PLANNING AND RESEARCH

HIP-HOP

MARCUS THOMAS

CORPORATE IDENTITY

Colour – The colour of the mask head “The Source” is red sitting on a white stroke with a black shadow. The conventions of the colour red connotes danger, anger and blood but the skyline of the front cover is white which softens this approach vaguely.

Font and font size – The size of the mask head is big and bold so it obviously attracts consumers attention especially with the colour being red. All the letters are written in capitals which emphasises the importance of the mask head in relation to the magazine. The font is consistent because the skyline, masthead and the selling line are written in the same font and the type of font isn’t fancy. This could prove that the target audience is predominantly adults as there is a serious approach towards the font.

Message – The message could be seen on the selling line “THE BIBLE OF HIP-HOP MUSIC…” is the main marketing point for this magazine. Readers would be attracted to this as they would think that “THE SOURCE” is the pinnacle of hip-hop music and releases a lot of information which readers would consume. The message is obviously attracting a mainstream audience because of the use of the influential term “Bible”

Design - As stated before “The Source” is red sitting on a white stroke with a black shadow. The effects of this is that the black shadow comes out of the background which brings a 3D effect to the mask head and also makes the mask head jump out of the front cover attracting consumers attention. The main image of the front cover is sitting in front of the mask head but we could still see what the mask head says clearly so the main image doesn’t tamper with the mainstream target audience as it’s simply purposely designed possibly to show the importance of the main image.

Colour – In comparison, the colour of the mask head “RWD” is black and white which could be used to signalise ethnic diversity. The use of these colours give a softer approach to the RWD magazine than the magazine “The Source” because the colours black and white play around with each other, e.g. black signalises darkness, depression and white signalises purity, heaven… so the use of colour is quite diverse and this could help the magazine appeal to many people. In huge comparison, the red used in “The Source” has a different approach and would only appeal to certain people because of the danger indicated

Font– The font of the “RWD” magazine is much different compared to the font of “THE SOURCE ”. It is very unique and unconventional as most magazine mask heads are easy to read and identify. The mask head of “RWD” is stylized because this magazine is attracting a niche audience so only certain people would understand what the mask head is stating. A lot of people would misinterpret the letters especially as the main image is in front of the mask head (which adds to the magazine attracting ).

Design – The main image of the magazine is in front the mask head but this its not purposely done like “THE SOURCE” where the main image is used to show importance and authority of the person. “RWD” puts the main image in front of the mask head because its target audience are niche so the mask head has no real importance and could afford to play around with the visibility of the mask head. Also, I know that “RWD” is an abbreviation for “rewind“. This is evident as the rewind sign is part of the design of the mask head . This gives a vague message that the ◄◄magazine is based on topics which happened recently. Arguably, “The Source” is more designed than “RWD” because of the 3D effect, different colours, shadows and strokes utilised compared to the black and white and rewind symbol used to design the “RWD” magazine.

Mask head - The mask head of “XXL” is situated in the top left corner of the front cover which is unconventional because most mask heads run across the top of the page. The colours used in the mask head is red and white. Again, the use of the predominant warm colour red is associated with the colour white to soften the conventions of danger, anger… We know that this is a hip-hop magazine, but in this case, the colour red could signalise sex or love with the two X’s standing bold in the mask head with the L cancelling out the third X which would of connote sex. Also, XXL usually stands for extra extra large which could play on with the magazine giving a large amount of information on the hip-hop genre. But the design of the mask head is not really enthusiastic, there’s no creation as its just a mere red box with bold white writing inside. This wouldn’t really grab a lot of peoples attention. Main Image – The main image of the

front cover features hip-hop artist “Lil Wayne”. His face illustrates seriousness or a pain infliction which obviously relates to the connotation of the colour red in the mask head. The magazine will probably reveal something about “Lil Wayne” which could be something negative. This picture could relate to the article on Lil Wayne. This image could represent the whole hip-hop industry stating that a lot of the artists are driven by pain which is just a stereotype but a possibility.

Selling Line – The selling of the magazine utters “Hip-Hop on a higher level”. Straight away we know that this magazine is attracting a mainstream audience because of the altitude of this marketing point. Readers would believe that this magazine informs you a great detail of hip-hop music

MAINSTREAM VS NICHE…

Main cover line – The cover line is very large and covers the bottom third of the front cover page. This is used to promote the feature based on Lil Wayne in the magazine and obviously this means that this is the most important

Barcode – The barcode is there to be financially distributed

Font & Colour – The font on the magazine is quite consistent and basic. Looking back at the previous slide on corporate identities, I identified that ‘The Source’ is targeted towards adults because of the non-fancy font used which engages seriousness. This is again found in the XXL front cover for similar reasons. This probably means that it is conventional for established magazines to used basic fonts on the front cover page of the magazine. The colour of the font is quite consistent throughout the whole front cover page as well (black and blue). But what is quite irregular is the combined use of blue (a cool colour) and red (a warm colour) on both the mask head and the regular font colour. It seems to me that the front page is contradicting to flaunt the mediocrity of the content inside the magazine.

…IN COMPARISON TO XXL

Mask head –In comparison to the XXL magazine, the corporate identity of the magazine “GIANT” is slightly hidden behind the main image which shows the lack of importance of the mask head but the importance of the main image. This could mean that “GIANT” is aimed at a niche audience whereas XXL is aimed at a mainstream audience because of the mask head overlapping the main image “Lil Wayne”. The mask head is very big and eye-catching which plays on with the magazines name “GIANT”. This is obviously intentional as part of the magazines design to attract customers to purchase this product.

Selling line – The selling line of this magazine states “INSIDE: MEGAN GOOD/LUDACRIS/RAJON RONDO…”. This is very vague and unconventional as there is no real message shown to promote this magazine and it confuses the audience’s mind as they’ll believe that this could be what's to feature in the magazine or what the magazine is usually about. Only certain people would know what the selling line is trying to imply hence the reason why this “GIANT ” is shot at a niche audience. The XXL magazine gives a very clear message on the selling line which is more conventional regardless of the intended target audience

Main Image – The main image of the “GIANT” magazine solely features hip-hop artist T.I. The image of T.I is similar to the image of Lil Wayne on the XXL magazine because both rappers are illustrating the same serious facial expressions. This expressions seems conventional and could represent the whole hip-hop genre. It is also a look which could show power and authority emphasised b y the suit T.I is wearing .

Main Cover Line – The cover line “t.i comes clean” isn't really attractive to a mainstream audience. It contains lower case letters and isn’t really eye-catching. The statement “comes clean” doesn’t appeal to no one and doesn’t really give you a real indication of what is to feature in the magazines main article probably because the magazine doesn’t have a lot of information needed to be read. The size is quite small and this again appeals to a niche audience. Compared to XXL, the cover line does not stand out at all from the rest of the text on the front page.

Font & Colour – The font on the front page of the magazine “GIANT ” is quite basic and not stylish which is similar to XXL and formulaic in all hip-hop magazines. The font is quite consistent throughout the page apart from the cover line as it uses a unique font to stand out. The colours used in the front cover page of “GIANT” is mainly black with a white background. There is no use of warm and cool colours compared to the XXL magazine which could connote the simplicity of the magazine

This magazine has no barcode which could mean that the magazine is freely distributed thus aimed at a niche audience

Each of these magazine front covers are all similar to each other through the gender, ethnicity, age and location they represent. Through analysing these magazines, I’ve obviously noticed that it is conventional for hip-hop magazines to feature young black men as the main image as the hip-hop genre is vastly occupied by black men who came from the ghettos of the inner cities in mainly America. All of these magazines contains only one person as the main image which is relatively formulaic with the person in the main image showing a solemn expression to show their authority and power within the industry.

To challenge the codes and conventions of a hip-hop magazine front cover, there is going to be more than one person in the main image of my magazine which I’m going to call “THE PAR”. The reason why I’m naming my magazine “THE PAR” is because the word “par” is the contrariwise of the word “rap” which is the vocals of a hip-hop track. The mask head would be red which is a warm colour with a white or black stroke sitting around it. The type of people in my main image would include black males because the hip-hop genre consists mainly of black artists and would only be conventional if I follow suit. My selling line “THE UK’S MOST DIVERSE HIP-HOP MAG…” consists of young artists so it shows the wide range of talent in the hip-hop genre whether they are young or old. My masthead would have the same font throughout the whole page to show a degree of consistency and my font style would be bold and simple which would attract my target audience knowing that the magazine is of serious content which is suitable for teenagers and above.

MOCK UP

STATEMENT OF INTENT · What is the name of your magazine?

The name of my magazine is called “The PAR” with word “PAR” being the inverted word of “RAP” which would be seen as word play. The name of the magazine is enigmatic so the reader would purchase my product to find out if the articles in the magazine is quite interesting seeing as the wordplay of the masthead is quite interesting. The word “PAR” is also a slang term for the word mock or insult and would subvert any conventions of a hip-hop magazine so it would appeal to my specific target audience unconsciously as the slang that is seen on my masthead would relate to the slang they use.

· What will your magazine be about?

My magazine will focus solely on the genre of hip-hop and would feature interviews, gossips and current events happening in the hip-hop world and with hip-hop artists. This means that the magazine is also based on entertainment and miscellaneous subjects but the focus is on hip-hop artists.

· Layout & Font

My secondary image, cover story and the barcode would be on the left hand side of my front page with the main cover line being on the right hand side. The date line would sit in the top corner underneath the selling line right next to the masthead. The font type “Impact” is going to be used throughout the front cover page to show a degree of consistency. The consistency would make the audience feel that the magazine is of a serious level of content as the font hasn't altered with any type of fancy fonts which could mean that the magazine isn't appealing to children.

STATEMENT OF INTENT · Images

The images I am going to use in front my cover page would be either one image of three girls or one main image of a boy with one supporting image sitting on the left hand side of the page. The main image of three girls would challenge the codes and conventions of a hip-hop magazine as most hip-hop magazines include one main image of a male artist. If that does not work out, my main image would consist of one boy and supporting image to show a good composition and will also signalise that there is also other important stories included in the magazine

· What is your colour scheme?

My colour scheme would include the warm colour red, black and white. These colours go together well according to the magazines I have analysed especially with the use of strokes assisting the colours.

· Describe the design of your title

My title is going to be written in the font "impact" as well as the rest of the text on the page which adds to the effect of consistency. The title is going to be very large so it could immediately grab the reader’s attention and because the colour of the title is going to be red, the connotations of danger and to stop would bring fear to the reader and the attention would be grabbed even more. The text would be sitting on a white stoke which shows that the text is slightly coming off the background and softens the red colour vaguely.

· How do you intend to place your masthead?

I intend to place my title at the top of the page, underneath the selling line and to the right of my date line. This was just to follow the codes of conventions of a magazine cover as many magazine front cover’s has the masthead placed at the top of the page which the rest of the space on the magazine could then be utilised by the cover lines and the pictures.

· What sort of images will you be using for your front page and why?

The main image will tell my potential target audience that my magazine will be based solely on the content of hip-hop music because of the props used in the image, which includes the artist wearing headphones and using a microphone. The supporting images and their captions would be based on any type of stories regarding hip-hop artists and the image tells the audience what is to be featured inside the magazine (the artists in the images).

Image of one artist and one supporting image

STATEMENT OF INTENT · Will your target audience find your front image appealing? And why?

I think my target audience would find my front image appealing because the people I’m targeting would be teenagers and young adults and my main image and even the supporting image shows people of that age group so the target audience would feel that these images would relate to them.

· Would you be including other images on the front cover?

As talked about before I would be including other images on the front cover. I would be including two supporting images associated with captions linking them to the page the article is on.

· Who is your potential target audience?

My potential target audience would be those both male and female of the age group 15-21. My target audience could have been just 15+ but there is a chance that more mature people wouldn’t really be attracted to a hip-hop magazine. People of black ethnicity would also be my potential target audience because most hip-hop artist are black and even on my front cover page. The music also originated from African-Americans so it would only be formulaic attracting those who are of black ethnicity.

· What articles will be found in your front page of your magazine (cover lines)?

The cover lines would be catchy and would have reference to the person in the main image. The cover line would be the second biggest text on the page and so it would be easily spotted and it would also be in the colour of red so this as well as the mask head would grab the audience’s attention due to the tenaciousness of the colour.

· Will your chosen font depict the genre of your magazine?

According to the magazines I have identified, I think the font I used does depict the genre of my magazine. I’m attracting people who are within the age range of 15-28 so these people would be mature and would be looking for mature content. Making my font “impact” illustrates the mature content due to the lack of fancy fonts or colours used to show a glimmer of immaturity which children would be attracted to. The hip-hop genre is a genre where a lot of obscenity is distributed and “impact” would be one of the fonts to back that obscenity up so I do believe that by chosen font depicts the genre of my magazine.

TARGET AUDIENCE

The target audience I would be attracting would be young people of a working class background from the UK as my magazine is a mainstream magazine attracting teens and young people in the

UK only. The reason why my magazine is going to teenagers and young adults to consume my product is because when researching the hip-hop magazine I gathered that all of the artists on

the magazine would contain young artists on the front cover page. Also, because all of the magazines I researched uses male rappers as the main image, I think its right that I would be targeting the two different genders for two reasons. Males would be targeted because the majority of hip-hop artists are males so they would feel that the genre relates to them and would see these rappers as roll models or an inspiration. Females would be attracted to my

magazine because they would possibly feel physically attracted to the rappers on the front cover and how the masculinity is represented due to the way they are posing, the clothes and

jewellery they are wearing.

I would also be attracting young people who are being raised in slums or a poorer suburban area in the city. This is because most of these rappers do come from the ghetto so they would have a

large following of where they are from and this could spread socially. There is a huge chance that the target audience consuming my product would be located in a certain area in the city

which is close to a derived area where people want to be rich or express their lifestyle hip-hop music which has been heavily influenced by the rappers on the front cover so that’s why my

target audience may come from inner-city slums.

E.g. of how my target audience may look like