Concert Poster

This is a Concert Poster that I have created which is also going to be placed inside the magazine for the readers to have a look at and also book their tickets to watch the live performance for a cheap price. I felt like doing this as it very much related to the Genre of Hip Hop as it is a music concert. Also because I have saw magazines that come with many leaflets inside to give to the reader to make them more aware of other things that is going on.

CD and CD Covers

As I finished all the compulsory tasks that needed to be done for my Magazine I have also created extra things to go with the Magazine it self. So i decided to create an actual CD, including the cover, the CD it self and also the track list, this is something that is going to come free with every purchase of the magazine.

This is a little sticker that I have created which could go on the cove of the magazine in the corner. This will help the reader recognise that if they purchase the magazine they are getting a free CD from the artist on the front.





Below shows both the Front cover and also the CD it self rolling out of the cover.

I have kept the CD cover consistent with the magazine I have done and created by keeping the Black and White colour scheme that I have been doing through out the project. So on this basis i decided to also name the album 'Black & White (B&W)'.


I added a bit of red to the text so that the artist him self stands out and so that it looks Bold, strong and bright to the readers eye.

I originally started with this CD cover design, but I however don't like the look of the it as it doesn't really fit with my character and magazine because of the colours used and the use of typeface, as it looks very cartoon like and also like a comic. So for this particular reason I decided to create the other CD (As shown above).

I had to create the CD template myself on Photoshop so that it would be easy for me to put my design ion so it looks very authentic.

This is the back cover of the CD the Track list which features 8 Tracks from the Artist. I have used a very stylish typeface for the 'Track list' which is very effective on the page along with the bright red which stands out and gets a hold of the readers eye which instantly lets them know what the page is about. I have also used the same image that I used for my magazine front cover to keep it consistent along with the black and white. I have also added the legal statements on the bottom left to make it look very authentic and real like a normal Cd case would do. 

Main Double Page Spread

I was playing about with many layout designs for my Double Page Spread and try see what images I have that taken would actually go with the theme of my magazine on the Double Page Spread page. Below is a play around that I have done in Photoshop CS6 to see a basic look and have an idea:

I did this landscape on a A3 size piece of paper which will take two A4 size pages on the magazine.

I have now however went for an entire different look so that it matches the content page and the front cover with the black and white theme, so that the magazine is consistent and elegant, and so it relates to the genre of Hip Hop.

Below is my second design which consisted of more primary images of the Artist and also buildings.

Here I bled the image off the page so it has an extra effect to the page, I also reduced the opacity and the fill of the building image and the crane image so that it can blend in with the background and let the image of the Artist and the quote ("WITHOUT MUSIC LIFE WOULD BE A MISTAKE") stand out from the rest of the page so it catches the audiences eyes.

I have started to create designs on Adobe Indesign as this software allows me to many different things with the texts, most newspapers and magazines use this software which allows the to align text easier. So I decided to copy my design from Photoshop and put it in Indesign so that I can work on the text.

Here I created my Double Page Spread using Indesign I used many different techniques such as using the grids to align my text, having different columns, putting in Gutters etc.

I spent a lot of time trying to wrap my text around the image so it looks very stylish and looks as if it is following the object (Warp Text).

The following text is from the interview with the Artist 'Shakz' which I used in my Double Page Spread so that the readers can read which states:

 

"I got started with hip hop at a young age I used to listen to a lot of hip hop and rap genres of music. As I grew up in South East London sand used to hang out with my friends enjoying, writing and listening to music and also posting them on YouTube. I advertise my videos through social websites such as Twitter and Facebook; I also get support from a lot of friends and family and also my fans. I think Hip hop will never die because it is a way for people to express life and their feelings, sometimes this industry of music can get repetitive such as always talking about Cars, Money etc. which I admit I sometimes get tired of. I as a hip-hop/Rap artist show my music style to be different that shows a new attitude to Hip-Hop and Rap.

Since there are so many great artists, I think what determines who gets to the top is someone who has determination, puts a lot of effort in to their piece of music who also has self-belief about themselves and a creative way of expressing themselves through powerful lyrics . Having an original style and attitude will make fans want to follow you.

Yeah well, life was hard to start with and still is but better than before. I was born in Miami and I never saw my dad as he has never been in my life and never a part of it since a young age. My Mom and I left Miami and moved to the UK as she was originally from London as my Nan

lives here,this all happened when iwas young at the age of 7, and my Mom struggled to put food on the table for me and my sister (Alyah.)

So I had to do whatever I could and whenever I could to help with this whether it was a good way or another. I still carry on working hard to help my family and look after them to give them a better life.

My style is very unique I like to sample sounds from the streets and mix it with my lyrics. I like a lot of the bass rhythms in many hip hop songs.

I am inspired by life and the good times. There are artists that I admire such as Lil Wayne, 2pac, Michael Jackson and others but these reach out to me as they are unique and have their own identity which is easily recognisable by the audiences. I make my music to tell my life story as it unfolds.

Oh, ok, let me think that’s a tough one….ermmmm

I would like to make my music known throughout the world. I hope that people will relate to it in their own lives. One of my ultimate goals would be to perform and go on tour with many famous hip hop artists such as Jay-Z, Beyoncé, snoop dog and so on.

I created a new mixtape which is called ‘Black and White’ which is my new album which is attached to this magazine for free, so taht ya’ll can listen to and enjoy my music and think about the deep lyrics which is trying to potray my life and the struggle I went through and how I have come to this point of where I am today. "

Final Double Page Spread

This is my Final Double Page Spread which I think looks great, I also got feedback from class to tell me if it related to the rest of my final production, and if theres anythings I can do extra or not. But all is well so I decided to keep it how it is as it looks very smooth and proffesional and eye catching to the audience. I used many style and techniques to come to this final piece of work from Photoshop and Indesign.
 

Main Contents

Here I am going to show the previous content page that i attempted at doing and then showing my final design piece for my content page.

This was my first attempt on creating a content page. I did not really fancy doing this as it looked too strong and doesn't really have a content page atmosphere.

I did not go for this content page as it very much looked like the 1983 film 'Scarface'. This was not related to Hip Hop but rather violence so that is why i decided not to go for this particular look. I also do not want to use this picture as my Content page image as I have already used it for the front cover of the magazine.

I am next going to try to create my content page on a double page (A3) so that I have more space to work in and so that it is unique. I will want to have one big main image on the left side along with the heading 'Contents' as i think this will have a great effect and will stand out and look very good and eye catching.

As you can see on the right the Scarface theme poster looks very similar and contrasted with my content page. And for this reason I cannot use it as Scarface is violent whereas I do not want to show violent on the magazine.

I created a final sketch of how I am going to outline and position my content page by sketching out where I am going to place the main image, cover lines, masthead etc.

This helped me a lot as I could get straight to the point as all had to do was just place all the information and pictures on where it is positioned on the sketch.

Below is my final Piece of the Content Page.

Final Content Piece

Main Contents

This is the final content page that I have created, I really like this one as it is very elegant and looks very professional. I used many different styles and techniques when creating this. I edited the photo to keep the resemblance between the rest of the magazine. I included 5 key pages that are in the pages; magazines like Vibe, XXL and others have about 5 key pages on their content pages so I did the same as it looks more demanding.

On the left side of the page I have got the title 'Contents' and also the main image which is of 'Shakzz'. I have also added the Text and key page for the Interview for Shakzz placed on the image to show the relationship between both the text and image. I have made the colour of this number red whereas the other ones are black, the red matches the red symbol on the hat which both come in to contact with each other.

On the right hand side of the content page I have 4 Key pages broken up to 3 different parts which is: Features, Events and also Fashion, so that the readers can see that the magazine ha#s different parts to it rather than just the music industry. I have highlighted key terms in red which is on the page to make it stand out and look strong on the page.

The feedback I have gotten from this from friends were that it is one of the best content pages in the class, looks very professional like it's from an actual magazine, looks very strong, bold and very eye catching and elegant. They also said that the colour red brightens up the whole page making it look very good and nice. They also liked the whole idea of having the content page on both sides of the paper (A3) as it doesn't look all cramped. They said the image I used looks very stylish and links with everything.

Main Cover

I have started and done my Main cover page which I am going to shows some of the steps and different changes I made when creating this cover page.

Here I started off with the basics i added the image which I will be going to use for my final piece. I have also kept with the masthead being named 'Flow' i have also kept the rectangle look at the back so that it makes the Flow stand out on the page.

At this stage I printed out a lot of pages to see the size comparison of the masthead and the Main cover line to see if they were too big or too small. By printing it out it helped me to visualise and get an idea of the right size they should be.

Here I have moved and positioned the masthead in the centre as i thought it looks more effective on the page whereas on the side it doesn't.

This was the image I used for the main cover. I have however added the effect to make it black and white, as I thought I'd do my theme of the magazine and artist black and white which is going to relate to the album cover I am going to create which is going to be titled 'Black and White', this is something extra that i felt to create which will help my magazine to initially look better and also I have found out that readers like magazines that come with free stuff such as CD mix tapes, tickets, special offers and so on magazine




I created a final sketch of how I am going to outline and position my cover page by sketching out where I am going to place the main image, cover lines, masthead etc.

This helped me a lot as I could get straight to the point as all had to do was just place all the information and pictures on where it is positioned on the sketch.










Here I have added all the cover lines. That I have taken from my previous mock ups as I didn't have to create new ones. I also decided to try make the masthead white, but seeing as my background is white I can not use a white masthead as it looks to plain and blends in with the background where as I want it to stand out so the reader can easily visualise the name of the magazine.


I also tried to take off the red rectangle boxes from behind the main cover line (as seen in the first above picture) to see if it made any differences or if it looked better, but with given feedback I found out that it looked way more eye catching with the red rectangle boxes behind the text as it stood out in front of the main image on the page.

On the main image I tried to add a little shadow effect on the back to outline the main image, this is not very noticeable so I may change this to a more brighter colour such as red so it stays in contrast with the page and colour scheme.

I have also added many effects on the cover lines such as drop shadow, bevels, strokes, inner glow and many more to make it look more bold, strong and eye catching for the reader.

Here is the next version I created of the final cover, but as you can see I have tried to get an image that I have myself taken and try place it in the background to see if it made my cover look better. When I got feedback from friends and teachers they told me that the background did not go to well with the picture and didn't really relate to the magazine, I myself could also see that so I decided to get rid of this in the next edit I am going to create of the cover.

As you can see I have put back the red rectangles behind the main cover line. I have also put the main cover line at a twisted angle rather than having it straight and simple.

I have also put a QR tag in the bottom right corner as the same as one of my previous mock ups as it looked very good there.

Also the cover lines did not relate to the background because of the different colours used. The blue used on the cover lines could not really be seen as the background image also has blue in it (sky), so this was another problem that the background has caused.

The masthead i decided not to change i kept it the same as the previous edit above, but I have just duplicated the layer making it red and placing in front so that the white can be seen as a shadow at the back. This created a more eye catching look for the reader as it stands out even more on the rectangle box behind.

Final Cover Piece

Main Cover

This is the final cover page for my magazine which has been edited and improved by all feedback that I got from friends and teachers.

I have taken off the background, the plain white background makes the page look more eye catching as the cover lines, masthead and main image pops out and gets the readers attention towards the page and the main things on the page.

I have changed the shadow of the main image to red, as you can see this is way more noticeable than the grey background which makes it noticeable for the reader, this is also in contrast to the page as most of the things are red such as the masthead and cover lines. I have made the cover lines go around the picture and not in front so that it does not interfere with the main cover line that's going over the image as the main cover line is linked to the main image.

Mock Ups

I have created Mock ups for the cover page, we had to create 2 Mock ups whereas I have created 6, so that it helps me even more and gives me a broader range of how to actually do my final piece.

Mock ups is part of my Preliminary task. It helps me to create previous versions of magazines, to get to my final task.

Below I am going to paste each of my Mock Ups and talk about each:

 
This is the first Mock up i created for my magazine. I decided to use me on the front cover as I want me to be the main attraction of the whole magazine in general. i decided to use the Masthead 'Grand' as this is unique and no one else has used it before in magazines. I added the effect of having the red rectangle box behind the text so that the Masthead stands out even more.

I had created the Main Cover Line to be "Interview with Shakz!", this line is linked to the main image of the cover as the font size of the text is bigger than the other cover lines, so the audience can easily visualise that they are both linked as most magazines have this same concept. Although some other cover lines are a bit to big so I will have to reduce the size of them.

In terms of Mode Of Address the Hip Hop Genre has a very particular style which is informal and catchy for the reader. I have tried to bare this in mind when creating the content for the text. It is also very much about the style of typefaces, but this is more of an aesthetic convention (Bold, Strong Colours, Different sizes).

In the next mock ups I will show the changes I have made from the first mock up to the second and all the things I have added to make it look more effective than the first mock up.

This is the second Mock up I have created for my preliminary task, I kept the same cover lines, but I just improved and edited them so that they look more better than the first mock up. I have reduced the sizes of the cover lines and added many effects so that it also stands out and matches the Genre of Hip Hop music. For example the 'Kanye Hits Big' I have reduced the size of this so that it doesn't look like as if it is the Main Cover Line, I have added a drop shadow affect and others so that it looks better, as it was plain before.

I have changed the main cover line as I have added many effects so that it doesn't look plain and it shows the reader that it is the main cover line. I have added the Red rectangles behind this text so yet again the text can come forward and stand out from the other cover lines on the page. I have also reduced the size of this because i printed it out several times and saw that the size for the cover line  was to big and there was no need for this so I reduced that in size and also the other cover lines.

I have changed the Masthead from the name 'GRAND' to the name 'VIP' this is due to the fact that it was not very appealing and didn't match the theme of the Hip Hop genre of the magazine, the feedback I got friends helped me to make this huge change as the Masthead is very important for any magazine as it establishes the brand of the magazine. I have however tried to keep the rectangle box behind the masthead so that it stands out, I changed the colour to a black background for the rectangle with a red border and put the text colour to red so it stands out against the black.

In this second mock up I added a QR bar code tag which I think is very good as we are in a Generation which works on technology, so if the reader scans the QR bar code tag on a smart phone, Android, or Windows phone he or she may be able to read it on the web rather than reading it on paper. I added a question on my Survey Monkey Questionnaire which helped me to come to this as I found out many people like to read magazines electronically rather than paper.

Also on this second piece of work I have changed the main image of me as I thought the first image on the first mock up wasn't very related to Hip Hop so i changed the image. This new image looks more related to Hip Hop as the artist is wearing Chains, Sun Glasses which are dark and cuts off the artists eyes which no one can see. The picture has a more informal look which is just what it needs to match the Hip Hop Genre. I also created the blur effect of the artist at the back to try and show that he's moving or some sort. I changed the use of the cap as the new one looks more to do with the ghetto look, and decided to open the buttons so that the chains can be visual to the reader.

This is the third Mock up I have created which I did not have to but I did anyways so that I have a broader range of magazine covers to help me for my final cover page.

I have changed the masthead once again to the name 'Flow' this is because I was talking and reading about a book that was written by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi who is a is a Hungarian Psychology professor that was born in Italy. He is  known for his work in the study of happiness and creativity, but is best known as the architect of the notion of flow and for his years of research and writing on the topic. He is the author of many books and over 120 articles or book chapters.

In his seminal work, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Csíkszentmihályi outlines his theory that people are happiest when they are in a state of flow— a state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situation. It is a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter. The idea of flow is identical to the feeling of being in the zone or in the groove. The flow state is an optimal state of intrinsic motivation, where the person is fully immersed in what he is doing. This is a feeling everyone has at times, characterised by a feeling of great absorption, engagement, fulfilment, and skill—and during which temporal concerns (time, food, ego-self, etc.) are typically ignored.

I have got this above information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi.

Flow Book (Primary Image)

This is the reason why I decided to change the name to Flow as it states that people are the happiest when they are in a state of flow and it helps them to be more concentrated.

In this 3rd mock up I have changed the font of the Masthead and added a different tone of colour which starts from yellow to red. I have however also kept the rectangle behind so it shows the masthead more clearer and positioned it in the left corner behind the main image this time bringing the main image to the front. I have also changed many of the colour scheme for the cover lines for example 'MAN OF THE YEAR' to black and red rather blue and red like the others.

The main image is also different as it shows a more of a smart look with clear glasses and the reader can see the artist's eyes and the cap on backwards so that more of the face can be shown. There is also no chains in this image unlike the previous one before.

Here is my 4th Mock up which I have created using a different picture as the main image which is of a friend. I thought I would try something new to see if it works and looks better. The image has a colourful background which matches with what she is wearing as she is wearing bright colours such as blue. The background is to bright and consists of too many different colours this is the case why i had to not go with this one.

I have however had to change the colour of the cover lines so that it still stands out on a powerful background like that.

The masthead i kept the same using the same name 'Flow' , I changed the colour to red so that it stands out from he rest of the page. I also kept the rectangle behind and made it blue so it matches the trousers. I positioned the Masthead in the middle so that it seems as if she is really holding and picking up the masthead. I decided not to add no more cover lines as i thought this mock up was a no go because of the colours it has. I also know this as when i got feedback from friends they said it doesn't really look like a very good magazine cover because of the background.

Here is the 5th Mock up I have created which is a whole new different concept compared to the other 4 previous mock ups.

 I have decided to place the masthead in the bottom right hand corner rather than positioning it at the top because I thought I'd try out new things to see if it looks better or good.

I went back to using an image of me which I have added a special affect on, I made the main cover line and masthead to link with the picture and so I did.

I have completely changed the main cover line from 'Interview with Shakz!' to 'Shakz Back!' I did this to see if changing the main cover line affected the whole cover and it does. i decided to position the cover line up there so it can link with the picture.

I have also created a bar code which I have placed on the side to see if it looks good or not. A lot of magazines have the bar code on the front cover, but I have decided I am not going to put the bar code on the front as it doesn't look really good and looks to cramped. I have also positioned the QR tag at the top rather than the bottom.

This is the 6th and final mock up piece that I have created which is just the same as the top one but I have edited and changed around many things.

I have changed the masthead and positioned it back at the top left corner, as I didn't really like it at the bottom (as seen above). I have however kept the style the same of the masthead.

I have positioned the main cover line in the centre of the page so that it looks like the main image of the artist (me) is holding the 'Shakz Back!' as it was a piece attached to the chain that the artist is wearing.

I have also decided to get rid of the bar code as it wasn't really convenient on the cover page of the magazine as it is usually on the back cover.
I have also positioned the QR tag back where it originally was at didn't look good at the top and it looked messy.

So judging from the above mock ups I know have a visual idea of how my main cover page will look like, and use many of the ideas I have used for the mock ups in my final piece.

After I had finished all these I decided to create a focus group on my mock ups where I printed off all my mock ups that I had done and placed them on the table in class so that people can have a look at them and give me back feedback and comments about my work.

Focus Group getting back comments on above mock ups.

 

 

Magazine Names/Mastheads

I had also created a little brainstorm on a word document, which includes magazine names/mastheads. I have done this so that I can have a visual idea which will help me to create my on Masthead which looks affective like the popular Hip-Hop magazines such as VIBE, XXL and so on.

Below are some of the Magazine Names that i have pasted in to the document:

The above Mastheads from magazines are just a couple that i have added, although there are a lot more to include which i haven't.

Survey Monkey- Talking about the Results.

After I had distributed my 30 questionnaires, I got back results from both Female and Male participants from my class and friends outside. By doing this questionnaire it helped me to gain some knowledge about creating my final peice of work, as it helped me answer some questions, which could help me improve my final peice of work.

Question 4 made me do the Double Page Spread on the life of the artist (Shakz) as majority of the participants thatparticipated in the survey said they do like to read lives of artists.

Question 5 helped me to get a basic understanding on the most poular genre in the music industry the overall answer was Hip Hop followed by RnB so this also helped me to stay to the genre of Hip Hop rather than changing the Genre.

Question 6 helped me to understand that I have to apply very strong bold images on the whole package of the magazine to make it more eye catching and efficient.

Question 7 would help to get a basic understanding of how much my magazine would be sold for and how much people would buythem for.

Question 9 helped me to decide on whether I should add a QR tag on the magazine, and looking at the results it showed me that people would like an online version and so I added this.

Question 10 tells me if consumers would be interested in subscribing to my magazine to gain exclusive stuff. So i'll have to think about this.

Survey Monkey

Below are all the quesions I asked in my Survey Monkey I added 10 questions which would help me to create my actual magazine:

1. Gende
2. Age
3. Do you buy magazines or read them online?
4. Are you interested in reading about lives of artists?
5. What’s your favourite music genre out of the few below in a magazine?
6.  Do strong images appeal to you or make a difference to you?
7. What would be the price margin for you when buying a magazine?
8. Where would you like to read a magazine? ( Travelling(online app), Home, work, School) 
9. Would you like a link to an online version of the mag?
10. Would you be interested in subscribing to the magazine in order to gain exclusive access to free stuff and offers?