Total Magazine Evaluation

The magazine i have created has been strongly aimed at young men and women between the ages of 15 and 34. the magazine will help and support ameture talent such as rappers and producers to go further in their careers, sections such as the tech analysis section and the new talent articles will support and promote this new generation of talent. This in particular makes my publication extremely important in the genre. The magazine has been maid to be clean and subtle so not to exclude any potential member of my target audience.My magazine has attempted to change the representation of young youths in the media particularly those into hiphop music. The magazine has done this through the use of formal fonts and subtle colours similar to those used in GQ. This shows the target audience in a different light and also encourages external target groups to read my magazine to gain knowlege on the genre and therefore have a deeper understanding. The actual content of the text and images supports this highly, my main feature article discusses the hard work and long nights that lead to the sucess of the artist, this is a huge contrast to the general image of "unemployed thugs" which has been created by the media in recent years. The mise en scene of my photo shoots has also supported the possitive image that i have tried to create for my target audience, all the models are clean and groomed and i have photographed them in passive possitions going against the images portrayed in Magazines such as the source and XXL magazine e.g. Nas the boxer pictured further bellow.

Although being a subtle and pure magazine through the use of props such as a baseball cap and a hooded top will create a direct link to the majority of my target audience. I have used a bold and imposing shot on my front cover to attract the readers to my magazine, the cover shot is extremely well defined and the white background helps to create significance and give the effect of dominance on the page. The models pose is significant as the side of his face in particularly his jaw suggest that he is of importance and acts as a source of inspiration to the target audience.
The theme and the house style of my magazine is hugely influence by the upper class chic of GQ, for this reason i beleive that Condenast distributors of GQ and Vogue to name but a few would be the perfect company to distribute my magazine. The magazines already run by condenast are hugely sucessful and attractive to my target audience of young successful people. I beleive that the power of Condenast will be hugely benificial to my magazine and will help in gaining support in the industry and attracting the relative people for interveiws.
through the creation of my magazine i have gained an array of different skills. thanks to my first photoshoot i learnt how to use diferent lenses and focus cameras corectly to either get the desired effect of maximum clarity. I used adobe photoshop and fireworks in the creation of my magazine these softwares helped me to acheive the high clarity and colours displayed in my magazine. Photoshop allowed me to get the maximum standard from my photoshoot and allow make the images more suitable by removing back grounds and cropping.The wand tool ans softening tool on photoshop where particularly helpfull in creating the smooth effect i have acheived through my images.
I beleive that my last magazine created as part of my preliminary task failed in its aim to repressent the genre in a new light. The colours and the text produced for the magazine excluded a larg ammount of potential readers due to the magazines in your face nature. The magazine i have now produced as a final version is much more refined and subtle suiting its purpose much more. the colours used whilst minimal are relative and add to the page, all the pages created have a strong house style which was lacking in the preliminary task. i have learnt from my mistakes and i beleive that i have created a much higher standard through them and now the magazine is much more fitting to the audience. The subtle tones added to a spark of colour on eachpage are not over powering as they where in the preliminary task. All these added features and the new found purity of the layout support the magazines aim in changeing the perception of young hiphop listeners and challenge popular beleif that the generation is antisocial and violent. The feedback i received throughout the development of my magazine from the target audience was hugely important in developing the magazine ans for the majority was extremely possitive. The target audience feel that they are represented much better through the new magazine and are attratced to the magazines concept much more than that of the Preliminary task.

Final contents evaluation

My final contents page is a refined version of my previous edit, the text has been moved over to cover the blank space. this created extra space in which i could enlarge and move my photograph higher on the page, This created space for text in which i explained the feature article and linked it to the image. i experimented with a number of diferent colour schemes however none where successful as they all detracted from the images and over complicated the page. I therefore as a result have chosen to stick to the grey scale i think it is more suitbale for the page and also the target audience as it is subtle and classy. i have stuck with the column system as it is easy to naviaget and space efficient for the page. i have used three images which are all highly relevant to the page and add the the text, the images are effective as they present the article in another platform.

In my first edit of my contents page i have tryed to use subtle tones which wont over power the photos or be to imposing to the eye of the reader. I have focused the contents page arund a main image taken from the inspiration of the vibe contents i analysed earlier. The contents page is a double page spread, this allows me to map all my pages and articles out clearly and still have spae for images. due to my page not being so condensed it makes it easier for the reader to read and navigate. In my secind edit i hope to add in a bit more colour to the page as i think it is a bit to bland in its current state. I am also going to create a bridge between the text and the main image

What the Target audience want from a contents page

from interveiwing my target audience i have discovered the key items of information to include on the contents page:

Upcoming Events column: the target audience for the majority are young males and females whoenjoy going out and love going to live music events, this column will make it easy for the reader to discover new events and will help them to secure tickets

Tech Section: This section is extremely valuable as many of the target audience are youg and aspiring artist. reveiws of tech such as headphones and production equipment will make it easier for ametures just starting out to select the right tech which will help them.

Fund raisers: The music industry is in a fragile place due to illegal downloading and media machines dominating the industry, this makes it hard for young artist and small venues to make money. This section will also help to safeguard the history of music by protecting venues such as the Roundhouse Camden that recently had a million pound renovation.

Artist section: This will be  more of the inside gossip in the magazine, the sources will be relevant and will be portrayed from the artist perspective.

This magazines contents page is unique because it is based souly around an image and therefore is taking away significance from the text. The contents page infact has very minimal information or representation of articles and has chosen to only disply the Feature articles page and plot on the page. However the page is clean and clear to read and is very successful as a layout however isnt very functional as a use of navigation. The page is design over function, i would like to find a happy medium.

This contents page has been sourced from Vibe Magazine and has been made with my target audience in mind due to the fact that it is a Hiphop magazine. The Contents page again has been made and structured around a main image; this time of rapper Kanye West. The tile of the contents page "Contents" has been made to be spelt in 3 different lines of text, this means that the text can be larger and not restricted by the small size of the page. The way that the title has been layed out is also effective in drawing the eye downward toward the contents itself. The contents has been categorised into different sections for example Fashion and features as displayed in the image. The contents page is a double page and the rest of the articles are displayed clearly on the other page not shown in the image, the contents page is perfectly funtional and is easy to navigate. This is a happy medium and i will be using this page as inspiration for my own.



The Q magazines use of a doubke page is more along the line of what i was planning for my own. there is a good use of images on the page and they are very successful in breaking up the text of the contents. The title of the page has been traditionaly placed at the top along with the issue number. The images used are all completely relative to the contents and add to the articles, The photographs are clearly labled to the articles through the use of numbering. This encourages the reader to explore the page more and drags their eyes in different directions. The images on the page have been used as a form of advertising for the smaller attraction of the relating text and entises the reader on to read the article further into the magazine. The use of numbered pivtures is the most succesful aspect of this page and i will definately try to use it in the creation of my own contents page.

Contents Research

From looking in an array of magazines such as Sport, GQ, FHM and king i have discovered that there is a huge diversity between the different types of contents pages. Some of the mnagazines i focused on produced a double page for the contents, this made the page easier to read because the sections and article numbers where more sparse and didnt condense in to eachother when navigating. another thing i noticed through my research was the different ways in which to present the Articles in the contents page. Some magazines use the simple system of numbering the context in direct order to the pages of the actual magazine however more developed publications such as GQ and FHM use categories in which the articles are divided. This makes it easier for the reader to find the article they are looking for this makes the magazine more convinient and therefore more attractive to the fast lifestyles of the target audience. My target audience is extremely similar to that of FHM's and as a result i think that my audience would hugely appreciate the use of the categorie system in my own magazines contents page. Imformation is mapped oout in different ways aswell most magazines i looked at use the column system, this is traditional and ofcourse boring however is extremely easy and satifying to use as it dosnt over complicate the page or confuse the audience.

My final edit of my double page spread has been very sucessful and i am extremely pleased with the result. i have tryed to use knowledge and techniques that i discovered in my past work and through my research of the target audience and existing magazines. I have used the three column system shown through both the GQ article and the bilboard double page, i have gone a step further by adding the adding a picture in the middle of the text similar to Bilboard magazine. The picture is relevant and adds to the article therefore making it justified to have another image on the page, the image also creates a bridge effect between the text and the main photograph. the main photograph has been clearly annotated throught the use of a text box situated next to it. I was inspired by the GQ use of using colour as a link by taking the dominant colour of the photo and using it in the text, i have used this effect in my double page spread by using the blue from the hat to create my sub heading.