Peer Assessment

The feedback which I received from my class was mostly positive, only with very few minor changes to be made. I find that these changes consisted of using more subheadings which relate to the feel and genre of the magazine, so this will be one of the first changes that I go along with, as in my opinion too, there aren't many stories about what is featured within. Another comment was about the masthead, so I am going to try and make that stand out more, without taking away the effective, retro theme of the font.

Target Audience

Name: Jennifer Watson

Age: 19

Jennifer has interests in many different types of music, ranging from metal to retro. I have chosen her as one of my main target audiences because I feel as though she'd be likely to buy my magazine based on the artists featured on the cover. She's a fan of Lana Del Rey for example, and Wheatus. She likes to buy magazines regularly as she's a fan herself of this element of the media, as well as watching science-fiction films in her spare time. I am also aware that she likes socialising with friends - when she isn't revising for exams or doing general college work - who may share the same interest in music or other media, and I know that she's a fan of vintage clothes shops, which ties in with my overall theme of my layout.

Name: Lewis Graham

Age: 18

Lewis isn't the typical sort of male who would go out on a night and spend money on alcohol; he's a hardworking student. Yet he still likes to socialise with friends when he can; at social gatherings at friend's houses or on a typical day out somewhere. I have chosen him as my male target audience because he has a vast interest in music and many different genres. If I were to pick an artist from my magazine in which he likes, I would definitely choose one like Biffy Clyro, as they have this original, sometimes quite heavy genre of music. Lewis is also a fan of 'old' music as well, and I have tried to add artists from the late 90's and so forth. I find that he'd be attracted to the magazine because of the retro appeal; its colour palette is simple attracting both genders, and I have tried to make the text and fonts appeal to male and female by not having biased words and elements within my magazine.

First Draft of Magazine Cover

This is my first draft of my music magazine cover, and overall I am rather pleased with this outcome so far. I tried to make the draft as professional as possible with my knowledge of Photoshop and other elements, such as the good quality of the cover model image.
I've went for a look of originality; in my opinion the cover looks rather retro and this is the theme which should occur throughout my magazine. With this vintage style, I've made the text similar to that of Slam Dunk Festival's, like I said I may use in my mood board. The colour palette of the cover is basic, yet I think this adds to the more original and 'old' feel about it. The main colour of red has also been tied in with the border of the title as well as the cover model's lips, which gives the magazine a sense of sophistication without looking too over the top with too many colours going on all at once.
In general, I obviously plan to make this cover far better and professional than what it is, so with this, I plan to obtain more knowledge of Photoshop, perhaps test out different images as the cover model and try out different texts and font sizes to perfect it overall.