Original Contents Page

Originally my contents page was going too look like this however after some constructive critisicm from Ms Mottram I decided to change it. The reasoning behind this was due to the fact that there was no continuity between my contents page and the cover. Whereas on my cover only the text was in red I tried to make the whole background of my contents red which did not work. Also the layout is very basic and simplistic and looks a little rushed as there is no reasoning behind the fonts. They are very basic and do do not catch the readers eye.

Front Cover Progression

Firstly I started by putting in my background image. I chose this image as it is a main feature of the city of New York where my artist collaborated with another artist. This therefore represented this part of the article and also relates to the title of my magazine being as the city is being encorporated into the front page. I also placed my title across the top too attract the reader to the magazine. I decided to put the masthead as white as the colour theme for my magazine is red, black and white and as the masthead is along the top of the page could represent clouds above the city.

I then added my text and features. The features are listed along the left hand side of the magazine as I saw that rap magazines either had the features along the left or right. I positioned mine on the left so that I did not cover the image of the building. I added a drop shadow to the feature list too make it stand out more but not take away from the main article feature of my magazine.

Finally I changed the font of 'Travoir Palmer' to something that stands out more and makes his part seem more exclusive to the magazine because as you can see the first font I used looked childish and did not fit in with the theme of the magazine which is a more 'hard' approach.  

Masthead !

I have chosen the name RAPCITY for my magazine because straight away as you read it you know what the magazine is going to be based around. The 'rap' in the title immediately lets you know what the genre of the magazine is. The 'city' part is also effective as oftenly rap artist rap about where they are from whether it be city or country. As this was a regular feature in rap music I thought this would be a very appropiate name for my magazine. After looking through fonts on the website ‘dafonts’ I finally found a font that appeals to me. I’ve chosen this font as I believe it’s suitable and relates to the title of my magazine RAPCITY. In the font a city skyline runs across the bottom which relates to the 'city' part of my masthead.

                                        

Chose Artist

I decided to use one of my friends, Travoir Palmer to be the artist for my magazine. I chose Travoir as I felt he had the appropiate look I was looking for too cover my  magazine. He's 19 which falls into my target age range so the audience would be able to relate to him. He also dresses stereotypically how most rap artists do and how my target audience are most likely to dress. He is also male which is a part of my target audience so all these factors made me feel as though he is the suitable candidate to cover rapcity magazine. 

Flat Plans

These are my flat plans. As you can see I want too have a large masthead across the top of my magazine to catch the readers eye. This is one of the conventions that I am very certain of. I think I want just a headshot of my artist looking directly at the camera with an angry expression as on all rap magazines I have researched the artists look angry. The name of the artist right underneath the image with the features running along the right of the page.

For my contents I want four different images inside one large square. Typically rap magazines have one large picture however I feel to challenge this convention by going with something different as I feel having a variety of pictures will attract the reader more than having just one. I will also have my text going down one column in my contents page as this is a prominent feature in rap magazines rather than having many columns.

With my double page spread I want too have a large picture of my artist on the left of the page with my text taking up all the space on the right. The    masthead will go across the top of the page and the interviewer and artist will be separated by different colours to symbolise who is who. I think I want the colour of my double page spread to be black however I am not too sure at this point in time.

Questionnaire Results

Here are some of my results from the questionnaire that I did on survey monkey. From this questionnaire I found that my target audience were more inclined to buying a magazine once a month instead of once a week. This helped me establish that my magazine issues would be done monthly.  Another piece of information  my survey brought to my attention was that the artist/celebrity on the front of a magazine is what first attracts people to the magazine instead of the name of the magazine or any free giveaways that may go with the magazine. This information therefore let me know that I should concentrate on getting a model who could give off the rap vibe that i wanted to portray and attract my target audience as he would be someone they could relate too.

Questionnaire

I created a questionnaire to help me identify what is preffered and looked for in a magazine. I would distribute the questionnaire to people who are ranged in my target audience to get valid, appropiate results. To take part in the questionnaire click the link below.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QN6SNVR