1. AS Level Media Studies
Music Magazine
Foundation Portfolio
By IBRAR TARIQ

2. Contents
 Preliminary Exercise
 Time Organization (Main Task)
 Research and Questionnaires
 Resource List
 Photography (Photo Shoots)
 Drafts
 Front Cover Page
 Double Page Spread
 Evaluation and Analysis

3. Preliminary Task
School Magazine
Cover Page Content Page

4. Time Organization
Main Task (Music Magazine)
WEEK 1 WEEK 2
 Work Started on the Main Task  Organized all my research and
(Music Magazine Front Cover Page, information.
Contents Page & Double Spread  Music magazines cover pages
Sheet) searched on the internet.
 Research done with the help of using  Important notes were taken down.
Internet & going to several book  Photography (photo shooting) done.
stores and music stores in search for
music magazines.  Started to make first cover page
model for the music magazine using
Adobe Photoshop CS5.

5. WEEK 3
 Photographs were selected which were  Cover Page and Contents Page
used in the music magazine. completed in 2 days.
 Photographs brightness and contrast  Work started on the music magazine
adjust by using Adobe Photoshop CS5. double page spread with the use of
 Photographs cropped and resized by Adobe Photoshop CS5.
using Adobe Photoshop CS5.  Each image placed in a separate layer.
 Different fonts downloaded from  Brightness and contrast of images
www.dafont.com for the text to be adjust again.
used in the music magazine.  Text placed on the double page
 Barcode image downloaded from the spread.
internet and placed on the cover page  Double page spread completed in 2
image using Adobe Photoshop CS5. days.
 Colour (temperature, tint &  Final adjustments made to the Cover
saturation) of the images adjust by Page, Content Page & Double Page
using Windows Photo Gallery. Spread.
 Work started on the music magazine
cover page and the contents page with
the use of Adobe Photoshop CS5.
 Text placed on both the cover page
and the contents page.

6. Initial Research (Cover Pages)

7. Initial Research (Double Spread Sheet)

8. Initial Research
 Magazine cover pages and double page spreads shown in the previous
slides were some of those I found on the internet.
 The magazine covers I found mainly had an image of a famous artist or
a band with eye catching taglines and cover lines. These magazine were
all very attractive and were mainly aiming the younger audience around
the age of 16-22.
 All magazine covers used a range of different colours and fonts in their
magazine. All images were eye catching and were clear.
 My research included magazines such as The Rolling Stones, NME, Q
magazine, KERRANG!, Vibe, Metal Hammer and Rock Sound. Among
these magazine I found KERRANG! And NME most attractive and
enjoyable to read.

9. Initial Research
IDEAS FOR THE COVER PAGE IDEAS FOR THE DOUBLE
 Inspired by magazines like NME SPREAD SHEET
and KERRANG! I decided to make  For the background I decided it to
my magazine cover similar to be the original photograph of a
them. wall as it will look simple.
 For the background I decided to  One original photograph of the
have black colour so that the featuring Artist was used (included
subject (the model) can be in in the photo shoot were
more focus. photographs of my friend).
 I wanted the image of the model  These pages include the Artist's
to be sharp and eye catching so interview, on how He started his
that it could appeal to the target musical career and about His
audience. success and music albums, taken
 I thought that the title for the by me.
magazine to be “Millennial” as it
is the name given to the most
youngest generation .
 Also my magazine is not targeting
any particular genre of music.

10. Research
Questionnaire Results
 Through research and a survey in
my school I came to the
Do more males than females
knowledge that more males
like to read music
preferred reading music
magazines? magazines than females.
29%
Male
71% Female

11. Research
Questionnaire Results
Do you like to read music What do you think is a fair
magazines? price for a music
magazine?
20%
Yes (Age 16- PKR 20
24 years)
No (Age 12- PKR 50
80%
15 years) 20%
30% PKR 75
5%
10% PKR 100
 People answering this question
aged from 12-24 years. 20% PKR 100+
15%
 Around 80% (mostly people aged
16-24) said that they like reading Worth the
music magazines. money
 People ageing from 12-15 years
mostly said they do not like
reading music magazines.

12. Research
Questionnaire Results
What is the most important Would you like to buy a
feature of a music magazine? magazine featuring your
favourite artist biography?
7% Front Cover
22%
16% Pictures Yes
45%
Contents Need more
78% incentive
32%
Featured
Article

13. Research
Evaluation
 Through research I came to the knowledge that more males preferred buying music
magazines than females. I also found out that people aged from 16-24 years
preferred reading music magazines.
 Research also proved that the audience are attracted by the front
covers, contents, pictures and featured articles of their favourite artists in a
magazine.
 I also came to know that good front covers, clear images, catchy taglines and free
stuff inside a magazine are essential to attract audience.
 Mostly the audience want to buy a magazine at a good affordable price. The
audience want the music magazine to be worth their money and they don’t want it
to be cheap or way too expensive.
 The audience look for the product quality.
 The audience are more likely to buy a music magazine featuring their favourite
artist or band.
 Research also showed that teenagers are more likely to buy a music magazine.

14. Resource List
Mentioned below are the list of resources available to me while
making the music magazine.
 Adobe Photoshop CS5
 Canon DSLR camera
 Microsoft PowerPoint 2007
 Internet (downloaded fonts from www.dafont.com and used for
research and information on different music magazines)
 Music Magazines such as NME, KERRANG! Etc
 Newspaper articles on artists and music bands.
 Laptop
 Models

15. Below shown are
some of the
Photography photographs taken
on the photo shoot.

16. Drafts
Some of my early work and designs of how the magazine should look like.

17. Drafts
My First Try On The Magazine Cover

18. Drafts
Above shown is some of my work on the double page spread. I chose white background
first but then I decided to Add a photograph of a Wall . The colour toning was done on
the images which attract the audience and text (the Story) was later placed on the
double page spread.

19. Drafts
Working On Double Page Spread

20. Final Magazine Cover Page and
Contents Page
From Left to Right: Magazine Cover Page and Contents Page.

21. Final Double Spread Sheet
Above shown is my final double page spread after placing the text (story) and adjusting
all images used in the pages.

22. Evaluation
1. In what ways does your music magazine use, develop or challenge forms and
convention of existing music magazines?
 My music magazine cover conforms to the conventions of existing music
magazines, as the layout is similar to most of the music magazines. Different
coloured text is used so that the cover does not look over bearing. The layout of my
magazine cover challenges the existing as it is very basic and simple with bright
colours which gives it a distinctive appeal and distinguishes if from other
magazines. The masthead (title) is on the top while the image of the model is in
middle area of the cover, all of these conform to the typical media conventions.
2. How does your music magazine present a particular social group?
 My media product represents a social group of teenagers and young adults. I think I
have achieved this through usage of different images, layout and informal language
that I have used. Also my music magazine divides social groups through gender and
age. With the use of young artist image on the front cover and an article of the
same artist featuring inside the magazine. I think overall my magazine has targeted
the young audience.

23. Evaluation
3. What kind of music institution might distribute your music magazine and why?
 Many institutions can be used to distribute my music magazine. Mainly retail
outlets, music stores, book stores and game stores. They can attract more and new
customers who may come for the magazine but may end up buying other
products/items available to them as well as the outlet will experience an overall
increase in their sales. This could be a good investment in distributing and selling
the music magazine.
4. Who is the audience for your music magazine?
 It is appealing to younger audience (16-24 years) as my model is of the same age
group as the audience to whom the magazine is aimed at. Through research I also
came to the knowledge that more males preferred buying a music magazines. And
audience of the age ranging from 16-24 years were more likely to buy a music
magazine than others.

24. Evaluation
5. How did you attract/address your target audience?
 I have used many different fonts and colours for the masthead (title), tagline and
cover lines to attract the audience. A clear bright image of a model is used to
attract the audience as well. I have added many effects using Adobe Photoshop CS5
which gave the magazine a unique distinctive eye catching look. The price of the
magazine is pretty cheap and affordable to the audience as the price is based on my
research and most of the audience preferred a price in the region of PKR. 20. Also
my magazine includes free stuff inside such as a sample music CD, poster of the
featuring artist, consists a lot of images from concerts and music concert guides
through which audiences are attracted.
6. What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing the
product?
 This project has been very useful to me as I learned a lot from it. I have learnt a lot
of new Adobe Photoshop CS5 techniques for example the using the pen
tool, creating different layers, how to put effects, and placing the text. I have
learnt how to adjust the colour (temperature, tint and saturation) and exposure
(brightness and contrast) of an image while using it.
 I also learnt the way on how a magazine is structured, why things are where they
are and why it helps to attract audience and also the importance of appealing of
the target audience. I learnt how to improve my photography by different angles of
shots and discovered the importance of internet for research.

25. Evaluation
7. What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from the preliminary
task to the full product?
 I think my preliminary task has helped me a lot in creating my final
product. One of the major factor that my preliminary task helped was time
management, for example, when to organise images and time needed to
edit them. I using plain backgrounds for my images which were easy to
edit.
 Although my preliminary task helped with the time management I have also
had to learn many new things which were not covered in the preliminary
task. I learnt how to use Adobe Photoshop CS5 which helped me great time
for my final product. I also learnt how to put effects and graphics on
images. I learnt how to do better photography and get good quality images.
 With my research I learnt many new things on how to make a
magazine, what sort of fonts to be used, how images to be used and a lot
more. Overall I think I have gained a lot of knowledge and experience and
have improved significantly since my preliminary task. And I think I have
created a much more professional and creative product similar to the
popular famous magazines.

26. THANK YOU!