This document outlines the process and work completed by Ibrar Tariq for their AS Level Media Studies music magazine portfolio. It includes sections on time organization, initial research, resources used, photography, drafts, and an evaluation. Over 3 weeks, Ibrar researched existing music magazines, took photos, learned Adobe Photoshop skills, and designed a magazine cover, contents page, and double-page spread. They evaluated how their magazine fits conventions while targeting a younger audience, and discussed what they learned about magazine design, photography, and using Adobe Photoshop through this project.

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

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

6. Initial Research (Cover Pages)

7. Initial Research (Double Page Spread)

8.  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.
Initial Research

9. 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

10. Photography
These are some of
the photographs
taken on the photo
shoot.

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

12. Drafts
My First Try On The Magazine Cover

13. 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.

14. Drafts
Working On Double Page Spread

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

16. 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.

17. 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 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.

18. 3. What kind of music institution might distribute your music magazine and why?
 I don’t think so that any music institution would be willing to take music magazine
but I believe my school would help me in it’s distribution. The school library can be
my first distributor where students can read the magazine and spread the word.
This start could lead to potential demand by outsiders and therefore then many
musical institutions like book stores .
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.

19. 5. How did you attract/address your target audience?
 I have used many different fonts and colours for the masthead (title) and cover
lines to attract the audience. A clear 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 because 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.

20. 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 used 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.

21. THANK YOU!