Group 7

I have enjoyed creating my magazine and blogging as i have learnt new techiques as i have never blogged before or created a magazine. I feel that the task may have been easier if i had worked in a group but by working on my i have been able to interpret my own ideas and views whereas maybe if i was in a group you would't be able to put your own style into it as much and you would have to rely on others. I am pleased with my magazine as i have met my own expectations.
There were a few problems wihilst creating the magazine, as the blog spot was down for a while and kept on being unaccessable, this made it hard to keep up with my set out tasks and with keeping everything in order.
Despite thisi have expeienced a real insight into how magazines are created and the research that goes into it.

If i could change anything it would be for me to be more organised and use my time wisely, i shall take these factors into consideration next time. However over all i am satisfied with my final product!

I feel that i have achieved my goals that i set out at the beginning, i have interpreted Q magazines monochrome colours, but instead of using Red which i intended on using, the colour turned out to eventually be a pink/red colour. The colour changed as i experimented with the colours of the lips of the girl on the front cover, this was a main feature so the colour had to be bright. The red lips looked too unrealistic so i slightly changed the colour and added a hint of pink to them, however i had to then use the colour of the lips for parts of the text on the front cover and this was used throughout my magazine to keep the iconic monochrome style apparent. I was concerned that the pink colour would not appeal to some of my male audience, as the colour pink is stereotypically used as a code for feminine and young girls. I decided to use this to my advantage and make my magazine diverse and break away from conventions, so it would challenge what the 'norms' are for an edgy indie-rock magazine. By keeping the front cover image in a black and white tone it makes the writing stand out and add to the style i was aiming for, by having a strong image as the background and the pose hinting at rebellion not only determines the social group that may read the magazine but will appeal to males, so this may over shadow the fact the colour pink is used in the magazine. My colours used were a code for the genre of my magazine and it connotates the rebellious, edgy and 'dangerous' genre of the music as well.

I based my contents on my preliminary one, as i liked the layout. The editorial collumn added a personal touch and let the reader see who was behind the magazine, i feel that it made it more 'human'. By using bold headings it separated and made the layout of the contents clear and easy to read, underneath i used a slightly less bold print for the sub-headings which were the titles of what each section of the magazine had to offer and below that i used italics and the sentences explained in a bit more detail in what was in each section.
I tried to carry on the colours i used on the front cover through to the contents, like Q magazine designed theirs, i feel that this worked well and gave the magazine a professional feel.

For my double page spread i had nothing i previously done to base it on, however i researched music magazines to see their layout aswell as fashion magazines as i wanted the style of the interview to be sophisticated. I started with the image by spreading it all over the background and from that i then based the text around it. I decided not to put the title straight as i thought that would look too plain and obvious, so i changed it to be diagonal. The image was also in a black and white shade, to carry on the edgy style through from the front cover, however because of this i found it hard to choose what colours to use, as i wanted to use the colours that i used for the contents and front age. However my original text on the double page spread was white which i couldn't use as you wasn't able to see the text. After a couple of colour changes i ended up using a grey tone which was darker than the background which made it visible, i then wanted the questions to be in a slightly bigger font and colour, i decided to use a bright pink so it was clear and easy to see for the reader. This colour was the same shade that i used for the other pages.
The pose i wanted the girl to be in was sophisticated and classy, the image still appeals to the male readers but not in too much of a porovocative way. This strong image highlights the females views and her attitudes, in the interview she comes across independent as she is there without her band mates and the interview doesn't talk about her love life and she is also talking about her future, which shows that she is a strong and determined women. Her pose and costume is provocative but in a classy way which indicates that she is has respect and is a good role model for young girls, as in the media women are usually seen flaunting their bodies to get attention.