Music Magazine Evaluation

Our focus was to create a music magazine on a specific genre. We called our magazine ‘Generic’ which is based on ’rock/pop’. These ideas were brainstormed on a large sheet of paper to develop our ideas further. After choosing our magazine title and genre, we began to discuss in pairs of two how our front cover will look like. We included the masthead, graphic, main cover image, cover lines, bar code and strap line. This was to emphasise our magazine into further details and make it proportional to the overall magazine.

The ‘Generic’ magazine shares the same similarities just as a normal one would look. It contains all the same features such as the font styles, FREE eyeliner, free gig tickets for 10 readers and an exclusive interview with The Gossip. This is usually what a typical magazine would have. Our magazine is not clearly the same as other ’rock/pop’ magazines as the font, layout and the way it is presented has its own style. There are many different types of fonts in various colours being used including green, white, yellow and dark blue. The title ‘Generic’ in dark blue is big, bold and catches attention because of its abnormal colour. It has cover lines on the left side and a few on the right which gives a glimpse of what updates the celebrities are into.

The magazine cover represents a rock/pop group which allows people to be part of the rock/pop culture and the way they live their lives. It gives a personal insight of how young adults can portray themselves into something unique or different. Although we are based on a rock/pop side, we are lacking a sign of a lot of black make-up with red lipstick or white powder on the face. This means that in today’s society nearly everything can be re arranged into a certain degree. Most important, the target audience for the magazine is mainly based for young adults who take interest in rock/pop. Perhaps if they enjoy playing the electronic guitar or maybe the influence of rock/pop bands itself. This can lead its role of becoming an easy yet simple to read magazine.

In addition, I feel that any newsagents or supermarkets such as Tesco, Sainsbury and so on will distribute our magazine. In these stores they also sell other types of magazines with different genres, newspapers and books. Therefore, ’Generic’ can be part of this section too. We can also advertise and sell our magazine online as it states ‘Exclusive interview with The Gossip’ this is practically a video clip of them where buyers will be interested to watch, which leads them to subscribe to a weekly delivery of the magazine by post.

Moreover, the target audience has not yet been decided but I think it ranges from 16 years old and above. The title of our magazine called ‘Generic’ can give a big impact of the overall magazine attractiveness and the picture of ‘Coldplay’ can address our audience in a number of ways. It will want them to read more about the free tickets for 10 readers to ‘Coldplay’s’ gig but also the main cover image which can be seen as persuasive.

Most significantly, I have learnt about using the CS3 more professionally and how each of the tools on the side bar works. Before starting this, we have been through the basic of using the crop tool, magic wand, lasso tool, rectangular marquee tool and so on. As we moved onto creating the actual front cover, CS3 became easier to use and understand. It was a lot more clearer as each lessons passed by CS3 seemed more fun and creative, where we just had to put forward our ideas then project it through how we wanted it to look to convey our target audience.

In conclusion, if I had to make another front cover I would choose the genre ‘Classical’. This is because I have done studies on this genre previously and have basic knowledge about the insight of Classical music itself. Classical music refers to the mainstream music produced in the traditions of western liturgical and secular music. In other words, classical can include religious or scared music being played by a number of instruments. More on the secular music side, this can include the following love songs, political satire which is gaining entertainment from politics using political cartoons, dances and dramatic works. Instruments such as the drums, harps, recorders and bagpipes were used in secular music because they were easy to travel around with. Even though there were good and bad points about the magazine it was sorted out after having a few discussions. Overall, I have fully enjoyed myself creating this music magazine front cover and I am glad that we have managed to finish it in a certain amount of time.