MAIN TASK: My individual time plan...

20th January
- Should have all photography by now, ready for editing on Photoshop.

27th January
- All images should be edited by this date and ready to be put to there seperate uses.

3rd February
- All images are situated in the right places, with a basic layout of the page, and where the text and other items will sit on the page. for all pages (frontpage, contents and double page spread)

9th February
- All text, coverlines, titles and the masthead within very page, will be written up in its chosen font and its layout will be finalised.

11th February
- Finishing touches, including checking over grammar and spelling. Checking all images are laid out well on each page and making sure Iam happy with the final result.

12th February - Production Deadline.

MAIN TASK: More audience research, showing my sketches and designs to an audience...

I published my initial designs and sketches onto "Facebook", just like when I created my image board, and published it for some useful audience feedback.
Heres what one of the teenagers said about my ideas and plans...

I will keep these comments in mind, and I found them very helpful and informative.

MAIN TASK: Initial planning - Sketches and Ideas...

I did some simplistic sketches, In order to portray some of my ideas. The two portrait sketches below are some ideas which I thought either my front page or contents page could look like. At the moment I can't decide whether to have the mid close up model, or the group of models on my front page. Whichever I don't choose to put on my front page, I will use as the image on my contents page.
In both images, the model/models will be directly staring at the audience, like the real magazines I researched previously.
I wanted my magazine to represent the streets, therefore I have planned to put my models in a hoody, and the photography will take place in the streets so that there is an urban background in the pictures.
As mentioned before, I have chosen to use "SMACK!" as the name of my magazine, therefore I have included it in my designs, and in one of my plans, the model is slightly overlapping the mashead, once again like I researched from previous magazines.

The landscape image above, Is my quick sketch of what my double page spread could look like, This time the models aren't directly staring at the reader, but at eachother.

This could either connote confrontation, or friendship, which is what I intend.

The text withing my double page spread will be in columns, much like the average magazine.

Obviously these sketches are just initial ideas, and as my work progresses I will probably develop these ideas.

MAIN TASK: Deciding a name for my magazine...

I wanted my magazine to have a name that worked well with the theme of my magazine, and I wanted the name to connote things such as street lifestyle and the activities involved with it.
below are some of the ideas I came up with...

Concrete
I thought "concrete" would work well, because it portrays the streets and urban side of teenagers lives, they spend the majority of there life walking, standing and spending there time on and around concrete.
After some thought, I decided this wasn't the best option for my magazine's name and therefore decided against using it.

Hoody
Obviously teenagers are known for wearing hoodys, and it is looked upon with a variety of opinions. Hoodys are often believed to be linked with crime, as it covers the criminals face.
The truth is almost everyone who has worn a hoody has probably never broke a law in their life.

Smash
I thought "smash" might work well, but then i realised there is a pop music magazine around called "smash hits", and therefore I chose not to use this as the name for my magazine.

Slap, Bust, Crack, Punch, Slam and Blast
These were all possibilities, and I couldn't think of any significant reason of why not to use them, they all work well as they use onomatopia, and they al sound simple and memberable. The only reason I didnt use any of them , is because I thought "Smack" is more effective.

Smack
This is the word I finally chose to use as my magazine's name, It connotes the intended things within street life style, such as violence, control and respect.

MAIN TASK: Audience research...

As you know I planned to put my image board on "Facebook", so that it could be analysed by fellow teenagers, therefore I would gain a bigger understanding of other peoples point of view towards my audience profile and my plans for my magazine.

After I put my image board on my facebook profile, I asked a few friends to comment and tell me what they thought, heres what they said about it...

The comments these people left were very helpful, and ensured me I was on the right track with my work.

Interestingly, the two girls that commented, made a point that my image board doesnt represent the female side of my target audience very well. I am glad they made this point, because as you may remember, earlier on in my blog I stated that my magazine is aimed at teenage boys, therefore it appears I have successfully represented the intended gender of my audience without even telling the people who commented.

overall I am pleased with the feedback I got and im sure it will contribute towards my final piece.

MAIN TASK: Initial ideas collage/moodboard...

I created this moodboard using Adobe photoshop, and I used the internet as my source for collecting the particular images.

I created this because I wanted to portray my target audience's lifestyle and personality.

I will put this image board on the social networking site "Facebook" in order to get some feedback from suitable peers, by doing this I will gain a bigger understanding of something which in theory is describing "them".

After showing my moodboard to a sample of my target audience, I should get some valuable second opinions which will influence my work.

MAIN TASK: Audience profile...

As you will know by now, I want my magazine to have a slighty varied genre, but it will be based around a variety of popular chart music, including hip hop, dance and R and B. Therefore my audience will not be one particular social group, but a few.
I am going to describe the type of people that would purchase and read the magazine I am going to create...

Firstly, my magazine would mostly be read by teenage boys, but like most magazines, the gender of the audience is not always guarenteed to be just male or female.

The age of the teenage boys reading my magazine would range from around 15 to 19,

(my age group).

My audience would be sociable and fashionable, belonging to a variety of social groups and they would consider themselves to be friendly and cool.
On average they would wear fashionable desginer clothes, which arent over priced, yet arent cheap and they would be recognised by there labels. they would buy these particular clothes from places such as BANK and other fashion stores.

As the teenage boys reading my magazine have an age range from around 15 to 19, they would not yet be in a perminant and serious career, they would be invovled in a part time job such as a shop assistant or working in a resturant or cafe', along with being a school or college student.

The audience of my magazine would spend the majority of there time socialising, and at college, (socialising at college aswell!) They would probably meet with friends on a regular basis, whether to just hand around there local area, or maybe to visit town to just look around or to spend there limited money on clothing and probably junk food, Like most teenagers, they would be involved in many parties and alot of underage drinking would be most likely taking place.
My audience would not be the best behaved and would probably have had some experience with the police for minor offences such as being anti-social which is ironic when you think about it!

They would be interested in the type of music my magazine focuses on, this is mainly hip hop,
R and B, dance and chart top hits, for example mainstream artists such as N Dubz, Beyonce and Lil Wayne.

I mentioned earlier that my target audience would be very sociable, therefore they would probably even read my magazine whilst with there friends. My audience would use websites such as "Facebook" in order to further there social lifestyle and whilst on the computer on websites such as that, they would most likely be downloading music for free (illegeally) to go on there ipod.

MAIN TASK: summary of my research into existing magazines...

To summarise, I could say that through my previous research, whatever the genre of the magazine, the main sell (usually a mid close up model) is valued very highly and is almost always brought right to the front of the cover in order to attract all the readers attention to it.

When I create my magazine cover I will have to keep this in mind, and ensure that the model or model's within my front cover are the main attraction and are not completely overwhelmed by coverlines and other various text scatterd around the page.

Furthermore, through my research I have realised that certain facial expression of the models, and the colour scheme of the magazine can connote certain emotians. For example, dark colours and distant emotions can connote an atmosphere of sadness or confusion. Also, colour schemes involving alot of red, and intimidating emotions can obviously connote an atmosphere of anger and violence. (see magazine analysis below)

After studying a variety of magazine covers, and after paying special attention to hip hop and rap magazines, I realised that magazine covers are trying to put across a message, and through my magazine cover I will also try and connote a hidden message of significance.

I think in conclusion, I will be most successful if I pay special attention to particualr techniques actual magazines use, such as the ones previously mentioned, In doing this I should be able to create a successful and meaningful magazine cover.

MAIN TASK: Institution/Publisher research...

MAIN TASK: Detailed analysis of 3 or 4 magazines of my chosen genre...

I have decided I will be most successful in creating a magazine in a genre aimed towards my age group, such as a hip hop magazine or a dance rave magazine. I am considering revolving my magazine around hip hop or rap, because this is what the majority of teenagers are interested in and therefore I am surrounded by its culture and I would easilly find inspiration and ideas to include within my work.

Interestingly, it seems there is a gap in the market for the particular magazine I want to create, because although I decided I want to focus around hip hop music, I would like it to be aimed at a wider teenage audiece so It would have to have a more relaxed and mixed genre, maybe including dance music and chart music. I want my magazine to be accessible for a majority of teenagers with maybe a variety of musical interests.

Because my magazine is going to have a mixed genre, based upon a variety of popular music including hip hop and dance I have been slightly limited to magazines that already exist within this stlye.

Below are a few examples of hip hop and rap magazines that my peers might be interested in...

This successful hip hop magazine represents its confidence by covering its masthead slightly by the central model "Eminem".

This magazine does not use a mid close up model, instead it shows the waist upwards of the model, and he is staring at the reader in an intimidating manner. It gives the impression that he means what he says, he isnt scared of anyone and he wants to be taken seriously.

This connotes violence and aggression, maybe working as a warning to readers who might find the magazines contents offencive.

This magazine cover puts all of the focus on Eminem, even though alot of coverlines have been included, none of them cover Emniem, He is put in front of everything to connote confidence and importance.

The colour scheme of the magazine is very simplistic and appears serious, once again bringing all the attention to the main attaraction - Eminem.

The masthead is coloured with a gradient of black into red, once again connoting violence, as obviously red, is the colour of blood.

The next two magazines have mid close up models, unlike the one above focusing on Eminem. Once again the models appear to be violently staring at the audience in a confident and serious manner.

In "The Source" the masthead and various coverlines overlap "lil wayne" slightly, who is the mid close up model. This is interesting because it could give the impression that the magazine want to appear that they are more important than him, unlike the magazine showing Eminem.

This magazine cover is slightly more filled in, showing less empty space. for example, the coverlines which are alligned to the right of the page have very tight leading between the lines, whereas the leading between the coverlines on the "vibe" magazine above is very loose, revealing more empty space.

Interestingly this magazine cover has a similar colour scheme, with a mix of red, grey, black and white. This once again connotes seriousness and formality.

Although earlier I pointed out how "The Source" appears to rate themselves more important than "lil wayne" by covering him slightly with the magazine's masthead, this is somewhat contridicted because "lil wayne's" name is portrayed very largely at the bottom of the page, almost as big as the mashead itself.

This "vibe" magazine once again portays the main attraction ( 50 cent ) in a mid close up position, with a violent expression on his face.

I have realised that hip hop culture almost tries to appear deangerous, as all the magazines I have focused on, especially the one below "HIPHOP" portray various hip hop and rap musicians as dangerous and violent people.

In the magzine to the left, "50 cent" is covering the masthead, aswell as a couple of coverlines, cleverly he is also covered himself by some coverlines, giving a balance which doesnt make the magazine or the artist seem more important.

This magazine has a slightly different colour scheme, with only the smallest ammount of red being shown. The majority of this magazine is coloured with blue and black, but even this once again connotes violence and creates a negative atmosphere.

"HIPHOP" below is probably one of the most aggressive appearing magazines I have seen. Its main image is a group of hip hop musicians, staring violently at the audience, holding a variety of brutal weapons including a shotgun! In my opinion, this is completely unnessercery as it is unlikely any of the people on this magazine cover would actually use these weapons against another person. This brings me back to the point i made earlier where hip hop and rap musicans are portrayed as violent by the media.

This magazine cover has the same colour scheme as the first two magazines...

(Vibe with Eminem, and The source with lil wayne)

It contains alot of red and black, adding to the aggressive atmosphere the magazine cover is obviously trying to create.

If i was to create a magazine in the style of modern hip hop and rap, and i wanted to be accurately similar to real magazines of it's genre, I would have to portray my model or model's as violent or aggressive, which isn't what i'd prefer to do, because I plan for my magazine to be aimed at wider audience of teenagers with a mixture of musical interests rather than just hip hop or rap.