This is what I've achieved in today's lesson and learnt how to design a very good masthead in the future. I learnt how to resize and reshape each letter of a text and also how to put a background image just on the text as you can see on the image above.

My proposal (Starting)

 

Magazine proposal: Serkan

 

• The publication title of my magazine is going to “Gramazine” as the genre’s going to be Grime which is a UK special genre and originates from the streets. It was started by an artist named JME who is still active and is still creating music for his fans like his brother SKEPTA which is what my practice Grime magazine is based on.
•  I picked this as it’s a unique genre and isn’t really mainstream around the world but the UK. The songs from grime are also now being played around London (In stores, special events and streets of London).
• In the magazine I will include a variety of things. Questions and answers, interviews, biographies, tour diaries, update on new songs and other interactive things with grime artists will be in the magazine to make it interesting. Furthermore I’ll make sure I’m including grime artists that are popular within the city so people are more familiar and willing to buy the magazine for example “Stormzy” is a very good example to use in your magazine as he’s one of the best and most popular grime artists.
• My masthead will include a background of its own as I want it to stand out from the background image of the magazine, so the audience knows the creator of the magazine and becomes more familiar with it and spread it. I'm going to place it on the top left corner of the page as that is where mastheads are usually placed (like for example the VIBE magazine I analysed had their masthead on the top left corner).
• The lettering of my magazine will link to the background story of the genre "grime" in a way,(which originates from the streets) so it will be like the font "Stencil STD" as it looks simple but also very street. It's also a suitable font for a normal magazine as its easy to read and understand, plus its not boring/simple for a magazine.
• The background colour of the magazine will be white and the lettering will be black so it makes it much more easier to read and so it looks clean and there's no clashing of colours. It's also fitting with the genre rap/grime as black and white are the colours that represent it most of the time (Colourful and bright colours are usually for pop and R&B). However I will have a grime artists as a background on the background standing and looking at the reader so its more eye catching

Serkan Coskun: College magazine evaluation

For my college magazine I wanted to achieve a variety of things. My aim is to finish off my magazine by making it as unique as possible and appealing to the audience that will look at it the next time. Firstly I wanted to try out different and bright colours so it gives out a positive attribute to the audience as that is what college magazines are supposed to do, to influence parents to send their children to the school. My three main colours are white, black and blue but the front cover is presented in a bright way. In addition I put up a fellow student as a main anchor and I specifically picked him as he was smiling and holding a book which symbolises him being happy with his education/school. I mainly used Italics as a font to give the magazine a more sophisticated look and to also present it in an appropriate way (It believe it makes the magazine look unique as most magazines use bold and simple text). Furthermore I put the masthead on the top left corner of the magazine with the slogan of the college which is where magazines usually put their mastheads so it’s visible and the buyer knows what college the magazine belongs to. Overall I wanted to keep the front cover simple and straight forward to add more to the inside and the contents.

In my opinion I used/have a good choice of colour scheme as it fits in with the magazine and lets out the positivity I want it to. My cover lines are well distributed and is easily seen by the reader as it’s big and bold. I also used a cover star that meets the criteria of a college magazine which perhaps isn’t unique but is still what I wanted to achieve in a way. On the other hand there’s a lot of things that needs improvements and developments. The front cover doesn’t have much writing/cover lines which makes it look dull and less interesting compared to the others. The text I’ve used is also very difficult to read and the fonts that I’ve used don’t match with each other as well as the contents page, which makes the front cover look odd. The main image also looks rushed and stretched which isn’t adequate with the whole thing.

The comments I’ve received were even (good and bad) and gave me better ideas to what to do. The colour scheme of the front cover was liked by the viewers as it matches the genre of the magazine. I’ve also received positive comments on the distribution of the cover lines and the placement of the writings and puffs which is pushing me more to wanting to add more writing to the front cover as I think it will look more appealing. They also liked the effect of the main image as it’s optimistic and exclusive. However some people said that the image was warped and needs improvements to it as well as the fonts. I’ve also received comments on how the fonts didn’t match and that it seemed very weird to them. Furthermore some said it would be better if I make the colour scheme clearer so they know the actual 3 main colours.

·         My first improvement is going to be matching the fonts and making them all italic as that is what I want it to be.

·         I’m also going to add more cover lines as well as a skyline as my magazine looks very empty and dull (I’m also going to change the colour of the “success at a caring college” to black)

·         I’m going to fix my image and make it more fitting with the magazine as it doesn’t look normal/suitable.  

My front cover and contents (contents not finished)

Hip-Hop/Grime Magazine analysis TASK 2: Serkan Coskun

FRONT COVER

• This magazine is a mid-waste shot as we could only see Jay-Z from the waste up
• Jay Z is wearing the 1950’s gangster type clothing to show wealth and power as gangsters in the 1950’s were known to be dominant, rich and controlling.
• The hat and the scarf makes him look classy and fits in with the style of clothing and makes it look more interesting than normal
• The cigar he is holding also displays him being rich as cigars are expensive.
• The background colour of the magazine is gold and very bright which could be used to relate it to wealth and power as gold is associated as something expensive and rare
• The Masthead is also being shown fully and is not fully behind Jay-z’s head which is good to show the audience the producer of the magazine and get credit for it
• The font is classical and old type which matches with jay-z’s style of clothing. Most of the writing is also written in big so the buyer could see it properly and don’t miss the important information. Furthermore the more important information like the other celebrities that are included in the magazine on the right is underlined to convince fans (apart from Jay-z’s to buy the magazine) which is smart as it may interest more people and earn the company more money.
• The skyline also says  “HIP HOP ON A HIGHER LEVEL” to make their magazine look more prestige than the others
• The anchor is JAY-Z, he’s the one that holds the front cover and makes it look fitting with everything else.

The target audience for this magazine is for both genders and from the age 15-40 as that is the average age that listens to hip-hop most of the time.

 

Contents page

• The background is made extremely white/light to make Jay Z stand out even more. This is good for the page as Jay Z is in all black and looks prevailing and dominant as its making him stand out. The red also stands out from the city and brings him out more as well as his name. It also matches with his latest album
• The structure and design of the page is very simple as its main aim Is to show off Jay Z as the leading figure but nothing else
• As well as the structure the fonts being used in the contents Is also very simple and the main cover line has been bolded out to further increase what the issue is on about and to fit the feel of this magazines surreal look, the main cover line is also red which makes it transparent

• The writing on the left shows/says everything that’s included in the magazine and has the most important information which is why it’s bigger than the writing on the right. The extra stuff has been added to the right and is bolded so it can easily be seen. The main is to make Jay Z look bigger than Hip-Hop and make the magazine look interesting as possible. Front Cover

  • The colours of this magazine is like most of the other XXL magazine covers as they tend to use red, white and black in their magazines a lot. However it’s a good combination of colours and always works well together
  • The rappers are standing in an arrogant way like typical rappers as all rappers think they’re better than the others. The style of the clothing also matches the way they’re standing and posing as it looks more gangster. In my opinion the image isn’t the best and is not better than the Jay Z magazine as it looks more rushed and simple (seems like they haven’t put effort into the magazine). 
  • The font of the main cover line is plain like the others and gets to the point but it is very obvious that it’s been designed on photo shopped as it looks very flat on the magazine. The style of the font also matches the clothing of the members which goes really well.
  • The left third of the front cover only mentions 5 artists and has been written in two different colours to indicate that it’s important for the buyer to see. It is also underneath the masthead which will straight attract the eye of the person who is looking at the logo
  • The masthead is also very visible to the eye which is good so it doesn’t hide itself from the buyer and proves that its “XXL’s” magazine
  • Furthermore on the right side you could see the other celebrities that are in the magazine. However its very small but boldly written which is very hard for the buyer to see straight away when they’re analysing the magazine
  • Overall the whole magazine looks very old fashioned and doesn’t go with the 2016 look we have now. It also looks very rushed and needs more colours added to it. 

• Like every other college magazine there is a student smiling at the camera which is to show positivity and to convince people that they are happy with their college.
• The masthead is also called "COLLEGE" to remind people that its a college magazine.
• The person is also young and is considered as a teenager which means that the target audience of this magazine are teenagers.
• The barcode is also presented at the bottom right of the front cover which shows that you could get the product from stores/markets
• The three main colours are Yellow/Blue/white as well as green