OUGD505 - SB2 - Aesthetic Research - Bonafide Magazine

The next part of research was to look at Bonafide Magazine thats content centres itself around USA, UK and many other countries and their aspects of Hip-Hop Culture but instead of looking at a magazine from the America, instead looking at Bonafide Magazine that is developed in the Leeds,UK might give an additional insight to take forward in to the designing stage.
For the initial research there was a look at an Interview with the magazines creator, in which he discusses the magazine itself and how it was developed and even goes on to rationale why the magazine is like it is and finally what its purpose is...

Who are you and what's your blog called?

There are three of us – James (the lanky one), David (the cockney one) and Paul (who looks like the love child of Eidur Gudjohnsen and Kris Marshall). The blog is called Bonafide Magazine.

Where are you based? 

The site began in Hyde Park, Leeds, and is now produced by the three of us in a strange triangle that starts in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, shoots down to London and then travels to the other side of the world (Melbourne, Australia to be exact). 

Describe your blog in a sentence.

Bonafide is for music heads who still appreciate a visually pleasing site, it's part print magazine, part ongoing mixtape series (Bonafide Beats), nascent TV series and incessant rap ramblings. 

How long has your blog been going?

We've been going properly since June 2009. Prior to that the site was really only to promote the printed magazine. 

What do you write about? 

The initial inspiration was hip-hop and the now defunct magazines that we loved to read [when we were] growing up – Hip-Hop Connection, Level, Big Daddy/Grand Slam and Straight No Chaser. We wanted to fill the void they left and celebrate the art form. However, the distinction between musical genres has blurred so much that we now write about hip-hop culture and whatever we feel like covering. 

In no more than 200 words, tell us why people should visit your blog.

There are far hipper blogs than Bonafide, but we've tried to create a distinctive look and feel.

We do this by delving deep into esoteric sub-genres, like our Bloggers Guide to Horrorcore, and providing extensive insights into independent labels. Check our Joys on Lex  feature for everything you'd need to know about the Danger Mouse spawning indy Lex Records. On our site you'll find interviews with the likes of Raekwon, El-P, Shabazz Palaces and Four Tet, nicely-packaged downloadable mixes by DJ Format, Ugly Duckling and Luke Vibert, reviews, recommendations and random titbits of news.

I suppose you could say our vision is to report music, art, fashion and culture through a hip-hop filter. The life and times of a modern British B-boy (and girl), if you will.

Immediately it was discovered that Bonafide was the perfect port of research as they encapsulated a lot of aspects that I believe will lead in to the design side of the project and furthermore match key aspects outlined in the earlier stages of the project. They magazines concept is to fill the same purpose of Hip-Hop magazines of old by conveying content centred around Hip-Hop culture and everything it entails such as art, fashion, music, culture and many more but while doing this maintaining a graphic design wise pleasing aesthetic still that the magazines of old missed out on, conveying everything about Hip-Hop that is crucial while being pleasing to the eye in its delivery. Allowing users to discover aspects that they never thought they would, and raising awareness. This balance of content and pleasing aesthetics will definitely be a major consideration in the designing of the publication for the practical half of the project.