PLANNING: DRAFT My college magazine

PLANNING: My college magazine plan

PLANNING: College magazine plan

This is my quick plan for the cover of my college magazine.

Eleanor

PLANNING: 'XXL' Case Study

XXL Summer 2015

Front Cover

The gutter on the front cover is very small however it makes the magazine look clean and put together. The layout is in an 'L' formation, so it makes the audience read from left to right, noticing exactly what the magazine editor wants you to. The colour scheme is red, blue and black, which looks simplistic and appealing. The masthead uses the 'XXL' logo seen on every edition of the magazine, so it is easily recognisable. The font used is really informal and looks modern, which is aimed towards young adults. The colours red and blue are linked to each of the genders, thus making it appealing to both sexes. The word XXL is also a phrase you would use to say something is really big, telling us the content of the magazine is really worth the read. The pictures of the artists overlap the masthead connoting that XXL is a successful magazine and that the readers will still recognise it even if it is covered. XXL magazine focuses mainly on the rap music genre, which is what all the artists on the front perform, so they are all appropriate for the cover. The main cover line reads '2015's XXL Freshman class Built to Win,' this links in with the cover image because they are all up and coming artists. The use of white against blue makes it easy to read and draws your eyes towards it. The white could signify purity. The barcode is common convention on a magazine, needed in order for it to be sold. The date and price are common conventions, the price is really small conveying that the company doesn't want the price ($5.99) to stand out as it doesn't appeal to the audience. The placement of the rap artists on the front makes them look like a squad and really strong as a team, they all have differently poses conveying who they are as an individual. XXL is aimed at men aged on average 27, but it always depends on the artist on the front, in this case it it aimed toward men and women because it had men on the front like K Camp as well as women such as Dej Loaf. There is a sentence on the side which reads ' Hip-Hop On A Higher Level'.

Contents Page

 There are 3 different fonts used on the contents page, no no one place draws the readers attention. There is a heading that reads 'The A-Side' placed at the top left hand side so even though it doesn't say contents anywhere, you already know what it is. The font used is normal but the A is in bold. There is one image which is very similar the cover imagine the front so you know they are linked,  the image on the contents page looks like an informal version. The facial expressions on all the artists on 'The A-Side' are different, conveying their differing personalities. Some are smiling such as Fetty Wap and Raury and some are pulling faces such as Dej Loaf and K Camp, this conveys that all the artists are their own and are kind (hence the smiling.) All of the stars are directly gazing at the camera, giving unswerving eye contact, this connotes that they are all serious about their music. Bodily posture of all of the artists indicates they are confident. Mise-en-scene of them sitting on a stage-like-prop conveys that they are perfomers and are all comfortable on stage. I think the lighting is three point lighting because all aspects of the image is lit up. All the artists juxtapose each other in the photo, I think they put Fetty Wap int he middle because he is he most recognisable at the moment. The colour scheme is blue and black and is very minimalistic, this makes he magazine look very simple and focused on the music. The blue is striking and draws eyes toward the page numbers. There is only one column so it is very clear, these are all the features. Two pages along is 'The B-Side' which showcases all the departments in the magazine, this page is red and black themed so both link in with the front cover. The effect of this is that it looks very professional and put together. The woman on 'The B-Side is smiling really big so she looks quite attractive to men and even women who are reading the magazine. The way her head is turned slightly to the right makes her look quite seductive as her eyes are staring straight into yours.  If you read the Departments section, on page 80 is says 'Eye Candy. Briana Bette is both smart and sexy' which is very attractive to men. The way her leg is lifted up really emphasises her curves making her waist look smaller and thighs and hips look bigger, a very desirable shape for brown skin women, enticing them to see what she has that they don't have. The coral/red colour outfit she wis wearing really highlights her skin tone, making her skin look a very pure tanned colour, also with a matching lip and cheek colour she looks really desirable, the coral colour makes the melanin in her skin 'pop'. The plant and books in the foreground indicates a homely atmosphere, indicating that she walks around home like that, a very nice sight for a partner.  The low angle shot makes her look like a powerful black woman.  I think they use the technique A and B side so it is not too much information all bunched up on one page, in a way to split up the information. 

Double Page Spread

The heading is 'Sky's the limit' as it is talking about all up and coming artists featured on the page. so the title is something that probably all the artists have once heard, it also gives the reader an insight on what the article may be about. In comparison to the image the text is really small and insignificant. this could mean that the artists are the main focus rather than what the article says. The artists dominate the pages. Plus this is the cover story so it is big and out-there. The main focus of the double page spread is the artists, it shows all the artists in poses they are comfortable with. The contrast is high the image so each and every person stands out. The colour scheme is yellow and red, the colours of fire. 'Fire' in todays slang means something that is hot, usually relating to a newly released track or EP that is respected. The colour red can also be linked to blood and fighting for to get the most sales or love for music. The article is about the 10 up and coming artists in the rap community in 2015, over 10 pages it goes into detail of each artist. The target audience is people interested in rap and discovering new artists. I read the article on the double page spread, to summarise it, it explains how they decide who gets to be featured in the freshman class list, the people they pick they think they can make it as a star or even a superstar. The language used is quite informal, I know this because towards the end it reads 'So get your pens, pencils, smart phones, tablets, laptops or whatever ready. Once again, class is in its session.' A teacher from a proper school would never tell you to get your phones out and definitely say 'or whatever'. The structure of this article is quite block-y and kind of but not really split up into (3& ½) paragraphs. 

The audience of XXL magazine goes far and wide, 139 different countries to be exact. As of 2012, the percentage of male readers is 78% with a media age of 27 and 67% being african american. The publisher of XXL Magazine is Townsquare Media who also publish other music magazines such as  'The Boombox,' 'Consequence of Sound' and 'Taste of Country.'

Eleanor

PLANNING: 'HIPHOP' Case Study

Volume 10 issue 12

Hip hop Weekly magazine is an American hip hop news and entertainment magazine founded in 2006. The magazine covers celebrity news, music, film, fashion, sports and features exclusive interviews with many notable figures within popular hip hop culture.

Front cover

In my opinion, the front cover of ‘Hip Hop’ magazine looks really cluttered and unprofessional due to the large font and array of cover lines. The masthead on the front reads ‘Hip Hop Weekly’ and is placed behind Drake and Meek Mill’s head, this lets the reader know that the stars are more important and also that the stars are more important than the magazine itself.  There are two different fonts on the front cover, one being the mast head and the other being cover lines. There are lots of teasers on the front cover, one in the top left hand corner, designed too look like a page turning reading ‘R.I.P. BOBBI KRISTINA BROWN PASSES AWAY AT 22’ this will draw people to want to read it because we naturally read from left to right so it will get noticed first. As well as ‘plus inside’ stating lots of singers along the bottom.

The image on the front is from paparazzi and has no correspondence to the text, the two cover stars have simply been edited together. The images of Drake and Meek Mill on the front both happen to be directly looking at the camera which makes us feel like we have to read he article because of the strong gaze.

There is a colour scheme of blue red and yellow and white, which I think helps to make it look cluttered. 

Contents page

The contents page is split into 3 columns and has two photos.

There are 5 departments; word on the street, style, entertainment, music and web watch. I think this whole magazine is a shambles because the contents page has the smallest resemblance to the front cover as the colour scheme here is pink and purple. The contents page is in chronological order

Double page spread
The DPS I studied was in a q&a structure with award winning singer Miguel. I recognised the q&a structure because the questions were printed in pink and Miguel's answers in black. there isn't any pull quotes however in the centre there is cover art of his new album.
The relationship between the text and the image isn't great because there is no caption or anything telling the reader who Miguel is if they didn't have an idea. The mast head really has no correlation to the rest of the article as it is in red and it is called 'The New Look.' The image connotes rock music because of the white leather jacket with zips he is wearing although this is a hip hop magazine so this is quite hypocritical.

Eleanor

PLANNING: Practice Music Magazine Front Cover

Today in lesson we used Adobe Photoshop for the first time. I found it quite simple as I have used it in Graphics before. I based mine on a Rap artist called Tyga, I stuck to a two colour scheme of yellow and white but as I add more cover lines I would also incorporate black to make it a three colour scheme. I learnt how to add rulers and gutters to my work and how to use layers in order to get the effect that I wanted. I really liked doing this.

Eleanor

PLANNING: College Magazine vs Music Magazine

 College magazines and music magazines follow basic magazine conventions. For example they both follow the 3 colour scheme , the above magazine follows 3 colours of red, black and white.

Most college magazines I looked at had cover stars on the front that was smiling unlike music magazines who had cover stars which looked more serious and posed with straight faces. I think that college magazine cover stars were smiling to make college seem happy and the best thing to do.

Also magazines genuinely have dates on the front cover like ' Glamour College' does (august.) 

The use of a black cover star will entice black women to look at the magazine, and let them know that going to college is reachable for women of colour. The use of a head and shoulders shot enables the audience to look directly into her eyes and in turn that makes them feel happy too. This was the first magazine to feature a black woman on the front, in 1968, so they made her look classy with the tie around her neck. This is an old college magazine so from the 1960's to the 2010's, lots of things have changed, such as crediting the model on the front cover, which can be seen in the bottom right hand corner.

I think the audience of this magazine is women in college because of the features inside, such as '10 best dressed college girls' and 'College men's views on attitude on sex and virginity.'

Music magazines and college magazines both have cover lines. On Glamour College, the main cover line is highlighted in red, thus our eyes are drawn towards it. 

Eleanor

PLANNING: HAMMER Magazine Content Analysis

Yesterday we analysed contents pages of magazines from different genres. Jemima, Morgan and I looked at 'HAMMER' magazine which is from the rock music genre. We came to realise that matching the type of music this is the magazine didn't religiously follow codes and conventions of most magazines. For example the contents was spread over 3 pages not a double page spread usual contents pages are, also the editorial pieces wasn't listed chronologically, they was sporadic and confusing to understand. plus there are no sections such as features, or cover stories. If you was looking for something it is difficult to find. However the contents page reflects the front cover, following the same 3 colour scheme of red, black and white.

Eleanor

PLANNING: VIBE Magazine

Today we looked at conventions of magazine front covers. A convention is the way in which something is usually done. This is a front cover from VIBE magazine, it is a music magazine from the hip-hop/r&b genre. I am familiar with the codes and conventions of magazines as i studied this in GCSE media. This front cover sticks to many conventions such as the use of cover lines and a cover star however there is no free offers with this magazine.

Eleanor

PLANNING: My Completed Double Page Spread

This is what I finished today. It is my first Double Page Spread where I wrote my own article. I was given a topic to talk about, which i wrote 502 words for, whether technology is killing music magazines. I found that it was difficult to get right even with my practice with YG.

Eleanor

PLANNING: Re Make of YG DPS

The first task we was set last week on Adobe Indesign was to recreate a Double Page Spread on the music artist YG. I found that it was very difficult to first get started InDesign because it it not simple. I used a similar programme in my GCSE Media Studies course, however with a long summer break I forgot how to do basic things such as placing pictures. I found that creating this double page spread was fun to do because I think this is interesting and I like to do it, however getting all the elements together was hard and will take practice.

Eleanor                                                                                                                            

PLANNING: XXL Media kit

XXL Media Kit
Create your own infographics

PLANNING: TimeToast

Hi and welcome to my blog! My names Eleanor and this blog will showcase my AS Media coursework. Keep track of my upcoming blog posts, thanks :)

Eleanor