXL MagazineXXL magazine was established in 1997 and

is a well known hip hop magazine. It was founded by Jules Winnfield.It is known for it rating system for different

albums from ‘S’ to ‘XXL

Target Audience of XXL MagazineThe target audience of XXL magazine is

very similar to the target audience of the Source Magazine, so it will be fans of Hip-hop/rap music.

This may appeal less to older hip hop fans as the publication has not been out as long as the Source so it could still be relatively new to certain hip hop fans

Analysis XXL MagazineThe title of XXL Magazine is Big and bold but it does not catch the reader’s eye as much as on The Source. This is because it is behind the central image

It only uses red, black and white for it’s colour scheme and these are solid, bold colours which are eye catching.

The central image of takes up the page and it shows a picture of a person dressed as a gangster.

Market ResearchTo find out what people want in a hip hop

magazine I made up a questionnaire and gave it out to people who are around my age and have a interest in hip hop music and culture.

I found from the results that the colour scheme they would prefer to see on a magazine is green so I’m going to take this into consideration when designing my magazine.

They also stated that they would prefer a simple look on the magazine not too busy with title and pictures.

The majority stated they would prefer to see a female on the magazine than a male model.

Target Audience ProfileName: Jason SmithAge: 20Interests: Jason is a young male who enjoys

listening to a lot of urban music but is mainly interested in hip hop and enjoys going to music events such as raves and concerts. He also enjoys going out with friends and socialising, rather than staying at home. He is very much part of the hip hop culture and this is shown by the way he dresses in clothing such as hoodies, jeans and trainers.

Music Magazine Evaluation

In what ways does your media Product use, Develop or Challenge forms and conventions of real media products? For my music magazine I used a lot of the conventions of a

real music magazine because I wanted to make my magazine as realistic as possible. I added a barcode, a price and a month to my magazine to try and make look as close to a magazine you would see on the shelf as possible and I look at other magazines such as ‘XXL’ and ‘The Source’ to be able to see what a professional product looks like. These magazines also helped me convey the conventions of the hip hop genre, which was the genre I chose for my magazine, it helped me with the style of my magazine and how it should be laid out to appeal to the conventions of the genre. The picture I dressed the person in a cap which is a popular style that a lot of hip hop artist use. I used a female for my model which could challenge the conventions of a hip hop as it seen as a masculine form of music.

How Does Your Media Product represent particular social groups? I believe that my hip hop magazine

represents young adults from about teens to early 20s as the picture at the front depicts a young woman with a cap on looking into the camera and the style is common among this age group and has become popular. Also it represents people who are part of the hip hop culture, which are people who enjoy the music and follow the lifestyles and fashion of the genre.

Who Would Be the Audience for your media Product and how Would you Attract them?The audience for my magazine is people who

enjoy modern hip hop music as the magazine itself is specific to the hip hop genre which is shown through the artists mentioned on the front cover and the topics. I believe because of the fact I used new artists and didn’t go for a typical hip hop look it will appeal to a younger generation of hip hop fans as I have not featured the old and the more familiar artists. I believe it appeals to both genders as I used a colour scheme of green, black and white which are neutral colours and appeal to both genders.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? I have learnt a lot about the programs Adobe Photoshop and

Adobe Indesign since I first started using it for my magazine. At the start I struggled to use it and I found that I didn’t understand fully how to use most of the features on both programs so I couldn’t do the things I wanted to do. As I began to use it more and with the help of people who were familiar with the two adobe program I started to understand how to use it and the features I could use to make it look as good as possible. I learnt different ways of cutting out an image and how to get rid of blemishes which was helpful to make my picture look as professional as possible. Within Adobe Indesign I learnt how to layout my cover and found out how to use layers in the creation of my product such as using a different layer for my picture and my title to allow me to edit them separately. I also found how to use transparency in colours which help me create my title and create more of a professional look.

Looking Back At your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product ? The preliminary task my class had to do was create a school magazine cover

and contents page using Microsoft Publisher. This program had a lot less features than adobe indesign which made it a lot harder to make a professional looking product, and also it was difficult because it was my first attempt at such a task. I didn’t really understand the layout of a school magazine so I didn’t have much of an idea of what features it should, so I struggled to create the product. Also my image was of a low quality so when I enlarge the image it became blurry and unclear which added to the unprofessional look of the magazine and also the text fonts were very basic due to the program.

From doing this task I learnt a lot of what I need to do to make a magazine look as professional as possible such as getting a good quality picture for my central image. I found that getting a good picture is a very important factor in the front cover as this is the main part of the magazine that attracts the consumer, therefore the picture must be eye catching to grab their interest. I also learnt that the title is very important as this is how most people will remember the magazine so you must make sure the name is something that is memorable and relates to the genre. With most magazines this is also their logo so you must make the title aesthetically pleasing to attract potential consumers.