My cover USES the conventions of a real magazine because :

There is a large masthead positioned centrally at the top of the page

There is a strap line

I have included a puff in the sweet spot to incise readers, a popular generic convention of a music magazine as it immediately attracts the attention of the reader

My cover lines are appropriate and relevant to my target audience, using artists that are in the charts

I have included a gutter

I have stuck to a colour scheme of red, white, black and blue

Its clear that it is a music magazine due to the main

image of the guitar and the poster images of two

famous singers . The language used also

shows that this is a music magazine, the title of the

magazine and the strap line both connote musical

instruments and the cover lines used are about music

and concerts. The gutter also has music related articles for

readers. There is a barcode, date and issue number on the magazine

The main cover line anchors the main image and stands out more from the other cover lines on the page, making it clear that she is the main feature in the magazine. Similarly to the ‘Kerrang!’ cover, the main feature cover line is in a larger font and in capitals to signify that its the main feature.

I have included other images on the front cover offering free posters which is conventional of ‘Kerrang!’ magazine (see bottom left corner of ‘Kerrang!’ issue)

The image on the cover is over the masthead, a typical convention of magazines

My cover CHALLENGES the conventions of a real magazine because:

- I have slanted the ‘free posters’ text slightly which wouldn’t normally happen on a music magazine

- I have only used one font, usually there would be two or three. For example, on the front of this Kerrang! Magazine, there at lease three fonts

- It is less common for guitar magazines to have women on the cover and even less common for them to be smiling on the cover.

My cover DEVELOPS the conventions of a realmusic magazine because-I have used the word ‘chords’ and made it visualby my model holding theguitar, relating to theword ‘chords’

My contents USES the conventions of a real music magazine because:

It has been split into categories to it is easy to find what you want to read

Title is large at the top of the page

It has been thematically organised into ‘features’ and ‘in every issue’ which are typical titles of a music magazine

It is clear which articles are the features due to the highlighting, though admittedly rather heavy highlighting

There is a montage of images of different genders and ages appropriate to the target audience

The page numbers are over the images so readers can access the page easily

The main article has ‘cover story’ written on it so it is denoted as the main article as featured on the front cover

There is design continuity between the contents and cover- same colour scheme and font

Institutional detail (website) is included

My contents CHALLENGES the conventions of a real magazine because:

- I have used one of the same images for the free posters in the montage of images which would not normally happen.

-There may normally be editors notes which my contents does not have. For example, in the Kerrang! Magazine below, there are editors

- I have used a montage of images, whereas there might normally be one main picture and smaller mages around it like this example from ‘Q’ magazine:

Main, large image

Smaller image

notes at the top of the page

(I have encoded the montage of images as abundant and intense to gratify the needs of the target audience)

My contents develops the conventions of a real magazine because:

- I have continuity of colour- the blue red and white colour scheme, which may connote energy as well as patriotism) has been continued through from the cover page and developed this further by using the same colour scheme in the double page spread.

- The model holding the guitar on the cover is also in the contents, demonstrating continuity of design throughout the magazine.

My double page spread USES the conventions of a real magazine because :

In the main image, I have selected appropriate mise-en-scene by including the two guitars to show that this magazine is aimed at those who are fans of the pop genre, the acoustic and the electric connote the variation in her music style.

The title goes across the double page, a generic convention of a double page spread in a music magazine.

There is a by-line, making the magazine look more professional. A by line is typical in a music magazine, signifying who wrote the article.

There is detail about the artist that the feature article is on- when the CD is out

There is continuity of design from the cover and contents- same colour scheme and font

It has page numbers

The guitar acts as a structural device by bridging the two pages

My double page spread CHALLANGES the conventions of a real magazine because :

There are smaller images used as well as the main and they are placed in the middle of the two pages, rather than integrated with the text like the example to the right

There are no quotations from the article which might normally occur in an interview

There is not as much text in my magazine, it’s much less dense

There are no multiple entry points for my double page spread unlike the example to the right where there are multiple entry points

All of the photos, with the exception of one which is of Justin Bieber, are of girls. Because of this, my magazine represents middle class, white girls because all the images are of Caucasian musicians.

The middle class are the group most represented by my product. This is due to the clothing worn by the main model which is age appropriate and not too over the top.

My magazine also represents youth because all the images are of young people, relatable to teenagers who are my target audience.

Also, the fact that she has guitars show that she can afford things of a higher cost than those of the working class for example.

I think it represents them well because the model on the cover connotes confidence by looking straight at the camera but does not look intimidating. In the image on the contents page she is seen laughing and in the double page spread she is pulling faces in one of the pictures showing that she is happy and again, connoting confidence.

I think either Bauer or IPC Media could distribute my music magazine.

It could be Bauer because:-It is a multinational company and so has bigger funds and so the magazine has more chance of success-They already own ‘Kerrang!’ showing the successfulness of their magazines-Synergy could be used to advertise my magazine in ‘Kerrang!’ to help promote it

-It could be IPC Media because:- Like Bauer, IPC Media is a multinational company and so would have sufficient funds to distribute ‘Chords’ and ensure that it had success on the music magazine market- They already distribute magazines such as ‘NME’ which is a successful music magazine and so ‘Chords’ would be able to have similar success.

- Both companies have a significant segment of the market of teenagers with disposable income who could by the magazine.

- If the magazine was owned by Bauer then it would be sold in supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsbury and maybe WHSmith because these shops would get a lot of people going in and buying magazines.

-My target audience for my magazine was sixth form girls and a bit older, so girls aged between 16-18/20. - During the making of my front cover, I made a questionnaire to get audience feedback to get a better idea of what people thought of my magazine. Here is the questionnaire that I gave out:

• What age group do you think this magazine is aimed at?10- 12 13- 15 16-18 18+

• What gender do you think this magazine is aimed at?Girls Boys

• Do you like the look of this cover? What do you like?YES +reason NO +reason

• Do you think the cover looks professional? If so, why? If not, why?YES +reason NO +reason

• Do you think the cover image is effective for a music magazine? YES NO

• Would you pick up this magazine from the newsstand? If so, why? If not, why?YES +reason NO +reason

I put a competition incentive in the sweet spot which readers will see first, making them want to win whatever it is that is on offer

Informal mode of address and humours word play with puns, enigma codes and alliteration

The ‘free posters’ is in a different font, one that stands out more so it is more eye-catching and drawing readers in to want the free posters and buy the magazine

The ‘exclusive’ tag shows that readers won’t get information about this artist anywhere else and so they need to buy the magazine to see what it is all about

The clothes the model is wearing are simple, everyday wear and age appropriate which won’t intimidate readers, but maybe make them feel that she is more relatable to them

The language I have used is informal with a friendly tone

The main image of the girl looking straight at the camera connotes confidence and femininity and so will attract female audiences.

The poster pictures are of current artists in the charts now who are popular amongst teenage girls which will entice them to buy the magazine

I have learned how to use Photoshop and I am now more confident when using it. For example:- Cropping images and adding text over them- Editing the photos that I added, e.g. Removing red-eye and editing colour- Adding different text effects and putting text at different angles- Including shapes- e.g. For my puff on the cover

However there were some things I did struggle with on Photoshop. For example:-Putting the image over the masthead on the cover- Trying to move things because of the layers

For me, using a PC as opposed to an iMAC was much simpler to use as I am used to PCs and struggled with the design of the iMAC, e.g. No right click on the mouse

I also experimented with Quark which was an alternative to Photoshop and although I did struggle with Photoshop at times, I found it much easier to use than Quark

I also found that with some of the images I had taken, the quality wasn’t great, particularly the ones from the concerts I went to. I found that experimenting with the contrast of them helped with the overall quality and improved the way they looked on the front cover.

I have learned that a magazine cover must include certain things to make it look more professional. For example, a puff, gutter and strap line

There must be institutional detail included in the magazine which I did not include in my preliminary task but did in the music magazine e.g. Including a website

Preliminary Task Final Product

I feel that I have been able to use colours and text more effectively in my final product because everything is easy to read and the colours work well with the neutral background rather than the busy scene for my preliminary task.

In my preliminary task the main image was not anchored by any strap lines in particular. The final task has the image anchored much better as it is clear who she is due to the main strap line highlighted in red.

Also, by putting a puff in the sweet-spot it draws attention quickly and stands out more on the front page rather than just having writing like in my preliminary task

The masthead on my final product looks more professional as the model is in front of the masthead rather than the masthead covering her head.

I feel I have greater confidence when using Photoshop and can manipulate images and use different layers effectively when making the cover, contents and double page spread.