After creating the basic front cover with an image, barcode, price, date and masthead I added the cover lines. I found that it was easier to research current music news than create my own because this made it less difficult to write about them. However, this did make it harder to do the photography side of the magazine as it meant i needed to replicate the style specific to that artist. Despite this the task was not too dificult. Below is my final finished front cover complete with coverlines etc. I think my cover looks quite professional and, generally, everything stands out as it should. To help the masthead and cover lines stand out from the background image I blurred the background (using photoshop) this made the background appear plainer therefore making the copy stand out more. I chose a colour theme for my cover - red, black and white. I believe this emphasises the copy and gives it a more professional feel because if there was a large variation of colours then the front cover would appear cluttered. To make my magazine appear conventional I have made use of the left third for the positioning of my coverlines to help organise it and to add an unconventional touch to this I have made parts of the main image black and white. This adds a sense of mystery to the image whilst at the same time providijng a plainer backgrounf to emphasise the coverlines, masthead etc.

Overall, I am very pleased with my music magazine front cover and I think it would attract the eyes of shoppers passing by if it were on the shelves ready for selling.

The next thing I did was start on my music magazine front cover which I did on photoshop, I entitled it 'EUPHORIA', I called it this because of the exilerating feeling you get when your performing on a big stage. The genre I have chosen is indie/rock. Below is a first draft of my magazine without any cover lines on it. I have chosen to go with a font that appears to be representitive of classic rock/indie rock music such as The Beatles. I have backed this up by use of the image I have chosen; the hair style and clothing of my subject has a very retro feel about it, I have used photoshop to create a partially black and white layer over the top - I think this adds a certain unique quality about my front cover and the black and white mixed with colour is also a representitive of older rock bands from the past when colour photography wasn't quite 'up to scratch'(this ties in with the font type I have used as it relates to the past which is what I was tryng to do with the masthead font). The original image is a colour photo and I have applied a layer over the top to turn it monochrome, I then rubbed out part of that layer to reveal the colour underneath (in his clothing and the guitar), I decided to keep the face monochrome as I feel this gives a sense of mystery as to his personality, but also because it makes the cover stand out as this is not a typically conventional cover image (although the pose of the subject in the photo may have been seen before). I have blurred the background of the image so that the magazine masthead would stand out better, because before it did not stand out against the bright colour and patterns of the guitar behind it, not only this but it also makes the cover appear almost 3D which I think looks appealing and would attract a customers eye when browsing shelves full of magazines. I did find, however, that it was clear and easy to read over the black and white section of the photograph. I have included the date and barcode in the bottom right-hand corner in a vertical position as this took up the least 'useable' space and was less distracting from the image (and the cover lines when used). Also it was more convenient to place it on the right of the page because of the use of the left third when the cover lines had beeb created and applied.  

Having done the preliminary task we were given our main project of creating a music magazine. I did some more research but this time more specifically on music magazines, I went into more detail by analysing the front cover and contents page of a specific magazine and then going on to analise some mastheads of some of the big music magazines in the UK.
I took images from google and used magazine subscription websites and the respective magazines websites to gaher infomation about them. Here are some websites I have used:
http://www.kerrang.com/
http://www.nme-magazine.com
http://www.nme.com/magazine
http://www.uncut.co.uk/
http://www.qthemusic.com/

Following magazine research we were given a preliminary project to create a school magazine. For the the task we had to mock-up a front cover and contents page. The cover had to feature one main image, ideally, within the image there would be a boy and a girl so that the front cover would appeal to both genders. We looked at the conventions of a magazine front cover and attempted to apply them to our own front covers. For example, on my front cover I tried to use big, bold masthead so that it would attract the audience and make a big impact, I arranged the cover lines into the the left third so as to make it apear more organised. We then did our contents page, I found this slightly easier as there was a little less to think about with  regards to presentation of information etc.