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.