MastheadMy masthead is quite rough and deteriorated, this is to appeal to the social groups targeted by the magazine and also gives the reader a representation of the music it has in it; Metal music which is usually associated with this rough, grimy look.Left thirdShow’s my cover lines I’ve chosen white on black style which I have seen in other magazines such as Kerrang and NME to make it stand out.

Barcode and Price.My price is based on my initial survey results shown on my reader profile.

Main Image

Shows my artists featured on the DPS, I think this represents my images well as it gives the feel of being double sided and schizophrenic. Due to the method in which I have presented them it is recognizable

that they are a double act.

Lead articleMaintains the house style whilst using Thorn’s logo which I created. The logo is also deteriorated and gives the ‘metal’ feel however in a different way to the masthead.

Mini mastheadShows the masthead but smaller to show the magazine throughout it.

Main imageI chose to use this image as I feel it’s a sophisticated, raw image that gives the gritty edge I want in a sleek way. This image is actually of a horse’s skull I took when exploring the angles of it and the images which could be created.

ArticlesI think my articles are displayed in an easy to read manner which connects with the tonality of the image. The colour used is also reoccurred through the magazine with the logo of the band and the artist’s hair colour is also similar. One reason as to why I displayed my articles and page numbers like so is that I felt it recreated the gig t-shirts which on the back show the different places and dates of gigs.

Band LogoI put the band logo here as when the DPS is shown in full I felt that it balanced the page whilst giving the necessary information.

Main imageI think this image suits the text in the DPS; it is playful whilst giving an honest representation of the artists and show’s their personalities. I decided to cut it out using this edgy, sharp angled effect as it again reflects the artists whose music I imagine to be edgy and sharp .

StandfirstI think my standfirst is quite good at introducing the article as it connotes that the band are returning after a break, have a new album and due to the quote ‘ready to rock your world more than ever’ it is suggested that they were previously thought highly of and also suggests that they’re even better than their previous reputation.

Secondary imageI chose to slightly hide this image as I wanted to add more colour to the page whilst also including another image. The text boxes are slightly transparent to allow the image to be viewed. My teacher asked me why I had chosen to cover the image as he felt it was a good use of photography however I wanted to as I feel that in this magazine good photography is expected and each page would be a delight to the eyes so one image wouldn’t be too missed, also I feel it is still quite visible due to the slight transparency of the text boxes.

Display of textI chose to display my text in three identical columns as I felt it kept the sophistication of the house style. It is also quite minimalistic meaning the page doesn’t become over complicated.

Album presentationI didn’t make the artist’s album a large centre focus of the article as I think the article speaks more about the actual artist than the new album. However by surrounding it in the darkened area we do draw enough attention to it for it to be noticed.

How does your magazine represent particular social groups?

I feel I have represented my music group to be an experienced, youthful group that have achieved much and are very playful however have a serious side that’s passionate about the music they play. The reader’s of my magazine I feel are represented in a much more mature manner than they would usually be. Teenagers have a reputation at current as anarchists who just rebel all the time and cause havoc on the streets, I think my magazine aims to show a softer side to teenagers whilst still maintaining their interests.

What kind of media institution might distribute your magazine and why?

I think my magazine would be distributed by bauer media, as these distribute kerrang and mojo which are also an alternative music magazines so suggest this distributer would be interested in my magazine type. I would also consider distributing it via issuu.com however I don’t think this method brings as much public interest or reach as many people as I would like my magazine too.

Who would be the audience for your magazine and why?

My magazine is targeted at 16-24 year old ‘metalheads’ who are a more mature in character than the common stereotype and care about reading stories which connect them with the artists and their music rather than being overly concerned with image and gimmicks. This is also why my magazine is minimalistic in style as this helps it to get straight to the point without distracting, over-colourful imagery but rather good quality photographs which show the personality of the artists and the music style they represent. My magazine was originally aimed at women rather than men and although I think there is a slight element of this still, the magazine is quite unisex in character and would be suitable for either.

Feedback on my blog.

Audience feedback

Survey feedback

Feedback evaluation

From my feedback I can see that the overall impression of my magazine is a good one. 100% of feedback suggest that it has a recognizable house style, find my contents page easy to navigate and would buy my magazine, this suggests to me that the magazine is successful as these were three area’s which I felt were important when creating my magazine. It has also been recognized as being an alternative magazine by all quiz takers, another important area for me. In regards to the suggestions as to how I can improve my magazine I agree with most of the comments made for example : using a wider range of models in the magazine is a good idea however as I was only showing the cover, contents page and DPS from the magazine I had no opportunity to as I had always intended my contents page to show an abstract arty image, and again the suggestion to include more information of the articles on the front cover was not suitable to my magazine as I intended a minimalistic house style and to reflect a band gig t-shirt in the contents page.

What have you learned about technologies?

I was previously quite confident in Photoshop however I feel this project has given me a chance to strengthen these skills and become more confident with them still. I have been able to go into further depth with Photoshop and learnt some techniques that I previously would not have been aware of, for example I learnt how to use the history brush tool to pick out certain area’s and have colour specifically in these area’s, this is a useful technique for making that particular part of the image an impact and drawing the reader’s focus towards it.

What have you learnt?

I have learnt the various techniques that magazine creator’s use, such as using imagery that reflects the bands image rather than a just random imagery of the band in daily life, they use images which show the characters made for the band and cater to the specific area of music that the band target. I learnt about the generic features of a magazine and how these help to build the overall image of the magazine. I learnt how using specific brands, images, styling and artist’s affects the magazine’s style and the audience interested in it. One thing I found difficult in my magazine was to target it towards women, I now feel it does not overly show this and through producing the magazine I learnt how difficult it was to present a magazine to specific genders without falling into the cliché reputations of girly girls and I found it difficult to show this in a metal magazine.