My brand eye for my hip hop magazine

Photography Planning

For my hip hop magazine for my main image I would like to have someone who is wearing dark clothing or multiple colours. The reason as to why is that with most hip hop or rap magazines I notice that almost always there is someone who is in complete black which could be just the way the dress but I think it could be deeper than that.

The reason that I think that is that with some people when they are wearing certain clothing they do tend to feel more relaxed or somewhat more important or higher of status because of them wearing expensive clothing as silly as it may seem. However this has become a trend and with most of the magazines there does always tend to be a dark scheme to it or a light one. So following that pattern I would like someone who is in all black to be in my magazine.

For the camera shot of my magazine I am going to have it shot in a low angle, the reason as to why is that it will make the main image look more of a powerful figure that immediately grabs your attention and demands respect in a sense. Further more I would like my image to make direct address as it would help with the main image being more status worthy and also catching the eye of viewers.

As for the place where the camera shot for my main image will be taken I would prefer it to be with him standing on a stage or a platform or if not that then with him having a purple background behind which I can either manipulate or create in real life. The reason as to why I would like to have a purple background if I couldn't have the stage platform is that purple tends to have colour connotations of aristocracy which I do believe would go well with the individual being intimidating to him appearing to be high of status.

The stage platform would be ideal as it would look like he is performing at the time which would help get across the image of him being a hip hop artist, not only that if I could also get the main image to hold a microphone would be ideal.

XXL brand eye hip hop

Front cover analysis

            This another magazine that I was able to receive after trading with my peers, this is a magazine that I haven't seen before as it isn't really available or sold in most stores which I found out as I did some extensive research as I went out to most of the stores that I presumed that would have music magazines to see if this magazine would be there but it wasn't. The shops I went to were WHSMITH and Waterstones, although this range of stores are very limited I did find that these shops were local and distant.

Now the two individuals who are the main image for this magazine are Young Thug and Gucci Mane. These two are placed on top of the brands identity showing that they are of more importance and more value than the mast head of this magazine. The initial colour of the brand identity for this magazine is white and red has connotations of purity and passion but also malice and power. These two combinations are quite strange when looking at it in terms of their connotation textual meanings  but they look eye pleasing when they are put together which makes sense why they would go well and that they would get many complaints using these two colours.

Further more the colour text of for this magazine when it wants to highlight key names or important information tends to be in Gold. I believe that is to convey the way that these individuals or the important information should be looked at. These individuals with their names in gold could be seen as idols or inspirations or role models to certain people. So placing their names in gold could relay the contextual idea of them being essentially kings. I got this idea from the man on the left hand side of the magazine who is wearing purple. Purple has connotations of aristocracy which in a sense puts an individual above the rest as they show their sense of status and stature that allows them to be above the normal individuals.

This magazines front cover does also follow the conventions of having sub headings across the magazine on the top left hand corner, however that isn't always a convention as some magazines prefer having sub headings in the middle range of the magazine. Another magazine convention that they have used is having the barcode at the bottom left hand corner of the magazine which is a norm that I have come to terms with when seeing magazines.

These two individuals are covered in rings and gold chains which does look a bit much in terms of normal jewelry that people would wear on a day to day basis but this could be them trying to prove a point to the normal readers that see this magazine that they aren't the same as them.

Q magazine Brand Eye analysis.

Q Magazine Double page spread

The Double page spread for the Q magazine that I currently have follow the majority of conventions for magazines that have double page spreads. The double page spread for this magazine has the basic conventional idea of a double page which is an article that is placed across two pages. Further more there are 'Drop Capitals' throughout the page with one on each page as you we can see with B and T on the first and second page. Another convention that this magazine follows is that it has some images throughout the course of this double page spread however, with some magazines they tend to just have one image and just have the rest of the magazine focused on text and information from the article that the page is about. Which is a good idea but in my opinion I think that the layout and the ideas that they had while making this magazine are quite ideal and suited for younger audiences as well as older audiences. The reason as to why I think so is that most younger audiences get easily switch off when they see a page that is just covered with writing as not all people enjoy reading and they may in general might just skip the page.

The images on this page are ideal and related to the main idea of the magazine as it helps individuals understand what the article is about as some people are visualizers. This means that they prefer having images explain things to them rather than reading. However the images in themselves have been placed appropriately and don't take up to much space, as I have seen with other magazines with the layout of the images it seems that they are using images to fill up spaces where they didn't have anything else to write about.. While it makes sense that they do this it isn't essentially a smart idea as most people may be missing out on content that they could have but they would fill up the spaces with images as they aren't bothered.

The colour scheme and house style of this magazine do mirror  the front cover and the contents page however there is no red which I found contradicting as I assumed there would at least be the brand identity at the top left hand side of the magazine with a big box with the 'Q' inside of it but however they didn't decide to go with that. The double page spread is in black and white and the only source of colour on this page is the actual images and apart from that the text that is in a green colour font.

Further more along the columns of the magazine and the sides of most of the images there is a design going down it which helps separate some of the text and also looks that this page hasn't been neglected in a sense with a bombardment of information and random images but there is a sense of design to this page which I find quite useful and a sense of bland eye candy in a sense with the lack of colour.

Quick update

Sorry for the lack of content as I know if I was 100% I would have been able to do some more work over the few magazines that I have produced. When I am feeling better I will most probably go over them and fill in some key areas that I have missed out on. I have also taken some days off of college due to sickness and I  am still recovering as of now. This also could be due to the time management that I have as even now I am uploading at indecent hours.