For our magazine, when assigned the task to decide on our genre, my group decided they wanted to pick a genre that stands out from all the rest and that is unique. Therefore in order to stand out we chose Funky House. By doing this we gave ourselves a challenge different to everyone else, as most people were doing R'n'B and already had ideas from existing products. We on the other hand had to start from scratch and come up with our own ideas as it has never been done before.

I used forms and conventions to relate to real magazines covers such as:

Masthead (also know as the main title): 'D'FUNK' at the top of the page, its short and catchy so that readers will remember it, in a contrasting colour to the background.

Graphics: To highlight Promotional offers, such as a cheaper price, and free giveaways, to make the magazine more appealing to the reader.

Central figure: A young girl, who represents what the magazine is all about.

Main cover line: Which is the website address. This gives the reader the information they need, and shows them were they can get more on the magazine.

Bar code: I used a bar code, issue number and date, to make the cover more like a magazine

Cover lines: I used cover lines, to show the readers a bit about what’s inside. This makes the reader want to buy the magazine.

Our target audience, was teenagers, and music lovers. This was because, its generally people who are under the age of 20 that are into funky house, so we decided on this audience because we felt they were the people who best fit the criteria, although it doesn’t have to be within the expected social group.

To fit our criteria, a shot a young girl in funky clothes, to pose as a new and upcoming artist as she appealed to the genre of music. When i created my front cover, i used a bright background, that contrasted with my picture, that made it very eye-catching and bright. The colours and other small print and pictures on my cover, were also bright
and eye catching so that they matched our theme of neon colours.

Using the colleges Canon digital cameras, we shot our pictures during our photo shoot. When we finished shooting we were able to use the excellent standard Apple Mac computers. We used Photoshop CS3, to edit our magazine, which made it editing easy and professional for us. We were also given a tutorial in Photoshop to help us on our way, which was very useful for those who were not familiar with Mac's and Photoshop. Therefore from making this magazine I have not only learnt how to use cameras and shooting, but also the use of Mac's and Photoshop, which will defiantly come in handy in the future.

If i was to create another magazine cover, i would plan my background and cover first before shooting the picture, so that it would be easier for me to edit the cover, as we done it the other way round. Something’s such as the background colour had to be changed from what I originally thought would work. I would take a lot more time to design the magazine to make it seem a lot more professional.

Overall, i am happy with the whole project, as it was our first i am happy with what me and my group produced. I am also pleased with what i learnt from the experience.