Cover (preliminary)• This is a preliminary cover design which I chose not to present as my finished cover

as it was too atypical of a rap magazine - mainly the fact that my face was covered and I therefore realized that this image would fail to convey the feeling of power and attitude that is so typical of rap magazines (a feeling of which I was trying to replicate.)

I also disliked the fact that the background became Exponentially darker in a gradient from left to right which I thought detracted attention from my artist of whom isConventionally meant to be THE focal point of the cover.

AS Media Studies EvaluationQ1. In what ways does your media product

use, of real media products? develop or challenge forms and conventions

Final Cover• This is my final cover. It is visibly more reminiscent of

a conventional rap magazine. I changed the photo from the original to a portrait photo, in a style conventional of a cover image artist from any genre. I also chose to ‘grey-scale’ my cover image to create a feeling of power, attitude but also moodiness to captivate the message my artist wants to convey.

My magazine cover was loosely based off an issue of VIBE magazine – an urban music magazine. Despite it’s urban genre however, this issue was fundamentally crafted to suit their cover image artist – rapper Drake. Therefore dark tones could have used to imply power. Evidence for this is the headline/ sub-heading “ THE YEAR DRAKE BECAME KING.” This is the type of message I wanted my magazine cover to represent.I chose also to include the colour yellow for my headline as it has colour connotations of wealth and success

Cover ImageI decided to pay homage to VIBE’S 2014 cover Featuring Drake by using a grey-scale image of my artist. Alike the VIBE cover featuring Drake my artist is bearing a very faint smile which helps to create a mystery complex. This is arguably appealing to consumers who are intriguedby the image. Also to further this complex I replicated the direct-gaze seen in the VIBE cover. This establishes a connection between the consumer and artist.

Masthead

This is my masthead.

The text is “MIC CHECK!”. I chose this title for my magazine as I felt that the name was synonymous with the rap genre given that a mic-check is a reknown pre-performance action done by artists, particularly rappers. It is an event before an artist comes on stage therefore the name connotes the idea of ‘fresh’ news from the hip- hop/grime community.

I chose to use a microphone to represent an exclamation mark as it is unique, it is symbolic of rappers and is very representational of excitement in of itself which is a mood which I want my magazine to exhibit.

I also used capitalization not only out of trying to follow conventions but to also create a feeling of loudness and boldness for my magazine.

Selling LineThis is my selling line. It is situated directly below my masthead in a conventional fashion. I used the colour grey as to not detract the attention too much from my masthead but still make it visible to consumers.The word “Leading” is a key selling point as consumers will associate my magazine with it being the best in the genre before even reading.I chose to label it as the “UK’S LEADING MAGAZINE” opposed to perhaps the world’s leading magazine as the grime genre is most prominent in the UK therefore it being “UK’S LEADING MAGAZINE” is implicating enough reputation in itself without making a bolder claim.

Headline

I chose to name my headline the singular“ELLI$” as it hones in all attention on my artist, who is not yet a household name, neither a niche artist. With the name being on it’s own indicates that my artist carries the importance to stand alone on a cover increasing consumer anticipation.

I chose to use a $ for my artist’s name instead of an ‘s’ as it has been done by multiple artists to represent a fluency in wealth and fortune e.g A$AP Rocky, Travi$ Scott and Joey BadA$$

Sub-heading

• This is my sub-heading.

I stylized the underlining in the shape on an upward arrow which represents the uprising and ascending of my artist in the music industry, creating audience anticipation. It is also synonymous with the album title ‘The Come Up.’

CoverlinesI purposefully chose to include an A-list artist in my coverline, almost as a selling point, in order to entice not only to attract the moderately niche (in comparison to pop music) fans of Hip-hop/grime music but also a commercial audience whom like mainstream artists e.g Ed Sheeran. However the inclusion of Ed Sheeran as a coverline doesn’t break the conventions of my magazine genre as his musical origins were in grime music making his name highly relevant to my magazine.The posed question “making a return to the grime scene?” creates excitement and will help to attract a substantial amount of consumers of whom are fans of the star.

Contents Page

Colour Scheme• I chose to opt out of my grey-scale colour scheme

of my cover as despite the fact that I enjoyed the moody hue on the cover that expressed undertones of seriousness and elegance, I felt like the repetition of such a palette throughout my entire magazine would undermine it’s meaning and potentially give off a boring and insincere ‘vibe’ about my magazine.

• Instead I elaborated and expanded on the small yellow presence of my cover and decided to give my contents page more vibrancy and again to implicate, through the use of colour, success and wealth – a ethos imbedded in deeply in ‘rap culture.’

• I chose the same shade of yellow used In my cover in order to avoid any feeling of disconnection between 2 of the aspects of my magazine and to increase fluidity. I also used grey to further link the contents page to my cover.

• The introduction of blue is used to make my artist names stand out boldly to readers.

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