The document summarizes the process of creating magazine covers for a class project. The student conducted research through questionnaires to determine what type of magazine to create (electronic music) and key elements to include (interviews). Product research involved analyzing features of existing magazine covers. The student created designs for the logo, edited images for use, and designed the cover, contents page, and a double page article spread using Photoshop. Feedback indicated the layout and color scheme looked professional, but text was sometimes difficult to read due to its size or color. The student was pleased with the overall professional appearance but would address readability issues in the future.

2. Research I conducted for my magazine covers was mainly
questionnaires. I created a questionnaire which I gave to 20
people asking questions such as what their favourite existing
music magazines are and what they like to see in a magazine.
I used this information to help choose to what to include. I
realised that the people I asked generally preferred
electronic music which made me decide to make it an
electronic magazine, also it showed me that people’s
favourite feature of a magazine is interviews, so I chose to
include some interviews.
These are the results to
the questionnaires I
handed out, this
information helped me
choose to what to
include in the
magazine.

3. For product research I completed a task where I looked at
different magazine covers and compared them. I looked at
individual features such as
mastheads, logos, coverlines, main images etc. I then
described what these features do and what is unique about
them on that specific magazine cover. I did this for two
magazines and them compared the two which showed me
that two of the most popular magazines (mixmag and NME)
had lots of similar features so I knew I had to include them. I
also analysed two contents pages and looked at a few of the
features which showed me the general gist of how a contents
page worked, I then compared the two which again showed
me what I should include.

4. This is the logo design I created for my magazine cover, I
used a website called dafont to create this where I also made
three other designs and in the end I chose this one.
These are the other three logo designs I created. I chose the first logo
design because it was the first one I chose so it obviously stood out to
me the most. Also my magazine is an electronic magazine and that
particular looks like something that you would see in an electronic
magazine because of the style of it. Overall I feel it is the most
powerful design and the best choice for my magazine.

5. These are the images I took and edited for my magazine. I used
Photoshop to edit these images and used features such as
sharpening, colour balance, increasing brightness and black and
white in order to make the images stand out more and fit the
theme of the magazine. In the end I used three of these images for
my magazine. I think they worked well because it stood out with
the colour theme of the magazine and looked more powerful than
the image before it was edited.

6. This is my magazine cover that I created using
Photoshop. I had already created a rough draft
template as to how I was going to layout my
cover but I strayed away from it a bit in the final
design. I started by putting the image on there
that I had edited and made it the right size and
tried to fit the text around it. I then created a
light grey background to work. I put the logo
design in at the top and then begin to add titles
and more text. Whilst adding the text I stuck to
a colour theme of red and white, usually
alternating between the two colours but in some
cases the theme was broken. After adding all the
necessary text, I added in a barcode and tidied
everything up, then exported it as a JPEG. I was
very happy with my magazine cover design, I
think it looks fairly professional and somewhat
like a real magazine cover and I think the colour
theme worked well and the image stands
out, making it quite a powerful cover. I think the
main weakness is that it can be quite difficult to
read the white text on that background but if
it’s a big image then it’s not too big a problem.

7. This is the contents page I created for my
magazine, again on Photoshop. I started with the
same colour background as the magazine cover and
put the edited image in first in order to establish
the text area. I then put the title in and began
working from there. I had to look at several
existing contents pages for this because it was
quite difficult to get the layout correct. I then
started adding text, again using the red/white
theme but the main parts of the text were red
because the text was quite small and would be
difficult to read. I looked at existing contents
pages to help me see what sort of articles are
included in these magazines. Overall I like the
contents page because it looks fairly professional
and the colour theme worked very well. I think the
text I included was good and made it seem more
like an official music magazine. I think the image
worked quite well and I was able to fit everything
around it and use all the space, I was very pleased
with the layout. There’s not much I would change
about it if I was to do it again, I would probably
tidy it up a bit more and maybe slightly change the
colour of the background.

8. This is the double page spread I created for my magazine, I made this on
Photoshop but used a template unlike on the front cover and contents page. I
started by putting in the same background as the other two pages and then
putting the edited image onto the second page. Then I inserted the title of the
article in, following the colour scheme of the cover/contents page. I then
inserted the text from the 1000 world article I completed earlier on which was
quite a struggle to fit in but in the end I was able to fit in all 8 questions. I was
pleased with my double page spread because again it looks professional but
looks neat and has followed the colour scheme, the image worked well and
there is a sufficient amount of text. The only weakness was that some of the
text was quite squashed and can be quite difficult to read but it was quite
difficult to fit it all in because there was lots of it.

9. I asked 10 students what they like and dislike about my magazine cover, double page
spread and contents page. Here is what they had to say:
1. ‘I thought all the pages were good and followed a good colour scheme, in some
cases the text was difficult to read.’
2. ‘I like the front cover and contents page but the double page spread was quite
difficult to read’
3. ‘I thought all three of the pages were very good and looked very professional and
like real magazines.’
4. ‘I thought they all looked good but thought the text was quite difficult to read in
some places’
5. ‘I like the red and white colour scheme, it looked very professional’
6. ‘I think the images worked very well with the magazine but some parts were
slightly untidy’
7. ‘I think they looked like real magazine covers, the layout was very good.’
8. ‘I didn’t really like the double page spread because the writing was too squashed
but the other two pages looked very good’
9. ‘I liked the layout and the colour scheme, looked very professional’
10. ‘I thought they all looked very good and professional but the writing was difficult to
read because of the colour’
I think the feedback was mainly positive but people said that the text was quite
difficult to read which was the main problem I think. Most people said that the layout
looked good and the colour scheme and also said it looks quite professional. This
feedback will certainly help me out if I want to improve my covers or if I do something
similar in the future

10. I think overall the project went very well, during research I
thought it would be quite difficult but in the end it wasn’t
too hard. I think the end product looks very good. I think the
layout was good, it strayed away from how I’d planned to do
it but I prefer it this way, I think it looks quite professional. I
like the colour scheme of red and white and think I stuck to
it very well, it is quite common in popular magazines which
makes it look more like a real magazine. I think the images
worked well, I edited them well and fit them in and they
stand out and make the pages more powerful. I do think the
overall design looks quite professional and looks somewhat
like a real magazine, I was very pleased with the end
product.

11. I think the main weaknesses of the project was with the
text, in some places where the text was white it was quite
difficult to read it on the grey background. Also on the
double page spread the red text was quite squashed because
of how difficult it was to fit in. If I was to do the project
again I would maybe make the background a bit darker so the
white text is clearer but I would leave the red/white colour
because it was quite successful. I would also make a few
changes to the double page spread in order to make the text
less squashed. I would also just tidy it up a little bit more
because a few people said it a bit untidy in places. If I was to
make a second issue there isn’t much I would change but I
would change the issues stated above and maybe just use
different style of images just to make it look a bit different.
Overall I don’t think there were too many weaknesses but I
have been able to notice there main weaknesses of the
magazine covers.