This is my first draft of my magazine using my own pictures which I have taken for my final sample. I have chosen to use this picture as it’s more representative of my genre and uses Hip-Hop conventions which are presented clearly through technical codes such as clothing and accessories.

My first draft is quite plain, especially as at the stage of designing this I only had a basic idea and template of how I wanted to present my magazine. Whilst conducting market research I was able to decide a type of layout I wanted to follow, very similar to other Hip-Hop magazines such as Vibe.

I don’t wish to cram my page with too many cover lines, images or incentives as I believe it will take attention off my model.

Of course, cover lines and incentives will be included in my real thing as it makes it clearer that my magazine is a Hip-Hop magazine. Looking at my Audience feedback this was a massive issue as only 40% were able to identify what genre this draft was presenting. For my real magazine cover, it won’t be at such a low percentage as I now know more needs to be included on my front cover and text needs to be focused around Hip-Hop. More text is necessary as there is too many blank areas.

The use of a barcode was a massive help as it creates a divide from my work looking like a magazine from a poster. The use of a barcode is a typical magazine convention used on every genre and is beneficial for financial purposes.

The use of convergence in the bottom left corner of my draft shows how modernised magazines are becoming.  You can keep up to date with the magazine and its newly released articles through the use of social media.

I also feel that for my draft there aren’t enough product placements. On my final and next couple of drafts I will most certainly include my magazine’s website.

My first draft of my contents page is similar to my front cover draft as they’re both very dull and use a limited amount of text.

Having a limited amount of text adds more space for the use of shapes and images, I will most certainly use more text than this in my final creation as this looks very dull and boring.

There isn’t enough conventions other from the clothing in the image which help to identify my magazine as a Hip-Hop magazine with a small amount of support from the Article content.

Looking at my previous market research of existing magazines and conventions I think that the use of quotes on a double paged spread is essential; my double page spread will focus on an interview with my artist. Reasons being, any topic can be discussed and it can be used to my full advantage to discuss music.  Images in double page spread can either be focused on one page or can be spreaded out amongst to pages. For my first draft I have decided to only have it on one page, which looks okay but will probably look better crossed over on two pages.