Question 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Evaluation

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

To begin my answer to this question, I have made a slideshow on Microsoft Office PowerPoint, to demonstrate the development of my product throughout the process, and uploaded it using my account on SlideShare. The slideshow can be found here: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

The progress I have made from my preliminary product, the College Magazine, to my final piece, the Music Magazine, is huge. I have improved my abilities when using certain software and learnt new skills to apply to my media coursework as a whole. I will break the long process of my media product down in to four sections: research, planning, production and evaluation.

Research

For my preliminary product, absolutely no research was carried out. I did not know anything about the conventions of similar media products. Mise-en-scene was something I had little knowledge regarding. I also had no clues as to what a media institution was and what publishers existed. To sum up, I made my preliminary product based solely on my own ideas and it was far from an informed production. For my final piece, the research was meticulous. I researched the covers, contents and double page spreads of other media products from magazines such as 'NME', 'Q!' and 'Rolling Stone', gaining extremely valuable knowledge about the conventions of similar products. I learnt what props, models and locations I should use for the mise-en-scene of my final piece. I looked in to media institutions such as Bauer Media and IPC Media, picking up quantitative and qualitative information on the industry, other music magazines and their publishers. I found out a lot of statistics from the NRS (National Readership Survey) and also the college media packs, more quantitative data. I then used a filmed interview and SurveyMonkey to collect and collate quantitative information on what people would want from my magazine. I posted all my research on blogger, allowing me to find whatever I want as want when needed during the process of making the magazine.As you can see, my research was of such a level that already I was starting miles ahead of my preliminary product in terms of product knowledge.

Planning

For my preliminary magazine there was again very little planning. My planning effectively occurred as I started working on the final piece. This meant the production of the product took a lot longer than it really should have done. When it came to my final piece, I had done a lot more planning. I drafted up flat plans of my front cover, contents and double page spread. These flat plans gave me the layout and format for all of my final pieces, showing the positioning of headings, mastheads, coverlines, images and text. This meant producing my final pieces was a lot simpler and caused a lot less stress. I drew up a detailed photography plan which detailed how many photos I was going to take, where they would be taken, who they would be taken of and what props, if any, would be used. This is a stark contrast to my preliminary piece where I experimented with different models and my ideas in terms of location were lacking thought. I wrote a pitch outlining the key features of my magazine, including pricing, audience, name, genre and other things and presented it to my class, who then gave me both positive feedback and constructive criticism, giving me vice for product development. I also wrote out the script for my double page spread interview in advance.

Production

When starting the production of my preliminary product, I had extremely limited skills on Adobe Photoshop and my product was poorly produced all things considered. When coming around to my final piece, I had much better skills in Photoshop thanks to the practise my preliminary product gave me and was able to perform in a more accomplished manner, performing more advanced operations such as pixel editing, using the magnetic cutout, using the spray can tool and this time carefully altering the levels and colour balance rather than in my preliminary product where the colours were rather unrealistic and became pixelated. The big changes from preliminary to final were most noticeable in my contents pages. For my preliminary product, my contents page was effectively a poor flat plan, produced in Microsoft Publisher, due to my limited Photoshop skills. For my final piece, my contents page was produced on Photoshop and using ideas such as rule of three and maintaining the house style of my magazine, I was able to bring together a much more advanced contents page. In the images used on my cover, contents and double page spread, there was evidence of my newly found knowledge of mise-en-scene. Another improvement in my production, thanks to my research, was the demonstration of media conventions across all three pieces. I styled the mise-en-scene of my models' on other magazines' models from similar genres. You can also see that the coverlines and masthead are positioned in a similar way to that 'Rolling Stone' magazine, a magazine from which a front cover I studied had a rapper on the front, thus giving me a model to base my cover on. I used ideas taken from the contents and double page spreads of 'NME', 'Q!' and 'Rolling Stone' to influence my own, but still managed to create an original style using a unique house style of blue and gold text. I decided on my colour scheme by matching contrasting colours on Photoshop, a much more advanced method than when I just plucked colours I felt would work for my preliminary piece. In regards of fonts, I got all of my fonts for both my final and preliminary pieces from dafont.com, perhaps one of the few things I didn't advance in from my preliminary piece to my final. Intriguingly, I inadvertently used the same fonts for my masthead in both pieces. This did not occur to me until after I had finished my final piece and compared the two for this question. I do, however, think the fonts used in my final piece are better matched than they were in my preliminary piece. As well as producing my product, I have produced many articles on my blog, documenting my progress and when I finished producing each article, I used the spellcheck tool to check my spelling.

Evaluation

Overall, I think I had a varied experience completing my coursework and made huge leaps from my preliminary piece to my final piece. I think I managed to convey the conventions of similar media products very well in my final piece, which is a big difference from my preliminary piece in which I followed no conventions at all. I think my improvements in Adobe Photoshop made a huge difference to the quality of my final piece in contrast with my preliminary and were arguably the biggest change between the two pieces. I definitely think my final piece has a lot more substance than my preliminary and when you pick beneath the initial image and words you can see the research and planning really come to light. In terms of improvements on my final piece, I think I could varied the fonts a lot more as throughout my final piece I only used 3 different fonts, although one of the fonts, taken from dafont.com caused many problems as it did not have any numbers available, so I had to use a similar font and then, using pixel editing, make the numbers look like they were from the same font. I also think I could have included more images, showing a bit more variety but my lack of extreme long-term planning combined with a busy gallery schedule meant I couldn't get hold of the College Photo Gallery and the props I wanted to really improve my shots. I also had poor time management, spending too long on certain tasks and pushing deadlines close. In future this is definitely something to work on. Due to this poor time management and filling my USB Memory Stick's memory, I couldn't save evidence of pixel editing amongst other things to my USB to add to my blog at home and have not been able to in college. This is another key element I should aim to improve upon as evidence is key in evaluation. In conclusion, I am pleased with the progress from my preliminary piece to my final piece and my skills regards various software, such as Adobe PhotoShop, and hardware, Digital SLR Camera, have improved dramatically, as has my knowledge of the media. If I were to attempt the task again, I would feel much more confident, knowing that my skills and knowledge were now of a much higher standard. I am very proud of my final pieces and to finish, have placed them below (due to formatting issues I could not place my preliminary pieces and my final pieces side by side in contrast).

Final Piece - Front Cover

Final Piece - Contents

Final Piece - Double Page Spread

Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?



http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/

A media institution is a company that funds/produces, distributes, publishes, distributes and regulates media products. Institutions are the structures in which a pool of media movements/concepts/products reside. Said products are regulated and distributed by the media institution. IPC, Bauer Media and Future are all examples of media institutions.

The media institution I would choose or prefer to distribute my magazine would be Bauer Media. When carrying out market research into media institutions, I looked at Bauer Media and IPC Media. The two institutions are relatively similar in size and stature and distribute similar products. I would however, choose Bauer over IPC purely on the fact they are slightly more diverse, as my research showed me that "the demographic for Bauer Media is very broad and they reach an audience of all ages and classes and tastes". This broad demographic is favourable to my product as the target audience of my magazine in terms of class and social status is relatively broad, especially considering the mature/lower class contrast of my product.

Bauer Media contribute to the media through many different channels including magazines, television and radio. The genre of magazines they produce are varied and they don't follow a particular trend. Magazines produced by Bauer include Match!, Digital Photo and Classic Bike, as you can see, a broad range. The music magazines produced by Bauer are 'Q' and 'Kerrang!'. This shows us the that the demographic for Bauer Media is very broad and they reach an audience of all ages and classes and tastes.

Similarly to Bauer Media, IPC Media supply mostly websites and magazines. The magazines mostly cover lifestyle, culture and home. The music magazine they do produce is 'NME', a magazine that is difficult to categorize in terms of genre. I would judge IPC Media to have a slightly more mature demographic, yet still relatively open and flexible. 

All this considered, I would choose Bauer Media to produce my magazine for a few reasons. Both Bauer and IPC (the institutions I examined in my research) have gaps in their respective portfolios for a hip hop genre music magazine and therefore both would have a lot to gain from my magazine and my magazine would gain a lot of support from the company. Arguably the key reason behind choosing Bauer is that they have a slightly less mature demographic to IPC and due to the fact my magazine is aimed at young adults, it would make sense to choose them.

Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

To answer this question, I have made a slideshow on Microsoft Office PowerPoint and uploaded it using my account on SlideShare. The slideshow can be found here: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Figure 1

My magazine both uses many conventions of other media products in the same genre. As you can see in Figure 1 and Figure 2, the mise-en-scene of the images used are very similar. Figure 1 and Figure 2 are both very simple images with plain white backgrounds. Both models have no props, which is representative of hip hop culture, guitars and other more traditional instruments are rarely associated with the genre. Figure 1 features an image that I took in an attempt to represent British hip hop and rap, a street style/fashion with simplistic needs. The coat and backpack demonstrate the outdoors, 'out and about' culture of Britain and London, where British rap is most prevalent. In both Figure 1 and Figure 2, the cover models use their hands as an expansion of personality, while both are making eye contact with the reader. Figure 1 does, however, challenge Figure 2, as in Figure 2 Rick Ross is wearing sunglasses and expensive jewellery, whilst most noticeably he is wearing no top. This contrasts with Figure 1 where sunglasses are not present and not only is the model wearing a top, he is wearing a coat, fully zipped up. Figure 1 was taken in a studio, and I then used Adobe Photoshop to re-size, reposition and alter the levels, saturation and brightness/contrast of the image. Figure 2 was likely to also have been taken in a studio.

Figure 2

The mastheads in both Figure 1 and Figure 2 are positioned at the top of the magazine, which is the case across the market. Both mastheads cover side to side of the cover, imposing themselves on the reader. This was a conscious decision by me to have a larger, noticeable masthead. Both mastheads also contrast in colour to the rest of the cover, another similarity between the two images. In Figure 3 we see another real-life magazine demonstrating common concepts of the media. In Figure 3 the masthead's bold, block, dominant superimposition over the image mirrors that of Figure 1. In Figure 1 mirrors Figure 3 by having a quotation underneath the masthead, again conforming with real-life media.

Figure 3

As in Figures 2 and 3, the date and price in Figure 1 are placed in a small print about the masthead. A difference between Figure 1 and Figures 2 and 3 is that the price and date are in the same font and colour in Figure 1 as opposed to contrasting colours used in Figures 2 and 3.

In Figure 1, the main coverline is placed over the image, as in Figures 2 and 3, although unlike 2 and 3, the coverline on 1 stretches the width of the page. Figures 1 and 2 both use a banner to present added information, whilst Figure 3 uses a list, showing the figure one both uses and challenges concepts of real media products. Figure 3 combines both a list and a coverline in a very minimalistic cover. Figure 1 is conforms with this as it is also a very simplistic, clean cover. Figure 1 also follows a similar template to Figure 2 with coverlines slightly overlapping the image of the cover model, at alternate sides of the page.

Overall we can see that Figure 1 follows many conventions set by other magazines from similar genres but also we can see a contrast in the budgets demonstrated in operation and the obvious difference that Figure 1, my magazine, is not featuring established artists with a lot of money to show off, which is something often associated with hip hop.

Pitch Feedback

I pitched my idea for my music magazine to a group of people and recieved both positive feedback and constructive criticism.

Here is the positive feedback:

"Good idea to challenge stereotypes"

"Good name, good price"

"Good idea for double page spread challenging stereotypes in the genre; good price for a monthly issue"

Here is the negative feedback:

"Colour scheme sounds a little off or obscure"

"Have research behind certain ideas"

"Don't like the name, maybe consider a change? It is, however, amusing"

What are the Strengths of the Pitch?
The pitch went relatively smoothly. I felt I spoke confidently and was clear when I spoke. I think I responded to questions well and accepted constructive critisicm strongly. The comments told me my idea for a double page spread was definately a strong point of my pitch. The feedback also told me my price was very reasonable and it can be backed up by my research. Interestingly, I recieved both positive and negative comments on the name of the magazine, 'Drip Drop'.


What are the Weaknesses of the Pitch?
I did originally forget to mention one of the key points of my pitch, the price, but as soon as I realised I corrected my error. One key weakness, as supported by one of my comments, was a lack of research or mentioning of reasearch to back up my ideas and decisions. The other two comments I recieved were very much subjective and down to personal opinion.

What are the Strengths of the Planning?
My survey provided me with a platform to back up my ideas and helped me make decisions on key things, such as price, genre and features.  

What are the Weaknesses of the Planning?
In hindsight, I should have researched my double page spread more and had more evidence to back up ideas behind it. I also probably should have analysed more magazines of the same genre so my magazine would be able to take inspirition from similar concepts.

Survey Results - How much would you be willing to pay for a magazine?

This graph shows the results from my questionnaire on SurveyMonkey. These are the results for the question: 'How much would you be willing to pay for a magazine?'.

The results to this question show a solid spread of answers but the category that just comes out on top is '£3.00-£3.99' and therefore I should consider placing my magazine on the market for the upper end of this range, maximizing profit margins and still satisfying customers.

Survey Results - Where do you buy your magazines?

This graph shows the results from my questionnaire on SurveyMonkey. These are the results for the question: 'Where do you buy your magazines?'.

The results show that a large number (66%) of the people that took my survey buy their magazines from supermarkets, and therefore I should consider aiming to place my magazine in supermarkets and also potentially newsagents.

Survey Results - Which music magazines, if any, do you read?

This graph shows the results from my questionnaire on SurveyMonkey. These are the results for the question: 'Which music magazines, if any, do you read?'.

The results to this question show that NME and Rolling Stone are the two most read music magazines as regards to my survey takers. The styles of these magazines should be taken into account when considering the style of mine as the majority of the people that took my survey fall in to my target audience.

Survey Results - What attracts you most to buy a magazine?

This graph shows the results from my questionnaire on SurveyMonkey. These are the results for the question: 'What attracts you most to buy a magazine?'.

The results show that interviews, images and offers are key things to place on the front cover of my magazine in order to attract buyers.

Survey Results - What genres of music do you enjoy?

This graph shows the results from my questionnaire on SurveyMonkey. These are the results for the question: 'What genres of music do you enjoy?'.

The results here were also quite spread. 'Dance' received the most votes closely followed by 'rock'. 'Hip Hop' and 'RnB' are two genres that could be merged in a magazine and therefore should also be considered as a highly sought-after option for my magazine.

Survey Results - What genres of magazine do you read?

This graph shows the results from my questionnaire on SurveyMonkey. These are the results for the question: 'What genres of magazine do you read?'.

Again here I saw a spread of results, with fashion coming out on top. This could be explained by the fact more females took my survey than men. Having decided on a music magazine, I will perhaps have to look at the concepts that make other rival genre magazines attractive.

Survey Results - How old are you?

This graph shows the results from my questionnaire on SurveyMonkey. These are the results for the question: 'How old are you?'.

The survey results show that 13 people in the age bracket of 0-16 took the survey, 5 in the 17-24 bracket and 3 in the 50+ bracket. This suggests that the age group to aim my magazine at is likely to fall somewhere between the 0-16 and 17-24 categories.

NME Contents Page Review

The header of the NME contents page features the NME logo, in a similar position to how it is found on the front cover. The header says "This Week" as opposed to contents, which is a slight variation. Underneath we can see in small print the date of release for the magazine. Throughout the whole page the colours white, red and black remain consistent, as does the bold sans serif font.

A less common feature is used down the right hand side, as a long list of all the different bands featured in the magazine tells the reader where they can be found. This shows the diversity of the magazine and variation in genres featured.

The image is of both Gallagher brothers from Oasis playing. We witness a change in font for the phrase "the moment that", this is the only noticeable font change on the page and draws extra attention to it. The central feature to the contents page is almost a mini-article on Oasis' return which is short and easy to read but gives a feel of more to come. It shows a covering of current affairs in the music world. 

Underneath the centrepiece is a black box with text in saying "Subscribe Today Save 33%" which is in yellow text, the only variation from the colour scheme of the page, drawing the reader's attention to it. This is a kind of plug to the reader, offering them a good deal when they look at the contents, drawing them in to buying the magazine.

Down the right hand side is a column giving direction to all the various features. The features are split into categories, like news and reviews, and shows the magazine gives a well-rounded, diverse view on music. Next to the appropriate feature is a red arrow drawing attention to stories and articles mentioned on the cover, giving the reader an easy time finding the articles.

Rolling Stone Magazine Contents Page Review

 

The contents directly follow the front cover and play a key part in securing the sale of the magazine. The content heading follows the house style of the Rolling Stone magazine and the white on red look gives a classy look and finish to the magazine. The fonts are consistently serif throughout the contents and front cover and maintain three main colours of white, black and red.

Down the left-hand side are three pictures relating to the articles we know are found in the magazine as they are mentioned opposite in the contents. The images are striking in their own ways and can draw the reader in. Once drawn in, the reader can find the article the picture is associated with as the page numbers can be found on the image. The three pictures emphasize the diversity of Rolling Stone magazine. One is of female hip hop artist M.I.A., another is of Led Zepellin band member of Robert Plant and the other picture is of a wild bird in the Gulf of Mexico, suffering from the controversial BP oil spillage of 2010. This shows that the magazine covers different genres of music and also other things, like current affairs. 

The more detailed writing on the right-hand side shows the three main concepts of the magazine: features (stories featured on the cover etc.), national affairs (the news/informative/political issues discussed)  and departments (music and other media forms, like film). The diversity shown in the choice of cover stars for Rolling Stone showed a ranging covering of styles and genres which is reiterated by the different reading offered inside. At the bottom there is a guide to the pages at which different sections start, offering a good guide for the reader to be able to find the articles they wish to see.

NME Double Page Spread Review

The image of Lily Allen in the double page spread taken from NME can be interpreted in various ways. You could argue she is dressed very much like a boy, a more masculine style that challenges the expectations of young women in magazines. The checkered shirt is loose and does little to show of her figure or shape, reducing the sexual quality of the image. However, the shirt is only half done up, which then brings back an amount of sensual, sexual feeling, perhaps a small attempt to make this very much rebellious, 'boy-ish' image acceptable and to help it comply with the male gaze. Allen's hair is short, messy and jet-black, again adding to the rebellious, alternative image that is being presented. Her hair could suggest she is playing the role of a challenging teen, perhaps a move from her record label to provoke interest and help young teens relate with her, increasing her fan base, record sales and thus profit. Lily Allen is posing in a sensual manner but this stance is almost completely ineffective as her shirt covers her shape and means she cannot emphasise certain parts of her body. The necklace around her neck could be a sign of wealth and success, which relates to her so far successful and profitable career.

The quotation that dominates the page opposite to Lily Allen is in a striking font style, with bold white letters on black squares, almost like a ransom letter or a piece of child's work. This adds to the rebellious, dangerous image painted of Allen and suggests, as a ransom letter does, bad things could happen, possibly signifying Allen's opposition to conformity. The quote contains the words "People think..." which is very typical of a teenagers, who often complains about the prejudice they suffer. She claims to be "honest" which is also a very teenage trait. 

The text is much more organised and in a consistent sans serif font, with a bold "I" to signify the start of the article. This is almost the house style for NME, judging by their logo. Her name is highlighted in red in the blurb-like text underneath the quotation, emphasising that the article is about her. The red signifies danger, passion and perhaps love, emotions most teenagers would claim to have or are perceived to have.

NME Cover Review

The title of 'NME' is in a pink font, a change from the old red, all encompassing title that is normally used, as this edition is a special edition cover. The pink shows a movement towards a more feminine feel, which relates to the cover star, Rihanna. The title is dominant and surprisingly is in front of the image instead of behind, which may just be due to the change in colour affecting its brand and the ability for the standard reader to recognise the title if it were behind the image.

Next to the title is a hook. The hook says "Introducing the new NME" and the underneath "4 of 10 Special Edition Covers". The use of the buzzwords "new" and "Special Edition" help attract the reader and create excitement or more interest in the magazine. The use of the statistic "4 of 10" demonstrates to the reader that there is more that just this edition and could propel the reader towards collecting all 10 editions.

The lead story or cover line of "Rihanna" is also in bright pink, in the same font as the NME title. This is again relating to the femininity of the cover. The other cover line is also in the same bold, pink font and I think this emphasises the uniqueness and speciality of the edition. It shows that this edition is a striking change from the normal cover's look. 

The placement of Rihanna's name on here chest, over a rather restrained top shows a surprising lack of sexuality in the image, something often tied with Rihanna's image. She stills satisfies the male gaze and is in a rather provocative pose but it is fair to say the whole image is very safe for a character like Rihanna. Her top is very masculine in its fit and the shoulders and cut of it give her a much more male-like shape to the top half of her body which challenges the perceptions of not only her but the magazine's special edition which is filled with pink and feminine statements. The bird on her shoulder and the skirt she is wearing are both blue, as is her eye make-up, the colour contrasting, stereotypically, to that of the opposite sex, pink. This again challenges perceptions. The skirt she wears is mostly cut out of the shot which again reduces the sexuality of the shot. Rihanna is however wearing a pink lipstick and nailvarnish that matches the other pink on the page. You could suggest that the cover is one that shows how women can be powerful, dominant and have other stereotypically masculine qualities and yet still be sexy and satisfy the male gaze. The bird creature on her shoulder is also in blue and this suggests it is masculine, as most bird tamers, as such, are men and therefore this further challenges the stereotypes of sex and suggests that Rihanna can tame a bird and have control over it. The bird is however shiny, like it is encrusted with diamonds, giving a feminine touch too.

Underneath the lead cover line is a quote from Rihanna's interview which says "You need people who aren't afraid to tell you when you're f**king up". The text is in a contrasting serif font, which is white on black, standing out to the reader. The use of the word "you" addresses the reader and helps place the reader in Rihanna's shoes and make them want to know more about her situation. The use of the swear word, "f**king", with the middle two letters starred out creates drama and suspicion, and gives a rebellious, almost nonconforming view of her. However most of us do swear and therefore we can relate to her. Going back to the challenging of the sexes, swearing is a slightly more masculine trait and therefore she is again challenging her sex.

The menu strip to the left names many different artists from different genres and this opens up the broadness of the NME audience and shows there is something for everyone.

Rolling Stone Magazine Cover Review

The title of the magazine, Rolling Stone, is in a serif font, in red and has a black outline/shadow, bringing the image of the title to life. The Rolling Stone logo is one that is world-renowned and distinctly recognisable. The use of red suggests, much-like NME, that the magazine has many different connotations. The red could suggest the love and passion for music of the magazine yet it could suggest the magazine is dangerous and/or edgy.

The image of Rick Ross dominates the cover of the magazine, so much so he covers the title/name of the magazine. It is almost like he is pushing the sides of the magazine out, forcing more space with his arms. He is almost holding the title up with his little fingers, emphasizing strength and power. You could even argue he is making an ironic attempt at tensing his muscles, which you cannot actually see for his fat. He is topless and this shows his rebellion and care-free attitude. He has many, many tattoos, again reinforcing the bad-boy image he holds. Around his stomach/belly button area has a skull tattoo which is looking directly at the audience, possibly initiating a slight fear in the reader. This relates to the coverline of "Global Melting", which underneath says "Scary News". His jeans are worn extremely low and show the majority of his undergarments. This is representative of his gangster image and the origins of wearing jeans so low comes from American prisons, which relates to his time spent as a prison guard. His underwear is white and pristine, demonstrating he has a wealthy lifestyle and wears fresh clothes. The white fits with the white background and adds to the sharp clean cover's feel. The excessive jewellery on his wrists and around his neck show his incredible wealth. This is further demonstrated by the fact he wears two watches, one on each wrist. The yellow buckle on his belt follows the theme along with the other yellow words on the cover, "Rick Ross" and "Global Melting". The "Global Melting" cover line could perhaps relate to Rick Ross' large, rotund, world-like body and the fact it is shiny, sweaty, melting? The other cover line says "The Pot Princess" which relates to Rick Ross' highly publicized drug lifestyle, represented by one of the chains around his neck. It could also be interpreted as a reference to Ross' 'pot belly'.

The main story or cover line names Rick Ross as a "Gangster of Love" which could be interpreted in two ways. One way could be that he isn't looked upon as a loveable character and you could assume he isn't particularly desirable to women. The other interpretation is that Rick Ross is full of love, which is not too far from the truth when you understand that he has looked after many of his friends from his earlier, 'darker' days and helped keep them out of trouble. He has also put together a powerful, wealthy music team named 'Maybach Music Group' which shows us he wants to share his success and is far from greedy and selfish as many people in his position would be. He has taken chances on up and coming rappers such as Meek Mill and helped give them a career in rap that they otherwise would not have had. You could also look in to the fact he has worked with many, many other artists across the industry, and therefore he is the "Gangster of Love". 

The menu strip at the top helps to hook the reader as it names the edition as "Fall Music Special", with the use of the buzz word 'special' significant in attracting the reader. The use of naming other artists in the menu strip also helps in bringing the buyer in and showing there is something for everyone.

Q Magazine Cover Review

The bold 'Q' stands out in a classy yet simple font, in keeping with the magazine's higher end reputation. The 'Q' contrasts strongly with the red box background, giving a clear yet striking image that over time you could argue has become iconic. The fonts on the cover as a whole follow the sharp and simple precedent set by the 'Q' logo.

The selling line under the 'Q' logo is 'a different take on music' which suggests the magazine doesn't necessarily follow trends and that it is alternative, which is representative of the magazine's varying genres of cover stars.

The cover line of "Lily Allen" is shown in a sans serif font. The contrast of black and white shows that she has two sides and there are two sides to her story, which is relevant as Lily Allen in particular has often suffered at the hands of the media, showing one side of the story. Maybe this interview will show her side? The use of the contrasting shades of black and white also have contrasting connotations of mystery or danger and purity or innocence.

The image of Lily Allen with two jaguars is obviously staged and they are positioned in an almost-podium like fashion, with Lily Allen on top, suggesting she could in fact be more intimidating and mysterious than the jaguars. Jaguars are also a status symbol, they are expensive and could be representative of the jaguar car brand, which suggest Lily Allen is of expensive taste and so is the magazine, which relates to the magazine's audience. The jaguars also relate to the femininity of the image and bring together the relationship of female and feline. Allen satisfies the Male Gaze in this image. She is stood with her back to the reader yet she is topless and looking over her shoulder, biting her finger. Her whole pose is very provocative. This is an extremely sexualised image and one that will satisfy the male audience through the medium of sex and the female audience through a want to replicate such an image. Lily Allen's hair is black, her leggings and shoes are black, keeping consistence with the rest of the cover. Black is a colour of mystery and evil, suggesting Allen is mysterious and possibly evil.

The extension of the cover line sees the words "sexy" and "beast" juxtaposed by innocent colours. The use of the words wicked, wicked ways is alliteration and a persuasive device to pull readers in. The words wicked are in red and this signifies blood, danger, war, dangerous connotations as a whole. 

The subheadings in the top right corner follow the consistent house style and font of the rest of the cover but the font size is reduced, as the stories are not the leading stories. The word 'exclusive' is known as a buzz word and makes the potential buyer believe they are getting something unique and special, although in fact the exclusive is exclusive for the magazine rather than the reader, the effect still applies. The word is highlighted by a contrasting serif font in red and therefore stands out, releasing its ability to drag the reader in. The use of the phrase "plus 101 more reviews" uses the buzz word of "plus" and the statistical reference offers the reader a number for their money, helping persuade the reader that the magazine offers good value. The use of the phrase "their own story in their own words" offers the reader yet again more of an 'exclusive' oppurtunity.

The plug of "The 25 Greatest Rock Movies" is a hook, placed intentionally to offer the reader something extra and something to help persuade them to buy the magazine.

The menu bar along the bottom of the cover features various intriguing statements, designed as hooks to pull the reader in. The black/white/red/light blue colour scheme follows the house style of the cover.