I started research for my music magazine by looking at different genres of music and their most popular artists to decide which genre to use for my magazine. I mostly used google and Wikipedia for most of this information

I then made a pros and cons grid to weigh up the good and bad factors of my genre options so that I could make a well-judged and thought out decision.

Stages of Research

I then decided to make an alternative music magazine, as this is the one that typically appeals to younger audiences which is what I was aiming for. Once I had made my genre decision I started looking at other alternative music magazines such as NME and Kerrang and looked in depth into their covers, contents and double page spreads.

After drawing

up and making templates and drafts of my magazine I then started to plan my photoshoot, bearing in mind my research on the way other magazines use photography in their magazines. However for this part I decided to go against convention by not using studio photography or head shots as I wanted my magazine to seem more real and down to earth to appeal to the working/middle class teenagers that my magazine is marketed

towards. After taking my pictures I then uploaded them and used Photoshop to manipulate the images to make them look more professional and like they belonged in a real magazine. I viewed various videos on YouTube that were tutorials for editing images on Photoshop to achieve the desired effect.

The various softwares and research tools I used throughout my research are:

I used this to search all of the possible music genres so this was key in making my decision to do an alternative music magazine. I also used google to find images and information about the magazines that I was using for inspiration therefore this was very useful as I may not have included as many things as I have in my magazine without the information being there for me to use to my advantage.

I used YouTube to look at tutorials for Photoshop therefore I found this useful because it allowed me to gain new skills on Photoshop that I did not have before which allowed my magazine to be better.

I used Blogger to upload and document my progress with my magazine which allowed me to keep track of and set goals to achieve. Blogger aided my organisation and allowed me to put all of my work in one place and access it to many any improvements and adjustments.

I also used Photoshop largely throughout this project as I relied on it to piece together my magazine, edit my photos and add in my text to the magazine and make it look realistic.

I used SlideShare to upload presentations to my blog so that I could share them and include all of my research and planning in a simple and effective way.

I used SurveyMonkey to construct several surveys to present to people of a similar age to my target audience. I found this software very useful as it allowed me to interact with my target audience and get opinions and feedback without having to spend lots of time going out and asking myself. It also supplied me with data that helped me make decisions for my magazine based on what my target audience actually wanted and expected to see.