XXL magazine mock up

Here is my final mock up my magazine cover that I've tried to recreate of XXL magazine. On the left hand side is the orginal XXL cover and on the right is my mock up that I have created using indesign. Through this process I have learned various things. I have learnt that I should put the picture first before anything else so it is easer to decide what size of the masthead, coverlines etc. I have also learnt how to use new software such as photoshop and how to make the background transparent so i am able to recreate the orginal cover. Overall I am happy with the main image and the finished cover. I definately found this process useful before creating my own magazine cover to make you realize the time management that you need. This has helped prepare to create my own music magazine cover using different softwares and has helped me further understand the codes and conventions of a music magazine cover which will help when im in the process of making my own.

chosen magazine cover.

I will be trying to copy this front cover of XXL magazine to help me practice when I have to create my own from the beginning. I have chosen this magazine because i didnt want to go for the complicated one that has too many cover lines or the image having too many props and too difficult to recreate. I also chose this because there is only one main image which i prefer and will most likely to be the same when i do my own music magazine because i believe that having one image attracts the reader more if the main image is a high profile well known artist. Through this process i will be learning to use new software such as indesign and photoshop which will help me prepare when i have to do my own. This will also help my photography skills trying to recreate the picture as close as possible.

the mission statement

Create a mission statement for your music magazine.
read the example for the women magazine "frank" and develop the following ideas for your own magazine;

• explain what kind of music magazine you hope to create by focusing on genre and style.
• explain the audience that you are trying to target.
• give a brief overview of the content of your magazine
• Describe the tone and attitude of your magazine
• explain the role that you think your magazine will play in the lives of its readers

The kind of music magazine I'm hoping to create is a hip hop/ rap magazine where i focusing on hip hop culture, i will be copying the layout and style of the magazine as well as the images used. I will try and recreate the images used by copying the clothing and mise-en-scene. i will also be copying the fonts used and type of language used that relates to hip hop/ rap culture. The type of audience I will be targeting will range from 16-35 because due to hip hop / rap culture, sometime using inappropriate language to describe their lifestyle etc. The content of my magazine will include interview from different artists talking about hip hop and how they went from 'rags to riches' and will include upcoming songs and new artists making a debut to the hip hop/ rap world. The tone and attitude of my magazine will be mainly focusing on the life style of the artists  and how they used hip hop/ rap to get out of poverty and how they described through lyrics. The role that my magazine will play to my readers will try to inspire them if they are in a rough situation or struggling in life, my magazine will play a role of readers reading about different artists and what they're music is about and how they try to relate with the readers of how they can be ambitious to have the same lifestyle as the artists on my magazine.

slide share evaluation of my magazine cover

finished contents and front cover

Add caption

contents page

Chosen genre for music magazine

I have decided to stick to my research and choose hip hop genre for my music magazine because it attracted me, the disadvantage of this is that not much of this type of magazine is on shop shelf so it would make my research reasonably hard and this type of genre is mostly in america.

music magazine research

For my magazine research I have chosen to do hip hop or street magazine, but before fully deciding on it, I'm gonna carry out research on other magazine genres. After deciding on what genre of music i want to do, i can use this as a template when i create my own magazine. I can copy color schemes and fonts and how they structure there cover lines etc.

the fonts used for Hip hop magazines/albums is usually bold and thick fonts in either black or bright colors  usually black and red. The contents page of a hip hop magazine is usually plain and there usually be big bold writings in black and red. The contents page does not give the full story of the cover lines but however gives a little information to make the readers curious and intrigued. The layouts of the front cover of hip hop magazines tends to be a mid shot of the artist posing in a unique way, the masthead us usually located on top of their head in big bold colors.Although you cant say all hip hop magazines use the same color schemes. For example, vibe magazine uses different colors for the front cover to various artists like in the front covers shown below.

However all music magazines have the same codes and conventions as any other magazine, they all have a big masthead but can be in different font or colors and have a unique and snappy main cover line that relates to the image. However music magazines are different from other magazines because they use a different language to relate with their target audience.

Contents page analysis

1. What is the function of a contents page?
The contents page is used by readers as a guide for information about the magazine, the function of a contents page is to present to the reader what's in the magazine and tell you the sub title on each pages.

2. How does the reader use a contents page?

The reader uses the contents page to navigate to help them find the articles they want to read or the ones they are interested in.

3.What is the conventional layout for a contents page in a magazine?

A conventional layout of a magazine is that it will have the title "contents" and the page numbers along with their titles will be listed with their page number this would usually be along the left hand side and it will also include images and one main image.

4.What is the conventional design for a contents page?

The design of a contents page of a magazine can vary because of the type of magazine it is for example a music magazine like this one seen on the left is using black, red and white. Other magazine would have a different combination of colors.

5. How much information does a contents page contain?

A contents page contains very little information because it tries to attract you more about the headings on the page and make you more interested on what the article is about.

6. What information does a contents page contain?

It would contain little information and would give a brief information on sub heading on each page and maybe a little paragraph to give a little introduction.

7. How are images used in a conventional contents page?

Images are used wisely and a magazine would have their own number of images they want on their magazine, however they put enough images to make the contents page not look cluttered and looking organised.

8. How is language used in a conventional contents page?

language in the magazine can be formal and informal because sometimes in the contents page it sometimes contains band interviews or artist interviews and what they say would be quoted and can be sometimes formal because of critic reviews.

9. What are the key codes and conventions of a contents page?

the key codes and conventions of a contents page would be that the magazine has reasonable amount of images and not give too much information away about the articles included in the magazine to make the readers interested.

10. How does the function of a contents page affect its layout and design?

The function of a contents page can be highly affected by its layout and design for example if the contents page is layout in a way that is all cluttered it would be hard for the reader to navigate and if the images and design is not attractive and makes the reader want to read the magazine it could lose customers and potential readers.

changed colour scheme

magazine with picture

change in my magazine

School magazine indesign

Class work

Using Indesign

·         Create new document

·         Show document grid

·         Use rectangle frame tool

·         Use type tool

·         Select font

·         Change text size

·         Use colour picker

·         Create text effects using the stroke function

·         Use layers

·         Import an image using adobe bridge

·         Change image size

·         Crop an image

Lesson about using images in a magazine

• Last lesson I learnt that choosing images for a magazine is complicated. 
• I learnt that you need consider everything in the image and look at every little detail. 
• I learnt that you have to consider everything in the surrounding picture because they could be distracting, such as objects, structures, shapes, color or textures that could spoil the composition by distracting focus from the main object or person. 
• I learnt that if you are taking an image of a person, you should be able to see the top of the head to shoulder in a medium close up shot.
• I also learnt that facial expression or body language of a person can affect or tell us more about what we are trying to represent if we had to choose a main image. 
• In conclusion, I shall be more considerate of what pictures I take and what I want them to represent and check the little details behind the image.

Magazine redraft analysis

Analysis of three magazine cover layouts