The document provides an evaluation of a magazine created by the author for a class assignment. The summary discusses the goals of appealing to alternative music fans, research on similar magazines, conventions followed like layout and number of images, challenges to conventions through font choice, intended teenage audience, and skills developed in photography, Photoshop and layout. The author concludes they are satisfied their magazine fulfilled the brief of discovering new music and bands while appealing to a broad young audience.

1. Magazine Evaluation In this evaluation, I will be discussing my brief and what I aimed to achieve from my magazine. Also I will be talking about my audience, the forms and conventions and the media industry as a whole. Finally I will evaluate my progress and conclude whether I believe I have been successful in completing the given task.

3. I chose this genre as I believed that I would be able to relate to it the most and I was most comfortable with the style of the writing and the layout.

5. I challenged the forms and conventions of the magazines in my genre by making my text a lot more futuristic, whereas the font of Kerrang! for example, is a lot more scattered and distressed, which reflects the genre of the magazine, however I aimed to create a timeless effect with my font choice.

7. The majority of the band content was probably leaning more towards the rock genre, however I did not specify in the magazine that it was a specifically rock magazine.

8. Teenagers are represented in the magazine as members of the band of the primary article. Teenagers are often represented badly so I decided to show that they are not all badly behaved. Their clothes represent their social groups, and the interview shows that they can be individuals.

9. I did not create sarcasm towards other social groups, however I did ask a question in the interview of the band were or were not ‘emo’. This could be classed as sarcastic towards other social groups, however it was not intended.

10. Social class is not relevant in my magazine, as the language is not particularly formal, however I believe that the readers would either fit in group D or group E.

12. If it was published by a larger company, it would have a better chance of achieving a higher level of readers as they would be able to provide advice and they would be aware of the techniques that are needed to make my magazine appealing to a wider audience.

13. A larger company would be able to gain a substantial amount of advertising revenue, and would also be able to use synergy to gain readers.

15. If I was being really specific about my target audience I would say it would be people in their late teens, of either genre.

16. I decided to attract this audience by using phrases on the front cover such as “ World Exclusive” and “ Best Gigs Ever”. The word gig, usually insinuates a concert, mainly for the alternative genre. I believed that this word would attract people that are interested in music as a whole, and not just a specific genre.

18. One of these is my camera skills. I learnt a lot more about angles and effects that could be used to maximise the potential of my images that I chose to use.

19. I also learnt how to use my Photoshop skills further also, and I managed to improve my cutting out skills, as can be demonstrated on my front cover and also my contents page. I used the gradient tool on the contents page to demonstrate that I was familiar with it.

20. I also frequently used the free transform tool, which meant I was able to angle my images slightly to give the style a slightly more random feel, to go along with the house style of my magazine.

22. Step 2 – Using the eraser tool, cut out as much of the background as possible.

23. Step 3 – Using the quick selection tool, highlight the people.

25. The fonts of my preliminary task do not particularly fit in with the genre, and I realise now that I would edit these if I was able to change them. I have also realised that one of the images is not of a very good quality, and also the quality of the editing was not good enough.

26. These are the things that I would change, however the rest I am pleased with.

29. I believe that this is reflected in the style of my images, in the fonts that I use, and also the colours. The red, white and black font colours are simple and appeal to both sexes, but they are also attention drawing. The background also helps to create a neutral feel.

30. I like the layout of the pages and how I manage to involve a substantial amount of text, without making the pages seem crowded. I managed to include everything I wanted to say also. I like the layout of contents page and my front cover also.

32. “ I like the way that the font used on the front cover draws attention to certain articles.”

34. “ The front cover could be changed slightly, maybe using a different image, so more features could be included without covering the main image too much.”