The first stages of the editing involved me coming up with a colour and font for the main title text, and making sure I maintained the font for any other text I might want throughout the cover.
Because I had decided to name my magazine SUGARPOP, I needed to work out how I wanted the text to be portrayed. I felt that a bubbly, eye catching text would reach my audience really well, and also stand out well on the cover page. Because the background of my photo is quite difficult for many colours to show up well on, black was the best choice for me to use. On photoshop, I selected a text I thought was really bubbly and girly! There was a tool on there that I could use to make the text have a slight outline which was barely noticeable but made a big difference. It was grey and almost misty but helped to create a 3D effect on the text and make it much more easy to read. Also, the text stood out from any other text I have seen on magazines, so it's really good I can be original in my designs.

I wanted to make Ellie look even more flawless than she already did, so I used a tool called Spray Tan. It made her skin look much more tanned, like the typical hollywood magazines we see today, but also really smooth. It made everything in the image stand out really well and the colours to come through stronger, but still appear real. When I tried to increase the colour concentration by heightening the contrast, it didn't create the same effect. It made it harder to see Ellie's features precisely and therefore lost it's impact.

On my cover design, I had a USP at the top, a bar slanted centrally across the page, and a big 'bang' containing the text either to 'win' or recieve a 'free' something. When I put an autoshape on my photo, and slanted it, I felt that I didn't actually like the design at all. I changed to straight, and it made much more of an effect. It makes the text on it stand out from the rest but doesn't distract from the impact Ellie needs to have on the reader. The USP at the top I wanted in the same colour as the autoshape because that way it connects the cover and holds it more together! The text colour on them will be the same also.
The big bang needed to be in a colour that will typically draw attention to it. Naturally, I chose yellow, but to make it connect with the rest of the cover, I made another bang underneath the main one and coloured it in a similar yellow to that of the microphone. This meant that they eye could move around the cover by being attracted to the same colours and the person not even realise.
I decided to put the autoshape and USP in a gentle fuschia, because that way it worked with Ellie's hair and didn't clash with it, not to mention fits in with my audience profile!

The text I chose to put on my USP and autoshape is black. The font is the same as the title masthead, and will be consistent across the cover.

Every magazine I analysed had a colour theme. Whether it be 2, 3 or 4 colours, there was always one there! I decided that in order for me to keep to the magazine conventions, I would need to have a colour theme too. As I had already decided on fuschia for the background boxes and black for the texts, they were to be the first colours. Because I had put the 'bang' in a bright yellow, I felt that yellow should be within the theme too. Lastly, I needed one more colour - I wanted to use 4 colours. I couldn't use green because it clashed with the trees and leaves in the photo. I couldn't use red or orange because they clashed with fuschia! I had to find a colour that was opposite to any of the colours on the page, and managed to find a really strong, light cobalt blue! When all of my text was placed upon my edited photograph, the cover looked complete. All of the links in the colours really pulled it together! When I asked various girls between the ages of 9-16 about the cover and colour scheme, they all said they would definately buy it! That was really good news.


The cover stories I had decided on were all ones that were exciting, positive and girly - just what girls (and their parents) would be happy about seeing on a young magazine;

• 'Want to be... A STAR?'


• 'Perform like never before!'


• 'BRITNEY: Her best and worst singles to date!'


• 'Music Channel Awards'


• 'Poster Competition Results' (to incinuate regular readers and the idea of the magazine being monthly)


• 'Disney Channel Stars Interview'


• 'What's your band of the year?'


• 'The dream festival: what's yours?'


• 'How to look cool and rock out to YOUR fave tunes!'


• 'New album reviews'


• 'WILDFLIES: how they keep under control!'

One of the main things I wanted to carry out across all the cover lines was the use of punctuation. As it is a common technique done when targeting younger audiences and is proved to be successful, I chose to use it also.

Because WILDFLIES are my main 'attribute' to the magazine this month, I chose to add a twist to their caption! The very youngreaders may not catch on, but the older ones should see the contradiction! 'WILD'flies makes them wild, but the caption 'how they keep under control' questions that name!

In my blue book, I did a process analysis from photo to cover, and also how I achieved the cover photograph in it's original form. I also did a cover analysis and went into more detail about why I selected certain features.

This is my final music magazine cover!

As you can see, one very important feature is missing - the bar code. The reason for this is that the editing software I was using (adobe photoshop CS3) didn't have correct compatibility with all of the bar code images I tried to put on my cover. Because of this fault, I had to exchange computers and in turn programs (to adobe photoshop CS5) so that I could achieve the completion of my cover. However, one disadvantage I discovered when using this other program is that it changed the colours of my cover. My pink boxes were changed to a deep red, and the text I felt were difficult to see (although now outlined using the outglow tool) also went a lot darker in colour. This meant that despite now having the bar code, my cover changed into a very different cover.

Even though my cover has had to undergo some changes due to making sure I follow the needed coventions, I still stick by my original design. I have stuck both designs in my book, the original cover is still the one I feel reaches my audience accordingly.

When I asked for preference between the two, 8/10 chose my original design. Because I know for sure that 80% of my audience (approximately) would choose this design, I can make it the final one.

some feedback I recieved!

'The colours flow really well together'

'I love the logo'

'the girl is really pretty, I wish I was her!'

These comments show that I have managed to reach my audience in the right way! I have used both quantative and qualitive data to find out what people think of the cover, and both have proved come back with positive feedback.