Research: Case Study 1 "XXL Magazine"

XXL is a popular magazine that focuses on R&B/Rap its first issue featured Jay Z and Master P on a "double cover".

Since its first published copy XXL magazine's house style has consisted of the masthead being on the upper left corner of the page, sometimes being slightly obstructed by the main image. Sell-lines present on the page usually surround the main image rather than cover it, reminding the audience the importance of the celebrity. The typical colour scheme of this magazine consists of white, black and red. Other bright contrasting colours are also used on the page.   This creates a sharp and bold look on the page, perhaps reflecting hip-hop's rough edge. The colour red has connotations of danger love and passion, whereas white is almost the complete opposite connoting themes of purity, honesty and hope. This juxtaposition created by the colour scheme cleverly brings together themes of hip-hop and what the music genre itself represents. 

Although this is a very successful magazine , it fails (in my opinion) to portray women and men as equals to this day. The magazine rarely has a female artist present on the cover and even when it does she is often pictured while half dressed.  As this is a hip-hop magazine these over-sexualised images of women are typically linked to the genre it presents. However, nowadays hip-hop is a tool that some female artists use to empower women all around the world, not just a genre of music. We are made to believe half naked women dancing on a stage or in the back of a rap video shows power and independence, and sure this could be argued for in some cases. Yet, we as a society rarely (if ever) pay attention to the ladies who refuse to take their clothes off for fame but instead use their lyrics to create power where this gender is presented in the media as having none. This is the first thing that struck me while looking through the covers. I will be using hip-hop as my genre however I will not portray women in this way on my magazine and instead use a counter-type image if I choose to use a female model. 

The main image is usually a close up when a male artist is on the cover. However, for females a medium shot is a more popular choice- this could again be linked to the over-sexualisation of women within the genre as it shows more of their body to readers. Costumes on the cover are mainly casual wear that is associated with an urban lifestyle: hats, bandanas, baggy trousers and denim. Some celebrities that have been presented on this magazine more than once include: Jay Z, Snoop Dogg, Tupac, and Eminem. Other typical celebrities that could be on this magazine might be any successful rapper or R&B artist. Direct mode of address is nearly always present on XXL's covers as it allows readers to connect with the main image. On the other hand, strong eye contact could also be described as confrontational, again highlighting the dangerous lifestyle that is presented within rap music.  

Fonts - much like the colour scheme and main image - are bold. The typography on the page consists of different sizes, perhaps signifying the importance of each article. Alternatively, the different sizings could be a device used by the editors to make sell-lines that they think will engage the target audience a bigger size than others. The varying sizes, colours, and fonts add movement to the cover.  The types of articles used varies from music to lifestyle. 

Overall, XXL magazine uses layouts and images to reflect conventions of hip-hop music. I will use some of their tools as inspiration for my own magazine.

Main Task, Music Magazine Covers

To further advance my research stage, I have refined the genre of music that I will be using in my project to R&B. I found some popular magazines and looked at their covers. It is noticeable that in this genre of music magazine a  trend is to use mainly bold and contrasting colours. I will use this trend in my main task also as it will make my magazine appear professional and as if it is of a higher quality.
I believe that these music magazines appear less clustered and more simplistic (like the 'old' magazine covers).                                                        

Main Task, researching music magazines

This moodboard briefly presents some of my favourite magazine covers that I came across during my research.  The top row is made up of modern magazines whereas the bottom row is made up of older ones.

         Although there are some differences the similarities are also evident. 

Perhaps the simple nature of the older magazines compared to the modern ones could be reflective of life once being simple, and how busy it has become- with the addition of new technology and celebrities. Also, the multiple sell lines on newer covers suggests that it is now harder to sell magazines to people, that the creators have to try even harder to sell their product nowadays. This could be because most things in the present time are televised, or published online, so people do not need to spend money to get the same information (and possibly more) in a quicker, more efficient way. 

Continuing task, contents page.

I wanted the overall page to look simple but fun, so I continued the use of doodles to link back to my theme of education (with scissors, lightbulb etc.) 

My contents page heavily uses the colour yellow, as it is said to be a colour that "resonates with the left or logic side of the brain stimulating our mental faculties and creating mental agility and perception" which of course promotes a healthy attitude towards learning. 

I used plenty of photos with people who appear happy to create a positive and warm vibe, this is to further highlight enjoyment of learning and also to show readers that this is a 'happy'  magazine.

To create this cut out, I first used the 'Magnetic Lasso' tool to create a duplicate layer of the model. I like the use of the double layer as it makes the model stand out and helps the cutout blend well with the rest of the page. 

For this cut out, I used the 'Quick Selection' and 'Rectangular Selection' Tools. I believe that adding small changes like this helps to add subtle movement and character to my already-busy page.

Preliminary Task, First Try at Magazine cover

This week I have been working on my preliminary task of creating the cover of a 'school magazine'.

The first step of my process was the photo-shoot, I took about thirty pictures of my classmate and picked one that I thought was most appropriate for a cover shot.

This is the photo I decided to use.

This is a mid-shot, which is very common for magazine covers. I chose to include glasses and a book for props as they are objects typically linked to education and school. The editing software I used was Photoshop Elements 10. As I am fairly new to photoshop; I decided to use this task to teach myself how to edit the model, the props and the text. 

I blurred the background to highlight her facial expression, particularly her smile, as it would show that she enjoys learning. The fonts I used are mainly bold and brightly coloured, this is another convention of magazine covers. 

The colour scheme of my cover is white and yellow, these are colours commonly associated with lightbulbs which are representative of new, bright ideas. This links to the image of a lightbulb which is a part of the masthead also. I used "Change the world." as my tagline because I would like readers to feel encouraged to use their views and ideas to change the world. As this generation is commonly referred to as being open minded to change.

I also added a barcode, issue number, date and price to make the cover look more realistic.  

I used two different fonts which looked like handwriting, this is relative to the theme of my magazine as  students in write in their notebooks etc. I used different fonts to add movement and character to the page and to avoid looking dull as otherwise it would possibly not interest my target audience of 16-19 year olds. The image of the rising sun was used primarily as a filler, although it does link to the idea of a new day and new start which promotes a positive attitude for students.

I added doodles to empty parts of the page to emphasise the 'notebook' theme, however, I used pictures that are commonly linked to school.

Overall, I am happy with the end result. I still have to improve my editing skills but I believe that this is a good first attempt as I had applied magazine conventions and tried to create a product that my target audience would appreciate. 

Preliminary Task, font research

Earlier this week while looking for magazines. #Research

As part of my research, I visited various stores and took pictures of magazine covers so that I could later  base my idea on these already popular magazine's covers.