2. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Masthead - in bright red font
Main cover line anchoring the
main image.
Red, black and white
colour scheme – creating a
house style
Main image
Barcode, price, issue
number
Banner summarising what's
inside, follows house style
colours
3. Similarities and Differences - Front Cover
Both front covers have similarities and differences, both covers have a
bright red masthead at the top of the page, this introduces the house
style colours for the magazines and the colour is repeated throughout the
page along with white and black. Both covers have a black male rapper
as the main image, to demonstrate the hip hop genre of the magazine.
Both covers also have the main headline anchoring the main image, this
keeps the cover organised and clear to read and understand.
Some differences of the covers are that the RWD cover has 3 cover lines
where as my cover only has one main cover line anchoring the image,
this is because I want it to look simple and not too busy. The RWD cover
uses white font as their main cover line because they have a black
background where as I couldn’t use white font because my background
was white too, so it wouldn’t of stood out or looked eye catching. My
cover has a banner at the bottom of the page where as the RWD doesn’t
have any of those features, it doesn’t have a flash or a banner. I used a
banner to just summarise what is inside the magazine.
4. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Main images filling
the whole top of
the page
House style colours
repeated
Page is split in half
horizontally, text is split
into vertical columns
Page summary in bold
‘impact’ font
Smaller font underneath
going into more detail
Page numbers in a different
font from the rest to make
them stand out
5. Similarities and Differences - Contents
Both contents have a very similar layout, pictures at the top half of the
page and two columns of text at the bottom. Both contents have impact
text as the page summaries, and then smaller writing underneath going
into more detail about what content is on that page. Both contents have
page numbers next to each page summary so that it is clear for the
reader to see what is on each page.
Some differences of the contents pages are that my colour scheme is
more eye catching and fits the hip hop genre, where as the other
contents keeps the colours to a minimal (black and white). The source
contents has used one big image at the top and a little image at the
bottom right corner where as I have used two images at the top of the
place split vertically to contrast with the columns of writing.
6. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Main Image on the left hand side of the
page.
Grab quote – quotes in better copy to
draw attention to important quotes
Question and answer format
Columns
Large black sans serif font as the
main heading
Bright red boxes to attract attention and splits
the stand first from the rest of the copy.
Images of smashed bottles to blend into the
graffiti background.
Main image is related to the article – both
articles are interviews/information about the
person in the image.
Main image reflecting what the article is about
– the article is about Dizzee’s troubled past
7. Similarities and Differences – Double Page Spread
Both double page spread have a similar layout, they both have a main
image of a black male rap artist, this is who the article is mainly about.
They both have this image filling the whole left half of the page, and then
the writing on the right side in columns. Both Double page spread use
large black sans serif font as the main heading to draw attention to it
and make it bold and eye-catching.
Some differences in the double page spreads, my double page spread has
a grab quote to draw attention the some of the more important parts of
the interview, where as the dizzee rascal double page spread has a drop
cap at the beginning of the article to draw the readers eye there. These
are both different ways of drawing the reader into the actual article
instead of just looking at the images and colours on the page. My double
page spread also has a by line in bright red boxes to reinforce the house
style colour I created in the contents and cover, where as the dizzee rascal
double page spread has a smaller less obvious by line in bold font as
opposed to the rest of the copy which is in normal font, this makes it
stand out more but isnt the main focus of the page.
8. 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
When doing my magazine I was aiming to target it at young people from the age 14-24
who are interested in hip hop music. This typically would be black males, so I thought it
was best to get a photograph of a black male rapper to reinforce the genre of my
magazine. I think by sticking to the stereotype of hip hop, my magazine would appeal to
the audience I was aiming for. I concentrated my magazine on males purely because I
think that from my research males are the larger target audience for this type of
magazine, although I included some female artists in the contents page to show that hip
hop is now becoming more popular with females and more so a white audience. I think
my magazine portrays young people as people who listen to this kind of music and like
things like bright colours, festivals, clubbing etc. I think this is a fair portrayal as it is only
viewed as a negative to some other social groups. For example elderly people would be
an example of people who have this opinion of young people.
9. 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
On my front cover, I wanted to represent a
young black male rapper who I knew would
appeal to the target audience I was aiming for.
The fact that he is wearing black red and white
meant that I could introduce my house style
colours, also these colours are associated with a
young, hip hop genre. Also the phrase ‘YMCMB’
is commonly recognised as a hip hop/R&B
music label. The model in the photo looks as
though he is happy and proud of his work,
which links in with the content of the article, it
also reinforces that hip hop is a young, fun
genre. The bright colours I used also reinforces
the young target audience and theme of my
magazine, it draws people in and would make
them want to buy and read the rest of the
magazine. I have represented young rappers in
this cover as happy, and ‘having fun’ as the
model looks like he is laughing and is happy.
10. 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
On my contents page I used two images, one of a
white male who is dressed in stereotypical hip hop
clothes. I used this image to show that hip hop
genre doesn’t just include black males, it also can
be targeted at a white audience. The model in this
photo has a more serious, aggressive expression
as apposed to the happy, laughing expression the
model on the front cover had. This shows a
contrast between young peoples attitudes and the
aggressive expression is reinforced by the
connotations of red. I also used an image of some
decks, to reinforce the music theme and edited the
image to purple and green to fit in with the genre
of the magazine. I wanted my contents page to
represent young people which I think I achieved
with the colours added on the image of the decks,
and also the clothes the model is wearing in the
other picture are widely recognised brands with
young people. This means young people can relate
to my magazine and are more likely to understand
the content.
11. 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The artists I have used in the contents page are
majority black artists, this is because from my
research of hip hop music I found that the
majority of the hip hop audience are black
males, I wanted to appeal to the audience that
would buy my magazine, if I designed a
magazine aimed at white males, it might not
sell as well. I did mention a white hip hop artist
‘Katy B’ I did this because I wanted to show that
although the history of hip hop is mainly black
people, there are increasing numbers of white
hip hop artists and I wanted that to be
With the images I used, I did focus the recognised within my magazine.
images on a black male who was
representing a rapper, I also focused my
article on him too. Although in the
contents I didn’t include an image of a
white male to again represent the
change in hip hop audience and show
that although it is dominated by black
males, they are not the only audience
type.
12. 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
IPC distribute the magazines above, these are the magazines that are aimed at their
women audience. “IPC's diverse print and digital portfolio offers something for everyone,
with a focus on three core audiences: men, mass market women and upmarket women.”
IPC state on their website that their magazines are largely aimed at a women audience.
The list of women's magazines on the IPC website consist of: LOOK, NOW, WOMAN, Chat,
Marie Claire, Soap Life, Woman & Home, Woman's Own, Woman's Weekly.
13. 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
IPC distribute the magazines above, these are the magazines that are aimed at their male
audience. “Our men's portfolio (IPC Inspire) comprises a wealth of leisure brands including
NME, Rugby World, Horse&Hound and Country Life” IPC state on their website quite
clearly that their male audience isn't their mass audience but it does provide the male
audience with a range of magazines. The most popular male magazine published by IPC is
NME, this is also a music magazine that could share the same target audience as my
magazine.
14. 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Bauer distribute a wider range of music magazines compared to IPC, IPC have a focus on
women's magazines where as Bauer has a wide range of all genres. The music magazines
Bauer distribute are 4music, smash hits, kiss, kerrang, Q, the hits. Because of this you would
think that Bauer distributing my magazine wouldn’t be a good idea but looking at the genre
of all of their music magazines, none of them are hip hop. They are all rock and pop
magazines. This would mean that within the Bauer company my magazine wouldn’t have any
inside competition whereas within the IPC company my magazine would have inside
competition against NME, one of the best selling music magazines. I would choose Bauer to
distribute my magazine because of this reason and also I know that they are successful and
have a lot of experience with knowing when and how to distribute music magazines,
Also the genre of my magazine doesn’t already exist within the company so there is
a chance they might require a hip hop music magazine.
