Evaluation

Before creating my magazine, I first did research regarding what makes a magazine appealling and successful.I looked at several magazines and they all helped me understand the certain conventions regarding the construction of a magazine. My magazine uses conventions of real magazines in the sense that my magazine has been inspired by several current magazines based on the hip-hop gengre, such as "The Source" but the ones aformentioned all contributed to my influence also. Through looking at this magazine in particluar I managed to gain inspiration toward the placement of the title block, what style it is done in, the type of central image and overall layout regarding the front cover of the magazine which is ragarded as the key part of a mag. I tried to stick to the typical layout of a magazine by following the rule of how dominant the central image must be. The only way I managed to challenge the typical layout to the front cover was that the main artist was not infront of the Title block which highlight the importance of the artist to the magazine but, despite this, I ensured the title didn't interfere with the image and this choice was made so the back ground went well with the artist as separating him from it would have created a rather dodgey synthetic feel to the cover due to the bird eye view the shot was taken in. One other conventions of a Music Magazine I noticed was that they usually follow a certain colour scheme to avoid becoming over colourful and confusing. In my case for my magazine, I went with yellow, black and white which all nicely complement each other. The title block is done in bold and also highlights the important that the mag brings as a source of information regarding the hip hop music scene.

My magazine represents the particular social group in relation to rap, so it must be rather urban. My magazine was designed to appeal to a younger audience ranging from the ages of 14-25,which modern day rap primarily appeals to in today's society. I feel there is a positive portrayal of the urban social group inherited from rap due to the concept of the images used. The artist that it primarily focuses on is still working hard in college, whilst becoming a positive figure in the music scene, as seen in the feature article where he talks about "Broken Britain". The artist used in the central image, has not been decorated with flashy jewellery or top of the range clothing items, so this helps give the audience a sense of relation and belonging which is essential when trying to reach out to the target audience. I believe with the use of a prop and in this case I made it headphones, it links to the artist's focus and love of music and adds a serious tone to the relation of the article and still keeps everything down to earth.

The audience for my magazine will be stundents both male and female ranging from the age groups of 14-25. This is because of the way in which the magazine has been constructed, by give the latelest information on the hip-hop scene's latest talents and keeping them up to date with the latest trends. The particular feature article I made for the magazine is also valid regarding this point. The artist is from a rather troubled background in east london so the target audience may find this easier to relate to as he is down to earth like them and brings a more understandable relationship between the artist and target audience. This enable the reader to feel relaxed and take in what the artist says throughout the article. Another way I ensured that my magazine successfully appealed to the audience is by offering free, special offer t-shirts. The central image used also doesn't have the artist dazzled up in expensive, extravaggant clothing but more casual and relating to his own personal style, whilst the headphones emphasize his love for music.

I have learnt several things regarding this project regarding bloging and photoshop. I believe using a blog to post your work is very useful and offers an easy method of posting work as it is all kept organised and tidy. A blog also dates your progression so you know the production stage and how certain parts of your work have developed. The use of a blogg offers so many advantages. For example, I was able to create a poll for the choice of title block I should use for my magazine which I asked people to vote. This made the need of a poll very useful. The dashboard is also very organised and offered me several uses, such as including video links and inserting iamges in a piece of work. Regarding the use of photoshop, I have been able to learn how to use different elements of media tools regarding design work. It has shown me various methods with how the construction of a media megazine must be heavily planned and it also offers very easy ways to do more complicated things regarding design. I believe photoshop has heavily helped me as I have demonstrated in my magazine how to work things I have known and leant this year. Foe example, I have learnt how to change the opacity with a shape or image, I have learnt how to crop an image to my own satisfaction, I have learnt how to change the texture of an image to add shade and light in different areas of the image. I have previously used photoshop for other projects, however due to the extensive use of it this year, I feel more comfortable using it. There were also occasions where I used other programs such as microsoft publisher, powerpoint and illustrator regarding the design and template of my magazine, but Photoshop was the best programme to use when it came to the overall production, as it offered cleaner finishing and execution to my work.

I have previously done research on media institutions and based on the information gathered I would like "IPC Media" to be the media institution to distribute my magazine, which is known for publishing both niche and mainstream magazines. This media group have worked on successful magazines such as NME, which I feel my magazine falls into the category of being rather niche. Over 44% of the population is also noted to read a magazine product of IPC which shows that my magazine will be open to an audience on a greater scale whilst still keeping it's back bone target audience.

Throughout the production process regarding my work I feel I have learnt several things which have contributed toward the style of my work. I have been able to look to other styles of magazines and how they relate to the target audience and used them as templates to complete the end product of my magazine.