Production log:Front page

This was my previous masthead ‘Hoops’. This name was inspired by an item of jewellery, I wanted the name to attract females because I am subverting the generic conventions of hip-hop magazines as most of the time they are being created for a male based audience.

Pre production:masthead

The font is golden and embalmed, this is because I wanted to capture a 3D- gold effect- just like gold hoop earrings. The font is in graffiti style this is because I wanted to reinforce the idea of the magazine being about hip-hop. It was also very important to me that the name of the masthead is short and catchy, this is so it is easy to remember.

Masthead idea 1

Pre production:masthead

My masthead will be place at the upper left corner of my magazine, in my research this is where it was

placed, I aim for my magazine masthead to be catchy and different; it is important that it is

because this is how my audience would recognise my magazine. I have looked at the website dafont

and have looked at different font ideas and styles; I have looked at italics or serif fonts especially, this is

because to me it connotes sophistication and it looks very feminine compared to the ‘KING’ sans

serif font which is more masculine. However due to student criticism I have realised that unless this is bevelled it does no really look catchy or stand out,

especially since I have decided on a plain block colour such as black or gold, as I want to keep it

simple.

Masthead ideas:

Italic sans serif font

Black or gold masthead colour

These fonts are all serif and my ideas for a masthead, however it wouldn't really stand out against an image and to me its is not bold or catchy enough to be adapted to be made into a masthead.

Experimenting with fonts

MORE Masthead IdeasMy masthead is named ‘QUEEN’, I have experimented with different ideas and looked at different ways I can play with letters. When looking for ideas I stumbled across a hip- hop artist (Eminem’s album cover) and I am inspired by the way the ‘E’ is backwards, I want to adopt this idea and make one of my ‘E’s backwards as well, I have drawn a sketch of how I want my masthead to look by expanding on the Eminem idea.

Eminem’s album cover

I initially decided to use serif font because I believe it represents femininity, however that does not stand out, I will be using serif font to simplify my masthead yet make it more catchy

I will use this serif font, but reverse the ‘E’ I can do this in Photoshop

On Photoshop:

I could add a crown and play around some more. The font used on the Eminem album and the font I have is very similar, the effect on the album cover is gritty hence why I will not be adopting that style, but it could also connote hip-hop. To add more femininity and reinforce the name I want to incorporate a crown.

In PhotoshopOn Photoshop I experimented with making my masthead stand out incorporating my ideas from research. I used the colour red because it is a strong attractive vibrant colour, also used in two magazine mastheads that I analysed. The colour red could connotate to my readers: Danger, Sex, Vibrance, Expressiveness etc. So I believe that it is an effective colour to use.

To create this masthead I typed in ‘QUEN’ leaving a space between the U and E this enabled me to create a separate layer for my backwards E. I wanted to make my masthead stand out so I added a ‘drop shadow’ and ‘inner shadow’ whilst including ‘Bevel and Emboss’ I repeated the same process when including my reverse E only I reversed it.

I wanted to add a crown to reinforce the name of my magazine being called ‘QUEEN’ and to make my masthead catchier. On the internet I got a stencil of a crown.

On Photoshop I was able change the colour to gold and bevel and emboss it, I did this so it would look similar to the text.

This was bevelled and embossed.

Masthead idea 2

Although the masthead I created was serif bold and with the crown, I still was not fully confident that it looked right with my image.

I again continued to experiment on Photoshop. This time instead of making my whole masthead red I instead used the colour on a strip on the crown, this to me makes it look more professional and catchy. My masthead is also catchy because it is not a conventional masthead that is large and spread across a magazine, however it is small like the ‘XXL’ magazine masthead, I also like the idea that the crown is large on my masthead, it definitely reinforces the idea, and draws my female audience base in.

Masthead idea 3

Front Page Image ideas..The picture I had originally chosen was interesting because of the background and her apparel, however I cannot use this because she has no hip-hop equipment such as micro-phones or headphones.

Although this image links to music i.e. the microphone, the

image looks very unplanned and unprofessional. The apparel and

styling of the model doesn’t look very distinctive.

This image consists of a female and male who have although dressed nicely are not posing for a front page magazine. Student criticism says that they are posed to casually and although headphones are featured in the image, it still doesn’t relate to hip-hop. Also the place that I chose to take the picture does not look very distinctive or attractive either. If I was to erase the background nether the less the image still would be inappropriate.

I wanted my main image will be of a female wearing attractive but not provocative clothing. The picture I had originally chosen was interesting because of the background and her apparel, however I couldn’t use it because she has no hip-hop equipment such as micro-phones or headphones. It is important that the age of the model is appropriate, so nobody too young or too old but between my target age range. Ethnicity is not important to me because it would good to see different ethnicities on my front page however black people are mainly featured on hip-hop magazines.

Original Picture Photoshop edited photo

This was my original front page image, On Photoshop I experimented with different effects, this was one that I was most fond of as it really made the model stand out. I used this effect on a number of my pictures.

More images

Original Image

Photoshop edited image

This is another image I considered using for my main front page image, although my models are dressed stylishly and looking very poised, the image lacks a strong hip-hop feel, I used this for my double page spread instead, where I can talk about the models and explain what the image is about.

Since my magazine is about empowering women, I decided that I want to subvert the way women are

normally dressed. These images in particular show this. Another thing that makes these images successful to me is the way they are positioned; on the image on the far right she has crossed her legs with a facial expression that looks confused, whilst above the girl looks more sure of herself, independent and head strong. Both

women are dressed out of the norm of what a female would normally dress like, i.e. the tuxedo and the

trainers and had paired of with glasses and suspenders, big chain and tap shoes.

Jenelle Monae

Tayana Taylor

Front Page Image ideas..

Front Page Image..This is my final front page image, although there is no hip hop apparel and things around her that suggest that it may be hip- hop. She is posed in a sophisticated attention grabbing way. I believe this image works particularly well because of the background and they way she is posed.

She is wearing colourful attractive attire which corresponds well with the background. The shirt buttoned all the way to the top can denotate intelligent and sophistication, similarly it is what men normally do. On the other hand she is wearing a bodycon skirt, this reinforces feminism. On the whole she is dressed how my target audience would generally dress this would attract my audience.

Behind the model there is a graffitied wall, this would denotate hip-hop as it is an expressional rebellious thing that mostly teenagers do that is also associated with the genre. I have blurred the background however so it is not the main focus, only the model, I have also darkened the edges of the image this makes it look more professional.

When considering my where I want to place my catch lines, masthead and main cover lines I Looked back on my mock up. This enabled me to have a clear understanding of how to structure my magazine. I designed this mock up using my research from other magazine covers, this is something that would contribute to my work looking more professional and appealing

Layout

When considering what was going to be in my cover lines I made sure my target audience was my central focus. This enabled me to write what would attract them using different terminology. My research taught me that using a variety of font sizes and font styles would grasp my audiences attention.

Using grids on InDesign I was able to add my catch lines against a border that made them straight, this made it look more professional.

From my research I know that I have to a line my cover lines and masthead on the left with my main catch line was on the right. This is a basic convention on a music magazine. Another basic convention which I failed to include was a barcode and price along with the issue number and date.

Finished work