Magazine Evaluation

In many ways, our music magazine portrays the typical conventions of a real magazine. Its main cover image is a famous music group. The Masthead is bold and original, and the banner gives details of what can be found in the magazine. We also have used graphics, in the case to advertise the most well known faces that will make the reader more likely to buy it. Although we have used these key features, this is where the similarities end. We did not use any boxed text or a main cover line. This is clear to see, as there is not enough writing on the front cover and in some places looks empty. In many ways, the magazine challenges the typical conventions of what a music magazine should be. This is because of two things; our magazine includes all types of music and does not have lot of graphics. It is simple and gets the main information across. Many music magazines have a lot of information on the cover and when you buy it, it is never what you expected.
Everyone has a different social group. This is made up of a number of things like how they dress, what music they listen to and where their coming from. This is where our cover image starts to challenge typical conventions. This music group is made up of types of person, punk, Nu rave and better-known hip-hop loves. I would say that this social group is brought together because of their love of music. There is know set group you can place them in. Many people would say that this image represents young people as yobs and anti social. This image also shows how ridge society has made our stereotypes. On first glance, many would think that this group does not belong together. A real music magazine would never put a group of people together who didn’t look similar because they think it would not sell. Our magazine has developed an idea that the media are not willing to explore at this time, which also makes us begin to question how much the media influence how we feel about different groups of people.
Our magazine would be sold in newsagents and smaller independent music stores. This is because the main music industry would not get the idea behind our magazine. They like magazines with a simple message and a clear target audience. This is where our magazine would not fit in. Smaller independent stores would be a better place because they have a broader mind and are more willing to explore new things.
Our music magazine cover is for everyone, as the name says ‘The mix’. On the cover we had 5 people who looked very different. This was done to represent the different types of music. Our group wanted to show that all types of music can be united as one, and doesn’t have to be divided. The picture is taken outside in a neutral environment. This makes the reader feel more at ease as its know particular social group’s territory. On the magazine cover we also had a competition. Like in a real music magazine it’s designed to attract people, so that’s what ours does. There are also interviews with famous musicians.
Making this magazine cover has made me realize how much work goes into magazines in general. I found out that most magazines covers are made on Photoshop. This is useful because it has so many different functions, which include photo editing and interesting fonts. I found it hard using Photoshop. The most basic feature of a magazine cover like text was difficult. This is because there are many layers and you need to make sure that you are working on the correct layer or you could risk moving and deleting something else. The main thing I have learned is that making a good magazine cover takes time and you have to be patient. All the problems that I faced could have been prevented if I was familiar with using Photoshop.
If I were going to make another magazine cover I would practice using Photoshop before hand so that I wouldn’t find it so difficult to use. I would also look at more real magazines and analysis the cover more. I underestimated how much a magazine cover sells the magazine and how much work goes into the texts and graphics. I would add more texts to the magazine cover and I add another special offers such as competitions and freebies. Another thing I would do is re-think the positioning of some of the text to make it more aesthetically pleasing.