Reflection of the past week

This week i felt went extremely well as i have got loads done and posted. For a start i created a post about magazine layout research, from this i have learnt loads about different layouts and have given me some ideas. Whilst doing this i looked at some existing magazines, this again has gave me some new ideas on what to do. After that i wrote a 25 word pitch about my magazine and audience. As i have been starting work on my magazine, i have been writing a draft article, i then posted that this week along with a language register which shows what sort of language i will be using in my articles, i then compared hip-hop magazine language to a classical magazine. For more research i looked into existing hip-hop/rap magazines. I then looked at photographs and graphic designers, this was to help me learn about taking photos to give me inspiration. Next, i posted my audience feedback from my questionnaire and then i finished creating my first plans.

First plans

Audience feedback

From my audience research i have found out that i have a audience from 16-18 years old.
from my questionnaires i found out that there are more males that listen to Hip hop music, therefore my intended audience will be males.
From my research i have found out that most 4/10 people buy a magazine once a week, 3/10 people by a magazine once a month and the other 3 people never buy a magazine. From this i will aim to sell my magazine once a week as there would be more in demand.
As a result of 6/10 people saying they listen to Hip Hop magazine and the other 4 was a mix between, classical, pop and indie, i will chose to do Hip Hop magazine as there will be a bigger audience.
On my questionnaire i asked what people like to see in magazines, the answers i got where, fashion, music, sport, gossip, interviews with celebrities, make up and the price.
I also asked for what price people would pay for a magazine and the answers i got were between £2-£5.99. From this research i will price my magazine at £4

This is an example of my questionnaire.

Photographers and Graphic Designers

Terry Richardson 
Terry Richardson is an American fashion and portrait photographer, who has worked with many hip hop artist, including ASAP Rocky, Tyler the Creator, Kanye West and many other huge names in the music industry. Also he has worked with various clothing brands such as Supreme.
Terry Richardson likes to take mid shot photos in front of a plain background. I have taken a liking to this style and i feel that i will go for this myself. I like this a lot as i feel it is very basic but effective and looks good.

Peter Lindbergh

 Is a German photographer and film director. Lindbergh is well known for his cinematic images and introduced a new form of realism by redefining beauty in his work, and has changed the standards of fashion through his photos. The reason for his natural photography is behind his saying, "The responsibility of photographers today to free women, and finally everyone, from the terror of youth and perfection." Lindbergh is a huge fan of black and white photos with a natural background, which is different to many other photographers. Peter Lindbergh has worked with many people and his most famous is Pharrell. The reason why i like his work is because it is different and stands out more than others.

Existing Hip Hop magazine titles

Vibe magazine 
-Big, bold, red title so that it stands out and people remember the name, but also the magazine has a very simple easy to read title, which helps people memories it in case they want to purchase it again.
-Half the title is covered by the main image this is because Vibe is such a well known magazine company so people instantly know its their magazine just by a few details.
-Vibe magazine has  made title partly faded, this is to add effect for the reader, also it gives off another touch that other magazines don't have.





XXL 
-Big red/white box logo title, that is different to any other master head, for people to recognize it easier and helps them memories it.
-This magazine cover features two artist on as there main image, which is unusual as most only have one person. The reason for this may be because XXL wanted to be different and stand out from the crowd but also shows whats inside the magazine and may attract more attention from readers.
-This magazine has high lighted the two artist names by using bigger and darker text, this is to make them stand out to the reader so that they know whats inside which may determine whether they buy it. Also, the page numbers down the right hand side are in a different color to all the other texts, this is so that it stands out and the readers can identify what page certain information is on.


Paper 
-white bold title on a pink back ground that stands out very well, this helps readers remember the magazine in case they want to buy it again.
-Paper magazine has gone for a different style to any other hip hop magazine, which normal goes for a color scheme of Red, Black and White/grey. In this case paper magazine has gone for very basic and easy colors such as pink, white and black.

Language register

Mostly every magazine uses a different style of writing and language to adapt to their target audience so that the reader can relate to whats on the page. This means a lot of magazines use more advanced language so that it appeals to an much older and touchy audience. It is wrote in this way because the readers would appreciate the text more and also it fits with their generations terminology, which is very formal.  For example the magazine, Classic FM is set out in this way. Also, in a classical magazine the articles will subjects to do with older musicians and subjects for older people. In contrast, XXL uses different language to appeal to a much younger audience, which uses current terminology. As well as that, the magazine may include taboo language as this fits with the readers choice of language. In these types of magazines, the articles will include stories about younger musicians, festivals and fashion, as this is what younger people like to read about.

Draft article

Lil Fabes, also known as Fabian Jamal Rennalls JR, is back. The rapper everyone loves is now releasing his first album in just under 5 years, down to him getting sent to St Louis prison. The 22 year old will be releasing his album later this month. The album consists of 12 songs that tells the story about his life whilst growing up on Colden Avenue, in the Bronx of New York. The artist has covered the dark times in his relationships between him and his mother, and the struggles between the gang crimes that surrounded him. This news has stunned fans and got them screaming; people have been waiting years for this and now the King is coming back. Along with the album, Lil Fabes announced he would be touring in early 2018, starting in his home state then moving over America.

His Music Career started off, when he found the love for making beats on his old DJ Set in his bedroom and practicing his rapping in his old, dusty mirror, cramped in his childhood bedroom. When he realized he had talent at such a young age of 14, he sent endless amount of raps and beats off to various records labels, radios and other artists so he could be noticed and hoped to sign a deal. However, nothing major worked out for him; apart from one small radio station in his local area, which played music for up coming artist. Months past and nothing came about; Fabian still sent his music in to record stations in hope of finding a break through, but again nothing major happened. He then started to think music wasn't for him and should go and work at his granddads printing company. On the 28th January 2012, at the age of 17 his dream became a reality. As Jay Z was the first to realize his talent after hearing his short rap, ‘life’s not long enough’. Jay Z soon signed him up to his record label, Roc Nation. Later that year Lil Fabes released his first mix tape ‘Born a Winner’. This mix tape shocked many hip-hop fans, his distinctive voice stood out from everyone else and everyone loved it. Soon after that he released his second mix tape ‘They didn’t see me coming’, Fabian said that this was the mix tape to prove himself, to show the music industry he meant business, and it’s fair to say, he sure did that. 

Many months past and he brought out a few songs and also clabbed with his ‘father figure’ Jay Z and also Lil Wayne. His name was growing massively in the industry, and in mid 2013 he was about to get much bigger. With the release of his first album, Dark Sky Paradise, he almost hit the number one spot in the charts, but was beaten by the one and only Kanye West. Everyone loved Lil Fabes; and when his first tour sale came on fans went crazy. The tour took place around America, Starting in New York then moving across the states. Whilst being on tour his fame grew and many more people fell in love with him, including many other artists. 

2013 had been one the best years for his music life and he wanted it to go out with a bang, as a result of his he released his second album in late December, which was shared his other huge names such as Drake and Kanye West. 2014 then came and Lil Fabes was getting noticed for the wrong reasons, he had moved to Los Angeles and found him self getting into gang trouble, doing smalls burglaries and gun crimes. But this didn’t stop him from making his fans happy, he was still producing bangers, especially the song ‘dollar’ with A$AP Rocky that hit number one. In late March that year Fabes and the Sniper Gang were caught when attempting to a robbery job. This then saw Fabes getting arrested and caught with possession drugs, dangerous weapons and the obvious. He was then sentence to 3 and half years in prison. This was extremely bad news for fans and many of them went crazy over it. However, it wasn’t all-bad as he sentence was shorted then all the other members in the gang. Whilst he was in prison a lot of his rappers friends and other fans gave him major support, and he even had the chance of recording a song with the well-known artist, Future.

Later this year, he will be making his come back, as he gets released on April 11^th.  From his latest tweet he has announced he promises a ‘banging’ new album with special features. Also he has announced another tour which he describes will be the ‘best tour ever’ and will be joined by the likes of future, Lil Uzi Vert and metro booming. As well as that, Lil Fabes will be performing at Leeds/Reading fest in August 2017.

The new album will be having 12 songs, which all tell the story of how he grew up in New York. The fans will get an insight in his struggles as a young teenager and his problems involving gun crimes and his mum. Lil Fabes, had spoken to us and told us that this album will be his best yet, as he is telling a story extremely close to his heart.

A few songs from the album have already came out on apple music as a taster, these songs are, “Left Cheek, right cheek’ featuring Travis Scott, and ‘Murda’ featuring A$AP Rocky. His fans are already going crazy over these songs, and cant wait for the album to drop. 

In our exclusive interview with Lil Fabes, we asked him what his plans are after this album, he then told us, “I am currently planning something big, which involves many stars and many new big hits, all my fans will love it”. So for all you Lil Fabes lovers, the best is yet to come.

We also asked the star whether he will be touring in the UK anytime soon, he responded with, “well of course, I want to please all my fans and I love the UK, so you’ll all get to see me, and I’m defiantly going to the Leeds/Reading Festival this year so be ready for that, because its gonna bang!’

The question on everyone’s mind is, whys the new album called Katrina? Well it is abit random but there’s a special reason behind it. We asked Fabian and this is what he said, “As I’ve said before, this albums very close to my heart and I wanted to keep the title like that, so I named it after the beautiful woman that brought me into this life. We haven’t always got on, but she raised me and I wouldn’t be here without her, I respect and love her so much, so I had to name it after my mother, Katrina Louisa Rennalls.”.

Fan review by Cam Quinn: Lil Fabes new album is one of my Favorites, i can listen to this almost anywhere when I'm in the mood. I love the way that he has told the story of his childhood through the use of his lyrics and it has made me feel like i was there growing up with him. I can't wait to go see him live at Leeds!

25 word pitch

Male audience
modern Hip Hop rap
16-30
Travis Scott
Young Thug
growing market
fashion
Bape
Supreme
paper magazine
XXL
African American
£3.50
Released Once a Week





My chosen genre is modern hip Hop/ rap, i have chosen this because i felt that it would be challenging but also fun, as it is the type of music i listen to and i feel that i know more about this type of music than most. My magazine will feature artists such as Travis Scott, Young Thug, Kanye West and a feature of Lil Fabes (my double page spread). Also there will be a fashion section which will have sections for Bape, supreme, Armani   and many more clothing brands. This magazine will be released once of week at a price of £3.50. My target audience will be people who enjoy this type of music and that are fans of artists like Travis Scott, the age will be aimed at 16-30 year olds.

Existing magazine

This paper magazine has a very basic layout cover, which has minimum writing on apart from the title and a few tag lines. I also like that there is a plain pink background which makes Travis Scott stand out, which is important as people who like Travis Scott will instantly be connected to this magazine and want to read it. 

I really like this XXL magazine featuring Kendrick Lamar because it has a basic layout which is easy to read and identifies who the main story is about, as it has a main image of Kendrick Lamar and his name in big bold writing that stands out. Also i like how it had all the other tag lines on the right side with the artists name in bigger and darker writing to help readers know whats inside the magazine.

Layout research

After creating my first draft magazine I have noticed that it is nowhere near as good as a professional magazine, as I need to get many of my conventions correct. For example, I need to get my measurements correct and change some of my numbers and text, such as I need to have odd numbers on the right and even on the left.

As a result of this I have decided to edit my magazines and adapt it so it looks more like a professional magazine, by measuring the margins, size of barcode, front sizing and the positioning of texts and pictures. By doing this my magazine will have a better chance to do well on the market and it will look good.

Before I started my magazine I didn’t think to research into this as I felt that it would be easy to do this with out measuring. But as I got more feedback and did more research I began to notice that I needed to as the text boxes and images were out of line and didn’t look right.

Below are some examples I've taken from a magazine:

Margin size (Front Cover): 10mm

Margin size (Contents page): 10mm

Margin size (Double Page Spread): 15mm

Barcode size: 30mm by 20mm

My plan for the week

This week i will be doing some more research and planning for my magazine. For this i will be looking at existing magazines from my chosen genre to give me some new ideas; this will also include looking at articles and the language register, from this i will learn what my article  should look like and what content should be in it. As well as that i will be creating a 25 word pitch which will include most of the details about my magazine and the audience. After that, i will be making ten questionnaires and handing them out, this is part of my audience feedback, this will give me an insight into what my audience want to read. Also, i will be doing some research into photographers and digital designers, this will help me identify the photos i want to take for my own work. Towards the end of the week i will be creating a draft article to go on my double page spread, and then i will be making my first plans.

Reflection of the past week

This is week i feel i have accomplished a lot work, i started by creating my colour palettes and added them to my blog, i felt this went well as i got many examples colour palettes. Next i made a audience profile, this is a post about my intended audience. By doing this it has helped me learn what i need to add onto my magazine to make it appeal to my audience. Whist doing this i also made a post about fashion, for this i wrote a piece about what hip-hop artists wear and gave some examples; this again has helped me learn what my model needs to wear. I have also created a mood board of various artist and magazines. Next i wrote a post about how i decided on my title for my magazine, this i felt went really well and i got a lot done in that lesson. I also create a post on my artist/ model and the different fonts i may be using.

Information about my artist

Name: Lil Fabes (Fabian Jamal Rennalls Jr)

Age: 22

 Background: Fabian is an African American born and raised in the bronx of New York, during his childhood he grew up around gun crimes and violence, through out this he saw his mum and dad struggling with normal life. His dream was to become famous and help his family get out of the hard life. Album: Katrina is his debut album that goes through the story of how he grew up and features some of his darkest times.

Fonts

I have chosen these fonts because i like the way they look but also i feel that these will fit in with my chosen music genre as they are all bold and basic. Also as the master head is the first bit of writing that will stand out to the reader, i feel that it is important to have a nice big bold font, that will also look neat and tidy. So that it will catch the readers eye instantly. 

For my tag lines i will look to use one of the same fonts as my master head but i will have the size smaller so that it doesn't put the main title out of place. This is also important to have a good font for the tag lines, as it is what the readers look for to see whats inside the magazine. 

On my contents page and double page spread, i will look to use a simply font that is easy on the eye, as there will be a lot more writing and i wouldn't want the reader to find it difficult to read. It is also extremely important to get the size of the font correct as i wouldn't want the reader to strain their eye, but also i don't want it to be to big so it will look silly. 

Decision on my title

My title is going to be Coordinate, i got this from inspiration off Travis Scott ( a hip-hop/rap artist) as he has a song named Coordinate which i really enjoy listening to and felt it was a good name for a magazine. To come up with the design i looked through many magazines and came across Fader which had the box around the F, when i saw this i loved the idea and decided to search for a font similar and chose to have the box around the full word. Next, came across the XXL which was a mix of red and white, i also loved this ideas as they are basic and go well together, therefor i chose these colors for my own.

Mood Board

Fashion

Almost every peice of clothing that these rapper wear are high end or luxury. Example of high end clothing brands are: supreme, Bape, Goshar, Billionaire boys club, place, Stussy. Examples of luxury brands are: Versace, Armani, Prada.
As well as that some of these rappers have there own brand, such a Kanye West who has Yeezy.

Audience profile

Audience profile for Hip-Hop

Age: 16-30
Gender: Men and Women
Race: All races but mainly African american
Nationally: This type of music can appeal to everyone but mainly Americans and English
Audience interest: Hanging out with mates, partying, clothes

Hip Hop is usually listened by 16-30 year old as a lot of the music involves profanity and wouldn't appeal to younger children as it may get the wrong message from this type of music. Women and men can listen to Hip-Hop music but it is mainly men as the music can be sexist and portrays women in a bad way, also the majority of the rappers are male which appeals more to men. The people that listen to this type of music are normally African American, as the artist are mainly this race as well. Also a lot of the songs are about the artist past and their hard life growing up, this relates to a lot of African Americans growing up in some areas of America in which the lifestyle is different and harder.

Colour palettes

I have been researching in many colour palettes, some i really like and some i dislike. My Favourite one is the top right, with the colours red, white and black. I really like this one because red is my favourite colour and feel the mix of the three colours go really well with each other. As a result of this i will be using these colours for my magazine. My second favourite is the blue and the black palette, i say this because i just love the mix of the dark and light blue and i feel that it reminds me of Travis Scott, who is a famous hip-hop/rap artist. Also, i really like the palette in the top left corner, i say this because its very basic but very light which reminds me of summer and that makes me feel happy. For my magazine i will try to use these light colours as i feel that it is important for the reader to feel happy as well. The third palette down not he left hand side is my least favourite, this is because I'm not really a fan of the colour green and i feel that it is too extreme with the bright green. I will not be using this one for my magazine as i feel the readers wouldn't want to see these because they are to heavy on the eye.

Plan for the week

This week i am going to be doing some more research and planning for my magazine. This will involve looking at colour palettes so that i can come up with a colour scheme for my magazine, audience profile so that i know what my audience want to see I'm a magazine and how i can adapt it for them, so i can beat competitors. I will also be looking into the fashion of my audiences so i the know how to have my model dressed, finally i will then bee researching into the fonts used by other magazines.

Reflection of the past week

The past week i haven't really done anything special as I've only just started, but i did complete my sketch up for my magazine so that it gives me a rough idea of what i need to do. Also i created some mood boards.

Mood Board

Contents page sketch up

Front cover sketch up

Plan for the week

For this week i will aim to create a front cover and contents page sketch up for a small outline for my magazine. Then i will upload this to my blog. Also, for this week i will make a mood board of the photos that give me some ideas and that relate to the hip-hop/rap genre. As well as that i will make a preliminary magazine which i will upload to my blog as well.