Changes I made...

Adding more cover lines on the front cover so it was more interesting. The background of the front cover so it was more creative and with my own personal opinions and those of others, decided it looks better. The contrast of the image on the front cover has been made slightly lighter.

The text for my masthead as it thought it would be easier to read from far away.

Evaluation of Contents and Double Page Spread

Contents page – I decided to write the page numbers around the image as it looks more creative and original. I think that the colour of the page works well as it fits in with the rest of the magazine especially the front cover. However, if I was to do my magazine again, I would try out different  shades of blue to see if any of them work better. The colours of the fonts which I have used also work well together, I decided to go with just 2 colours of text, black and grey, as they can both easily be read on the blue background. I used only one main picture for the contents so there wasn’t too much going on and it was easily read. To improve this page, I would add more effects to the picture and blend it in to the background slightly.

Double page spread – for my double page spread, I decided to do an interview because in most magazine that I have looked at for my research, the main articles tend to be interviews. I decided to have one main image and little ones beside it just because I thought it looked creative. I kept the colour theme of a blue background and black text so it fits in with the rest of the magazine. I chose my text because it was easy to read and used ‘italic’ font to distinguish between questions and answers. However, if I was to improve this I would put the questions in bold to make it even easier.

Evaluation of Front Cover

My magazine has been designed for both males and females from the age of 13+. I think the cover fits the criteria. The genre that I chose for my magazine was ‘pop’. I chose this genre of music as from my research I found that all music magazines in this genre were more for younger kids instead of teenagers. Also the magazines in which are suitable for older people are more of the rock genre.

I am happy with the overall layout. I like the background picture of the sky because it is simple but effective.  The light blue colouring does not indicate whether the magazine is for males or females which I was aiming for.

The font of the title works because it is easy to read and stands out. Also, the fonts that I have used for the cover lines are bold enough to catch the reader’s eye.  I think that the different colour and font of the word ‘statement’ is very effective because you are immediately attracted to that word and know straight away what the main storyline is.

The size and positioning of the picture works well.  However, the actual image itself is too dark and makes the whole layout and front cover look a bit dull and boring. If I was to re-do a magazine, I would make sure that the exposure of the picture was right, not to light or too dark, before choosing it to use as my front cover image.  I think that the music note works well as it shows the reader that this magazine is not just another cosmopolitan or fashion magazine but it is a music based magazine.

Construction of my Front Cover

I originally took an image of a wall to use as a background of my cover as I was going to place an image of my model on top of this original photo. However, once doing so, I decided that although creative, I didn’t believe that it met my genre and was unsuitable for my target audience. I then decided to create a plain background for my cover as I thought it would be more suitable for my type of magazine.

Colour Analysis

Another important factor I had to consider was the colours I was going to use on my cover. Before I could decide what colours I would use, I looked at a few and analysed them. I found that some colours were hard to read and therefore they would not be good to use for large amounts of texts. Other colours were only easy to read depending on the background colour. From looking at these samples, I was able to decide that I would use black, white and red for the text on my cover. I picked these colours because I think that they really complement each other and they fit my 'pop' genre. The black and white are simple yet effective and red stands out, as it is bright and bold.

Starting My Magazine

The image I initally took to use on my cover.

When starting my music magazine was what image I would use on my cover. I decided that it would be a good idea to initially start by taking pictures of objects relating to music, I gave myself the genre of 'punk' as a starting idea to see what ideas would develop. I hoped that this would give me some indication as to what image I would like to use on my cover. I decided that I would like to use this image of the wall as a background and then overlay a picture of my model onto it. However, after creating this I then decided that I would rather have a plain block colour background with my image on top. I did this because I had then decided that the genre of my music magazine would be 'pop' and that this cover would be more suitable and appealing to my target audience.

Designing My Masthead

Once I had decided what colours I was going to be using it was time for me I create my masthead. I had decided to call my magazine 'pulse' and therefore wanted to find a font that what fit this title. I also wanted to ensure that my masthead stood out and was eye catching. It had to draw in my target audience but at the same time look professional and fit the rest of the cover. I decided that I would place my masthead at the top left of my cover as this is the best place for visibility.