July 04, 2012

Review: Hype Magazine


Editor-in-chief Manny (Aurelieke92) has created the debut issue of Hype Magazine! Here I'm going to break it down and review it! Note: in my somewhat controversial last review of Muse Magazine, please remember that I was asked by both the owners of Hype and Muse to review their magazine. The only magazine where the owner did not ask me was Forever Chic. I have nothing against these writers/editors but view their magazines with a completely unbiased eye.

Click the cover to view  Hype Magazine and follow along with my review.

Remember, whenever I mention this [4/29] that means flip to that page of Hype to understand what I'm talking about. This issue has 29 pages in total.

Graphic Design: 6/10 Although the models look good and their clothing is nicely done (and there is one model sitting on a car in a more complicated pose [10/29], props), the drawing lines are still there (pencil marks, if you will). The poses are ok, up until I get to [12/29] the girl in the white blazer and British bow. Don't get me wrong- she looks great, but her clothes don't. The largest problem is the graphics are two-dimensional for the most part- give them texture, shadows, etc, for a higher score! Also when the hair is blowing [16/29] it looks like one huge matted piece, which just seems like she's in dire need of a shower. On [20/29] there is a serious problem with head size and [21/29] I'm not sure if she intentionally cut half of her hair off or it was just a graphics burp. Overall, I wouldn't say anything really extraordinary, but about average. My best advice? Work on the fine details.

Fashion Editorial: 6/10 Though the editorial has good ideas for the season, it looks like a classic quick photoshop [23-25/29]. There really wasn't enough time spent on something that is centrally important to a fashion magazine. These clothes could be copied and pasted so quickly in and out of Photoshop that I could be done in a half hour! The problem is the fashion editorial should be the most time consuming to create, and it shows when it's presented in the magazine. I appreciate that the items are Stardoll made so they're accessible to our dolls, what I'm looking for is fashion I could wear in real life, even if it's not affordable. Remember the magazines that would likely score solid 95% and above's on my scale (Eternity, Fierce, etc.) always do have real life clothing editorials. Otherwise, I'm not complaining!

Creativity: 7/10 I really enjoy the make-up tutorials [26-27/29], they're really unique. However, they're hard to understand and breaking it down into smaller windows would obviously make it better. And, honestly, even after reading the Urban Chanel article [4/29], I still don't really have a true grasp on what it means. Having visuals are absolutely the right way to go! The more pictures, the better.

Trends Shown: 4/10 There were too many interviews, too little fashion. Limit your magazine to one covergirl interview and one short, as there is only so many interviews the reader can truly take. There were no trends shown outside of the fashion editorial and makeup, and as you can see both have been covered and completely exhausted. Words to live by: quality over quantity, as shorter magazines are acceptable if they are truly high quality.

Writing Style: 7/10 There are some slight grammar problems (things being in the wrong tenses, words in the wrong order, nothing to get too flummoxed about), but the highlighting of words that help "POP!" the words to me, the reader, help greatly. The interview style is great [5-9/29] with the covergirl and I find myself enjoying reading it. However, in the "Structure. Foundation. Chaos." article [15-18/29], I don't see a point to the article as it doesn't serve a central theme of the magazine. It makes me wonder why I'm reading it. For an idea of what to write as these articles, real life magazines usually veer towards seasonal topics, such as "Tanning and summertime," or "Eliminate allergies," or even something that isn't really seasonal but always on our minds, like "Diets, are they healthy? Facts here." Go for something that grabs our attention, a hot topic if you will, and expand on it with facts and statistics. The ratings in this section will skyrocket.

How did this magazine score?

29 out of 50 total points, at 58% or F

My Final Comments: Not bad for a debut issue! Few magazines, if any, get it right on their first try. Rewind back to the first issue of Eternity and you'll realize Mary herself may not have scored much higher (it takes time to get it right!). Also, remember I'm a tough grader. Keep working hard on what you're doing and never, never give up. I hope to be reviewing your next issue with a possible high C grade or maybe even B-! Keep working hard and make sure it's perfect: it'll help you land a perfect score here!

MDM, what do you think? Comment!


Copyright Sierra Lang for MDM. Any reusing is considered infringement. Ask permission first.

18 comments:

  1. thank you for this amazing review ^.^
    Just to clear up a few things, the whole magazine was based on a theme: Urban Chanel, or Vintage. We revolved around those subjects. Also, about the 'Structure. Foundation. Chaos.' article revolved around a quote from Marilyn Monroe.

    But, this all helps because we can make things more clear next time. Thank you once again!

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  2. Thanks for the review. It's great to get comments back on my piece. I wrote the article 'Urban Chanel'. I am afraid I was only told to write the article and there was not mention of pictures. I did not think it was my best work anyway.

    The thing about it is you didn't comment on the writing level. I think we did have a good writing team.

    Thanks again,

    Niamh/Nee x

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  3. "...it looks like one huge matted piece, which just seems like she's in dire need of a shower" This is hilarious, lmfo!

    It's good for a first issue and I like that the graphic designers weren't the best of Stardoll. This magazine probably gave them the oppurtunity to develop and see that these things are hard work.

    It wasn't bad at all to me. In fact it reflects that we all have flaws. I'm sure the 2nd issue will be much better after this critique :)

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  4. I think that for a first issue it wasn't horrible yet everything you said its true and I hope the staff sees this as an opportunity to better themselves and the magazine quality.

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  5. 6 out of 10 for graphics? a little too generous, perhaps? more like a 3 if you compair it to magazines like Vogue, FCM or Splendid...but then again, its good for a debut issue.

    xx

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  6. "[...] the graphics are one-dimensional for the most part"?
    Darling, one dimension only exists in our imagination. There is nothing on earth in one dimension, just three dimension! I really hope you meant two dimensional, because that's what you create when you write or draw.
    I really had to point this out because it's a huge mistake and you should correct it!

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  7. @ last anon: thank you, i believe you caught one of my errors, thank you! next time comment with your user, i want to thank you :)

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  8. @ Nee: I did think you had a good writing team, and that's why I didn't comment on it. I give the grade and I justify why the grade was that low, or if it was 9/10 or 10/10, why it was that high. The review is really mostly critique because that's what is going to help you improve the most on the next issue. If I just write a glowing letter of all the good, how can you improve? :)

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  9. @iswim19

    You don't have to write a glowing letter. It's just when I read this, I felt like my writing wasn't good. You have to say both sides, it's always good.

    By the way, I hope I'm not coming of as a demanding, annoying person, I just want to help you, I mean, you wouldn't like it if someone did it to you, it's not like the issue was complete shit.

    Niamh/Nee

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  10. Whereas it wasn't exactly the best magazine I've ever seen, it certainly didn't deserve to grade the same as Muse! At least with Hype you can see there's been effort put in...

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  11. *grade as in F, not as in points

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  12. Wouldn't that have been a D? Usually 50 percent of below is F.

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  13. "Copyright Sierra Lang for MDM. Any reusing is considered infringement. Ask permission first."

    Lol, no. I highly doubt you copyrighted that post. Who would even want to steal such a lousy post?

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  14. I guess my schools follow a different system.

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  15. I guess in Ireland HYPE would get a D.

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  16. In my school's grade system it would get a D, but if it had 1 per cent more it would have a C!

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Nice to see you back! Oh wait. .. .who are you again?