The student conducted research on different music genres and their popular artists to decide on a genre for their music magazine. They created a pros and cons grid to evaluate their genre options and decided on alternative music for its younger audience appeal. The student then researched design elements of magazines like NME and Kerrang, including covers, layouts, and photography styles. They developed templates for their magazine and planned a photoshoot considering conventions but opting for a more realistic, down-to-earth style in line with their target audience. Research tools used included Google, Wikipedia, YouTube, Blogger, Photoshop, SlideShare, and SurveyMonkey.

1. I started research for my music magazine by looking at different genres of music
and their most popular artists to decide which genre to use for my magazine. I
mostly used google and Wikipedia for most of this information
I then made a pros and cons grid to weigh up the good and bad factors of my
genre options so that I could make a well-judged and thought out decision.
I then decided to make an alternative music magazine, as this is the one
that typically appeals to younger audiences which is what I was aiming for.
Once I had made my genre decision I started looking at other alternative
Stages of Research

2. music magazines such as NME and Kerrang and looked in depth into their
covers, contents and double page spreads.
After
drawing
up and
making templates and drafts of my magazine I then started to plan my
photoshoot, bearing in mind my research on the way other magazines use
photography in their magazines. However for this part I decided to go
against convention by not using studio photography or head shots as I
wanted my magazine to seem more real and down to earth to appeal to the
working/middle class teenagers that my magazine is marketed towards. After
taking my pictures I then uploaded them and used Photoshop to manipulate
the images to make them look more professional and like they belonged in a
real magazine. I viewed various videos on YouTube that were tutorials for
editing images on Photoshop to achieve

3. the desired effect.
The various softwares and research tools I used throughout my research are:
I used this to search all of the possible music genres so this was key in
making my decision to do an alternative music magazine. I also used google
to find images and information about the magazines that I was using for
inspiration therefore this was very useful as I may not have included as
many things as I have in my magazine without the information being there
for me to use to my advantage.

4. I used YouTube to look at tutorials
for Photoshop therefore I found this
useful because it allowed me to gain
new skills on Photoshop that I did
not have before which allowed my
magazine to be better.
I used Blogger to upload and document
my progress with my magazine which
allowed me to keep track of and set
goals to achieve. Blogger aided my
organisation and allowed me to put
all of my work in one place and
access it to many any improvements
and adjustments.
I also used Photoshop largely
throughout this project as I relied on
it to piece together my magazine, edit
my photos and add in my text to the
magazine and make it look realistic.
I used SlideShare to upload
presentations to my blog so
that I could share them and
include all of my research
and planning in a simple and
effective way.
I used SurveyMonkey to
construct several surveys to
present to people of a
similar age to my target
audience. I found this
software very useful as it
allowed me to interact with
my target audience and get
opinions and feedback without
having to spend lots of time
going out and asking myself.
It also supplied me with data
that helped me make decisions
for my magazine based on what
my target audience actually
wanted and expected to see.