Magazine Evaluation

My magazine cover represents the hip-hop, rap and rnb listeners because that is in fact the theme of the magazine. The front page contains a top banner which informs the reader that the information they should be expecting is related to the 3 similar genres. Although it could be said that the younger generation is more likely and expected to buy this sort of magazine, some of the older public may also be interested in whats new. Since my magazine only comes out monthly, i think it will more likely be distributed in small, everyday-use shops such as corner shops or supermarkets. The magazine isn't really targeted at upper class people because they don't really seem to interact with such genres so the magazine is affordable and can be found locally. Due to this factor, I can suggest that my magazine cover is targeted more at a young audience, or those interested in the type of music information it regards. The public can be attracted to my magazine cover because it has a catchy name, and me and my partner made it stand out by giving it an opposite background color. The title is in gold, which could signify power or wealth. This can make the reader feel bold and controlling, despite the fact that the magazine is aimed at middle and lower class audiences. The title of the magazine is BOUNCE and in the top banner, there is a sentence which reflects upon the title using the verb 'bouncing'. This gives a unique effect because it brings the magazine into a real life situation in where the reader themselves, can be bouncing along with the magazine. In the progress of creating my magazine cover, I learnt how to use Photo shop. Although I had never used photo shop before, I am familiar with computers so there were some basics tools and buttons which I could and knew how to use. When I received the Photo shop introduction, I became more aware of the unique abilities Photo shop had to offer to create exclusive pieces of work. If i was to create another front cover, I would first develop my understanding and knowledge of photo shop to create one better than the one I created without an experience of having used photo shop.

Thursday 9th October

We started the lesson, once again, in t he MAC computer room. Nathan came to class late so I had to begin work on the front cover which was nowhere near complete. I began making duplicates of the microphone image which we first obtained and placed it around the page. I decided to make them into small sub-boxes where i would put small details about the contents of the magazine. When Nathan finally arrived, he didnt like the idea so we started again from where we had previously left off. We continued to gather ideas of coverlines to put on the front. The lesson wasnt very long so by the time we had completed setting out the page and thinking of cover lines, the lesson was soon over..

Monday 6th October

Prior to the lesson me and Sly were finding hard to implement our own pictures. We began to be unsure as to weather we even wanted to use them. We began opening the various pictures we had taken, cropping, rotating and then dragging them on to our front page. Out of the blue, i came up with the idea that we could be artist(Sly) and I(Producer), as the pictures we had could be portrayed in that way. I began duplicating and fading in both pictures. The lesson was successful as we were able to overcome a problem we had experienced from the start; using our own pictures.

Evaluation of BOUNCE girls edition by Vanessa

In what ways does your magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real magazines?
The magazine which was created by me and my partner Caz uses some conventions of a real magazine. For example it has a masthead BOUNCE , cover line WIN A FREE IPOD NANO and main cover image which is looking straight into the camera to attract and connect with the audience. However unlike some conventional magazines are one is somewhat different in the sense that it doesn't have a banner at the top or bottom of the page by doing this is challenges the conventional magazine . To add, our magazine doesn't have texted boxes instead we put an image on the front cover in a star shape. In the bottom left hand corner we used a home made bar code with the similar information which would normally be seen on bar codes for example it possesses the date , issue date and the price of the magazine. Also similar to some conventional magazines we used exclamation marks and slang language as a mode of address to engage the targeted audience.

How does your music magazine cover represent certain social groups?
Our magazine represents a certain social group because of the colours used in the magazine , we used pink in the title BOUNCE because we was doing a girls edition whilst Nathan and Sylvester targeted a male audience. Also the headphones and microphone on the front cover are also pink. Also i feel as though this magazine mostly appeals to the female audience because on the front cover it says All the latest gossip from the MOBO awards and gossip is mostly preferred by girls.

What kind of media institution might distribute your music magazine cover and why?
I think that the magazine would be best distributed by EMAP (East Midland Allied Press ) because it is a well known media institution with twenty of its local contemporary music radio stations based across the north of the United Kingdom and it has 59 magazines in its business to business portfolio which i think is good because people tend to buy a brand that is well known over a brand that is not quite known.

How did you attract/address your audience?
We attracted our audience by using bright and contrasting colours on our front page for example green and red. By doing this we hoped it would stand out on the shop shelves and make the reader want to buy and read on. Also we used some slang language drop the hottest track and rock the charts in the contents page to attract the mid-teens.

Who would be the audience for your music magazine?
I think that the ideal audience for our magazine would have to be mainly females ( however it may attract some males who love music and gossip) perhaps early teens to late teens. Also the audience targeted would probably have an interest in music such as r n b, pop or hip hop. They would also be students in full time education who buy the magazine to catch up with the latest gossip and new comers on the music scene. What would also appeal to them most would perhaps be the price because they would get all the ins, outs and exclusives from the music industry without having to pay a fortune. They would be an average teenager that goes concerts and parties whilst finding time to socialise with their friends.





Whilst working with Adobe Photoshop i have realised that a lot of time and effort goes into the making of a magazine inparticular the front cover because that is the page the reads see first and dertermines whether or not they buy the magazine. Also i learnt how to cut out images and put it on a different background and how to make a magazine look professional.

If i had to make another front cover i would perhaps plan before i got started rather than make it up as we went along. Also i would perhaps look at other magazine smiliar to the one i am making to see how theirs is done and see what to do and what not to do. I would also perhaps get more props in the images and make it look more realistic rather than just an ordinary image used on a front cover. Lastly i would have perhaps manipulated the front cover to make it look more attractive.

Monday 6th October

The register was taken and then we went straight into the computer room. Myself Sly and my partner Nathan began to work from were we left off. We began to insert pictures of ourselves onto the front cover but it took quite a while for us to be satisfied with the outcome. We started by opening the image in Photo shop and saving it as a separate file. This was to avoid ruining the original image which meant we wouldn't be able to work with it again. After this quick process, we used the Magic Wand tool to get rid of the unnecessary background in the image. This helped us to be able to blend the image into the front cover. After Magically making the backgrounds disappear from both mine and Nathan's pictures, Nathan had a sudden idea to duplicate the images and give an effect to the cover. We placed out images at the bottom of the page and made it seem as if we were working together in partnership as songwriter and producer. We then made it seem as thought the pictures were fading into the distance because as we duplicated them, and gave them a new position, we also added and sunbracted opacity from them. After it was completed to a good-enough level, we began thinking of the coverlines we were goin to have on the front cover. We could think fast enough and by this time, the lesson was over..

My Evaluation Of Our Music Magazine

Using photo shop was not new to me or difficult, but taking the pictures we needed to incorporate into our music magazine proved to be a challenge, and it showed. We struggled to find a picture suitable for our main cover image. Conventional magazines use main cover images that make sense of their main story and stand out, drawing their intended audience. Our magazine front-page challenged this. Instead of us relying on our main cover images, we chose to depend on what I was good at in photo shop. We went for a sophisticated and professional look illustrating the shift we noticed amongst Rap & Hip Hop Artists. We acknowledged that the “Hard Man Look” from the nineties and early 21 century had vanished amongst most of the leading Hip Hop/Rap Artists who are picking up the more respectable businessperson look. For example, P Diddy known for wearing baggy tracksuits in the nineties nowadays prefers to wear suits. We wanted to portray this through our magazine cover and therefore went for more dim but stylish colours in black and gold, instead of the usual bright colours. As a result, our magazine attracts the usual Hip Hop Lovers, as well as, those just looking for something stylish and respectable to read.

Moreover, although I must admit we did intend to use a main cover image, I believe our front page is still as attractive and eye-catching. We used a picture of Ashanti (a well-known artist) attracting readers and meaning our advertisement stood out. We also advertised her single as a (free) gift drawing in both Ashanti Fans and those just seeking a bargain. In addition, we also included our own images which took a lot of discussion between us, as we was not so sure as to whether it looked better with or without us. After fiddling around with our front cover and almost scrapping our front page all together and starting afresh, we had an idea. We thought that we could sell ourselves as new artists to the scene and entice buyers by leaving them with a quote from the interview, which they could read of inside the magazine.

I believe our Music Magazine would sell on any high street as it has the urban feel to it in the sense that we used ourselves, as well as, Ashanti. However, I also feel our magazine would sell in particular outlets in the city due to its classy and more modern look.

If I was to make another front cover, I think I would be more prepared and really think about the types of shots and pictures we would need for our front page. We took random pictures with us having no idea how we would use them or how they would fit in with our main sell line. Personally, I think I would take time out with my group jotting down what our magazine would be about and what we want our pictures to represent, instead of just taking pictures of the sake of it. However, they have been some positives to take from this. For example, I learnt that although we both thought differently about how the magazine front page should look, I learnt to compromise and our front page is a mixture of how we both imagined it to look.

Thursday 2nd October

A couple days after our photoshop intro, me and my associate nathan, began to practice our photoshop skills. Firstly, we began by searching on www.google.com for other magazines related to our genre to get a common idea of how magazines are set out. After browsing around for a while, we decided to focus on our magazines theme. We first used the Paint Bucket tool to make the background black. Then Nathan found an exclusive image of a microphone and placed it as the centre image on our front cover. We played around with the image and with some of the tools from our photoshop knowledge. With the gradient tool, we made the image stand out by selecting the colors to black and gold. This was effective because we then created the title which we also made gold. We decided to call our magazine BOUNCE. We thought this would reflect the contents of the magazine because it will keep the reader entertained. Soon after we adjusted both the title and main image into place, we created a banner which we placed at the top of the page. The banner read "KEEPING THE UK BOUNCING WITH THE LATEST IN RAP, HIP-HOP AND RNB". We made the word "BOUNCING" stand out by making it italic and changing its color to gold like the title and the image of the microphone. By this time, the lesson was done...