Text choices

These fonts are also featured in my front cover. It is compulsory that I keep my magazine consistent and use the same fonts and colour scheme to make it look realistic. 

To make sure all my texts were in line, I added in a temporary line. This line helped me to position everything perfectly so that it all looked straight. When I am finished, I will be able to remove the lines. It will make everything look in place rather than messy and not straight. 

I have used the same font ('Elbaris Outline' from dafont.com) for my main headings, contents and features. This keeps my magazine consistent. It makes the magazine more recognizable from the contents page alone.

The other font that I have decided to use is called 'Bebas Neue' (from dafont.com). I have also featured this font on my front cover. 

Contents page images choices

 This is my main artist from the front cover of my magazine. I have chosen this image because of the light beam that appears to be shining on him. It relates to my pull quote which says 'My time to shine'.

This is my artist named 'Marvin CA$H'. I've used this image as he looks like a typical hip hop artist with loads of eye-catching jewelry that stands out. The colours he is wearing also match my colour scheme. I have already edited this picture to make it look brighter.














This is another one of my artist named 'Steph Ronae'. She is wearing white with red lipstick. This also matches my colour scheme.
           

I really liked this photo although the colours aren't similar to my colour scheme. But I think she looks like a hip hop female artist and this is why I have chosen this image.

Contents Page Layout

I have now started adding my photos and playing around with the layout of them. 

Contents Page Layout

Ive started off by setting up the layout of my contents page. This will help me know where I need to put the pictures and text.

This is my final layout for my contents page until I gain feedback.

Magazine deconstruction - Contents page

Lens Flare - Brightening

Cross media convergence

Here is a UK Hip Hop music video with Chikaku Untitled clothing being advertised by the male models. The music also suits my hip hop genre.

Cross media convergence - Chikaku Untitled Clothing

My magazine features an advertisment for a fashion clothing line which suits my hip hop genre. The target audience for my magazine and the clothing line are much alike. It also suits my artist profile which talks about the clothing line. 'Chikaku Untitled' is a clothing line which created mainly black and white coloured clothing for both women and men aged approximately 17-25yrs old. 

These are example of the clothing line being advertised on Web 2.0. I am in one of these pictures along with other male models advertising their clothing.

My Graphics

I first chose to add the red line graphic as I thought it made the magazine stand out more.
I then made another change and decided to add the 'J BROWN' text inside the graphic.

Changes made

After gaining feedback, I made a few changes.

 I started off by adding a graphic. I made this graphic by using a circle. I also decided to minimize the text I have on my cover. I realised that my cover had too much text before which was making it look less attractive.

I selected the eyes using the magnetic lasso tool. I then went to Image > Adjustments > Shadows/Highlighting. Here I was able to make the eyes look brighter so that the angle of gaze is much stronger and effective.

Using the healing brush tool, I was able to clear up imperfections in his skin. Like spots and other things. I made his skin look much more clearer than it was before and I think this is really effective. I also selected his earring and made it look brighter.

Feedback on my magazine

What do you think of this magazine?

Feedback 1: I think it looks far too busy. There is too much text which makes it look unattractive. I don't like the red text underneath the pull quote.

Feedback 2: It's way too busy, too much text and not enough graphics. Take away some of the text and also, the 'J BROWN' text is very hard to read. 

Feedback 3: I like the colour scheme but there is too much text on the page which makes it look really cluttered. You need a graphic to make it more attractive. Also, the text that says 'UK's HOTTEST HIP HOP MAGAZINE' isn't really nice. You should either change the font or not have it there. 

Magazine process

  I had a lot of difficulties using this image because when I took it, I used a black background. So it looks like the artist is just floating on the page which isn't really effective.  

I played around with different shadow options to see if it would look better. However, I still wasn't please with the results and after gaining feedback I thought about making some changes. 

This is the image I have decided to use as my front cover artist photo. Although this picture doesn't have a more eye-catching feature like the other image, I think this picture is more suitable as the background is white so it looks more realistic. I've also changed the masthead on the cover as I thought the red was too bright and big. It now looks more subtle.

I played around with different aspects of my image. I used the sharpening tool to make the image look more effective and bold. I have also used the exposure, highlight/shadow tool to make the eyes look brighter so that the angle of gaze is more noticeable. I used the healing brush tool to fix imperfections in his skin. Here is a before and after picture

Feedback on front cover

Test shots

1. (Contents page) - medium close up of my main artist.
Half of the face on the majority of one side of the page.

 2. (Double page spread) - Medium close up of my artist.

3. Medium long shot of my artists for the contents page.

4. Medium long shot of my artist without angle of gaze.










I have edited all of these test shots to make it higher in quality. I think that by editing the picture, it looks more professional. My main artist needs to have a main feature with him e.g. gold chain and other bold jewellry. When I looked at other hip hop magazines, there was a trend. They all have a bold feature that stands out.

Here are more images that I took.

 



 

 

Shot List

                         

Feedback on my magazine cover

Magazine front cover image testing

Flat Plans

 This is the front cover I have created. I was inspired by one of XXL's own magazine front covers. I've decided to use similar fonts for the artist quote and main title. The font looks effective and attractive and i will be incorporating this into my own magazine front cover. My main colour scheme involves black, white and red. The red makes it stand out more. On the right hand side of the magazine, I have used a similar idea from the XXL cover by including the different artists that are included in the magazine. I need to make sure that the 'J.Brown' text is bigger than all the other fonts as he is the main feature and I need to make it more clear. I want to try and make my magazine cover look less busy.

The contents page will have a lot of images included in it. I want it to look more eye-catching with pictures rather than loads of text.