Evaluation Seven - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

The front cover on the left is my preliminary task and to the right is my final piece for my music magazine. 

In my preliminary task, the title was very plain and didn't stand out so if it was on a news stand it wouldn't attract the target audience because they probably wouldn't be able to see it. On the other hand, I do think the background colour works well with the sell lines placed around the edges as they are visible and not a colour that would have clashed with the background or the colour scheme of the magazine. I think the sell line showing the mission statement could have been clearer as the white text isn't that easy to read when it is on top of both a neutral background and also the red colour of the uniform being worn by the student. Moreover, I think that the text could have been written in a better font because the font used is boring so doesn't draw a reader in. It was Serif font to make the magazine look more formal because of it being a school based magazine although, the text could have been bigger and a slightly more modern font so that it was also noticeable to students as well as teachers and possibly parents.

The preliminary magazine was very conventional and everything so simple so that it fitted with the genre of a school based magazine.

The main image is a clear and good quality mid shot, showing a pupil in the school uniform. I thought this would expand the target audience because as well as teachers buying the magazine, pupils will too because they will see someone their own age on the magazine and know that it is acceptable for them to purchase the magazine too. 

There is a lot space on this front cover that could have been filled but I didn't have that much information to place on my magazine without it looking really over the top and as I wanted it to look professional I decided to leave it like this.

My music magazine front cover was created on Pixlr express and I was able to find out how everything worked on the software before making the front cover as I had a lot more time to complete this than I had done previously with my preliminary task. I think I improved my skills on using different softwares and trying out all the different techniques and edits that I could use before deciding on the one I finally used, which was with the colour merging at the bottom to create a retro effect and the making the background look slightly dated so that the image looked like it had been taken with an old style camera.

I prefer the fonts that I have used in this cover because they stand out a lot more and the colour and size definitely catch the readers attention a lot more than my preliminary task cover. In addition to this, I also find that my main image mid shot seems to fit in better with the background than in my preliminary cover, which looks slightly photo shopped and edited in.

I also had to create a contents page for my preliminary task and I did this on a Word document, which doesn't look good at all! This helped though because by doing this I was able to work out another way of making my contents page for my final piece. However, when it came to making a double page spread, I hadn't created one of these before so, I had to basically start all over again and try to come up with a way of making a spread look like two pages. I decided to just created all three of my final pieces on Pixlr express as I felt this was the best software and made it look very professional. 

To compare these two front covers, I would definitely say my latest one is my best work. This is because it was the last cover I did so I had more time to go through each software and work on exactly how I wanted my cover to look. 

I do think that by doing the preliminary task it made me realise just how much work has to go into constructing a text to a deadline and without having this first task to complete, I think I would have struggled to begin the process of making my music magazine with a positive attitude.

By putting these two images next to each other, it just shows how much progress I have made from the start to the very end and I am very happy about this. I am grateful with how much I've learned by doing this tasks from different softwares to any mistakes that have helped me discover quicker ways of completing tasks and these will definitely be useful for future projects.

Evaluation Six - What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

From researching to finalising my magazine, I have used multiple amounts of software.

I went onto Slideshare to view other peoples work that had previously created their own magazines. I tried using it myself but I found it difficult and I didn't think it looked that good when I put images and text together. Also, I didn't like the way the presentations looked and I didn't think they looked very professional so, I didn't want to use them for my own work either. 

I used both a Macbook Pro and an iMac to research and upload my work. This is because they were available at school and my home so it was easy to transfer work from both places. I found them easy to use and the upload time was quite quick and the graphics seemed to make my work look a lot clearer. There was one slight problem when I tried to upload my first draft of the double page spread because I had worked on this on Publisher and the Mac I used at home didn't have this software so, I had to use a Windows laptop that was available to me at home to upload the post when it was needed and this was quite time consuming.

I used Pixlr express to create my final pieces for my magazine and this was very useful as it had lots of different edits to choose from that I could manipulate onto my images to give them a professional look. I didn't want to use any other software as I thoroughly enjoyed using this one as it was really easy to transfer onto my blog. One problem that did occur was when I tried to place the images onto my blog it kept saving as a text document instead of an image so I had to make sure that I wrote jpg at the end of the saved name so that the file would transfer to an image file. This was time consuming but once I had figured out what was going wrong everything worked fairly quickly.

  

I didn't end up using a camera as I found it a lot easier to just use the iPhone instead. I downloaded extra apps such as BeFunky as well as just using the edits readily available on the camera app already installed on the phone to create a clear looking photo for my magazine. The camera on this phone has the same GB as some cameras and the images that were produced were very good quality so I was happy with the result from using this equipment. I always had it with me so, it just made sense to use this instead of using two different types of equipment as I would have had to carry various different equipment and the leads that go with them and these could have easily been misplaced.

 I made sure that I had a memory stick with me all the time when working on my blog so that if anything was unable to save I was able to quickly place it onto my memory stick or if I hadn't finished work in one place I could put it on my memory stick and take it with me to somewhere else and continue my work exactly the same. It was very small though so I made sure I was extra careful so that I wouldn't lose it!

When I wasn't near a computer, I was able to continue with work on an iPad as it was easy to go onto the Blogger App or Safari and access my blog. This made it easy for when I just had a small blog that I had to upload and I had some spare time to quickly complete it because I didn't have to wait for the computer to load as the iPad was already always on.

I used YouTube to upload music videos of an artist in a blog I did a while ago to show an idea that I had for my magazine. This was useful because I was able to present my work in a different way and this engaged will have engaged my blog audience more. 

I also watched video responses of previous students who had done the same work and this helped when working on my own piece because I was able to see if what I was doing was correct but also so I could try to improve my work based on my peers.

I used Google as my main source of researching and I found many images and information that I was able to use to make my blog even better. Without Google I would have found it difficult to find out even more about things like Media Institutions.

I feel that the technology that I used was very reliable and easy to access most of the time. I realised that you couldn't just use one piece of equipment or software otherwise the magazine would have taken a lot longer to complete and I would never have learned how to use all the different types of software that were available.

Evaluation Five - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The types of media institutions that might distribute my magazine are publishers that have published well known magazines previous to mine. This is because I wanted my magazine to immediately be a success when it is first placed on news stands.
I had researched two publishing houses - Bauer media group and IPC media so that I was aware of which media institutions I could potentially have distribute my own music magazine.
Bauer media group is most famous for publishing 'Q' and Kerrang!' magazines and I had researched both of these magazines before I had decided on a genre for my own music magazine. Although, these were useful, they weren't quite what I wanted my magazine to be like as they were both extremely conventional to the style of the genre.
In my original blog about Media Institutions, I mentioned that I would use either Bauer or IPC media because they produce magazines with similar house styles to the music magazine that I would like to create. However, my view has changed and I did decide to make my magazine more unconventional than the magazines that are produced by both these publishing houses.
In the end, I chose IPC media publishing house because when researching I saw that they had already
published for magazines such as NME, which are a similar genre to my own Indie/Rock so I thought it would be ideal as usual readers of NME will see that the same publishing company had distributed 'Groove', then they are more likely to buy it because they already trust the company.
For people in my target audience that didn't buy NME before were still familiar with it and this means they will become aware of 'Groove' and hopefully because it is slightly different to NME, they will more than likely want to buy it to see whether it represents the genre of music they like professionally and very well. In addition to this, the magazines that are produced by IPC media are not just music magazines but other genres too such as 'Country Life' and 'Now'. All sell really well and this means that my own music magazine would most likely also sell multiple copies as well because IPC media are trusted by those who purchase the magazines. One quote from IPC media says that "As the UK's leading consumer magazine publisher, we engage with 26m UK adults - almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men." This suggests that they have a lot of customers already willing to buy a magazine that they have published, which helped when deciding who to choose as my distributers. Moreover, this means that my target audience won't just be a small amount of UK citizens but nearly half of the population and this means more profit at the end.
I would say my text was aimed more at a Niche audience due more people from the younger generation preferring to listen to music from genres such as Pop and Dance. Although, there is a growing amount of a younger generation who like the Indie/Rock genre so perhaps after the magazine being published for a while, the audience might increase and become a Mass audience. I felt that IPC media published some other Niche audience magazines such as Country Life, as not many people tend to buy this magazine and therefore it is just published a smaller minority of people.
I would like my magazine to be stocked in places like W H Smith because this is where lots of other magazines are sold and so my target audience are more likely to visit this shop because they know magazines are sold there. Plus, I would even like my magazine to be sold in music shops like HMV because music lovers will most definitely shop in these kind of shops regularly so it makes sense to stock my music magazine here because they will be seen by the right people within my target audience. It would also be good to have my magazine available on the internet or even have an App created for it because many people who like listening to music will download songs or look on the internet for new songs so this would be ideal to enable them to view the magazine online as well because that will make it easier for them to read the magazine when they are travelling because it won't be an extra thing to carry.

Evaluation Four - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation Three - How did you attract/address your audience?

Most aspects of this text will help to 'draw a reader in' due to it providing persuasive text throughout. It has bold colours that stand out to make the target audience more aware that it's there when placed beside other music magazines on a news stand. Also, on the double page spread, the artist's answers are in a vivd blue colour so that it's easy to notice and the interviewers text is in white because that shows that it's the magazines questions due to every other text within the magazine being in the colour white. This distinguishes the magazine from any other because readers will remember the white text throughout and know instantly that it's 'Groove' magazine.

Posters
On the front cover in an orange colour, there is text that suggests free posters are inside the magazine. This will definitely increase chances of people buying the magazine because usually people that are interested in music genres such as Indie and Rock have posters on their bedroom walls of their favourite artists from that genre so they will really appreciate free posters. Also, it is written in orange text meaning that it stands out from the usual white text as an add on and this suggests to the readers that the magazine doesn't usually do this, which will make them more likely to purchase the magazine because they think it's just a one off special that there is free posters inside.

Double Page Spread Interview
When I asked my target audience what they wanted to see on a double page spread within a magazine, all of them suggested that they would prefer an interview of an artist more so than anything else and I also thought this was a good idea so that was my final decision on what topic should be based on the double page spread.

Colour Scheme
The colour scheme of neutral colours with bright blues, yellows and other bright colours works well with the genre of the music magazine and this also means the house style stays the same throughout because the colour scheme didn't change dramatically from each page. It makes it different from other magazines as well because these colours aren't usually put together in a magazine, so it will definitely be visible to the target audience.

Slogan
The slogan is a good persuasive text "The UK's most obscure magazine…" because 'obscure' meaning unknown, creates a sense of mystery and this implies that not many people are aware of what the magazine actually has inside, which makes more people want to buy it so they are in that minority that know of the magazine. It is written in black text as well, which includes further mystery because it's dark and with the additional ellipses at the end it leaves the reader wondering why it's so unknown and how they can find out more.

Additional Offers
In a turquoise blue text, there is an advert for guitars being on sale that you can find out about inside the magazine. This is useful because it conveys that the magazine doesn't just give the readers an insight on what the artists of this genre have and use when performing, it also allows the readers an opportunity to be just like their favourite artists by being given the chance to buy equipment like theirs.

Audience Feedback
Libby - "I really like the colour scheme used and the way it's layout fits the genre really well. I think it's clever how there is a minimal amount of text used on the front cover because then that makes me curious about what is inside the magazine. I also like that you get free posters because I love collecting them to put on my wall! Having an interview on a double page spread of an artist is good because I enjoy reading about singers and whether I am similar to them in any way!"

Sylvia - "I think the magazine looks really professional and sophisticated and this makes it look like a real magazine. I'm glad that it has free posters cause I like taking them out to keep and also I like that it has a page inside with information on future tours and gigs because then I can know when to buy tickets and then I am more likely to get them! I like the artist on the front covers style and that makes me want to buy the magazine to read the interview on her so I can get to know more about her."

Evaluation Two - Who Would Be The Audience For Your Media Product?

Evaluation One - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Conventions of existing texts like this Q magazine quite often have the masthead either to the left or in the centre top of the magazine cover with the slogan placed just underneath so that it appears they are meant to go together.
A skyline is often used, which gives extra information about special offers and competitions that are inside the magazine, which is intended to draw in a reader and make them more intrigued into buying the magazine.
Also, they usually have sell lines on the left or right of the cover with information on what is inside the magazine. Sometimes for less empty space, a front cover will have anchorage text relation to the main image so that the target audience have information on what the artist is featured on the magazine for and the magazine has this hoping that they will be more likely to want to buy it.
The main image tends to be placed in the centre of the cover as it is more noticeable here and almost every time it will be of someone who is the main feature of the magazines issue because the magazine knows that the target audience will be intrigued and especially if it's someone who works within that specific genre that the magazine is based upon.
A barcode is usually very small and placed in the bottom corner of the cover because the magazine doesn't want it to be large enough so that it takes up space for text or images that could potentially be the selling point for the reader.
My own masthead on my music magazine is big enough so that it can be seen if the rest of the magazine was covered by another magazine on a news stand. Being white it stands out even more because it is a bright colour and the Sans Serif font used makes it different from all the other magazine style titles. I placed the slogan just below the title as when I researched into other music magazines I noticed they had all done this and  I liked the way it appeared on the page. Unlike magazines that I researched such as Q, I decided to use a different colour for the masthead and the slogan because that way they wouldn't look strange if they were to be placed in different parts of the magazine although I would definitely keep them together in future issues too.
I didn't like the idea of a skyline as I thought it took away notice of the masthead and made the magazine look slightly cheaper than it was meant to be and by having the title stand broadly by itself along with the slogan, I thought it looked professional and classy. Also, I wanted to have minimal amount of information so that it didn't look overcrowded but also so that the target audience had more curiosity as to what was inside and this would make them look and hopefully buy the magazine. Therefore, I included a total of five sell lines that started just underneath the artists head and ended slightly before the bottom of the cover finished. I felt that I included the right amount of information so that the reader knew the basics but had to look inside if they were to find out everything. Moreover, I tried not to make it obvious that I really wanted them to purchase the magazine because this way they wouldn't feel pressured into buying it but also if every other magazine on the shelf was trying to lure the target audience in but then there was one that was just simple, they target audience would be more intrigued in this one magazine because it was bright but didn't have anchorage text with multiple exclammation marks to try and grab the readers attention as an Indie style tends to be laid back and calm and this is what I wanted my magazine to portray.
I chose to place the barcode on the back cover as I felt this was unconventional and meant that the reader had to pick up the magazine in order to check the price, which means they are twice as likely to look inside and want to buy the magazine.
The main image I chose was an artist that fit well with the genre Indie/Rock because of their appearance. I was very happy with the background edit that I chose because it went well with the colours of the artists top and the colours almost look as if they have merged into the background making that colour itself making the background and the artist convey an Indie effect, which looks almost effortless.
Unlike other music magazines, I didn't include any smaller images or snippets of information around the edges of the front cover because I wanted the main focus to be on the artist and the title so that the target audience would be familiar with the house style in future issues and also to attract other readers who aren't familiar with the magazine but are fans of the artist who is being featured.
In my questionnaire that I produced and gave out to some people in my target audience, I asked whether they had any ideas of colours that I could use within my magazine as a house style. The most common suggestions I had were blue, purple, green and red. Black and white were also suggested but I didn't think I would be able to constantly use just two colours within the magazine as I feel the reader would get bored quickly because there would be no burst of colour to make the magazine look interesting and appeal to a modern day young generation. By using different colours I have given it a modern and quirky look so that it does appeal to my target audience of 15-25 year olds, as well as giving it a retro style to also try and appeal to an older generation who enjoyed a similar genre of music when they were young.

The contents pages that I had researched before creating my own were NME and Q and I thought these two showed two very different ways that I could have as my own. The NME contents I felt was a little too crowded and if I was to buy that magazine myself, I wouldn't want to spend my time reading through it all. I think that it is slightly overcrowded and extra information thats included such as the band index would have been better on the last page of the magazine so that once the reader had finished looking through the magazine, they could then search for anyone that was in the magazine.
I particularly liked the layout of the Q contents page because they had placed an artist as the main feature of the page with a simple numbered information column to the left of the page. I decided to base my own contents page on this and have a different artist to the one on the front of the magazine.
I wanted to title the contents page so that my magazine had a title for each new section. I thought this made the magazine look unconventional compared to other music magazines. In addition to this, the white text over the main image creates a good effect because it is a basic colour over multiple colours and by using white, the artist in the background are still easily recognisable to the reader. I used a different font to the font I used on the front cover because I didn't like the front cover font over this image as it was difficult to read. The Sand Serif font I did use looks stylish as well as professional and makes the magazine look quite expensive, which is what I was hoping for. Furthermore, I also included a smaller print font in the bottom right corner, which just gives a snippet of detail to the reader where the background image was taken and this will hopefully make them more intrigued as to whether there are any more photos like this further into the magazine.

For my double page spread, I had researched and found this double page spread of Taylor Momsen, which I thought looked very Rock style and this made my final decision of having a girl as the main artist for my own music magazine. This is because usually it's typically a boy that's in an Indie/Rock magazine because most girls like the perform Pop genre songs and as I wanted my magazine to be quite unconventional I decided that it would suit my magazine quite well to have a girl artist as the most featured. I wanted to carry on with the idea of having the artist as the background and not on a separate page from the text so I did slightly alter my magazine differently to this NME double page spread. When researching, I found that a lot of magazines such as Q, had three columns on their double page spreads apart from this NME one, which I actually preferred because it didn't make the page look too crowded due to less columns used. I decided that I wanted to use two columns but space them out even more so that I looked more like a story than an article and also to place the text on both sides of the double page spread. Moreover, I used the same text font for the title of this page as I did for the contents to show the house style that was throughout. By having blue text, not only was it suggested by someone from my target audience but it also stood out from the rest of the text on the page and this was useful because the blue text was what the artist had said and not what they were asked by the interviewer and by making their answers more visible than the rest of the text, it would hopefully make the reader want to read the whole article because they are interested in what an artist who works within the genre of music that they like have say.
The background colour is a neutral colour so that the text is easier to read and by blurring out the artist, although they are still recognisable as they have the same appearance as the front cover due to the colours they are wearing and this is why I didn't want them to change outfits for each section they featured in. I thought that the colours throughout the magazine were similar with the main background colour being a neutral colour with different coloured effects over the top to make the retro look more prominent and this implies the style Indie/Rock genre very well.

Original Images of ContentsPage

There was already a slight edit on the iPhone camera called 'Instant'. This made the colour focus in on the artist and the instrument because they were wearing black and the background was also black.
I didn't choose to have this one as my contents page background because I thought it was too dark and the reader wouldn't be able to see the artist very clearly.

The second photo I took was of the drummer of the band. I used a similar effect on the camera to take this photo called 'Chrome', which gave a red tint to anything that was of a brown/red colour.
However, I didn't end up using this photo as I thought it looked more Indie style than Rock and I needed the contents page to portray the Rock genre of the magazine as I was already using the front cover and the double page spread for the Indie part.


I finally chose this one as the photo I would use because I thought it showed the 'Rock' genre very well. This is because the instruments are noticeable and the layout doesn't look perfectly placed, which is what I wanted to be able to show a 'Rock' genre.
The edit that I took this photo with was 'Transfer' and I liked this photo because I knew readers would be able to see who the artists are because the shot was a mid close up and also had another artist from the band in the background and this conveyed that it wasn't just a solo artist giving the reader more of an insight into who it was.
I liked how the black background merged with the black clothing that they were wearing because this meant that the artists faces and instruments were more prominent and would be the only visible part when behind text on the contents page.

Original Images for the Front Cover

 I took a few vertical photos so that I had a choice incase I wished to change anything at the last minute.

I took this one when she wasn't completely ready because I wanted to see if I could use an image that wasn't staged.
Unfortunately, in this image, she was slightly over to the left and I wanted the artist to be the centre of the cover.

 Here is the second image. This was another one where I had tried to capture her when she wasn't trying to pose! I liked this one however, she was smiling and the genre that I wanted to try to stick to, which was Indie/Rock, I noticed that most magazine that I had researched such as Kerrang! that have similar genres to mine, the artists on the covers didn't smile and I wanted to have this also so that mine was conventional and suited the genre well.

I wasn't going to use this one because where the wall meets the floor, there was a line of red and I wanted the background to be one complete colour.
Also, I didn't like the way the image wasn't a mid shot because this meant passers by wouldn't be able to quickly look and see who the artist was on the cover.













In the end, I chose this photo. I thought it was the best out of all of my photos because it would be able to text as well as keeping the artist as the main feature of the cover.
I wanted a mid shot so that I could focus the readers on the artists face and clothing because she suited the genre.
The top of the photo left space for the title to be placed and I was able to edit the photo so that the artists features were more defined and I could make the colours stand out so that it would be more conventional portraying colours as the main source of attraction from the buyers.

Original Images for the Double Page Spread

 For the double page spread I chose between these three photos.
I didn't think the first was appropriate for the double page spread because it was a close up and I would have preferred to have a mid shot photo. Also, there wasn't enough background colour to have as the background due to the photo being so close to the artist.







Moreover, when I looked at the second photo I found that by having the photo as vertical, there also wasn't enough space for the interview text so I couldn't use it. I thought it would have been better to have as a front cover instead although, the artist wasn't looking at the camera and that may have affected whether a passer by who doesn't usually buy this magazine but would because of the artist on the front would buy it because it may not be very clear who it is.

However, I did choose to use the last photo because it had the perfect amount of background space around the artist for most of the interview text to be placed. Also, the photo is a mid shot, which is what I needed because its not too close but far enough so that the artist doesn't take up the entire double page. This photo was perfect for my genre as well because the whole colour of the faded wall behind and the jumper that she was wearing fitted nicely to the style and theme of the magazine and with her hair not being perfectly placed, she suited the criteria of an Indie/Rock based music magazine.

Double Page Spread Comparison

I designed my double page spread on Pixlr express as I found it the easiest software to access and edit my work on.
My first draft was designed on Publisher and I found it time consuming to transfer onto my blog as I had to print screen it onto the Paint Software and then crop the image to then save it to then put it onto my blog.
I kept the double page spread as an interview because when I showed my target audience my first draft, they said they would want an artist interview in the magazine if they were to buy it. Also, with my genre being Indie/Rock, it suits the magazine well as it gives readers an insight on their favourite artists lives. When I researched into what other music magazines had used their double page spreads for, I noticed that most had placed an interview with an artist that fits their genre of music there. This is because usually the whole interview can fit onto one whole section without filling out onto the next side and this then makes it look professional as well as organised.
The talent I chose for this was Sophia as I feel that she clearly represents an Indie/Rock genre. By using Sophia on the front cover as well as the double page spread like I did with 'Jake Bugg' on my first draft, it attracts both usual buyers of the magazine and also those who have purchased it because of the artist on the front cover.

I also continued with similar genre colour themed as these colours went well with the dark coloured text I had used on top of it. Another part that I kept the same was having the artists as the background image as I thought this took up less room and more text was able to fit onto the page making the interview appear longer. This helped to keep a similar house style throughout the magazine by having an artist image as the full background for the magazine instead of a clear background. The effects I used on my second double page spread to make the background image fade was from 'Vignette' and I then chose the 'Bronze', which made the corners dark and the image to become blurred. After this I went onto the colour correction and enhanced it to a red and this gave it the light tint that the background portrays.
Before, I had used a black text colour, this time I chose white text for the title of the page, which I got from the text style 'Retro' and I used 'Airstream' and I also used white and a red/brown colour for the interviewers speech that was from the style 'Retro' and I used 'Diner' and a navy blue also from 'Retro' and this time I used 'Limelight' as I felt these would be the most noticeable on top of my background as some of the text had to be placed over the artists midshot photo and Sophia was wearing a black top. Moreover, I had to be careful what colour I chose because her top also had a variation of other bright colours that would make the text unreadable. Furthermore, in my first draft, I deconstructed the text to just the artists answers so that it was a different approach than other magazines although, I didn't think this was very effective and so I presented an interview instead and when I asked my target audience they said they preferred my second attempt.
Initially, I wanted to use an additional colour with a bigger font to make that particular sentence stand out from the rest like how other music magazines had done however, I didn't think it was necessary in my second attempt because the way I had managed to fade out the artist into the background of the text looked much more original than trying to use the same ideas as other magazines.

Double Page Spread of my Music Magazine

Contents Page Description

I chose to do the contents page in a similar style as the rest of the magazine to keep the house style the same throughout.
I chose to use an app on my phone to edit the photo called Befunky. There was a section on the app called Beautify where I could choose an edit that I liked and I chose Summer 2 and this gave the coloured lights effect. I liked this because it created the same look as both the front cover and the double page spread, which kept the house style throughout.
In addition to this, I also used Pixlr express so that I could use the same text as I had done for both the front cover and the double page spread. I continued with the 'Retro' text because I felt that this suited the Indie/Rock genre perfectly, and used 'Airstream' for the title because then it would be the same as the double page spread but different to the title making it obvious that the front cover is completely different from the contents page. This also means that readers will be familiar with this layout and text type. I also use 'Hamuburger Heaven' for the page information because as well as being in the 'Retro' setting like all the other text in the magazine, it looked the most informative and was easy to read.
The small print text in the bottom right corner is giving information from where the photo was taken. I used 'Diner' text as this is the same text used within the music magazine when there is narrative speech or when something is said by an interviewer.

Contents Page of my Music Magazine

Front Cover Comparison

I completed my second front cover using Pixlr express as this was the most easily accessible.
When comparing my original cover to my latest one I found that I had made adjustments based on what I thought needed improving and also the suggestions that my target audience had given.
The background I chose was from 'Olga' called 'Dragomir' as the colours chosen by the target audience were bold colours like purple, green and blue. I tried this however it made the cover too dark and although the text was still white, it didn't have the same effect as it does on this colour background. I wanted to interpret every colour that my target audience wanted so this effect was the most relevant as it had the bold colours but they were faded out so that the text was readable.
I used different text fonts from the section 'Retro' as they all suited the genre. I changed the title to "Groove" because I felt that this fit the genre and style of the magazine better as people will be able to guess what the magazine is about when they see the title. The font I used for the title is from the section 'Retro' called 'Madison Square' with the colour white because I thought this looked professional over a coloured background compared to Black, which didn't really stand out, which is necessary when on a news stand with various other magazines that could be the same genre. I liked the title and I got lots of positive comments about it.
The strap line is "The UK's most obscure magazine" and this is font is 'Diner'. I chose the colour black for this as I thought it was the most effective colour after I had tried others such as green, red and purple. I chose the word "Obscure" because it means unknown, which is equivalent to the information inside the magazine making people want to buy it because they will think there is stories and events that they were unaware of before.
I didn't want to have too much information on the front cover and I felt that on my first draft I had too much text. The text I did use was 'Madison Square', which is the same as the title so that it had the same house style and structure on the same page and I tried to use a minimal amount of text but still get the main information across and colours that were bright because they would be easy to see by passers by. Moreover, the text that is blue and orange are additional information to try and increase the chance of someone buying the magazine because of what can be found inside and not just the artist. On the original, the orange text was a quote from the artist, this wasn't as clear as the guitar in the background was a similar colour.
Furthermore, I liked the way the main focus was just on the artist and there wasn't any additional images around the main image, so I kept this for my final front cover as well. Also, I changed the position of the barcode as I wanted it to be on the back cover because it's unconventional and also makes the magazine look different from other magazines on a news stand.
The talent I chose was Sophia. This is because she fitted into the genre Indie/Rock due to her style. I thought the colours that she was wearing and the background colours went well together because her hair colour matched the beige as well as her top that had similar colours to the lower half of the effect.

Front Cover of my Music Magazine

Questionnaire

I asked five people from my target audience questions to help with designing the look and style of my magazine. This was their responses:

1) What colour scheme would you expect on an Indie/Rock genre magazine?

    Libby - Dark colours although, black and white would make the magazine stand out from other            magazines because of the bold colours.

    Georgia - Dark colours such as purple, blue, green, black.

    Becca - Navy blue, red, purple.

    Sylvia - Dark but they are vivid like purple, green, blue, red.

    Tori - Black and white with a coloured text.

2) I have decided to change the name of the magazine to Groove as it represents music better. Do you prefer it?

    Libby - Yes, it suits the genre.

    Georgia - Yes, it is different and quirky.

    Becca - Yes, you instantly know it's going to be based on an Indie genre.

    Sylvia - Yes, I love it! It goes really well with the design and the genre of the magazine.

    Tori - Yes, it's really cool. It's good because it's easy to remember because it's quirky.

3) Is there any font you would recommend using?

    Libby - Sans Serif because it suits the genre and will look good on the magazine.

    Georgia - Sans serif because it's not too informal but it's not formal either making it perfect for an   audience who are interested in that particular genre of music.

    Becca - Sans serif because none of the other types of fonts would fit with the genre.

    Sylvia - Sans serif because the target audience would find it simple and easy to read.

    Tori - You could use Serif because it's formal and would be unconventional making the magazine stand out on the news stand to any other Indie/Rock genre.

4) Where do you think it's best to place the cover photo? i.e in the centre/to the left or right.

     Libby - I think the cover photo would look best in the centre because that is the first thing that attracts the target audience and possibly other readers that don't usually buy the magazine but just buy this issue because of the artist on the front.

     Georgia - The centre but covering the whole front cover as a background to the text to give an Indie effect.

     Becca - The centre but with the artists head covering part of the title for an effect that makes the magazine seem popular due to them not needing to show the entire title.

     Sylvia - The centre so that it's easily noticeable by the target audience they are trying to reach towards.

     Tori - Have the artist mid shot in the centre with the background on the photo as the background of the front cover making it look more professional.

5) Would you prefer the main focus on the front cover to be the artist or the events/stories that are 

    inside?

    Libby - The main focus should be on the artist because that is what attracts most of the audience/buyers.

    Georgia - The artist but the events/stories mentioned on the front are important as well otherwise they wouldn't be on the front cover!

    Becca - The artist because they are usually on the cover if they are doing well at that time so they know more people will purchase that issue.

    Sylvia - The artist but with the text around the edge should be bold and in a clear font so people will be intrigued further by the added information.

    Tori - The artist because they will be the initial section of the cover noticed by the reader and this could be the first thing that determines whether they buy the magazine or not.

I have taken these responses into account when making my magazine because the people I chose to answer the questionnaire are in my chosen target audience, which is 15-25 year olds.

I have chosen dark colours that fit the genre specifications as well as some lighter colours to suit the artist on the cover and mentioned any interviews or events placed inside.

I have kept the title as it was praised by the target audience.

I have chosen to use a Sans Serif font to fit with the requirements from the target audience and also one that suits the genre.

Furthermore, the artist photo has been placed in the centre of both the front cover and the article because the reader is then familiar with what the magazine is based upon this issue and also allows readers who are unfamiliar with the name to recognise the artist by their looks and by doing this I have allowed the main focus to be on the artist to satisfy the target audience.