Front Cover Features:
For the front cover of my magazine there is one certain convention which is almost a golden rule. This is the golden rule for rap magazines which is to have a close-up/mid-shot of the main artist on the front cover of the magazine. In this photograph of the artist they must be posing with a facial expression which suggests to the reader that the artist is of a high status and has a large amount of money, respect and girls. This is regularly shown on the front of magazines (such as Vibe, XXL and The Source) and this reinforces the idea that this is a regularly used technique in the publication of these types of magazines. This is because there is never a magazine purely about one artist, but on the other hand there are magazines which are heavily related to a singular artist and this artist is always the one on the front cover. Therefore the artist on the front is the most important and relevant and that is why they earn their place on the front page. This will appeal to the needs of both the audience that I have selected and also the policies which are also followed by the other rap magazines. As a result of this being the normal in the genre of magazine, I will follow the codes and conventions so that I can maximize the potential of my magazine and its sales figures.
By looking at the rap magazines of the present you can develop a clear understanding for what is required for a successful. This is because all of the magazines are so ridiculously similar in several different ways. One of these being that the masthead/title of the magazine on the front page is always the largest item of text on the page. In my opinion this is a good aspect of these magazines, this is because there are a small minority of these magazines. Therefore when someone see's the logo for the rap magazines they will identify them at ease. This is for two reasons, one of the reasons is that the magazines masthead will be more eye catching than a normal music magazine and therefore the customer is more likely to pick up the magazine and have a look at it. The other reason for this is that rap magazines are rare, therefore when the masthead of one of these rap magazines will come as a rarity. As a result of this, when seen the masthead will seem unfamiliar/rare and will therefore entice a customer into picking this magazine up to see more about this magazine.
Contents Page Features:
For the contents page of my rap magazine I will follow one or two of the codes and conventions of the other rap magazine contents pages which I have looked at. One of the regular features of these contents pages are things such as images placed in specific places (usually the same place) on the contents page. Another one is the main bulk of text's positioning which is also highly repetitive as it appears in the same area of each magazine (even if it has been published by several different magazines). These do not only appear in the magazines of the same brand but there could be 3 different rap magazines which are not made by the same company (XXL, The Source & VIBE). The first code/convention I have intentions of following is the placement of the image on the contents page. This is not only because it is what is seen as the usual in rap magazines but it is also the most suitable area for an image. The location of the image is the top left of the page, the reason for me feeling that this is the most suitable image location is that it is the first place your eyes fall as you come onto a new page (as its where the beginning of the text would be).
The other code/convention where I would also like to follow in the footsteps of the already well-established rap magazines is another aspect of layout. This time its the location of the text (the main bulk anyways). This is symmetrically located to the image of the rapper. This is another sensible decision, this is because they catch the readers eye with the image (which is the most interesting aspect of the page). Therefore the once the reader has finished looking at the image on the contents page they will surely just move onto the next area of the magazine which is interesting. If there is a large bulk of text which looks as if there is nothing to it then there isn't going to a lot of readers who will want to read it. On the other hand, if the text is spaced out sensibly then it doesn't look like there is anywhere near as much. As a result of this there will be a larger population of the magazines readers processing all information. By identifying that the tribe my magazine is aimed at is the 'Urban' category, I think that the more minimal the amount of text then the more likely the reader is to be interested in the text because it doesn't look as if it'll take as long process the information.
Double Page Spread Features:
There is only one code/convention which regularly appears in rap magazines which I would like to adopt and use in my magazine. This is because the double page spreads are all highly contrasting and therefore it is extremely difficult to identify an aspect which you see in a positive fashion. The aspect of rap magazines which I find is the most sensible is the use of large images and small text based information on top of this image. This is because there is an extremely large image in the background, therefore if text is placed on top of the image it will still struggle to obstruct the image. This is because (unless the font is extremely large and bold) the font will be of a suitable size and therefore it can be sensibly placed so that there is nothing important in the image which is obstructed by text. Also the use of the large image in the background for the D.P.S is extremely sensible for another reason as well. This is because it is the aspect of the page which would be classed as most enticing and eye catching. Therefore by making it cover the whole two page spread (or at least one whole A4 side) it means that the most colourful area of the two pages is the largest aspect and therefore it will catch people's eyes at ease.
