Draft question 1

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

I used a range of Hip Hop magazines as inspiration when creating my final product, such as XXL, The Source and Complex. I took ideas from these magazines which each use, develop and challenge typical convention forms in  some way, depending on the specific issue. I chose to adopt a variety of the ideas from the pre-existing magazines as they successfully appealed to the target audience and represented the genre of hip hop effectively. Inspiration from the cover. My inspiration for the cover came from the idea of doing something which would stand out on the magazine racks through its innovative style which challenges the typical conventions of a music magazine (usually simple and minimalist.) 

When producing my final version of the contents page I based the design and layout around the successful, pre-existing magazines including Vibe, The Source and XXL. I liked the effect that the statement, simple images had and gained ideas from the conventions including the text style and layout. I looked at the placement of text and the image on the page; I noticed that most of the hip hop magazine contents pages I analysed took the approach of using a single image to create a bigger impact on the audience.

MASTHEAD

I used font 'Bebas' on the masthead of my magazine, ensuring that using this I would make a statement and stand out,  aesthetically appeal to the target audience and fit in with the hip hop genre and design of the cover. As well as this I also had to make sure the audience were able to read the masthead and be able to clearly identify the magazine-allowing stronger branding. This is something which also is considered with real media products as they need to enable the product to be recognisable and successful. The font used for the masthead is very similar to XXL using sharp, chunky capital lettering which is clearly readable and is consistent to a professional look. This is just one way in which I have used the conventions of a pre-existing magazine. Also, I felt that I needed a basic style of font for the masthead to ensure the main focus is on the cover image and cover lines as this is what is most likely to draw the audience in and encourage the sales of the magazine through being appealing and interesting as well as not wanting to suggest anything about the content of the magazine in the masthead as I feel the cover will speak for itself, like on the majority of XXL, Complex and The Source issues. I do not feel the audience should make assumptions on the magazine itself purely based on the masthead and it's design. My thoughts when designing were that this masthead would stand out amongst the typical, basic magazines as it is bolder and would catch the eyes of the audience. I chose to use the conventions taken by XXL for the masthead, using red and white as the colour scheme (white text contrasting and clearly readable on the red background of the masthead). The colour combination works well and attracts the audience as its eye catching and bright with the bold text inside. The red square box makes the cover appear neat and professional, therefore I used this idea, taken from XXL on my magazine cover and chose to keep it consistent by using it also on the contents page to ensure the reader is always aware of the magazine they are reading, increasing brand awareness and strengthening.

I decided to alternate the convention of the barcode placement on the cover; XXL and many other music magazines such as The Source, VIBE and I-D place the barcode, on most issues, at the bottom of the cover, where as I challenged this typical convention by placing it in the space on the top right as I felt this is more appropriate due to their already being a lot to look at the bottom of the page (text.) However this alteration is not unheard of on real media products as examples from i-D and Clash, etc. have also used this idea, so it could also be said that I have used the conventions of a real media product through the barcode placement.  The size of the barcode challenged typical real media products as it was larger than the average barcode; the idea for the long barcode came from XXL as I liked the style and I felt that it was necessary to fill the blank space in this area.

Graphology/ Page Layout

After looking at many examples, I aimed to give the reader's a lot to think about on the page through thought provoking text and images, therefore I did not feel a basic, typical layout was appropriate for the cover of a magazine of the hip-hop genre; however I also researched many contents pages of style model magazines (such as The Source and XXL) which gave me the idea to use a simple layout and allow a statement image to add detail

In terms of layout and structure, I feel I took a simplistic approach; this is also taken by many pre-existing music magazines such as I-D and Clash typically. I liked how the layout creates continuity on every page and can adapt to suit any specific topic as it is not suggestive.

Bebas font, featured on the masthead is kept consistent through its use on every page, including the contents page where it is used for the numbering and the page number of the contents page itself; as well as being prominent in the double page spread to format the large, central title/heading 'Paradox',the pull quote, page numbers and for the details of the author and photographer on the double page spread. Use of Bebas on every page creates consistency and gives a unified theme to the magazine as a whole. The maintained consistency makes the magazine seem well constructed as it fits well together, each page following on to the next with a continuous colour theme throughout, creating high levels of continuity.

On the cover, the text which lists names of pre-existing and successful hip-hop artists/groups is formatted in New Press Eroded font; this appears edgy and stylish, reflecting 'hardness' to create an urban feel. This works well alongside the Bebas font which is also featured on the cover to format the masthead text and cover lines. Everything works well together, creating the intended image to represent intended themes within the magazine. 
Coolvetica font was used for the issue number and issue date, printed on the barcode section of the magazine, this also  works with the other fonts to ensure it does not look out of place. This font was also used to format the text on the bar headers on the contents page, suitable and consistent.

Raavi is a clear, rounded and basic font which i chose to format the text of the article with as it contributes towards the urban, edgy feel which was intended on the magazine. The font allows the text to look 'blocky' and bold; it would entice the reader to read the text as the style and structure is something different from the norm- seeming interesting and innovative.

The simple un-suggestive font types all appear professional and work well together. They allow easy reading as all lettering is clear and appropriate for a magazine form of media.

A variation of a high and low language register is used appropriately to engage the target audience effectively.

All images are conventional for a typical mainstream hip-hop magazine, based on research conducted on style models such as The Source, XXL, Complex and VIBE.

ARTIST PROFILE/ IMAGE CONVENTIONS
My artists represent the genre of hip hop successfully; the artists profile I went for was around the late teens mark for a male and female duo. This is a typical age for artists of this genre to be starting out and finding success. In the mise en scene, I chose to keep the clothing basic; following a black and white colour scheme to ensure the images do not appear out of place on the page. A colour theme running through Base Junkie is quite clearly black, white and red. The cover image displays the artists, Drizzy J, wearing a basic black hoodie; conforming to the stereotypical image of hip-hop followers as they are very relaxed in their attire and express mood through baggy garments etc. Another reason why I choose the black hoodie was to allow the reader to clearly read the cover lines as this is another aspect which would grab attention and interest the target audience; the white text over the black contrasts well and avoids any confusion as it is easy to read and stands out effectively.  A small amount of gold jewelry (a gold chain and bracelet) was also a part of the costume and featured on the artists in both the contents and the double page spread to create an image of a typical hip hop artist profile as, often, 'bling' is shown off to represent success and wealth. Styling of the female, known as Khira Leigh, was inspired by passionate hip hop solo female artist: Iggy Azalea and Rita Ora as they are suited to this genre and express personality and attitude through their image. This is something I wanted to mirror during the photography stage of the task. research and planning was very useful for this as I was able to develop ideas and analyse real media products to see what works well.

Body language and expressions where very important to set mood and interest among the target audience as well as reflecting the theme of hip hop and culture throughout.

I decided to use images of the male artists out of the duo on every page to present him as a dominant, leader figure; conforming to views of hip-hop culture which usually see a male figure as powerful. This is an approach often taken by pre-exsiting magazines, including Q which features Alex Turner from The Artic Monkey's on the front cover rather than all four members as well as NME featuring Johnny Rotten from the Sex Pistols.

A reason for only featuring one member of a group on some of the pages may be due to the fact that it may make them appear overcrowded and unappealing; if I had both members on the cover as well as using the background text listing popular hip-hop artists- there is already a lot of detail on the cover. However I wanted to ensure the audience are aware the Paradox is a band, which was my reasoning behind featuring both members, Drizzy J and Khira Leigh, on the contents page and to include variety within the magazine as the double spread and the cover use images which only capture the male; this could seem repetitive and predictable, something which I aim to avoid given the diverse nature of my chosen genre, which is of course mainstream hip hop.

Double spread page images are representative of the hip hop genre. The centre image of Drizzy J shows him making a gesture with his fingers, which could be interpreted in many ways and seen as inappropriate for many magazines of various genres such as indie, etc. and would therefore be unlikely to be featured in pre-existing models like I-D, Wonderland or Clash. The simplistic designs of these style models feature traditional and modern conventions, which I have slightly geared away from and challenged as this not entirely suited to my chosen style of music representation, as found during the research of real media texts related to hip hop. I went with this image for the final version of the double page spread as it reflects attitude and creates a mood for not only the article but also for the magazine as a whole.

The idea to use three different images with varying opacity on the double page spread was based on and inspired by an example from VIBE. I decided on a branded t-shirt for the artist to wear on the image featured on the double page spread as this was something used by the VIBE example, which uses a 'TDE' branded hoodie, as well as the fact It works well with the high status theme among hip hop artists. Despite this, the logo does not appear overpowering in affect to the rest of the double page spread as there is a lot to look at and this is not a main feature, I purposefully did this to ensure the image does not seem as though it is being used for advertisement purposes as I feel this adds a commercial tag on something which is meaningful.

Reader attention is drawn to the image through the unusual design and layout, challenging typical conventions of real media products. The article was layed out on the right side of the page, creating a block of text which is eye catching and attractive. I used Spin's example featuring Kid Cudi as a guideline when designing my double page spread as I wanted to achieve a similar result using the conventions of this page. The large, high quality images put together and placed effectively on the left page would draw attention and interest of the reader as it is appealing and makes a statement on the page due to the contrast with the fairly simplistic design of the right page (next to it.) I also used a pull quote, drop capital, page numbers, an author and photographer description and left aligned text; these are all conventions widely used in many real media products as they are not suggestive of a particular text type or subject and are used to attract the reader to the page.