Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
Since creating my preliminary task I have learnt a massive amount in terms of aesthetic features and media conventions used on magazines. Researching and analysing existing media conventions before I made my music magazine also helped me massively in my progressive learning experience. I have also increased my understanding of technology using resources such as Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Final Cut, Quicktime, iMovie and equipment like High Definition Cameras, Tripods and Artificial lighting. My knowledge of the media market and magazine industry has also increased a lot due to the research into different media groups and magazine companies.
Whilst creating my magazine and researching into the urban genre I thoroughly looked into the way existing media products portray there genre and one of the main ways they did this was the environment and background of their images throughout the magazine. So when constructing my magazine and taking pictures I ensure the area and environment was urban which relates to my magazine genre. For example for my contents page I have used two examples of brick walls and graffiti which are stereotypically associated with the urban social group.
I also learnt a lot in terms of taking images as the poses and positioning in some of the photos, especially the front cover photo, needs to be striking and dominant. To do this the facial expressions need to be intriguing as if the reader would like to know more about them. Also the body gesture of the male needs to look dominant and powerful as if they look like they are in control. If you look back to the images I took on my preliminary task front cover and contents page they are not as eye catching as my music magazine images. The images below are very boring and not well set up as in I didn't position them into a place where I was able to take an effective front cover photo. Also the background/environment does not portray the genre of the magazine which was a school magazine and I have taken the images on a balcony and beside a tree. Also you can tell that I have learnt a lot in terms of layout, house style and colour coordination which I didn't incorporate into my preliminary task too well as in my music magazine I have used conventions of a unified house style, clear and effective layout and a well colour coordinated design.
I have approached the two tasks with my best efforts in mind, however my time management was significantly different in terms of time spent making and perfecting certain aspects of the media product. In my preliminary task I didn't spend long on constructing the front cover and contents page and I spent longer going out and taking the images. Although we weren't allocated a lot of time for the preliminary task, if I was to go back and do it again I would certainly improve it massively from what I have learnt in a year whilst creating my music magazine. I have spent a significant amount of time adjusting and perfecting certain elements of my music magazine to ensure I pick up the extra marks. For example, fonts colours, font styles and image positioning.
I have learnt how to gather feedback to improve my front cover contents page and double page spread in order to develop my work further to look better. Below are the pieces of feedback I got my front cover, contents page and double page spread.
This demonstrates my ability to take constructive criticism and incorporate it into my work to improve it further. I also took the positive comments into consideration to understand and identify what works well together.
I have also developed my understanding of software programmes massively using Adobe Photoshop and InDesign to help me construct my magazine with more effective tools to make my magazine look more professional and increased my awareness in layout and style. Using software programmes also developed me to create interactivity on my posts. I have learnt to use a variety of different tools creating professional effects in both Photoshop and InDesign which I could now do without having to think about it. I have learnt to also create a CD and Album Cover in Photoshop which I went out of my way to create and show my progression of skills in Photoshop. Another feature I have used to highlight my developed ability in Photoshop is putting my magazine front cover onto a bus stop advertising board which shows my desire to present my ideas on how the magazine would actually be published.
For this question I have decided to take advantage of the technology I am able to access and create a small video that presents how I attracted my audience by videoing a member of the urban social group to explain what attracted them to my magazine looking at the front cover, contents page and double page spread. Following on with the following questions:
1. Do you think this publication could exist as a real media product? (Is it realistic)
2. What are the strongest elements which appeal to you & clearly distinguish the genre?
3. Do you feel the pictures included are relevant to the genre of the magazine?
4. What features of this product could relate to other existing products?
4. Would you buy the magazine?
Features I used to attract my audience:
As you can see here on my front cover of my magazine I have used various features to attract my audience which is of the urban social group. To attract an urban audience I needed to relate to that genre and I have done this by putting up cover lines with featuring urban artists so it immediately appeals to urban users, as you can see in the video the customer wanted to buy the magazine as he was interested in the cover lines and wanted to read more. Also the use of the bold title was mentioned a lot in the video with the reloading sign which is a unique feature that a lot of urban magazines include such as RWD magazine. The style and clothing of the model needed to be urban to attract the audience so when taking my photos I ensured I was following an urban style and trend with my model wearing a casual t shirt and jeans with a smart bomber jacket over the top.
On my contents page I used conventions and features such as urban style of clothing to attract my audience. As you can see the models in the pictures are wearing casual clothing such as t-shirts, jeans and trainers. One of the pictures even has a snap back on which is a familiar accessory used in the urban industry of music magazines. I also used interesting and eye catching features on the left hand side which will appeal to the reader if they fall under the urban category. I have ensured I made the main statements bigger than the text underneath as it stands out more to the eye of the reader. The environment I took my photos in also correspond the urban genre as there are two pictures with brick walls in the background. Another feature on my contents page I used are the event reviews which appeal to the audience as they might be interested in some of the urban artists playing at the festivals. All of these conventions appeal to the urban social group which would be most likely to pick up my magazine on a magazine rack.
On my double page spread I have ensured that my model follows the same style I have used consistently throughout by advising him to wear jeans, t-shirt and a leather jacket. Also the content I have included in the article of the double page spread uses some informal language which relates to the urban genre using slang in the text.
The target audience for my media product would obviously be aimed and directed at the urban social group. When answering this question I have to take into consideration the reasons as to how my media product is suited to the urban category. I have used certain conventions and features throughout my magazine to relate to the urban group. I have considered the clothing when taking my image as I made the model wear urban clothing to portray the genre of the magazine. I also have used informal fonts and phrases throughout my magazine such as "Tracks" and "Sick" which is a prominent example below.
Going back to my original research into UK Tribes I discovered that my media product falls under the category of Urban on the UK Tribes website. As you can see above people who are referred to as Urban, generally listen to urban music, wear urban clothes and are influenced by urban environments. Compared to other social groups such as indie, rock or emo for example are substantially different to the urban group, however urban can be broken down into different categories such as rap, grime, hip-hop and RnB. My magazine takes the route of rap with a grime artist featuring on the front cover. Below is a drawing I have done in pencil of a rough member of someone classed in the urban social group and as you can see he is in an urban environment with brick walls and graffiti behind him and his clothing represents that urban vibe as he is wearing a casual branded t-shirt, sunglasses and jeans.
This image above is my feedback from a media student commenting on my final pieces which are my front cover, contents page and doubles page spreads. Overall, I am happy with the comments and I will change most of the constructive criticism to improve my final pieces to gain a higher mark. My most positive comment in my feedback was 'perfect' double page spread and the most important constructive piece of criticism that I may change is 'try not underlining the quote 'Connor Stevens'' which I totally agree with.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The music magazine market of today is becoming highly fragmented and recently it is becoming very problematic to keep the circulation sales of the magazines in high attendance. Therefore, the publishers of the magazine companies I am looking for my product to be sold to would very careful when taking on a new magazine as they want the best for their company, this means I would have to ensure I put forward my magazine to the most suitable publisher to my magazine.
Media Institutions
Below is a short presentation of what a media institution is, the types there are and the main media institutes around currently.
Circulation
Mojo ( Bauer Consumer Media ) : 87,555 ; -7.5%
Q ( Bauer Consumer Media ) : 77,522 ; -12.1%
Classic Rock ( Future Publishing Ltd ) : 62,354 ; -7.9%
Kerrang! ( Bauer Consumer Media ) : 42,077 ; -2.1%
Metal Hammer ( Future Publishing Ltd ) : 35,259 ; -15.7%
New Musical Express ( IPC Media Ltd ) : 27,650 ; -14.0%
As you can see above the media market is currently down on sales by a vast amount and this is simply down to the fact of the uprising increase in online use in the media market. Some media groups are going to extreme lengths to increase their variety in target audience to keep their profit margins from going under and this is a key factor for choosing which company I wish to produce my magazine as the most likely group is going to be one that doesn't currently feature my genre of music which will increase the variety in choice for potential customers and hopefully increase the profit margin.
There is a clear gap in the market for my music magazine as not many media groups produced urban magazines and this newly informed magazine would certainly boost the sale profits in years to come. Below is some examples of evidence I found when researching into the shocking decline of sales in the media market mainly focusing on music magazines.
"NME and Q suffered sales declines of almost 20% year-on-year in a tough first six months of 2012 for the music magazine market."
"Q was the worst performer in the music magazine sector, with sales down 16.7% compared to the six months to the end of December and 19.7% year on year, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures released on Thursday."
"Sales of Kerrang! fell 4.5% period on period and 6.6% year on year to 40,203; Mojo, the best-selling paid for title in the sector, dropped 2.7% period on period and 2.4% year on year to 85,149."
"The second biggest faller in the category was ICP Media-owned NME, down 13.5% period on period and 17.6% year on year to 23,924."
(Guardian- Mark Sweney) http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/aug/16/nme-q-magazine-sales-declines
As I mentioned in the presentation above the two main Media Institutes areICP Mediaand Bauer Media.
Direct quote from the Bauer website telling us what they are about (http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/)
"BAUER MEDIA REACHES OVER NINETEEN MILLION UK ADULTS EVERY WEEK. We have more than eighty influential media brands, spanning a wide range of interests, including heat, GRAZIA, Closer, MCN, FHM, Parkers, MATCH, Magic 105.4, Kiss 100, Kerrang and 4Music. Our business is built on millions of personal relationships with engaged audiences."
Bauer media are Europe’s largest privately owned publishing German Group. They are a worldwide media empire contributing over 300 magazines in 15 different countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations. Bauer joined the media market in January 2008 and have already highly established themselves as one of the best in the business. The multi-platform UK-based media group consist of many companies, however mainly focusing on magazines and radio. Bauer to not yet have an urban magazine to date which will provide me with the opportunity to slot into this gap in the market. Below are some of the music magazine brands that Bauer publish.
Below is a video clip to give you a more developed understanding of Bauer Media Group and everything about them.
IPC Media (International Publishing Corporation), could also be another possibility when choosing my publishing group. It is owned by Time Inc is a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the UK, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year.
Direct Quote from the IPC Media website (http://www.ipcmedia.com/about)
"With more than 60 iconic media brands, IPC creates content for multiple
platforms, across print, online, mobile, tablets and events. As the
UK's leading consumer magazine publisher we engage with 26m UK adults -
almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men."
Similar to Bauer, IPC Media do not publish an urban genre of music magazine so this group could also be a strong possibility in choosing a company as it is one of the most established media groups today. There only music magazine currently being published is NME which tells me that they concentrate more on lifestyle rather than music. This could change if they were to publish a new genre of music in their group. Only having one music magazine could also indicate that they may be wishing to expand on the variety of music magazines to sell to the public in order to boost their profit margin. Urban music such as Rap, RnB and Hip Hop is a very popular genre at a young age and the most likely target market to buy music magazines are to be teens and people in their early adultery which would be more interested in the urban genre.
Development Hell Ltd. is not as publicly recognised as other media groups such as Bauer or IPC Media and perhaps produces lesser known music magazines such as 'Mixmag'. They are an independent media company based in Islington, London that currently publishes the market leading international dance music magazine, Mixmag. This magazine may also be looking for a new genre to start publishing as dubstep and drum and bass are not commonly the most favoured music genre throughout all ages. However, if they were to introduce an urban magazine they may start to increase sales and develop their profit by reaching out to a wider target audience.
Finally, I have researched into another media publishing group called 'Future', founded in 1985. In 2006, Future was the sixth-largest in the UK, publishing more than 150 magazines.
Direct quote from the Future website (http://www.futureplc.com/about/)
"Future attracts more than 50 million monthly unique visitors to our
digital properties websites; and we deliver over 100 digital editions
and bespoke apps on tablet devices. We sell 2.2 million magazines every
month, and export or syndicate to 89 countries, making us the UK’s
number one exporter and licensor of magazine content."
Future is the biggest guitar and music-making publisher in the UK.Future produce a variety of classic rock magazines and one their music magazine called 'Rhythm' is currently maintaining it's position as the UK's number one drumming magazine. Although they already produce a lot of classic rock magazines, they could also benefit from a new magazine being introduced to the group as it will almost definitely increase the profit margin of the company from opening out to a larger target audience.
As I mentioned earlier the music magazine market is in a huge decrease in popularity which is due to the increase in technology such as computers and smartphones. This is a major dilemma for the publishing companies like the four I have researched above, as they are confined to publishing the content on paper when people are predominantly more interested in using technology to source their information. To ensure my magazine uses some conventions of technology I made a QR Code and included it on the front cover so people can be redirected to the website and view the magazine online.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The presentation of my media product to particular social groups is a vital aspect of producing a product in the fragmented media market today. There is so much competition out there that my magazine has to represent a wide range of social groups instead of narrowing it down to just one. Therefore when planning my initial ideas of my magazine and researching my target market I decided to apply my magazine into the urban genre which allows a wide range of social groups to take an interest in my magazine.
Below I have placed four images that I feel share some similarities and some differences as the image on the front of my magazine does not look very similar to either of the existing images, however I didn't want to copy the image from another magazine. I wanted to dress my model in clothing that Ive never seen before on an urban front cover to stand out from the crowd and have a unique taking on the urban music magazine market. I decided to use a standard branded t-shirt and a smart baseball jacket to compliment the model so he doesn't look 'rough' or out of place. Subsequently I wanted to keep the posture and position of the model simple but dominant with the direction of gaze and the placing of the hands. The hair style of my model was also important as I had to work with his fairly long hair and wanted it to look more stylised and urban. So I decided to use a parting and a quiff in his hair to make him look possibly more attractive to potential customers when buying the magazine.
The images below were my inspiration when taking my image for my front cover. I followed the urban, casual route with clothing and kept the pose of the model simple like the rest of these magazines. The almost aggressive, intimidating facial expression of the model is an important feature to have in an image on a front cover as it draws people in, so I decided to use this element when taking my photos. The magazines below, 2/3 of them ensure the hands aren't just placed by the models side, so I also wanted to ensure my model was doing something with his hands. I instructed him to place them in his back pocket to give off a confident relaxed mood in the photo. The photos when being taken, are usually from eye line so they are medium long shots and the main focus is on the head of the model including some of the torso as well. I ensured that I kept the camera eye line during the photo shoot to follow the style of these magazine covers.
The lighting of the photo is another key feature to include when constructing an image for a front cover. The photo obviously needs to be well lit using some artificial light to boost the contrast of the photo. In order for the photo to work as being dominant, crisp and clear cut the quality of the photo needs to be very high. Using a well equipped camera can help with this and also using a tripod is usually an effective method of keeping the camera still for maximum results. In some photos like the RWD photo of 'Skepta' they have used a reflective red artificial light which links in with the house style of their magazine. However most magazines use natural light for a high quality image as too much artificial light can cause heavy shadows on the background which could draw the attention away from the model. When doing my photo shoot I decided to do it outside in the early hours of the day to ensure the pictures were well lit and high quality.
So it could be said that the social group I was aiming for in my target market wears the types of clothes I have dressed my model in and the urban genre would generally be based around the age of about 16-30 as any age below 16 wouldn't generally read magazines and any age over 30 may be fading out of the urban genre due to the age gap.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? How do your school and music magazines relate to existing examples of these media forms? What conventions have you observed in terms of design, mode of address and use of imagery?
Below I took the time to go and print off my magazine into the professional style of existing magazines. It includes the glossy paper that magazines have. It also has advertisements in between the front cover, contents page and double page spread.
Firstly I have constructed a series of magazines that follow the style and genre of my magazine being both Rap and RnB. I did this in photoshop to see how the front cover of my magazine would look in comparison with it's competition when on sale in a shop. You can see that the colour scheme of red, blue and white is consistent throughout three of the magazines which was the style and genre I was following when constructing my magazine which connotes the urban style of music magazines today. The unique selling point of my magazine is the Reloading sign in the title which not a lot of other magazines have.
The considerations I had to take when making my magazine were as follows:
the title of the magazine
mise-en-scène of images
costumes and props
people
title font and style
written content
music genre and how your magazine suggests it
front page layout
contents page
double page spread
Title (Font and Style)
For the title of my magazine I wanted to follow the idea of having a logo/symbol included in the title to make it look more interesting than just a plain and simple title for a magazine. My inspiration from this came from RWD Magazines there are some copies above and it has a rewinding symbol over the 'R'. I wanted to go a step further and actually incorporate a symbol as one of the letters in my title. So I came up with the title 'RELOAD'. I chose this name as it connotes an urban genre of how other magazines are called 'RWD' or 'VIBE' for example. I also thought about making a reloading sign and using it instead of the 'O' in my title. This turned out to be most effective in my feedback as I received a lot of positive comments about the idea, which will end up being my unique selling point. Also The colour scheme of the title from the magazines I was following was usually red however I didn't want my magazine to have too many similarities to another magazine so I decided to change the colour of it to white, but still keep the element of red by leaving the symbol in the title red, this creates my own brand identity.
When it came to choosing a font for my title I found this very difficult but after I had researched more urban music magazines such as RWD and VIBE magazine I found that they used a very simple font but edited the font and used effects on it to make it stand out and draw the attention away from the actual font. The font I used was Arial Bold which is one of the simplest fonts to use however when you make the size of it very large, mine being 73, then it changes in its layout and looks like a different font. Some magazines such as VIBE use a gradient on the font to give it a unique look as you can see below. VIBE have used a vertically faded black to red which is more visually impacting than a plain red title. It also gives VIBE their brand identity as they are known for this gradient on most of their titles. I wanted to incorporate an element/effect like this on my title as I felt it was a bit plain and simple even with a symbol in the middle of it. So I used a reflection effect to make it seem like the title was being reflected at the bottom.
Mise-en-scène of images (costumes, props, people)
When thinking about the type of images I wanted to take with my camera I firstly had to do some research on what the existing images were like in the urban category that my magazine comes under. When choosing a model for my magazine I wanted to use someone, obviously who I knew well, but that looked old enough to be a model, if the model looked too young it would give the magazine a tacky, unprofessional look to it. So I decided to use my friend who looks as if he is in his late teens which is the kind of model I was after.
After doing some thorough research into the gesture, gaze, posture of the model and the clothing, scenery the model is involved in. I set up with my model and positioned him to how I wanted him to look, whilst constantly referring back to images I had printed off to remind me of the key factors when taking an image. The main image on my front cover was an interesting image to take as most magazines don't really go for an unusual pose on the front cover they leave that to the double page spread and keep the front cover simple but effective. So I had to take this into consideration when applying the clothes and positioning of my model.
Above is a short video of some of the different types of photos I took when trying to find the picture I wanted for my front cover. I experimented with a variety of different clothes, gestures, direction of gaze and angle of the camera. The main aspect of the image was for the model to dominate the page so I zoomed in quite close to his body with hardly any of the background showing in the image. Also I wanted people to be able to identify the genre of the magazine which is urban as you can tell from the casual dress style including t-shirts, jeans, jumpers and baseball jackets.
When taking images for my contents page and double page spread I wanted to ensure that the pictures were totally different to the front cover image because If I had used the same sort of image the magazine have that professional look, which the variety of images throughout a magazines gives it. For my contents page I used my surroundings a lot more when taking these images and I didn't have to plan for them as much. I wanted to relate to some magazines with the idea of taking an image during a party or outside in a cool environment that suits the genre of your magazine. In my case the image I took for the dominant photo on my contents page was outside in an alleyway with graffiti on the wall which highlights to urban genre of my magazine.
Above are the photos I used for my contents page in a short video and as you can see the images are mostly action photos taken during a party or whilst someone is in motion. The photo I used for the main photo on my contents page was whilst the model was walking through a tunnel. This relates to existing conventions of media product as I found out during my research.
Above are the pictures I analysed in my contents page research and as you can see I have related my images to types this this such as an interesting gaze from the image on the right like I have on my contents page. When taking this image I ensured that the camera was tilted down slightly on my tripod to give a sense of direction in the photo. I also took images of more than one person and image from parties to create a sense of realism and give a variety of different pictures throughout the magazine. I did use some props in one of the photos for my contents page as I instructed the model to stand in front of the speakers at the party to make him look like the DJ, which was an effective prop as it worked, giving him the look of a DJ at a party which I could then caption as one of the featuring articles in my magazine.
When constructing my double page spread I wanted to ensure that the photo I took was very dominant however different from my front cover photo. The photo needed to be different as the double page spread is an interview with the artist and he can't be wearing the same clothes as the day he got the photo shoot done. Also it would look odd if he was in the same position in the same clothes. This time I went for the more casual approach when taking the image. I instructed my model to wear a casual jeans and t-shirt with a leather jacket over the top to make him look like a famous icon. The photo would of maybe been a bit plain and boring if he was just wearing jeans and a t-shirt. I did use some props in the main double page spread photo as you can see to the left I used a sofa and some cushions to give the setting of the image a relaxed comfortable feeling. When taking the image I asked my model to give an interesting gaze towards the camera which invites the reader in when looking at the page. The photo I was referring to when constructing my double page spread was also a relaxed confident image which took one side of the double page spread.
This image below that I took my inspiration from also used a chair/seating as a prop which gives it the artist a sense of confidence when taking the image.
The pictures I used on the other two pages of my double page spread were very different (see below) as one of them was a close up of my model wearing a branded jumper outside on the street to again emphasise the urban genre. However, the other photo which I used to create the album for my artist was completely the opposite I dressed my model up in very smart attire and placed him in a dark room with a grey backdrop to match the bland colours he was wearing. I also used a black box behind my model for another visual element to look at in the image.
Written Content
For the fonts of the cover lines I wanted to use modern/urban fonts to connote the urban genre of my magazine, because if I had used a posh, fancy font It would not portray the conventions of an urban magazine. The written content in my magazine from the start was going to use a mixture of formal and informal language. I wanted to write my magazine in a style that was appropriate and normal to read but then add some urban elements to it that not everyone would understand to which would reemphasise my target market of the younger generation. On my front cover I wanted certain elements to stand out as being informal and urban such as the screenshot above of some of the text I have used on the front cover. The features on my front page were mainly the large headings inside the magazine and the famous artists that were included inside which is a key feature to have on a magazine as people may recognise their favourite artist and buy the magazine just to read about them. This is a feature that most magazines have on the front cover.
Another feature in the written contents of magazines that I used was a chart or an insight into some sort of information and I saw on a lot of magazines when researching that they had the cover line "50 biggest singles/tracks out now" So I decided to use this and change the wording of it to give my magazine a realistic feel to it following on from other magazines.
The last element I used on my front cover was a header featuring other categories such as sports, gaming and television instead of just music. Obviously most of the magazine is about music however a magazine should have a small variety to keep the reader interested. Below is my header and I decided to use a wide range of options to appeal to almost everyone. I came across this ideas when also doing research for my magazine front cover. The header underneath the first one below with all white writing is one of the examples of the magazines that has a header, except a lot of magazines that have headers put them at the top of the front cover, however I put mine at the bottom as I didn't want to follow the exact same styles as other magazines.
On my contents page I used some informal written content as most of the page was full of features and images with pull quotes on top of them. Below are some of the informal written content I used on my contents page to keep to the urban genre of my magazine. I used the word badboy's in the pull quote from the image of the DJ with his speakers as it is in his nature to use informal language being a DJ and being stereotypically modern using informal language. So I decided to say this to highlight the character of the featuring artist in my magazine.
The written content of my double page spread was much more formal in terms of the build up to the interview with the artist and the questions being asked were very formal. The written content of the artists replies to the questions were actually quite formal and you would expect an urban artist to use informal language often however in the interview I chose not to make him sound uneducated and informal so instead I decided on the artist being well-spoken with the occasional informal phrase or saying that he inhabited from his background as a child. In my double page spread I chose to talk about the album the artist had just released as I actually made the album and displayed it on my DPS so I thought it would be relevant to spend some time asking questions about the artists career and his music. I also asked some personal questions about his family and upbringing which I kept private so it seems there is something the artist is hiding which makes it more interesting for the reader.
Music Genre
The music genre of my magazine is urban which could relate to any of the following; hiphop, RnB, Rap or Grime. I didn't want to narrow down the genre of my magazine to just one as It would of been harder to collect well captured images for my magazine and the fact that it isn't just one genre is an effective choice as some people may not like certain genres however if the urban category appeals to the customer they may still want to buy it. My magazine suggest the urban genre throughout the front cover, contents page and double page spread by using different techniques and effects that represent an urban look, style or image. The urban clothing in the images I have taken relates to the genre as I had specifically instructed my models to wear casual urban clothing such as jeans, branded t-shirts and jumpers, baseball jackets and trainers. The setting of my images also suggests the urban genre of my magazine as I have used brick walls and graffiti in two of my images (below)
The featuring artists I used throughout my magazine also suggests the genre of urban as most of the artists's music involve Rap, Hiphop, Grime and RnB such as Wretch 32, Devlin and Professor Green. Another feature that highlights the urban genre of my magazine is informality of some language used on the front cover and contents page such as "sick life"and "these badboys".
I have also developed my understanding of software programmes massively using Adobe Photoshop and InDesign to help me construct my magazine with more effective tools to make my magazine look more professional and increased my awareness in layout and style. Using software programmes also developed me to create interactivity on my posts. I have learnt to use a variety of different tools creating professional effects in both Photoshop and InDesign which I could now do without having to think about it. I have learnt to also create a CD and Album Cover in Photoshop which I went out of my way to create and show my progression of skills in Photoshop. Another feature I have used to highlight my developed ability in Photoshop is putting my magazine front cover onto a bus stop advertising board which shows my desire to present my ideas on how the magazine would actually be published. 
