Transcript:
When I started
to create my magazine, I firstly had to think about how I was going to make it
appeal to the audience of the genre I had chosen as no magazine can continue
into production without sales. I used similar product research to give me a
better idea about the typical conventions of R&B music magazines and their
success, aswell as carrying out a questionnaire with people who were of my
magazine’s target audience and concluding the results of these. Once I felt I
had gathered enough knowledge I began to create my own magazine with a target
audience of people between the ages of 16-30 of both genders, but mainly
females.
The most
important characteristic of any magazine is to establish how you can
differentiate yours from others, either competing against its typical
conventions or going with them. I mainly wanted to make my music magazine stand
out on a shelf, however I did take careful consideration of the R&B genre’s
typical codes and conventions too so that my magazine didn’t seem too
different, therefore looking unprofessional and strange. Firstly, on my front
cover I created a white, bold masthead to make it look high class, sleek and
basic in order to reflect the common connotations of a masthead but also to
establish a brand font and image that would be commonly recognised within my
magazine. Also, for magazines that have a young target audience, the colour
white is commonly used as it holds connotations of youth and innocence, so I
followed this convention. Furthermore, my model is holding direct eye contact
with the camera lense which is very common of music magazines as they believe
it creates a personal equality connection between the artist and the reader,
however my model is holding a blank facial expression which is unconventional
for an R&B magazine because usually in R&B magazines the artist has
some sort of facial expression whether it be smiling, frowning or laughing.
However I figured that my model’s outfit looks very feminine so to go against
this, I needed something to make her look a bit more intimidating and
different. The emotionless facial expression also reflects the characteristics
of the artist and implies that they are rebellious and daring. This is
appealing to the audience and therefore lures them into reading it as they want
to discover the story behind the facial expression. Also, the image of my model
is a mid-shot which is very conventional for an R&B magazine as most
producers decide that mid-shots look best on front covers. I did decide to
follow this convention by doing so. I then selected the colours of purple,
black and white because purple holds connotations of royalty and quirkiness,
suggesting that my magazine is different, going against typical conventions of
R&B magazines, white being youthful, innocent and sophisticated, and black
holding connotations of darkness and maturity. I have seen the colours purple
and red be used in R&B magazines before so typically this is quite
conventional. Furthermore, it holds the conventions of creating a relationship
with the reader as when they see these colours they instantly know that it is
my magazine. My magazine also holds the typical conventions of having a banner
at the top and bottom of the page.
My contents page
also conforms to the typical conventions of R&B genre magazines like Vibe
as I have created an ‘Editor’s Note’, introducing the reader to my magazine and
filling them in briefly of its contents. Most magazines in general have this on
their contents pages. This will appeal to my target audience as it comes across
as welcoming, therefore inviting them in further to my magazine. It also adds a
personal effect to the magazine, reminding the reader that the magazine was
actually written by a person who is just like them. I have also placed the ‘Twitter’,
‘app’ and ‘subscribe’ features to the page, therefore appealing to young
readers who will be interested in social networking sites and the internet,
allowing them to form even more of a personal relationship with the magazine as
they are able to relate to it online too. This is very conventional of all
magazines as the majority of magazines want to connect with their younger
audience on this deeper level and aswell as this, being part of social networks
online allows the magazine to be shared around quicker. This helps to portray
my magazine as more aware of the zeitgeist (spirit of the age). Furthermore,
what else is very conventional about my contents page as it includes headlines
for each contents list, making it clear to the reader, which is what many
R&B magazines do. Infact, I created these headlines due to inspiration from
an R&B/hip-hop magazine called Vibe, so this just represents this in
itself.
Finally, the
double page spreads which I have used to conform to the house colours which I
have earlier discussed in order to create a brand image and reinforce the
relationship with the audience. Furthermore, on the first page I used this as
an introductory page which is very conventional of an R&B magazine as it
briefs and introduces the reader to the article about to be presented. However,
what is unconventional about my magazine is that I created three purple boxes
each consisting of things my artist has to say about other artists. I thought
of this idea myself and have never seen it in any other magazine, highlighting
that it is unique and unconventional to any other R&B magazine. Aswell as
this, I also created a quirky black and white grid of different close up shots
of my model making ‘silly’ faces. Usually, R&B models are quite posed and
serious, but my model goes against this convention in these facial shots,
presenting a completely different fun side of the R&B genre.
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