Evaluation

For our Media assignment, we were told to produce the two front pages of a new music magazine, with a genre of our choice. The only rule was that only 2 found images were allowed for each, and the rest had to original, and taken by us. We were put into groups of 4 to decide the content of our magazine, the layout / design, and to take the pictures that we would need.
Our group, Amrita, Nasima, Lipi and me, decided that we would do a Pop music magazine, with an audience of 11-15 year old girls. The basic concept was that it would be a magazine used for promoting new up-and-coming artists; thus being the reason for Amrita and I being on the covers. To us, it seemed more realistic, rather than putting us on the covers and pretending that we were already big stars.
At the end of every lesson, we would write about the day’s work in an online blog. This was compulsory to the assignment, but it also helped us reflect back what we had accomplished, and let us see what still needed to be done.
As our magazine is a Pop magazine aimed at young teens, we needed to make it fun, affordable for their limited weekly pocket money, and also stand out from the other magazines when displayed with them on a shop shelf. We researched common themes/ideas used in Teen Pop magazines, and found that most of them displayed a plain background with a main picture of an artist, who was featured inside of the magazine. There was also a lot of writing, promoting competitions or freebies, and telling the readers what other stories could be found inside. We used these ideas when creating our own front covers. We decided that we would do monthly editions, with Amrita and Lipi creating one for May 2009, and Nasima and I doing November 2008’s instalment. Due to our magazine being sold in Autumn/Winter, we decided to use a dark purple background, as it is a cold, wintery colour – and yet still girly. The writing that we used was bold and fun, with bright colours bouncing off of the dark background, to attract the attention of the teens.
The Masthead that we decided on is “melody,” as we liked the reference to music, and it still sounded fun and girly. Our strapline is “Bring Out The Music In You,” as we felt that it fit well with the title, and also sounds like a catchy song from High School Musical (a film that most people of our target audience age category will have seen): “You Are The Music In Me.” We chose bright orange as the colour for these two elements, as they contrasted well with the dark purple of the background, and they really stood out, as they were eye-catching. We also added a web address at the top of the masthead, giving our readers the chance to interact with us via the internet. We wrote this in yellow, as we felt that we had used enough orange, and the yellow went well with the writing underneath the Hilary Duff picture, and the background on the Jonas Brothers picture.
The main central image was of a “new artist,” who’s first single had just been released, and reached the No.1 spot on the charts. Across the body of the artist, me, a banner displaying the words: “XCLUSIVE Interview With Lisa On Her New No.1 Single…” was added, with a quote from the interview: “Thank you all! I’m so grateful!” featured below that. “Exclusive” was spelt “xclusive” to identify with the target audience, as, with new technological programs such as MSN, words are often shortened or abbreviated amongst teens.
Like most Pop magazines, we offered freebies, such as posters of the ‘hottest pop artists’ of today. We also advertised many competitions, and chances to win prizes, such as tickets to pop concerts. We offered one reader the chance to win an iPod signed by the cover artist, and had her posing with the iPod as a way of proof.
We had a banner across the top of the page advertising games and music reviews, and a slanted banner running along the bottom, telling the readers of the other Pop artists that were featured in this issue (Justin Timberlake, Christina (or Xtina, as she is often referred to as).
As young girls and teenagers are big fans of Pop Boys (most of whom come from the Disney Channel), we added a picture of a band that is very much in demand at the moment – the Jonas Brothers. We knew that their faces would attract their legions of fans.
Before making the magazine, I had never used Photoshop before. Things were a bit of a struggle at first, but luckily, we had a teacher demonstrate the basics, and my partner, Nasima, was also a great help, as she had used it before and helped me a lot. I can now use basic Photoshop, and hope to soon learn more complex things. Some of the functions were a lot like Paint, which I have used before, and so some things were quite easy to figure out, such as how to draw shapes and fill them in with colour.
If I were to do the magazine again, I’m not sure there is much I would change, besides the central image. We’d still use the same person, of course, but I just think that a nicer picture could’ve been used. It would also help if we had more time, so we could Photoshop the actual picture, such as the skin tone, as I think it would make the magazine look more professional. No one buys a magazine if the person on the cover doesn’t have flawless skin. However, I am please with the overall finished product, as it turned out better than I first expected. We have met the criteria of a typical teen pop magazine, yet put our own little twist on it, with the idea of featuring and promoting probably previously not well known artists.