Questionnaire 1(Link)

 Here is my finished questionnaire that i have sent for results:

https://forms.gle/rq8kgjrctU8tN7H98

Once i have sufficient responses i will analyse the data.

Magazine direction?(Primary research planning)

 I was wondering what direction the magazine will take since  in terms of :

• will it be exclusive to the coast?
• will it feature artisans who integrate culture in their art?
• will there be an interview or spotlight section and what will it about about?

These are a few of the questions I aim to do audience research to see what will most interest people i am planning to do a short google forms survey which will have less than 10 questions which will have a varying demographic of answers. a minimum of 20 people would be ideal to draw a result for now.

*Starting my survey.*

Magazine recreation study(Pre-liminary exercise)

 i-D is a popular British based magazine that has BI-monthly issues which focus on art, music, fashion in terms of audience they cater to a younger probably under 30 audience.

for a school media project I chose to recreate this magazine.

The Study

• I wanted to explore closeup potraiture which is why i decided to choose this image in particular
• the cover model is Alexa chung who is known as an internet personality although she does many things
• 
  
• Based on similarweb.com site traffic results the majority demographic that interacts with i-D is mostly female and ranges between mostly 18-34 which seems to be a recurring theme in art &culture magazine
• here pop culture or internet culture is more prevelant as compared to the material culture in the arts africa magazine.

The Study Copy Result

• The image shown was taken by me and all the editing was done by myself, in terms of things i found difficult while editing making the lighting similar was not easy as I had to add in artificial shadows to the original image.
• it was relatively easy to find the fonts as most were already pre-installed on adobe photoshop
• overall the result I'm happy with and can take what I learned in terms of positioning and camerawork into making my magazine.

Art & Culture Magazines In Africa

 If we widen the scope, I We looked at the east African based magazine: Tangaza. Now I'd like to look at the magazines in Africa that are based on Art&Culture, although the one I want to discuss is arts Africa magazine which you can find here.

I will be doing specifically an analysis on codes and conventions as well as elements on the covers of the Arts Africa magazine monthly issues.

ISSUE 05 (find here)

 

• The use of colour seems to be the most prominent thing  that is seen first although the masthead is in black and white perhaps to draw attention to the main image.
• there is a barcode present 
• there is a price bar
• there is an issue date present
• the main image seems to have a meaning towards it and has some cultural undertones aswell
• The Masthead is a good looking font for this genre

ISSUE 10 (find here)

• There is clearly a motif being pushed here the conotations are many
• the lack of colour and the use of B&W seems to be an intentional choice perhaps to show how the life and colour has been drained out of the subject in the main image
• the magazine description mentions the "Western Civilisation’s rise to global dominance may be considered as the single most important phenomenon of the past five centuries"
• the use of the money or currency tangled in the hair could connotate the entanglement of African countries in debt toward western and foreign nations this is apart of composition.
• there is an accent colour pink used in the mast head as well as the text on the bottom
• there is the presence of the barcode,price,issue date
• there is the buzzword "US" perhaps demanding a collective call to action
• Use of the Masthead to accentute the accent colour also on the page numbers is nice

Art & Culture Magazines in kenya?(Market Research)

If I try to recall any print based or even digital based magazine that integrates Art and Culture in one magazine I think of none really in Kenya, Until i did a bit more research and found an east-africa based art & culture magazine called Tangaza Magazine.

Tangaza Magazine is an east African based magazine that highlights different art forms and how they inform culture and most importantly to me, locally. An example of this is music artists spotlights or photography and magazine work and even have what I would assume to have monthly print looking magazine covers on their site which you can find here.

In terms of audience the content they put out that being mainly blogposts the audience I think they cater to is not surprisingly creatives and what I find interesting and want to implement in my magazine is that the magazine is not niche overtly niche in terms of the arts as it doesn't focus on only one form of artistry but all whether it's music, photography, fine art, fashion they have a wide variety which is admirable.

There are also Photography features and online articles which are carried out which is intruiging:

now in terms of my magazine I was thinking of having a similar concept for the magazine itself where the topic will have a variety of art forms but the issues are somewhat specific or have a focus on one of them let's say it's music, it will be a focus on music for this months issue but will still include a variety of artforms in other Issues of the same magazine.

Art & Culture in the Kenyan coast

 I recently visited the Kenyan coast and while I was there I decided to take note of the art and culture of the area that is local to the people for reference in the future or to inform what ideas i could come-up with when I begin photography for my magazine.

A common example of the art & culture on the Kenyan coast is the craftsmanship in jewelry and clothing and style which I have taken a particular interest in; this includes bracelets and body art too which is called henna all done by the local people.

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• here is heena art which is usually done on  the arms for beautification purposes.
• This picture was actually taken by me!       

heena art book

  

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• Here is a picture of a masai at the coast who is selling various jewelry items as seen on his arm and neck.
• took this photo aswell!

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Now as to why I am doing all of this is because I believe it is important to promote local Artistry, aside from that in my magazine I hope to have a local art and culture element towards it and this is for reference purpose for the future when I begin looking for more inspiration.

The Final Decision(hopefully)

Yesterday I broke my glasses, and on my way to the optician to get a new pair I suddenly took notice at the amount of Art displays and galleries as well as craft traders on the way there and thought what if i did the culture magazine but made it more of a culture and arts magazine which I can intersect all three ideas in different ways as I can do art in the local fashion or even graffiti 'matatu culture' art or even when all these ideas come together I can now see a clear idea that really incapsulates all what ive wanted to do equally