Photoshop practice

To familiarise myself with the software I will be making my magazine with, I have practiced some techniques and skills using this photo on photoshop.

This was the original image which I later manipulated on photshop

I used a number of diffrent photoshop tools and techniques to manipulate the image. First I used the zoom blur tool to make the background apear zoomed out and hue/saturation tool to make it stand out. The second Image I used the laso tool to selct the band out of the picture then replaced the background image with a picture of the desert making the band apear in the desert.

conclusion and analysis questionnaire data

I recently created a questionnaire to gather information about current music magazines the audience expectations and their preference regarding these music magazines. The questions I created were specifically designed to help me understand what people liked about existing music magazines and therefore what their preferences would be regarding my magazine.

My first question (what is your gender?) although may seem to be an unnecessary question by knowing the gender of the person I can evaluate how they answered in comparison with that of a person of different gender. This information will then be useful when deciding dialect, photographs and colours used in my magazine. Although there is a larger proportion of Male results the difference is not significant and I must therefore tailor my magazine to both male and female audiences.

My second question (how old are you?) will also determine my target audience and how I will tailor my magazine towards them. From the table I can clearly see that there was a much larger number of participants aged 17-20. This will have a big bearing on the actual content of my magazine which bands Interviewed, graphics, pictures, colour, most things will be affected by the age range of the target audience. Although I will not discourage readers that do not fall into this age range I will from now on cater my magazine towards age 17-20 they are now my target audience.

Another Important question I should note was "what genre of magazine do you buy?" in which the results were a mixture of indie and metal but mainly rock was chosen therefore confirming my chosen genre is stable and well supported enough for me to continue with it. The next question confirmed this also (what magazines do you buy regularly?) the results being mostly Q, NME and Mojo all British rock based magazines.

The next two questions I posted was important in deciding the content of my magazine once I have made it:

• What do you like about this magazine?



• What would/do you like on the double page spread?

The question what do you like about the magazine got a multitude of different responses, I gave 5 different options for people to choose this graph displays those choices (multiple answers could be chosen by one person)

As you can see from the results the most important factor for people who took my questionnaire in deciding on a music magazine is information and reviews. However all the choices I gave got votes suggesting all these things are important, in essence people just want the magazine full of content 'more bang for there buck'. I did give the option for people to give there own suggestions about what they like in music magazines but got no response from this. Another important thing to note is Layout and house style was a strong choice and I will therefore need to be careful and spend time ensuring I layout and follow a regular house style when making my magazine.

The question what would /do you like on the double page spread? also got a multitude of different responses.

The Most voted for was gigging guide however artist interviews and album review were also highly rated I will be choosing one of these as content on my double page spread.

In conclusion the Questionnaire has been very useful in providing me with information which I will use in making decision on the magazine design and content. By finding out what people like about existing products I can produce a well rounded product which appeals to my target audience and for some people will be an improvement of some existing products.

with more time and more participants my questionnaire could have returned better results perhaps the last of my questions

Is there anything you would change about the magazine of your choice?

this question had the potential to spark a completely new idea which I could have used in my magazine. However as it stands the Questionnaire was successful in allowing me to gauge the success of existing magazines and find out what people want from mine.

Analysis of Rythym double page spread

Rythm double page spread is layed out quite casualy maiking the Interview apear more informal. The article follows a house style blue red and white, most of the page space is filled with pictures and text making it apear jam-packed ensuring the reader is drawn into the article.

Analysis of NME contents

contents page is laid out quite basic not much text mostly pictures promoting the contents of the magazine and making the reader want to read on. Contents is split into sub-headings - news , album reviews, gigs enables the reader to quickly locate specific information and find out more.

Analysis of Mojo Contents

Mojo like most magazine contents is Relatively plain, keeping with the house style the page is mostly filled with pictures and small snipets of information about the content of the magazine.

Analysis Kerrang double page spread

The page is layed out in a very stuctured way, all the pictures and article text are symetrical, only the title and sub-titles as well as the Buzz words are not proportioned, this helps to make them stand out and apear more important.

The article has found a balance between a sizable article about the band, puffs and other information and pictures this ensures the reader has a good amount of inforamtion to read about the band yet they are not bored with unessisary details. They are kept hooked by the pictures Bold Title and buzz words.