NME magazine is also another popular music magazine. There is not much information on this magazine cover, I find it quite boring however people who are committed to buying it every week would not think it was boring. The main image is a picture of a singer La Roux. La Roux is quite new to the music industry, this is shown in her face as her face has been edited to look clean, fresh and new. For example the teardrops down her eyes have a sparkle on them like they are new and shiny, her eye make-up also looks fresh also because of the fact it is blue. Water is represented as the colour blue therefore is another reason why she is fresh and clean. The idea of her being new and fresh could also be the idea that she is rather different to any other pop star, the way she dresses and the way she does her hair and make-up. The top she is wearing is kind of shell like which could represent her coming out of shell to become a pop star.

The mast head is the name of the magazine which is NME. The colour of the mast head is red, the colour red is a quite passionate colour therefore it could mean they are passionate about their magazine. The font of the mast head is quite big and looks like it has been stamped on the page. This draws readers in because its like the producers are telling them you must see this, kind of like a letter which has IMPORTANT stamped on it. The producers being passionate about their magazine is also shown in the cover line at the top right of the magazine, it says ‘special magazine, the future of music’ they make their magazine sound the best out of all of the music magazine. The fact it says ‘special issue’ also draws the readers in more too because it obviously has some information in that is exclusive or it could mean the magazine is bigger that certain week.

The main cover line relates to the main image. ‘Starring LA ROUX, I’m a whole new kind of pop star’, this catches the readers attention especially if they are a fan of La Roux because inside the magazine there is going to be some sort of interview with LA Roux and because of her being a new pop star people will want her to know about her and what she is like.

Another cover line which is just like a main cover line is ‘The future 50, the bands, the artists, the innovators’. This cover line doesn’t really make much sense for example the future 50, the bands could mean the 50 bands in the future however the reader could be left asking, future bands for what? Or how do the producers know what the next 50 bands are going to be? That’s why it is a good cover line to catch peoples eye and make them want to buy it to enable them to find about these future 50 bands. Also the cover line is big and the best bit of information is the part that is in a big font this catches peoples eyes.

Just in front of the mast head is a circle with a cover line inside it which talks about ‘exclusive, arctic monkeys new secret single and how to get it’. The positioning of this cover line catches the readers eye as it is right in front of the mast head which is one of the first things that the reader looks at. Also the reader will feel more obliged to buy it as they can find out how to get this new single exclusively, which could mean that hardly anyone else will be able to get it unless they buy and read this magazine.

At the bottom left corner of the magazine is another cover line which says ‘plus’ then says four artists/bands names, the reason that these names are at the bottom of the magazine where they are not noticed as much as some of the information on the magazine could be because they are not as popular or good as the other artists mentioned in the other cover lines. Also the font and colour of the cover line is rather boring and small therefore that is one of the reasons it is not noticed as much as the others.

The price, and date/issue number of the magazine is just underneath the cover line about arctic monkeys single however it is quite hidden, this could be because a lot of the readers of this magazine buy the issue every week therefore already know how much the magazine costs.

This magazine cover obeys the conventions of a music magazine it has the price, bar code, cover lines, main image, mast head and main cover line, however I think it is rather boring therefore it could have some more interesting information and add a bit more colour.

Analysis of front cover

Q is an institution and also is the UK’s biggest selling music magazine and the world’s best music guide. It is published monthly within the United Kingdom however does get sent out to other countries e.g. Spain for foreign tourists. This magazine is aimed at males and females, young and the older generation. The mast head is the usually the name of the magazine and in this case the mast head is the title of the magazine. It is the biggest font of text within the cover therefore stands out from the rest of the text. The colour of the mast head also makes it stand out as it is a white capital Q on top of a red square which contrast each other. The reason why they chose the colour red for the masthead could be because red is a passionate colour which means they are passionate about their music inside the music magazine. Also the font of the mast head makes the Q look very classy which also could mean the information inside the magazine is classy. In the left hand corner of the mast head is a sort of cover line which states that there is a ‘196 bumper page inside’, this attracts the reader to the magazine as the reader knows they will be getting their moneys worth as there is extra information and gossip.

Just in front of the right side of the mast head is the main image, the main image is of Madonna. Madonna is known as the best-selling female rock artist of the 20th century which could also add to the fact that’s she is slightly in front of the mast head as she could think she is too good or better than Q magazine. The picture shows Madonna slightly hiding behind her hood. This represents her as shy and doesn’t usually appear on the front of magazines. She is represented with her body/skin covered up with clothing for example her hands are mostly covered up with gloves which could insinuate she doesn’t like to reveal herself to the public that much and likes to keep herself and life private.

The main cover line is also about Madonna therefore the main image and the main cover line connect together. The main cover line is in big capital, red bold letters which stands out from the rest of the magazine, because of the main cover line being so big it could mean that she doesn’t usually appear on magazines like this and it is something big for the magazine and would interest lots of the readers. Also the fact that main cover line is red could mean the magazine is passionate about Madonna especially with her being so well known and loved by the world.

In the top right hand corner of the front cover are some cover lines. It states that inside the magazine there is information about certain celebrities ‘Arctic monkeys-in a club’. These three cover lines are also in red which could insinuate the meaning of passion for the artists again. Another cover line Is underneath the mast head on the left side of the magazine cover with some big artists/bands/ groups and underneath their names it says ‘all interview’ this is good as the reader knows the magazine doesn’t just interview one of them it is all of them and they are a selection of genres of music so can suit a variety of people.

At the bottom of the page there is a cover line that says ‘free inside!-70 page special, women in music’ This is good to attract readers as they will know they are getting their moneys worth as they are getting extra information free, it is also good because it is aimed at women however this could seem biased towards men. Also below this cover line it states 7 of some well known artists therefore readers will be more willing to buy the magazine as there is artists that are quite well known instead of some that are not that well known which can be boring.

I think this magazine obeys the conventions of a music magazine. It is jam packed full of information which draws the reader in to buying it and is also colour which catches the readers eye. Everything is in the right place and can be seen the box which contains the bar code also includes the price of the magazine, the issue number and the website for the magazine. This is a lot of information packed into one box itself.

Main task
The brief: Using DTP and an image manipulation program produce the front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine.
All images and text used must be original(a minimum of four images).

Evaluation for college front cover.

I started with the idea that I wanted my magazine to be about a secondary school. This was because I wanted it to show how good the school grades where for the previous year to give parents of the year 7 some more encouragement in how their child will do at the school. Therefore my target audience was pupils parents especially the year 7 parents.

My picture I used was of a year 7 pupil which was to give the idea that the year7 have already settled in at secondary school considering they had only been there for a couple of days. The picture shows the pupil with a big smile on her face. The picture shows that the child is bothered about her presentation (what she looks like for school) as her hair is scrapped off face and her uniform is neat and tidy so she looks smart. The pupil in my picture has a piece of paper in her hand which could make the audience think that she is a pupil who has just got her results as that’s what the front of the magazine offers inside and she has also got a big smile on her face which could mean she is happy with her results. I wanted the piece of paper to represent her introducing herself maybe as part of a class task for her first week which could link back to the fact that she has a big smile on her face, the other pupils at the school do not make her feel uncomfortable and she is able to speak in front of them about herself.

I wanted my magazine to be about one certain school therefore I chose my old school, South Hunsley. I used their logo too, I think the logo has quite a bright blue colour to it therefore it stood out quite a bit.

At first the font I used for the masthead was the same as the font for the cover lines which didn’t make it stand out as much because it just looked like an extra cover line, therefore I used the font I have got now because it looks like someone has stamped it onto the page which is very eye catching. It links to what the masthead also says as it is very short and snappy ‘hunsley updates’! I like the red against the blackness of the pupils jumper and the colour also stands out on the white background too however the main cover line is not as noticeable as the cover line, therefore the cover line looks like the main coverline. At first my main cover line and cover line were too long and not snappy enough, the length of them also made the cover lines and the masthead very close together which didn’t look good as everything looked too cramped together. So I changed it to some snappy shorter cover lines.

I used a bar code in my magazine cover which isn’t doesn’t normally occur in college/school magazines as they are normally free of charge however to make my magazine look more important as if there were more important information in it than other magazines I decided to put the bar code on. The date is just under the logo in the top right hand corner which makes it easier to see.

Problems I had with making my magazine cover was deciding what fonts to use and what cover lines to use however creating my mood board help me the decide them issues. I think I have obeyed the conventions of a magazine as much as I can however more cover lines could have been used on the cover to make it slightly more exciting.

This is my finished front cover for my college magazine.

This is my omputer draft for my contents page.

This is my computer draft for the front cover of my college magazine.

Above are my hand drawn drafts for my college magazine. The conjtents and the front cover.