Distribution Of My Magazine

The distributor of my magazine would be Harris Publications Inc.  When I did my analysis of Rap magazines I chose the company XXL as they are one of the largest Rap magazine companies in America and are in contest with other magazines such as “The Source and Vibe”. Harris Publications also distribute “Scratch Magazine” w

hich is another magazine on rap and is produced by XXL. The “Slam Magazine” is a magazine on basketball in America; this shows that they are a very big distributor and publishing company.

Above shows the Scratch magazine which is present by XXL.

Above is the Slam magazine which Harris Publication publishes.

To the left is the magazine which I analysed and got ideas from. Magazine XXL.   

Contents/Double Page Spread

I wanted my contents page to be very simple and straight to the point. After analysing differnt magazines and their contents pages i noticed that some of them were very busy and the layout of some were very hard to make out what page the different articles were on. I used the same colour scheme as my front cover ,black, green, white. I used the same colour scheme to make my magazine look conssistant and professional and not to busy. As you can see the contents page is very simple however i used subtle image maniplations to the photos to add a bit of style to the contents page. I added slight shadows and lighting effects to give a fading impression on the small photos to create a dark and weary effect. I used the same glow effect as in the front cover as i wanted the contents page to have the same style.

Below is my doublepage spread. Again i used the same colour scheme and effects to keep my magazine consistant and to look proffesional. To show the difference of the interview i used a green text colour for the questions and white font colour for the answers. This made the double page spread look more intresting as the green and white colours contrasted with the black background to make the text stand out and draw attention. I didnt want the photos to be to busy therefore i cropped the band out of there original background and placed them centrally on the black background. I again used lens flare to make the photo look realistic and add a celebrity shine to the photo. I also added half a border to add some imagery and shape on the double page spread however still keeping the simplistic feel.

Front Cover

For my magazine i used photoshop as there are many tools and effects to help me create my magazine to the best quality. I used many effects mainly on the text to help it stand out and cath attention. To create the green glow around my text i used the blending options and then selcted outer glow. With this tool i could control the glow of the green outline to stand out more and change the alpha to give a 3D effect. For my photo which i rendered i added a lens flare to increase the realism of the photo and make it look lifelike and real. This emphasized the photo more and the lens flare gave a shine effect which created a celebrity style image.

Once i created my magazine i was vey happy with the outcome however i found out i could not use an images from the interent to use on my magazine unless i had taken a photo. The image which i used was for the backgorund of my magazine. I cropped my friends out using the magnetic lasso tool to create a sharp outline. Then i placed the ba

ckground of a building in which showed graffiti to 

give a hip hop feel about the magazine.

Below is my magazine with the image taken from the internet which i used for my background. As you can see the background looks to fake and the proportions of the image has been stretched badly and makes the overall magazine look unprofessional.

I had gone on a school trip to New York , America and whilst i was there i could take some real photos of bulidings and graffiti which i could incorporate into my magazine. Below is my final magazine which i had changed and developed from the one above. As you can see the image i had taken looks alot more realistic than the one before. I chose the photo this buliding as it has a very rustic and grimey feel to it in addition to the graffiti on the wall and the scaffolding poles. This was the perfect image out of the photos i had taken, as i had taken a vertical shot the proportions of the photo were already in a magazine format. Therefore there would not be to much image manipulation as i didnt have to stretch the picture unnaturally and make it look taky. I wanted to capture a photo which included graffiti as it fit in with the genre of the magazine. The scaffolding poles added an extra element as they could symbolise prison bars which creates a gangster image for the magazine and band.

The photo definalty improved the magazine in comparison to my first attempt as the image was not fake and made the magazine look more realistic.

Magazine Drafts

After i had analysed real music magazines it was tim for me to create drafts of my music magazine. I did these free and and they were every rough sketeches. I just wanted a simple plan to follow which i could then base my real magazine i created on photoshop.

Above was my first design i created. The plan was very simple and the content of text to persuade customers to buy the magazine was not alot. The plan is very bland and not enough information was put on the front cover to let the customers know what is in the magazine.

This magazine was my final design. As you can see the idea evolved alot i had included more text on the front cover as well as adding more shading and borders to make the magazine look more intresting. The way i positioned my characters was the way i had ordered my friends in the photos i took. I wasnt bothered with the colours scheme in this magazine as i just wanted to focus more on the layout.

Magazine Analysis

To help me get ideas for the creation of my magazine i analysed different magazines. By doing this it gave me ideas which i 

could use and interpret into my music magazine. I looked at 2 genres one being Rock and the other Rap. For each magazine i annotated i talked about the following;

• Layout - Placement of the text, images
• Colour - The colours bright and bold colours
• Lures - Free Items 
• Photos - The way the celebrities have been placed, clothes, hairstyles
• Language - Short and straight to the point

The first three magazines are from the genre Rock/Heavy Metal. The Kerrang magazines show the same logo and the colour scheme is mainly black and white. The black font gives the magazine a dark feel which relates to the music genre. The font also changes and suits the celebrity which is on the front cover.

Kerrang

MOJO

Kerrang

My next set of magazines i analyised are from the rap genre which is the genre i chose to make my magazine on. The magazines differ however the name of the magazine stays the same and in the same position. The photos taken are close up and emphisis the magazine more.

XXL 

My Magazine Creation Compared To A real Magazine

My magazine I felt was very similar to a real magazine. Due to research of different magazine companies I analysed the way they way created this included;

· Layout – Of the text, images and shapes
· Images – Manipulation of the images, special effects ways in which the images are emphasised to draw attention.
· Colour Scheme – The colour scheme used throughout the magazine.

After analysing the things above I interpreted them into my creation of my magazine. I used a consistent colour scheme to create a professional feel towards my magazine. The layout of my text had to be in the correct place to make it easy for the readers to read and see. The images also had to be manipulated to show a change however still making it clear and visible towards the reader.

Moreover I used the same basis as a real magazine and used it as my template I then added my own ideas and interpreted my information data and images to make my magazine look as realistic as possible.

Questionnaire Results

I created a questionnaire which i gave out to one of a form in my school. I gave this to a year 8 class as i beleive at that age you have th most imagaination and creativity. Therefore i included 9 questions that where based around the;

• Layout
• Genre
• Price
• Colour Scheme

After analysing the results i had recived back i was very happy with the different comments that had come back. The majority of the results where very similar apart form the price section. However after looking throiugh i interpreted some of the ideas into my project. The main correction that was said in each questionnaire was to do with the layout and placement of my barcode. I had place my barcode over the top of one of the text on my front cover therefore this was hard to read. After again looking at my results the feedback said "Move the barcode so you can see the text". I went back on to photoshop and moved my layers around and i sorted the problem out this made my front cover look alot better then what it was before.