Julia Crouch has created a music magazine titled "FS (Freshly Squeezed)" as her final coursework project. The magazine targets teenagers aged 13-19 and aims to attract readers through its bold color scheme and exclusive content. Over the course of the project, Julia learned photography and Photoshop skills to produce professional-looking images and layouts for the magazine. She incorporated conventions from real music magazines but also included some unique design elements. Overall, the magazine demonstrates Julia's new skills in creating a print publication for her target demographic.

1. AS Media
Coursework Evaluation
Music Magazine
Julia Crouch

2.  This image is my final front cover from my completed magazine. My masthead
uses a black, white and a red colour scheme to grab readers attention. It is in
“Princeton” font and is in bold red to make it stand out. I positioned it on the left to
keep in line with the left side third.
 ‘FS’ is shortened from the words ‘Freshly Squeezed’ to look more professional,
just like ‘NME’ it to has been shortened – NME is also has a white, black and red
colour scheme.
This is an early draft of my magazine
which includes the boxes.
I didn’t use any boxes as it made my magazine look unprofessional,
so most of the text stand alone. The tag line “WE ALWAYS HAVE AN
EXCLUSIVE” is in bold red and is capitalised making it bigger than
the rest of the text on the right hand side, this is to grab and attract the
audience and to show this is the only place they can get the news first
all the time – I didn’t stretch is across the top or place it above the
masthead so it seemed different to other magazines.
 I placed my Headlines on the left-side third to keep the norm so it doesn’t look to
different to other magazines but is placed in bold red and white to stand out against the
feature image and the gradient background – I also placed ‘MORE’ underneath to give
the reader a sense of what's inside.
 The main sell covers half of the bottom right hand corner, this is different to most
magazines which usually uses the main sell to cover the width so this challenges the
forms and conventions. – It is in a ‘Zapfino’ font making it more elegant relating to the
feature artist being female. It is also the largest writing on the page and is in black with
a bold red outline.
 In the top right and down the right side third I have placed free giveaways (twilight wristbands) relating to my target audience in every issue as
well has a competition exclusive to only ‘FS’ readers to win VIP concert tickets, this is to bribe readers into buying the magazine – I have also placed
these in red, white and black to keep with the colour scheme.

3.  I used 11 images in total, all of which I have taken. The
main huge 4 going down the centre of the page represent the
articles inside the magazine whilst the bottom 7 are thumbnails
of free A4 glossy posters inside the magazine – I got this idea
from “We ♥ Pop” magazine, which had the banner of images
on there front cover along to bottom. I placed the photos on a
block red background as well as writing “PLUS HOT
POSTERS” in capitalised red to attract and bribe readers.
 I placed the main articles on the left side third to keep it neat and
inline with the subheadings, the sub headings are in bold red
‘Princeton’ font just like my masthead from my Front Cover.
 On the right side third I have placed an ‘EDITORS LETTER’ from
me, about the features of the magazines and what there is to offer; I
took this idea also from “We ♥ Pop” magazine.
 I got the idea from “We ♥ Pop” for putting the numbers on the
images to correspond to article pages in the ‘Zapfino’ font on my front
page with a bold 45 degree angled box of the background to stand out.
Zapfino font
‘45 degree’ angled
Box for background
We ♥ pop magazine
Editors Letter
Poster Banner

4.  I stuck to constant colour scheme of red, white and black
(much like my other pages) – I used ‘Zapfino’ font for the
artists name to show the elegance of the female artist in a bold
black as well as the ‘Q&A’ also being in the same font but it
bold red this is to immediately grab and show the reader what
the main focus is in this article.
 The image on the left is of the feature artist ‘Melody
Knight’, the image has been blurred round the images so her
face is of dominant focus and I made the brightness brighter on
the eyes and lips, mostly on the lips to blend in with the red
theme.
 I put a pull quote on top from the article in a near
transparent red block on top of the feature artist photo – I got
this idea from ‘Q’ Magazine. As it makes the quote stand out
against the image.
 I decided to an interview more than a article so it makes the magazine seem more up close and personal
with the readers favourite stars – I did it a traditional 3 column fashion just like most Music magazines.
 I put a red transparent ‘M’ on the interview to make the page stand out against the white background – I
got the idea from a magazine that had a capital ‘C’ to represent an artist but it had writing going round
the shape of the ‘C’ so I just stole the idea and kind of made it my own.
 I chose the ‘Zapfino’ font to use on the page numbers (like on the contents page) to keep a repeating
theme – also it’s a very elegant font. I chose this layout because it makes it look very formal and neat
which contrasts with the informal language used in the text.
 I also decided to put an advertisement for the aritst in the bottom right corner to promote the artist as well
as promote the magazine it self.

5. PHOTOGRAPHY
I’ve learnt a lot more photography skills from this course.
Conception: I took time planning and thinking about where I was going to take my photos and If I was going to use any props
etc to make sure it would be appropriate for my magazine product– I decided to use a blank white wall in a room in my house
with a spotlight lamp as the only light source.
Colour and Resolution: I changed the colour on the photos for my main front cover and the
main feature artist, I used Photoshop to change contrast and brightness to give photos more
vibrancy as well as give the eyes and lips more brightness – I also made them more of a retro
colour which is quite popular at the moment.
Mise en Scene: The main feature photos and front cover are stills, so I constructed my mise en
scene from the photography stage, I used a blank white wall in my house with the only light
source being a spotlight lamp to give a professional feel and to make it look like the feature
model was the main focus.
The other photos I chose/took where from live events (Concerts, signings etc) so I could not
control the mise en scene. (These where used for article advertisements or Thumbnails/posters)
Shot Distance: I placed my camera on a tri-pod directly in
front of me, and used a zoom to make it a head shot to show
facial emotion. Front cover was not zoomed.
Framing and composition: In total I took 68 photos and in the end I chose 3, one for each
of the front cover, contents and main feature pages and then I chose 10 on which I was going
to use as article advertisements etc. In all of my shots the subject (me) was always looking
directly at the camera, except for the front cover image which I am looking down to give a
shocked, flirtatious/sexy feel.

6. PHOTOSHOP
Before the course I didn’t know how to use Photoshop so since taking this course I’ve learnt so many skills.
Effects: I changed brightness and contrast, added/lowered colour levels and also added ‘Retro’ effects as well
as changing colours of eyes and lips to make it more vibrant.
Improve skin tone: To improve the skin tone on my model I added and layer and used the healing bush tool
to take away visible spots and make the skin more smoother. Holding the Alt key I painted over the area once
or twice.
Sharpening: I noticed part of my images where blurry so I went to filter and unsharp mask to make areas
clearer also on one image I unsharpened the outside of the photo with the Blur tool to allow more focus on
the centre of the photo.
Masthead/Feature: I placed the Image in front of masthead to show the dominance of the feature
much like ‘Q’ and ‘NME’ magazine but I didn’t want the feature to cover the a lot of the Masthead
so I made the masthead big enough to tell what is but not that big so its completely dominated over
by the feature.
Cropping: None of my feature images where cropped but my other images,
the ones taken at live events, where cropped to cut out blurry objects and/or
audiences hands as well as zooming in.

7. I decided my target audience is aimed at Teenagers (13-19).
My magazine attracts the target audience by its use of bright red bold
colouring as well as white on black background, the masthead is bright
bold red with a black and white outline to stand out as well as my feature
image being tasteful and visually pleasing, I also advertised the fact of
free giveaways/competitions/glossy free posters so this would attract
more readers.
The language I use is informal, most magazines like ‘Q’ and ‘NME’ have
very formal articles so this makes mine seem different and will appeal to
younger readers as it’s the way they speak.
FS (Freshly Squeezed) appeals to the target audience because it brings
Exclusive news every fortnight before any other magazine as well as
offers and a section for the readers to have there say and opinions.

8. “FS (FRESHLY SQUEEZED)” uses form and conventions
of real magazines as it uses the regular left side third, latest
news on albums, singles and other music as well as film
and gossip on celebrities. Interviews as well as articles on
artists, I have also added reviews on film and music too –
Also through photography, my magazines uses model
looking directly or posed in front of the cover like most
magazines. I have kept the norm of the theme like such of
‘Q’ and ‘NME’ of the red, black and white colour scheme.
My magazines challenges form and conventions of the
other music magazines on the market today. My tag line
“We always have an exclusive” suggests new, fresh,
never before seen content every week unlike most
magazines. As well as it being one of the only music
magazines too include film/films soundtracks. It includes the
audience feedback and a section which they can share
there endeavours with their favourite artists.

9. 1. Are you male or female?
2. How old are you?
3. What type of music do you listen to ?
4. Would you buy magazine?
5. what price would you roughly pay for a music magazine?
1. Male 1. Female. 1. Female 1. Female
2. 13 2. 18 2. 50 2. 16
3. R & B Music 3. Pop Music 3. Pop, Blues and Soul. 3. Pop/Rock Music
4. No as it doesn’t include that much 4. Yes, because It includes 4. No, as the demographic looks 4. Yes as it has Artists I
R & B music and has gossip on Pop artists I like and has an to young but will defiantly be like, competitions
celebrities, which I dislike. addition of a movie section. popular amongst teenagers or and Posters for my
5. £2.00 5. £3.00 20 year olds. bedroom wall!
5. £2.75 5. £3.50
I used social networking sites such as Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter
to get some audience feedback. I posted my Front Cover, Contents
and Double Page Spread pages to some of my online friends to gain
quality and varied feedback.

10. My magazine is targeted at 13 to 19 year olds. So the demographic includes
working class school and college students, the price is quite low at £1.25 to
attract those readers as they will not be earning money. As the price is quite low
it will include quite a few advertisements and promotions inside but those
relating to music/film and pop artists e.g. Artists products (fragrances, make up,
clothing lines etc) film posters, tour advertisements and singles/album releases.
It is aimed mostly at females, the music is pop/rock and has gossip on
celebrities and upcoming movies that would appeal widely to young teenage
girls. Pop music is aimed at a wide audience of all ages but my magazine only
includes pop artists that are around at the moment as well as am “Up and
coming” section. The artists themselves are aged between 14 to 28 to appeal
to my young audience and are mostly men or boy band based.

11. I consider my magazine to be published with a very popular
publishing institution such as Bauer Media. This will ensure wide
recognition for my magazine and will distribute it to the correct
audience as well as knowing Bauer is a successful music
magazine distributor.
Bauer publishes ‘Q’, ‘Kerrang’ and ‘MOJO’ music
magazines as well as Empire, Closer and FHM
magazines – So I think Bauer Media would be my best
option to go with as my magazine is music, film and
gossip.
Bauer Media also uses cross media convergence; as well as Magazines Bauer distributes
other brands such as Radio and TV Music- including Q TV, 4Music, Kiss TV, Kerrang! And
The Box...
As well as there own self titled radio company ‘Bauer Radio’, which is a UK-based division of
the Bauer Media Group which distributes Kiss Fm, Magic FM and Kerrang as well as other
Scottish and Northern Island Radio groups.

12. Its very obvious I have learnt more skills since
doing the Preliminary task. The front cover for
my college magazine is so unprofessional, the
masthead is hardly seen because of the pale
background as well as there not being a feature
image, It contains a scatter of images making it
look odd and messy. However my music
magazine uses a black background with visible
red and white writing, a feature image, tag line,
barcode and advertisements as well as the
Anchorage text being used to suggest the story
behind the main feature image.

13. Over the course of studying this subject I have earned and developed
skills in Photoshop as well as camera work.
In Photoshop I have learnt to edit, re colour, crop edges, clean up,
sharpen, blur, change the resolution, add light affects, change
backgrounds and burn Images as well as creating a professional
looking product such as my completed final draft of my magazine.
I studied art previously so had knowledge of Camera work but now
I’ve worked with positions and angles as well as knowing what certain
angles and positions may imply to my readers and what I want to be
put across to the audience.