The document provides an evaluation of a student's music magazine project. The student chose a black and white theme throughout. For the cover, they selected a striking image of the featured artist in black and white. The contents page also follows the black and white theme and includes a picture and descriptions of articles. For the double-page spread, the student included multiple photos of the artist in different poses with descriptive text to give readers insight into the artist.

1. Evaluation Initially I wanted an alternative magazine but as the development of the magazine went along it started to look more like a mainstream magazine. It is in black and white theme I thought this gave it an edge from other magazines. The layout is a traditional one with a Masthead at the top and the most important information on the Left third including the artists name and an added pull quote and coverlines. The most important that will draw the audience is the free cd inside, a lot magazines add free goodies inside their magazines like free tickets etc…. To attract more readers. But I realised most magazines will actually have the cd on the front cover rather than inside the magazine. I decided to go for a cd because it’s the most common choice. Although the image is also a selling point what would give the magazine an edge would be a free gift. Its target audience is 16-24 yr olds who are interested in mainstream music. The Masthead Radar has waves underneath it and the title radar is used as a means of reflect radio waves this would show the reader that it’s a music magazine . The title is bold and black colour this was a conscious decision as the theme of the magazine is black and white. The bright colours on the coverlines contrast with the image of the artist in black and white. This allows the image to be the vocal point on the front cover and standout. The background of the magazine is white this makes the colours standout and allow the image to stand and be striking. There is just one image to focus on although there is bright colours on the text it doesn’t distract from the image it enhances it. The colours also help soften the magazine because the image of the artist is quite serious her strong facial expression and defensive crossing of her arms makes her look tough which ties in with the pull quote “i`m going to dominate the world” . You will also notice that I did not feature that many artists in on the coverlines in my magazine like a other music magazines would. Music magazine will have other artists on the coverlines.Were as my magazine focuses on one artist and Instead my cover lines are information on musical gadgets reviews on cds etc………….. However because it focuses on one musician this might be a difficult for the reader to see what the genre on the magazine is, because I don’t think you can particularly tell what genre the artist belongs to.

2. Evaluation I chose this image out all the ones that were taken because it was front cover friendly and was the most striking. When we shot in the studio it was behind a white background, it was originally going to be in colour but decided to edit the photo and change it to black and white through photoshop. The clothes of the artists are also consciously all black to present a darker image of the artist. The Image in black and white is much more poignant than the image on colour it makes the artist look more fierce. This are other examples of the shots we took all have a theme of dark clothes the several of the other pictures have a more gothic and a more darker image. The shoot was inspired by artists who place fashion and music side by side it artists like Lady Gaga, Grace Jones,Rihanna it has more of a commercial appeal which would draw more of the readers attention. Front cover

3. Evaluation The contents page is also keeping in line with the convention of a standard contents page. The image adds a visual aspect to the page because a reader doesn’t just want to read loads of information that navigates to the allocated pages. There is a passage of information informing what's inside the magazine. The contents page also maintains a consistent house style. The regulars on the magazine have the page numbers title of the topic on the specified page and highlighted in red is a brief description of what's on the page. I decided for a different picture for the contents page showing the artists laying down holding a microphone. This was to show the artists from a different view. Because the magazine is focused on one artist there was no need for me to add any more pictures also there is mainly a lot of textual information so I added the red highlight to make it less boring to read. Because the magazine is based on articles that give a lot of information in music, like latest clubs, “hottest cds”, gadgets etc………. I wanted to highlight that as well and I think that’s comes across in the way the text is layed out. The image is of the most important article in the magazine the eye will immediately be drawn to there even on contents page. You can see I have kept with the black and white theme also, with a splash a colour for contrasting effect.

4. Evaluation Double page spread Early designs of my double page spread.

5. Evaluation This was the final draft of my double page spread this is also keeping in line with the black and white theme. I decided to use different images of the artists to make it more visually interesting. The photos also have an implied narrative and offer a fun quirky representation of Elektra On a double page spread most magazines will use different images of the artists, or just one image. I decided to go for a more informal interviewing style instead of the format of question answer. There is also a lot of descriptive text in the interview to make it more intimate and the reader can learn more about the artist. Its important that there is a lot of information on the double page spread because the reader wants to know about the artist. Also the images have to standout and represent what the artist is all about. The images are different from each other they show the artists in two poses one dancing and the other screaming their aiming to show the different personalities one is wild the other a free spirit I decided to have a full length picture because I wanted to show everything about the artist because what they are wearing is also important. The images are different from the contents page and front cover they less intimidating than the front cover which as a more serious look . The shots were also taken in a studio. The double page spread is layed out in columns like any standard magazine would have. This allows for a lot of information to be written.

6. RE EDITED Evaluation After the first draft my magazine I decided to change the size of the image to a medium close-up. Because as a full length picture it left to much room at the sides and there wasn’t enough coverlines to fill up the space and with changing it to a medium close-up also allowed the image to be more striking because it makes the reader think the artists is looking directly at them. I kept the same Mast head with the bold green radio waves underneath I kept the colour scheme throughout the coverlines as the two colours contrast with each other. My magazine stays within the convention of a normal magazine you can clearly Identify that it’s a music magazine because of the obvious title and the coverlines are musically oriented I don’t think my magazine has challenged any forms of real media products. I think my magazine focuses more on the artist than an obvious genre of music because there is no indication on the cover that the magazine falls under a certain genre. This allows for the magazine not to have a particular audience but it would still appeal to a particular age group of 16-24. The artists portrayed in the pictures and the article is female solo recording artist she is portrayed as the young woman who is growing up in the music industry and dealing with all that comes with it. The artist is portrayed as the tough young girl who is a rising star. I put out a questionnaire and asked 20 people for their opinion on my magazine the average age was 16-18 year olds when asked about the layout it was generally positive except they thought the magazine did not initially look like a music magazine but after reading the title and cover lines it became more obvious this is a bit of an disadvantage because when selling the magazine the reader might not necessarily think it’s a music magazine. Coverlines Masthead Barcode Left third and pull quote I would market my magazine myself through an independent publisher like issuu because it is more suitable for the image and audience I am going for young who are interested in music as a whole because many magazines focus on one genre of music e.g. NME focuses on Rock and Indie, The Source on Hip-Hop….. Also with issuu it’s a digital way of publishing your magazine were other people can look and comment on your work and its free. I could also generate revenue for the e-magazine through advertising.

7. RE EDITED Evaluation I wanted the contents page to be simple and easy to read because it’s the Most important part of the magazine because it allocates the pages the Reader needs to go to, so the writing needs to be clear. I also put the webpage you need to visit for more information on the magazine. There are the regulars which feature in every issue of the magazine but there is also the features which change with every issue of the magazine. From the previous contents page I decided to make it all black and white it was a stylistic choice I wanted to keep the black and white theme going all the way through the magazine which is unusual as you wont find a lot of black and white magazines. Also there is the picture, this adds a visual aspect to the contents page so there is more than writing. With the contents page when I asked the people to answer my questions they thought it was clear and easy to read but I should kept the theme of green and black on the contents page as well.

8. RE EDITED Evaluation For my DPS I didn’t change the image or text I just decided to put one picture on its own with just a quote. While the first page is in two columns, I decided to go for a more informal interviewing style instead of the format of question and answer. There is also a lot of descriptive text in the interview to make it more intimate and the reader can learn more about the artist not just through what they say but how they are described by the journalist as well. Its important that there is a lot of information on the double page spread because the reader wants to know about the artist. Also the images have to standout and represent what the artists about through their poses or the clothes they are wearing. For my artist I wanted to present a tough young girl who was on their way to dominating the music world and also I wanted to show this through strong black and white images. She represents the young generation and their immense love for music, fashion etc…………. The images are different from each other they show the artists in two poses one dancing and the other screaming their aiming to show the different personalities one is wild the other a free spirit I decided to have a full length picture because I wanted to show everything about the artist because what they are wearing is also important. The images are different from the contents page and front cover they less intimidating than the front cover which as a more serious look . The shots were taken in the studio. The students I asked thought the double page spread was the best the layout and structure was good and also the interview style was appropriate. One also commented that they liked all the pictures they linked well with each other.

9. Conclusion During the process of developing the magazine, I have developed various skills in using photoshop. To edit pictures whether changing the colour to black and white or the contrast and brightness. I also learnt about inserting text from Dafont and PS brushes to make up my magazine also the internet helped through research of other magazines including surveys on survey monkey or questionnaires also doing reader profile etc………… I also learnt how to set up a blog at blogger.com including using slideshare and how to use html code for to embed my slideshare presentations onto my blog. Also through survey monkey I used a link on face book to get audience feed back and standard used questionnaires as well. From my preliminary task I have learnt a lot about photoshop and how to use it to my advantage to make a better magazine also a lot more research helps. Also doing the full task allows to explore more areas as you have to develop front cover. contents page and DPS.Because the preliminary task was limited to a college magazine but with the progression to the main task you could explore more and add a lot more things to your magazine. Step by Step guide Planning and designing sketches of what my magazine will look like. This is a good way of planning and writing down ideas for my magazine and was also a guide when I was actually making the magazine. 2. Next was doing the photo shoot for the magazine. Then choosing an image for the front cover, contents page and double page spread 3.Adding the title and various cover lines on the magazine. 4.Developing the contents page for the magazine 5. Writing the article for the double page spread.