My preliminary task was to create a front cover and contents page for my school magazine and for me to then use the skills that I have just learnt there into making a front cover, contents page and double page spread for a new music magazine. In creating this we had to use Adobe Photoshop and having never used this software before, creating a school magazine was a good way to get familiar with it.

In creating the school magazine it gave us an understanding of not only the practical but what goes into making a magazine. So we had to consider things such as audience, genre, gender, and the purpose of the magazine. We also had to take photo’s so we had to understand shot types and what works best for specific magazines. In making this magazine I knew there was a lot of improvements before making my final product for a music magazine so I could pick out what I could improve on such as text and page borders to ensure that when I make my final product, it would be much better and far more realistic.

Also, prior to creating my final product I analysed magazine covers, contents pages and articles to see what elements were key in magazines specific to music. I also looked at theorists such as Naomi Wolf, Marjorie Ferguson and Blulmer and Katz uses and gratifications. So I had an understanding of the theory, the practical and the conventions of music magazines before creating my own.

Also, before creating my final product i had to

understand what ways are best to get market

research in order to get the best magazine for my

target audience. In my school magazine there was

a niche audience so it was easier to gather market

research into what to put into the magazine.

However, in the final product music magazine I

had a broader audience so a lot more audience

and market research had to go into this. I carried

out surveys for opinions and what people like in a

magazine to make sure my target audience were

getting what they wanted which also makes it

different from other magazines too.

Music magazine layouts are full and packed

Limited colour scheme so four at the most, along with the font types

Numerous sized fonts to draw attention to specific information

Terminology for features on magazines such as plugs, headers, banners.

Shot types and poses

House styles

The importance of market research and audience research and the ways in which to gather this information

The different types of content that we would see in magazines such as:

Language use, e.g slang

Social networking sites

Photos

Articles, reviews, quiz’s, competitions...

I can see a big difference between the

preliminary task of creating a school

magazine to the final product of a music

magazine.