My Front Cover using Found Images

Masthead Mock-up

Here are some ideas for my Magazine masthead. As the magazine will be called Holla these are the ideas i have come up with.

Contents List

Contents List:

My magazine will be split into three parts these are:

Interviews:
This will contain interviews with artists and producers. On their music and big topics. For example TJY(my created rapper) will be intervewed on his rise to stardom.
TJY-Rise to Stardom
Biggie and Tupac-The Story
Wiz Khalifa-Life

Whats going on:
This section will tell readers about what is going on in the rap world and who is doing what.
Feuds
Purchasing and Cars
Arts and Tags


Relases and Concerts:
This section will be all about new songs released and where they rank on the "Holla" magazine top 10. Plus any new concerts going on.
New releases
Top 10 Holla magazine chart
Concerts and Tickets

Mood Board

Here i have created a mood board which I feel depicts the target audience I wish to aim my magazine at. I have included stories about rappers, pictures of famous artists within the genre and pictures of closely linked interests such as Cars, chains and Spray Paint. As I feel this is what my readers are interested in and would want to see in a Rap magazine.

The Source De-Construction

De-Construction of Vibe Magazine Frontcover

My Questionaire and Analysis

Here is a questionaire I have designed to test my target audience on what they wish to see in the magazine:

From the results of this data I have found out that 7 in 10 people would prefer to have a Bold healine rather than a stylish one. I also found out that an artist or producer would be ok to put on the magazine. The three parts of information I found out that people wouldn't mind the difference between is how much is on the frontcover of the magazine, modern or historial stories and artists and records. However, i have found out that people would like to see more interviews with rappers in this genre of magazine.

My Chosen Style of Music

Rap:

I have chosen rap as my style of music as this the music i enjoy listening to and what my target audience 16-18 year-olds will enjoy. As this style of music encorporates "flow" which is rhythme and rhymes with beats of hip-hop music. This style of music originated from West Africa and has now become a world-wide sensation. This genre includes many artists but the most famous are Eminem, Tupac, Snoop Dogg and The Notorious B.I.G. These artists have featured on many covers of rival magazines such as The Source and Vibe which shows how significant they are within the rap genre of music magazine.

XXL Magazine Deconstruction

XXL magazine’s masthead again contains big bold letters. However, this magazine is slightly different as the letters are not the main colour feature the background is. The background for this masthead is red with white lettering over it. This again attracts readers and helps the letters to really standout. This masthead is used on all magazines by the company in order to keep the continuity of the magazine and brand name.

When designing my magazine masthead, I plan to use a big bold font as this is the font used for most magazines in the hip-hop genre. Plus I will carefully plan which colours to use in the masthead as this is a big factor in the survival of music magazines and helps to attract readers. I have also noticed from these deconstructions that pictures may or may not be featured depending on what message I wish to send the readers about my magazine.

The Source Masthead Deconstruction

The Source masthead is two words and picture. The two words are designed in a big bold font and there are two microphones in the masthead. The words are created using a red font outlined in white, this helps The Source magazine to catch the readers eye as red is the first colour that most readers notice especially on a black background.. The two microphones in the picture straight away tell the reader that this is a music magazine and may be suggesting that this is the magazine for voicing opinions in the rap/hip-hop genre.

From this magazine I can tell that the colour is big factor in creating a masthead plus the background used to make the font standout even more, I can also gather from this that bold font is used a lot for rap/hip-hop magazines and I may look at using this for my magazine.

Vibe Masthead Deconstruction

The Vibe masthead has big bold letters in order to stand out on the shelf from other magazines. As this title is bigger than most other music magazines it will can the eye of many consumers. The masthead is very simple as there is only one colour used although for some magazines this is changed to either red or yellow. The white background helps the lettering to stand out and although this masthead doesn’t show much about the magazine it has gone for a simple but bold look in order to attract the reader towards the magazine until they see the picture on the front as that is the main focus for Vibe magazine readers. This masthead is similar to magazines of the same Genre as most of them go for big bold letters.

This immediately tells me that if I was to create a rap/hip-hop magazine I would need to use bold lettering in my masthead in order to initially attract readers to the magazine.

Brainstorming Music Magazine Ideas

Names:

Rapper

The record

Holla

Beat

The Hop

Target Audience:

16-25 year olds

Male

Consumers who are interested in:

Rap

Hip-Hop

Want to learn about the Rap industry and what goes on.

Are interested in rapper feud’s and “Beef”

Wish to learn about concerts and tours of mainstream Rappers.

Genre:

Rap and Hip-Hop

Including artists such as Eminem, Lil-Wayne and Drake etc.

Content:

Interviews

Full profiles on Rappers

New album releases and concerts.

The Source Fact-File

The Source is a full-colour glossy monthly magazine. Covering topics such as Hip-Hop, rap politics and culture. It is the world second largest rap periodical. It was founded in 1988 and has an average reading age of 18-25. The current president of The Source magazine is Jeremy Miller. The most notable part of the magazine’s history is when editor Benzino had a feud with big-time rapper Eminem.  The source has also produced a number of albums such as The Source presents Hip-Hop hits. The magazine features many big time rappers on the front covers such as LudaCris and Lil-Wayne.