DAILY GRIND

Magazine evaluation

The first thing I considered when designing my magazine cover was the Title. The Title of any magazine has to represent what the magazine represents, for example magazines like Kerrang can be instantly affiliated with Rock music because it sounds like onomatopoeia of a heavy metal sound. I decided to call my magazine Daily Grind, the fact that the magazine is not issued daily is challenging other newspapers, but because it is a magazine the Title can mean something deeper. The title ‘Daily Grind’ can represent the everyday struggle of people producing this genre of music (UK Grime/Hip Hop) because their grind in what they do is daily and it projects an image of a hard lifestyle for people up and coming in this music.

In the other features that would be in the magazine on the front cover I have made the ‘Global Grime Awards’ something to catch the readers eye. This shows that even though the magazine is called Daily Grind there is progress in the genre of music, the grime awards being worldwide shows that everyone in the world is aware of UK Grime/Hip Hop music.

The Front cover is relating to a real magazine because the Image of my double page feature artist is with a dark background and a face shot of him in a hat with diamond teeth, I think this is a good representation of the music genre because in a lot of rap or grime videos you see this sense of style portrayed (e.g jewellery, wooly hats & hoodies). You are immediately drawn to his diamond teeth because he is biting his lower lip flashing them with a tough look, showing that he represents the mean side of the streets where they wear baggy clothes, wooly hats and jewellery and the grin on his face shows he is proud of it.

The feature on the front cover of the worlds first Global Grime award is a very big eye catcher for the reader. The people who are into grime music will know that it has been an underground genre for many years and has not recieved enough radio play for the amount that has been made. If there was a global grime awards this would be a huge step forward for the genre, and could mean more oppurtunities in the future for people who make this music. The price of the magazine is also important because if it is appealing to teens, alot of them do not own their own wage yet to be spending lots of money on a magazine. £2.50 should be an affordable price for people of this age.

The magazine image can be compared to the one of tupac.They both have a calm relaxed face as if they are genuinely prayingand they are both close up shots so you can see his expression clear

The image of tupac is in black and white, adding to the calm aura about this pic, this gives me the impression that he is praying to god for forgiveness and he is also topless with religious beads down his neck, all these factors add to the religious theme of this picture

However in the photo of D-bo we know that the theme of the article which he is featured in is to promote up and coming artists, and represent the daily grind and where they come from. He has done the exact same hand gesture as tupac but the colour change of this picture gives a more positive aura about it. The reader is more likely to believe he is praying for success rather than forgiveness due to the theme of the article and the fact that he is only 18, therefore has not seen or done enough in life to be praying for forgiveness like Tupac. Tupac’s bald head brings us to see him as an African slave rather than an artist like D-bo. This is an iconic image of D-bo, because of his skin colour and clothes people would assume him to be a trouble-making youth but the gesture shows them praying, which could encourage youths of the same culture to become more like him, giving the idea that ‘religion is a fashion’.

Target audience

This magazine should appeal to mostly young men between the ages of 15-20. The type of person that would take interest in a magazine of this sort would be your typical urban male teen. This magazine includes lots of information on the new generation of artists and music e.g grime/dubstep so anyone who grew up in a generation before this may not have any interest in this magazine. The typical urban male teen is usually from a working class background, they would dress in such things like hoodies, wooly hats, jeans and trainers (Similar to what is shown on the front cover image). They would prefer to shop at places like JD and nike-town and the ones with a bit more money would buy expensive clothes of the same style for example Ralph Lauren hoodies and trainers etc. The front cover of the magazine will grip their attention instantly by the similarity of style and dress sense. Most of them would also be fans of hip hop since grime and hip-hop are so closely related to eachother, the front cover has a mention of Giggs, one of the main idols in UK hip-hop, so even if they have never heard of D-bo they will be encouraged to pick up the magazine by this. People of this genre and age are likely to watch channels like MTV base or Channel AKA because they play their type of music. TV shows mainly include dramas such as dubplate drama and eastenders because shows like this relate to the drama and commotion they see, hear about and are involved in almost every day.

I have carefully selected which images to include on the double page spread, the main background photo D-bo is seen to be pointing at the reader, showing his focus and also creating the effect of ‘singling them out’ it also shows the three sides to his personality, the background shows his ‘typical teen’ side, the middle photo on the top is his neutral side, and the far right image is his religious side, so the reader instantly has a breif insight to his personality before even reading the magazine. The logo is on the top left which is essential for every main feature page in this magazine so that it sticks in their mind.

His name has been placed directly next to his shining teeth so once that grabs their attention, the teeth will also grab it. The colour organisation on this page is the same as on the front page so as soon as they reach this page they will realise it is the main feature and read it.The writing has been placed on a white background so it is very simple reader to read, too often people place dark fonts on dark backgrounds and people of this age will not be bothered to struggle to read his interview, especially if they have never heard of him.

Squinted eyes to show his focus

Jewellery teeth showing again to re-emphasize the fashion

Facial hair and long braided hair is similar to how many young black teens are appearing today

Same layout theme as the front cover

Inspirational quote for the many artists that will read this magazine

Praying gesture, this image itself can draw people who are religious to this article with that pose. Reminds us that he is still up and coming and gives us the idea that he is “praying for better days”

Interview stands out, easy on the eye for the reader

Pointing gesture towards camera, typical pose for teenagers in the modern day

CONTENTS PAGE

The writing has been written in bold, making it easy to read. The image of Giggs mixtape cover for ‘ take your hats off’ will also grab the readers eye because of the mention on the front cover. Images have been put in for some of the contents to draw the reader towards certain sections of the book. From the images of D-bo and max powers you can tell what type of magazine it is instantly for youths of the urban culture, the image of max is almost identical to the image of D-bo, stating exactly what type of magazine this is just from the image.

Promotion in the left hand corner of the website is important for promotion of the magazine aswell, people can get sneak peaks of next issues and go back and read previous issues that they missed online, even clothing could be sold once the magazine has a widespread name.For people who have not heard of max powers

or D-bo, if they are into this urban culture the well recognised faces of Giggs and Wretch 32 can be sure to grab their attention, once they have looked up some of their favourite artists they can then have a read on some up and coming artists like Max powers or D-bo

DISTRUBUTION

WWMD could be suitable to distrubute this magazine. It could be a good business move for them because most of their current magazines are only appealing to the punk/rock/pop audience. The urban market would be a good investment because there aren’t many major UK urban magazines so with the right promotion and distrubution it could sell very well

The WWMD are able to distrubute it to many specialist retailers around the world, making the UK urban scene popular in places like America and Canada etc. This would make the global grime awards possible because after the right distrubution Grime music would be popular all around the world, so the Global grime awards could be broadcasted on a worldwide Hip-Hop channel like B.E.T all around the world and the viewers from the UK especially would rocket through the roof.