Abigail Firth evaluated her developing skills in magazine design and layout. For her final music magazine piece, she challenged conventions by including only female photos and targeting both male and female readers. She skillfully used Photoshop and Publisher to create professional-looking pages that followed standard magazine design practices. While new technologies like Photoshop were initially difficult to learn, her skills improved over the course of the project, allowing her to produce high-quality images and layouts for her final music magazine.

1. EVALUATION
ABIGAIL FIRTH

2. DEVELOPING & CHALLENGING
CONVENTIONS
Front Cover:
- CONVENTIONS
I followed traditional media conventions when designing the front cover of my magazine,
placing the masthead at the top, because it is the first thing a potential buyer will see on a
newsstand; the headline for my double page spread on the lower half, but in a very large
font, spanning the width of the cover (in line with my masthead), so it stands out and grabs
the reader’s attention. I placed other articles from the contents page in line with the cover
model’s face, as a reader will generally look at the person’s eyes, so will be drawn to the
titles too. Additional band names are situated on a baseline, alongside the barcode, as these
are generally less important articles inside but make the magazine look like it has more
content. The image I used was a mid shot in which the model was looking directly at the
camera. The mid shot allows the reader to see the artist’s costume, which may play into the
representation of them, while the eye contact draws a potential buyer in.
- COLOURS AND FONTS
I stuck to two colours and fonts for the text. I used a simple bold, upper case font for
majority of the text so it didn’t look too busy, and a curly, handwritten-style font for accents,
such as the headline and places I wanted to draw attention to (the word “win”). I only used
red and white text; white stood out the most against the black background, whereas red is
commonly used in music publications as it attracts the most attention. The red was also
picked from the red lipstick my cover model was wearing. I used shadowing on all of my text;
originally it was only used on the white text, to stop it blending into the white dress too
much, but I found it looked slightly odd with only some text having shadows, so I added it to
the red text as well. I used white for my masthead, again because it stood out the most
against the black, this was essential as the font I chose was quite skinny and was done in
lines with no background in between. Unlike the coverlines, I did not add shadow to the
masthead, as I wanted it to be part of the background, as opposed to standing off it.

3. DEVELOPING AND CHALLENGING
CONVENTIONS
MASTHEAD
I chose this font for the masthead as it
reminded me (especially the ‘O’) of a vinyl
record, giving the magazine a more ‘indie’ feel.
HEADLINE
I used a bold, upper case font in red for the
headline so it stood out against the black and
white background. I also skewed the text so it
looked slightly different to the rest of the text
that used this font.
TAG LINE
I used a totally different font for the tag line,
so I could make it smaller, whilst ensuring it
would stand out as much as the artist’s name
in the headline.
BARCODE
I kept the barcode in the bottom right corner,
because it is the most hidden and out of the
way here.
BASELINE
I added additional band names in a baseline to
fill up the page and make the magazine look
like it has more content.
COVERLINES
I placed coverlines directly under the
masthead so they were easily noticeable; I
used buzzwords like “exclusive” and “win” and
changed the colour or font of them so they
stood out and would attract more attention.

4. DEVELOPING & CHALLENGING
CONVENTIONS
Contents Page:
- CONVENTIONS:
I continued to use a traditional layout for my contents page, aligning the text
down the left side, because the readers eyes are immediately drawn to this as
we read left-to-right; and adding photographs for some of the articles along
the right side (cropping them to squares to fit three in) and a full length shot
down the centre. I used images I captured at concerts I have attended
(Paramore and Haim) for two of the photos, but to avoid filling the page with
live photos, I used an image from my cover/double page spread photo shoot
for the third image in the row. I also got a friend to pose as Avril Lavigne for an
additional image down the centre. While it was not my initial intention to use
all-female photographs, I think this challenges the convention that music
magazines are strictly for men (IPC places NME in it’s male target market).
- COLOURS AND FONTS
I used the same font as the masthead for the contents page title, in keeping
with the house style, but this time the text was black, again to stand out
against the white background. Other than this, I used simple, upper-case fonts
for the text, using black text on a white background and white text where I had
placed a black box behind it for the headings, which separated the different
topics of content within the magazine. I added larger red page numbers over
or near the images, in the same font I used on the front cover so it tied the two
together more.

5. DEVELOPING AND CHALLENGING
CONVENTIONS
TITLE
I used the same font as the masthead to
maintain a continuous house style
PAGE TITLES
I used simple band/artist names as the titles to
intrigue the reader and make them turn to
that particular page to read about the
band/artist they were already interested in
HEADINGS
I separated different topics within my
magazine with headings to make it neater and
easier for the reader to find whichever article
they were looking for
MASTHEAD
I placed the masthead in the top right corner
(this would be consistent on all page) so the
reader is reminded of the magazine name
PAGE NUMBERS
I put larger page numbers next to the images
so readers could see which images related to
which articles and to add interest
IMAGES
• I used a mixture of live photos and images
from photo shoots for the contents page
• The use of images of real bands makes the
magazine look more professional

6. DEVELOPING & CHALLENGING
CONVENTIONS
Double Page Spread:
With a double page spread, there are few conventions as the layout and fonts/colours used are often a reflection
of the artist or band, rather than the magazine; so I had much more freedom here as there are not many rules to
follow. Of course, however, a large title ran across the top of the page, and the main text was written in columns,
with a slightly larger introduction paragraph and quote within the text; all following the conventional style of a
magazine spread. I pulled a lot of inspiration from two NME spreads (one Lily Allen, one Florence & the
Machine), and chose to use a large picture that covered most of the lower half, and shaped the text around it,
making the image and text one, as opposed to having the image on a separate page, looking more like a poster. I
chose a bold, punky font for the title, reflecting the genre of the artist, but used simple fonts for the main text,
because there was lots of it and anything fancy would’ve made it look too busy. Almost all of the text is black on
white, with the exception of the artists name and drop capital at the very beginning of the article, which I
coloured green to tie in with the green dip-dye on the model’s hair. I also added green speech marks around the
quote in the centre. The page numbers were coloured red and written in the same font as the one used on my
contents page and front cover, in keeping with the house style.

7. DEVELOPING AND CHALLENGING
CONVENTIONS
TITLE
I used a bold, punky font for
the title as this is
representative of the artist’s
genre
QUOTE
Convention of music
magazines; usually the most
important parts of the
article are put in larger
“quotes”
INTRO PARAGRAPH
Gives the reader a quick
introduction as to what the
article will be about, makes
the want to continue reading
DROP CAPITAL
I used a drop capital at the
beginning of the article as this
a convention of double page
spreads
MAIN BODY OF TEXT
• Written in a small simple
font because there is a lot
of it
• Split into columns to trick
the reader into thinking
there is less of it
IMAGE
I used an image that would
fill most of the page but
shaped the text around it,
so it became part of the
article, instead of looking
like a poster

8. REPRESENTATION
My cover model is represented in two different ways
on the cover and the double page spread, both
inspired by teenagers in cult films.
FRONT COVER
• The costume for the front cover was inspired by
the film ‘Carrie’; she wore a white dress to
represent innocence, but the leather jacket, ripped
tights and Doctor Martens boots gave the artist a
grungier image, which is representative of the
genre of music the artist would produce.
• Most of the images had generally dark lighting,
and the model wore a white dress to stand out
against the background; this is representative of
how the artist stands out in the industry.
• The model posed as quite vulnerable in all of the
shots wearing this costume, which again shows the
innocence of the character.

9. REPRESENTATION
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
• The costume for the double page spread was
inspired by the film ‘Clueless’; the model wore a
tartan skirt with a knitted vest and blazer, with the
same ripped tights as before. This reminds me of a
school uniform type of costume, which is
representative of the age of the artist.
• The lighting for these images is the opposite to
the other set of shots. I used high-key lighting
while the costume and general feel of the shots is
quite dark and mysterious.
• The model posed very differently in these shots; it
looks much more sultry and makes the artist look
more confident, showing a different side to the
artist.

10. INSTITUTIONS
• I would like to think that my magazine bridges the gap between Kerrang! magazine and
NME magazine (Kerrang! focuses mainly on rock/metal, NME focuses on
alternative/indie). As a reader of both magazines myself, I understand that it is hard to
keep up with both, mainly due to the cost per magazine. I don’t believe there is a well
known magazine on newsstands that reaches such a wide range of genres within the
rock/alternative genre; NME and Q are very similar in which bands and artists they
feature, Billboard and Rolling Stone discuss popular, chart music, mostly, while Rolling
Stone also focuses on popular TV and film affairs, Kerrang! stands alone as the only
specifically rock/metal magazine. Not to say these are the only music magazines out
there, although they are the most popular, but these are the main few I researched
when designing my magazine because this is where mine would best fit in.
• I feel the company that would publish my magazine would be IPC. It is the biggest
publishing company in the UK and currently prints NME, while this might be thought as
a downfall when publishing my magazine, it would actually be smart to choose IPC over
a company like Bauer. Bauer print Kerrang! weekly and Q monthly (both of which are
two of the highest selling music magazines in the UK), so it would be unlikely that they
would even agree to print my magazine, because it merges the two. This means if
audiences that usually bought the two separately, now had the option to buy just one,
they would lose profit on two high-grossing publications. NME is the only music
magazine IPC currently prints, giving them the option to make more money by printing
my magazine because they would be able to reach wider audiences.

11. TARGET AUDIENCE
• The target audience for my magazine would be 15-25 year olds, both male and
female, specifically British people. This is because of the British dialect used within
the magazine, and the fact that the magazine would only be published in Britain.
• I have targeted people like myself, who are students and would enjoy reading
about rock, indie and alternative pop artists on weekly basis.
• I kept the article on my double page spread relatively short, and most of the
articles on the contents page are shown to be only a couple of pages long, totalling
at around 70 pages. This is because students tend to not have a lot of time on their
hands to spend reading magazines, in contrast to the kinds of people other music
magazines are targeted at (eg. NME seems to be targeted at quite an executive
market).
• While I targeted quite a young audience, I tried to avoid making the style of writing
too childish, as this can be quite patronising for this kind of audience.

12. ATTRACTING AN AUDIENCE
USE OF COLOURS/FONTS
• I used bright, attention-grabbing colours like red and green within my magazine,
and white text on a black background/black text on a white background because
this what stood out the most.
• I used bold, upper case fonts on all of the pages because not on did this make the
biggest statement, but tit is a convention within music magazines. The only fonts
that differed from this were the curly fonts used on the front cover and the main
text on the double page spread.
USE OF LANGUAGE
• I generally put well known artists and bands on my front cover and contents page
because they are easily recognisable to a potential reader; I also added some
lesser-known bands/artists so the magazine would appeal to a wider audience and
would intrigue readers who have never heard of them before.
• I used ‘buzzwords’ (such as ‘win’ and ‘exclusive’) on my front cover to attract
readers, this is again a convention of magazines in general.

13. TECHNOLOGIES
• I used a Nikon Coolpix P500 to capture all of my images. This model has most of
the capabilities of a DSLR but in a more compact camera.
CAPABILITES LIMITATIONS
Production of high quality images (12mp) Lack of ability to change settings meant colours on
images had to be changed drastically due to colouring
being too white or too dark
Simple to use, no messing around changing ISO, focus,
etc
Furthermore, the auto-focus sometimes took a very
long time to focus, especially when using flash,
meaning some opportunities for great photos were
missed
Lightweight and compact – meant I could take it to
concerts to capture photographs

14. TECHNOLOGIES
• I used Adobe Photoshop CS3 to edit my images.
- Professional editing software gives the ability to create professional-
looking images, even simple images can be changed drastically
- However, was difficult to use, especially to new users
• I used Microsoft Office Publisher to put together my double page spread and to
add text to my contents page
- Much less professional but easier to work with text on publisher, rather
than Photoshop
- Limited choice of actions when working with images or manipulating text;
sometimes refused to do what you wanted it to
• I used the internet for most of my research
- Very easy to find what you are looking for
- Important to not rely on it for results

15. SKILL IMPROVEMENT
Preliminary task (school magazine created using PowerPoint) vs. Final piece (music
magazine created using Photoshop and Publisher)

16. SKILL IMPROVEMENT
CONVENTIONS AND LAYOUTS
• Personally, I don’t think my knowledge of magazine conventions and layouts has
altered much when comparing the preliminary task to the final piece. However
there is still a clear difference between the two.
• While the positioning of the masthead and headline are very similar, and I used
similar fonts for both pieces, the final piece looks immediately more professional,
due to the cover image and the additional coverlines and other fonts (including
the masthead).
USE OF TECHNOLOGIES
• At the beginning of the task, I had little to no experience with Photoshop. While it
was difficult to use to begin with, when I figured it out it was much less
complicated.
• I believe my cover image was quite heavily edited, but not to the point where the
model looked nothing like herself; all of which I did not know how to do six
months ago.