Magazine Evaluation

My group decided we would make a Grime magazine front cover. My magazine cover is of a very simple design. The main cover image is of me sitting on the floor in a corridor of my college. My back is leaning on a blue wall and there is a painting on the wall next to my left shoulder. I am wearing a blue and gray striped jumper with a hood, gray tracksuit bottoms. I am wearing a pair of big style over-ear headphones with the wire coming down from them to the pocket on my jumper. The story with this image reads: ‘Charmy returns to us after his amazing lord of the MIC’s victory’ the words them selves are done in white lettering but just to make it stand out more the same words are behind it slightly more to one side in black lettering. This is also the front covers main cover line. There is a barcode positioned on the bottom right of the front cover, with the price over it 2.99. The masthead is the magazine title ‘Streez Sound’ in bold red lettering. In the bottom left of the magazine is the CD case of a grime mix tape, next to this image is a black graphic circle advertising the giveaway with the words:’ Wretch 32’s 1^st mix tape exclusively free give away!!’ in white lettering. To the right of the front cover underneath the magazine title is a photo of a performing grime artist in a black background and black t-shirt. The story that goes with this photo is: ‘Kano talks to us exclusively to us about the release of his 1^st independent release: 140 Grime St’. This lettering is in black lettering and is the same size fonts as the main cover line although they are contrasting colors. All the text on the page is center aligned so it all looks similar, the only variation to this is the Masthead, which is in another font and with red lettering and larger then the rest. The most noticeable pieces of information missing from the front cover are that there is no issue number this is the 2^nd edition to the magazine, and also there is no strapline, ours would have read: ‘The Wikipedia of Grime - www.grimepedia.co.uk’.

My front cover sticks with the original conventions of music magazines. The front cover uses only a few of the original conventions of a magazine like the use of the masthead, main cover line, a graphic to highlight a special offer. The only thing my front cover does is have all fonts on it the same size instead of the main cover line being in the 2^nd largest to the masthead, instead the main cover line is just doubled in font containing white and black lettering. Another way my magazine challenges the usual style of music magazines is by only having three different attractions/stories on the cover instead of being stuffed full with the usual stuff of magazines which normally have on them advertising different ideas.

My magazine represents the youth social groups from ages 10-19 but then also those that listen to UK garage/grime/rap. So the age range will vary with the different social groups but it will mainly represent those of a younger generation who listen to a more up to date listening taste, also those who like to hear about the areas people live in and their experiences.

The type of institution that would distribute my music magazine cover would be mostly the larger music specialist store’s like HMV, and stores like WH Smiths, Borders and Woolworth’s. These stores would distribute my magazine front cover because Grime is not yet a well known music genre so other stores will not want to take on a magazine type that may not sell as well as more known music types.

The way in which my magazine front cover attracts the attention of the target audience is by promoting to of the most influential Grime artist Kano & Wretch 32, and their newest releases out. To followers of the grime scene this will make them want to read more. The mention of Kano on the front cover will also entice other music listeners because he is not only big over here but also in America so he varies from grime and also does us rap so the mention of him will draw in more types of music listeners.

The process of making the front cover was a long one. Getting used to the different functions Adobe Photoshop uses takes long so for the front cover to be looking its best you will need to take extra time to ensure everything is to your liking. Using these technologies makes you realize how hard it is for people who have jobs creating magazine front covers for big companies, but using these technologies they can keep on producing these high quality pieces of work.

If I were to make another front cover I would ensure that I had all of the normal conventions of a magazine on them e.g. cover lines banners and others. I would chose a different music genre-one with a larger range of stories to report on. And finally I would spend more time working on the front cover.