Plan of action for necessary improvements

To improve on my draft pages for the final version of Bass Junkie, i intend to retake photos capturing more attitude and personality, truly relating to the theme of hip-hop and to engage and interest readers as they would hopefully be enticed to read on. I want to achieve a look of attitude and mischief using the new models through rethinking the style and relevant fashion and expressions. I will then apply this to a relevant design and structure of a popular, current hip-hop magazine and alter it effectively to gain a professional and consistent design that would appeal to the target audience. 

I want the images to be full and capture many sides and angles of the models to ensure that i have lots of choice and variety when it comes to creating the final versions. I also wish to take photos both inside the studio as well as an outside in an urban looking environment to achieve the intended look.

I feel a different approach to what i was initially planning is needed to create a look similar to the current hip-hop magazines which are loved and purchased by many. I will take ideas from XXL, Vibe, The Source and Complex when designing the final versions.

I will take into consideration all the feedback from my draft versions to hopefully get a better outcome from the final pieces. 

Examples of Hip-Hop magazines

Feedback from draft pages

  

• The font of the mast head doesn't work well with the rest of the design.
• The image isn't full sized and the hair of the male is cut off.
• If the image was full sized, then the male's afro could be over the text/mast head.
• The eyes of the male do not look quite right- no attitude is reflected
• The wink should be more exaggerated so it is clear and identifiable
• The barcode is too large.

 

• There is too much space at the top
• The layout of text is messy and needs to be more precise
• The image is simple and something needs to be added, such as a quote
• The hand on the hip pose is taken on the front cover too
• The spelling of 'Urban' is wrong

 

• Headline could be improved
• 3 column structure would be more suitable and appealing
• More text is needed
• Text font size is too large (18) needs to be smaller
• The pull quote needs to be taken from the interview.

 

Draft versions of pages

COVER:

CONTENTS:

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD:

Using test shot images of models which i felt met the criteria for the hip-hop genre (inspired by Iggy Azalea and Abel Tesfaye from The Weekend) i put together relevant text and images to create draft version of how i want my magazine to look.

This gave me ideas and ways to improve for the final version of the pages as i was able to gain feedback and ideas for improvements on these mock ups. I realised during creating the drafts that there are many elements to Photoshop which can help achieve a professional magazine through imagery, text and style.

Target for the week

This week I am going to research other hip-hop magazine covers, contents and double page spreads to get an idea of what I am aiming for when designing Bass Junkie pages. I will look at successful magazines to find out what works and what appeals to those with an interest in this genre of music; taking into account colours, fonts, sizes, positioning's and styles etc.

Flat plan

I decided to devise a flat plan on A3 paper before designing my magazine on Photoshop; i felt this would give me a better/clearer idea of what i was planning to achieve with each page. This was a rough copy and i simply included the basics on each page, giving me something to base ideas on and make alterations where necessary.

COVER FLAT PLAN

CONTENTS FLAT PLAN

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD FLAT PLAN

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