Evaluation Question 4

As I said earlier on, my magazine is aimed at audiences aged 14 – 30 who love Hip Hop/R’N’B music. The reason I have picked this age group is because most young people develop an interest for these genres from the age 14 and because in my audience research, the youngest person surveyed was 15.

I also decided to target this age group because of the artists in these genres. The fact that most of the artists are quite young, it’s easier for their audience to relate. For example, the much loved hip hop queen Rihanna is only 24. This makes her more relatable because she is beautiful with a great figure and big voice. Also most of her songs relate to the issues this age group face on a daily basis. However, if it was somebody much older, it singing these songs, it wouldn’t have the same impact. My magazine could also appeal to an older audience because older audiences like a young (around 25 onwards) new voice instead of the same old talent.

In terms of ethnicity and gender, even though people tend to stereotype Hip Hop/R’N’B music to be for black/male audiences, my music magazine is aimed at all races and genders. This is so that the magazine is accessible for a wider range of audiences.

Evaluation Question 2

My music magazine is made to target people in the age range of 14 – 30, both male and female who are lovers of Hip-hop and R’N’B music. I showed this particular group through the images I used in my magazine. This was mostly portrayed through the model on the front cover. Her clothes play an important role. She is wearing a grey designed top with a black and grey varsity jacket, deep blue denim jeans and a headscarf. This look suggests a real sense of masculinity which is stereotypically associated with some female Hip-hop artists like Teyana Taylor. In addition, not only are the clothes masculine but also casual and comfortable, which is a typical style of this genre. Also it suggests that the artist herself really thinks about her image, which is key in the R’N’B and Hip-hop genres. Similarly the clothes, like the head scarf, are quite stylish which I feel put a new twist on the genre and represent that particular social group.

Evaluation Question 1

At the start of the project I analysed a couple of existing music magazines to see how magazines used the conventions of a magazine to attract their chosen target audience. There are many ways my product uses forms and conventions of a real music magazine. In my music magazine I used these conventions to imitate a real music magazine and make my product look more realistic. One of the conventions I used in my magazine that is evidently shown in most music magazines is the large masthead at the top of the magazine, as I wanted to imitate real magazines, and make my masthead stand out from the rest of the magazines. I did a little experiment as part of my research in which I entered different newsagents to see which magazines catch my eye first. The conclusion was that I always seem to notice the magazines with a big, bold masthead first. This gave me guidance as to how I should present mine for my product. By doing this my magazine will be able to attract my target audience as it is very big and brightly coloured and will stand out among other magazines.

A selling line is another convention that I used in my music magazine as it is used by most music magazines to give a brief but curious hint on what to find inside the magazine. For most magazines, it is the main selling point. On others, it is a secondary way to grab the audience’s attention. Hence the reason why it can mostly be found above or beneath the large, eye grabbing masthead. As my magazine is an R’N’B/Hip-hop magazine my selling line was another way to communicate with and help attract my target audience. My selling line reads ‘No.1 source for all things Hip hop and R’N’B’.

Another way I followed the conventions of a magazine is thatI used a barcode and a dateline. Like most magazine, my dateline is placed underneath the masthead. Also, I placed my barcode at the bottom left hand corner like in most magazines that I looked at while doing my research.