Music Magazine

Written Evaluation

The font for the masthead was taken from a website www.dafonts.com. I have placed the main sells on the left hand side to make it appear more conventional. The left third is the most important section of the front cover as it is visible on the newsagent’s shelves.

The front cover is very simple and not busy; it needed something to make the magazine follow some conventions. Even though I have not used many main sells, putting them on the left hand side allows them to blend in and be more noticeable. I have laid them out one under the other in a clean format so that it is easy to read and easy to understand what they are there for. The main sells all include an outer glow which allows them to stand out and not look like a piece of writing put on the page.

I have used a lure to entice my audience to want to buy the magazine. I have used an unusual shape to make it more visible to the audience. The lure is very simple and clean, I have used the same font yet again and same colour for the text, (being black) so that it all integrates together.


I have used the same font for the “contents” title as I have the front cover. This is to give it a sense of house style. I have three pictures on my contents page, which are all lined up on the left hand side, one underneath the other. The writing for the contents is in yellow, and is the same font as the double page spread. I have made the main features bolder, as they are the main points to why my audience are buying the magazine. I have added the publishing details at the bottom of my contents page, which shows my understanding of what goes into the magazine and how it is produced.

I have yet again used the same font for the double page spread as I did for the masthead of the front cover and the contents title. This is so that all three main parts share the same house style. I have used two colours for the background of my double page spread. I have used the same pink as the contents and front cover for the top half of the double page spread where the pictures are placed, and the same yellow used in small parts of my contents and front cover for where the text is placed. This gives variation to my double paged spread and makes it appear more interesting.

I have used a pull quote in the text which I have put in the same pink as the background to integrate it into the text. I have set out the text in an unconventional way, in two blocks. This is because I wanted the pictures to be in a row and the text to look as though it was more of a story than an article.

The article itself has been written for a teenage audience aged 13-15. The article feels very relaxed and this enables the reader to find it easy to read and understand.



How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Representation is when a media text is intentionally composed, lit, written, cropped etc by their producers, which makes them artificial versions of reality. Magazines are a representation of somebody’s notion of existence, codified into a number of signs and symbols which we interpret.

These signs and symbols can be in the form of visual and verbal meanings, helping to decipher the meaning. This is a complex and dynamic process which includes lots of thought and work to make the right perception clear to the audience.

In my own magazine I have represented my artist as a girly, chatty, bubbly person.

In my photos I have dressed her in bright pink clothing, which shows love, self-worth and femininity. Therefore my artist appears to be a loving person, who is happy with whom she is and is a ‘girly girl’. As she is wearing a boob-tube, it is clear that she is a confident girl and enjoys dressing up. She is also wearing a green scarf, and this emphasises her self-respect and well-being, and how she is still learning in life, which is emphasized in the contrast between the pink and the green. The scarf however covers more of her up, which also shows that even she has insecurities.

The pose she is doing on the front cover shows her pulling a funny face. Her eyebrows depict anger, but this is contrasted by her smile. Because her lips are parted it shows she is relaxed and this contrast between anger and happiness makes the picture appear funny which is emphasised by what we see through the article.

Also her nose is wrinkled which shows she is confused, which further backs up the contrast in her pose and how it is a pose which can not be depicted as either anger of happiness. The lead I have used for the main article on the front cover is, “Courtney reveals all!” This shows how the artist is a very open person and is willing to answer whatever comes her way. You also get a picture in your head that she is a loud person who is not afraid of telling the truth. The exclamation mark emphasises this as you know that there is some juicy gossip in this article and it says what it means.

On the contents page the artist is kneeling and looking upwards. Because her arms are crossed and her face is quite serious it shows she is confident and relates to her being able to tell us everything in her interview.

Also as she is looking up it depicts that she is thinking and that she has a lot to say. However the cat ears she is wearing shows a funny side, as she looks quite serious but then is wearing a fancy dress item.

It also shows that she is sly and mysterious and may have things to say we wouldn’t find out from anybody else. On the double page spread, the artist is holding a toy gun. This again emphasizes her humorous side.

Again the serious side contrasted with the funny side make a great representation of her character and personality. The three different poses she is doing shows creativeness and the ability to work with whatever comes her way. It also shows how she can change from one thing to another still being herself.

The headline I have given for the article which is “Popping all over the world” shows how the artist is known throughout the world, and also that she is doing her pop music everywhere and is not afraid to do it.

It shows confidence and commitment and that she is having fun. The pull quote I have used which is “I’m the biggest lazy fart you will ever meet” shows how she is relaxed and easy going, quite care free in some sense.

Including parts of the article such as: being in the mood to dance, her opinions on other musician’s underwear and her lack of nutritional awareness, you can see all round that my artist is a typical teenager, who is bubbly loves to have fun, and doesn’t care too much about anything else but having a laugh. It also shows how stereotypically I have represented her as a pop star. Her busy lifestyle and mood swings also shows how much of a teenager she appears to be, and how immature and child like she is.

What kind of media institution might distribute your magazine and why?

One of the magazines that inspired me is “MixMag”. This was not due to the genre, but the way the present their articles. I also liked how they wrote the articles in the magazine, especially one on Kylie. Mixmag’s publisher is “development hell LTD and their ABC primary figure is 34,073. The basic cover price of the magazine is £4.20, and their basic annual UK subscription rate is £46.20.

Their ‘Total average net circulation per issue’ is 34,073. Development Hell LTD only publishes two magazines, Mixmag and The Word. They have provided consultancy for some of Britain’s biggest publishers such as Dennis, Future and IPC, and were hired by Paul McCartney to produce the souvenir magazine for his 2002 world tour. They have some of the most experienced and respected operators in British Magazines including former editorial director of Q. This publisher may want to publish my magazine as they are interested in magazines that are not mainstream. Their other magazine “the Word” is a rock magazine for more mature adults, and “Mixmag” is for teenagers and young adults in the range of 16-21. With my magazine, it is aimed at younger teenagers. They would also be interested in my magazine because it is colourful and includes lots of gossip that my target audience would be interested in.


How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted my target audience by using a Unique Selling Point. This is that my magazine includes lots of gossip about current musical artists. This attracts my readers because it tells them all about the lives and loves of celebrities, specifically related to their interest in music. The gossip included in the magazine, my example being the main sell, is that the gossip comes first hand from the celebrities themselves. I have included lots of gossip into the magazine to ensure that the audience feels that the magazine is worth purchasing and will not bore them when reading. This magazine is targeted at young teenagers and teenagers in general. I have also included a lure which will entice readers to buy the magazine, as they have the chance to win something expensive.

I have also included a test, which will make the audience want to look at it and see which comes out on top. This is good as it makes the audience want to find out what the answer to it is. My audience would like my magazine as it is colourful and includes lots on facts and information about the singers and bands they like. It is also good as it includes things which relate to teenage girls. Furthermore the articles include a sense of humour and laid back attitude which makes the reading easier and more fun.


What have you learnt about using Photoshop CS3 and digital cameras during this project?
When using Photoshop CS3 I have learnt you can achieve many effects. When creating my magazine I learnt that you can make eyes and lips more enhanced by using the magnetic lasso tool and highlighting for instance an eye. Once doing this you can change the colour balance to make the eyes a different colour or more enhanced. This works well as it brings out the eyes on the photo and can achieve a more interesting image. I have also found when using the blending options on a layer you can make a picture have a glow or a shadow to make the image have a sharp effect. I have also found useful the filters. The lighting effects help give a better view of the image and make it look professional. It is good as you can change where the lighting is going and how much light you want projected onto the page. I have also found that when changing the lighting, changing the contrast and brightness can make a big difference as well. The contrast can make the picture look more detailed, and along with the brightness makes the image look more professional, as if it were done in a studio.

Looking back at my preliminary task, I have learnt how to manage my time. I was able to figure out how to order my work and what was needed to be done each lesson. I also knew how much time I needed on each part of my magazine. The preliminary task was very helpful for learning time management as I knew that I could get everything done in good time. I also found that I was able to keep to my deadlines when doing my music magazine as my knowledge on time management allowed me to be able to work at a steady pace and finish everything off.

I found when doing my preliminary task that I learnt about what questions were needed for questionnaires and different types of audience research. When doing my music magazine I found more types of audience research which I used to help me figure out what my audience wanted in my magazine. I used a blog and a questionnaire to make sure I kept to my target audiences needs. Audience research is helpful as it allows you to find out what interests your audience have so you can integrate this into the magazine. Finding out about audience research allows you to produce a magazine which can sell.

In the preliminary task I learnt that a clear iconic masthead is important as the mast head is the first thing a reader sees on the magazine. In my preliminary task my masthead was simple, and wasn’t big enough, however when doing my music magazine I found a website “dafonts.com” which allowed me to create a masthead that appealed to the eye of my audience.

I made my masthead colourful so that it integrated in with the colour scheme of the magazine.
When producing my preliminary task I didn’t really think much about the “left-third” however with instinct I followed along with this. In my music magazine I used this convention to make the magazine not too mainstream and so that it was more noticeable to look at.

From my preliminary task I realised that representation is key to the magazine. I used the concept of a “chav” for my preliminary task and stylized and integrated the image in with the background and the contents of the magazine. This makes the magazine appeal to the audience I want it to. I thought hard about this when doing my music magazine and I stylised my music artist and integrated this. I used colours that were associated with the theme of “pop” and girls so that it was clear what my magazine was based on.

When creating my college magazine I found that editing a picture is a good way to foreground it. I edited my pictures on my music magazine so that they showed parts of my artist that were “in the celebrity world” meant to be bright and colour such as the eyes which I made a piercing blue. The emphasis on this was good as it allowed me to make my artist more pinpointed on the page.
Reader profiles of other magazines already on the market.


The person who will buy my magazine is a young teenage girl in the age range of 13-15. She is still at school and is focussed on make-up and beauty and she is becoming a woman in the world. She enjoys shopping for clothes and makeup and thinks that looking good is important. She enjoys listening to gossip and primping and styling herself on a regular basis. She listens to music everyday, most probably when she is travelling to school, or bored in a lesson. She uses the internet everyday and spends quite a lot of time on there. She probably uses the internet to socialise with her friends. She also has digital T.V and watches a lot of T.V, most probably to catch up on gossip. Furthermore she enjoys socialising with her friends and goes out to the cinema and shopping regularly with her friends.