Question 7: My progression

Preliminary task

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.

What was good about creating a school magazine?

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 six and page borders to ensure that when I make my final product, it would be much better and far more realistic.

Before creating final product

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

What I’ve learnt: 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

What I’ve learnt:

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...

Looking back at my work I can see a big difference between the

preliminary task of creating a school magazine to the final product of a music magazine.