Post-exam project: Music magazine cover

Our second post-exam project will give us skills in creating print productions using Adobe Photoshop. 

Our work will be based on the 2021 Year 13 A Level Media coursework brief which was to create a music magazine.

Print brief: music magazine

You should create the front page for a music magazine – specifically:

• a front cover featuring your new artist/band promoting a tour and music video
• a selection of cover lines appropriate for the magazine and audience

The magazine targets a mainstream music audience.

You can either create a new, original music magazine or create your own front cover for an existing music magazine.

Research and planning blog tasks

Create a blogpost called 'Music magazine research and planning' and complete the following tasks to plan and prepare your print work:

1) Research music magazine cover key conventions. Look over the magazine cover key conventions notes sheet and write which of these you will use for your magazine cover. (This is for Tatler magazine but the conventions still apply).

2) Find at least five music magazine front covers (either current or former magazines as many have stopped their print editions) aimed at a similar target audience to your project (mainstream music audience). For each one, pick out one design idea or convention that you could use in your own print work. A few examples to start you off:

Planning, sketching and writing

Complete the tasks below in the same blogpost you have already created for research and planning:

1) Plan a title and slogan (sell line) for your new, original music magazine. Sketch out possible designs for the masthead - font, style, colour etc. If you are creating a front cover for an existing music magazine, make sure you recreate the magazine's style and branding accurately - what font do they use? What colours? What is their slogan?

2) Plan the content for your magazine front cover. What will be your main image? What cover lines will you include on the cover?

3) Produce an A4 sketch of your front cover including the key conventions and design tricks you have studied in existing magazines and then planned in the planning tasks above.

Photoshoot planning

1) Who will you photograph as your artist/band to appear on the front cover of your magazine? This is vital for planning your photoshoot (note: if it is you or someone in the class it will make things a lot easier in terms of running the photoshoot but you can do this at home if you prefer).

2) Write a shot list for your photoshoot. Make sure you plan the right camera shots for a magazine front cover - medium shots, medium close-ups etc.

3) What costume, props or make-up will you require for your photoshoot?

Photoshoot on Thursday!

Photoshop design

If you have completed all of the research and planning tasks above then open up Adobe Photoshop and create a new A4 document (portrait). You can start to create your title, cover lines and any other branding or colour on your cover and then add your photo when you have completed your photoshoot. The following videos will help with this:

Photoshop magazine tutorial: