I am struggling with my contents page as I don't know what features to add. I've added the main pages but there is room that needs to be filled. I am thinking about adding some competitions which will then attract the reader more as they know there is prizes to be won just by purchasing the magazine. It has been a hard programme to get used to using. It has been frustrating but hopefully I will be able to get my magazine looking how I want. I didn't take enough photos to make it look professional and the ones I have used are to similar so there would no point on adding them to my contents page. I will carry on practising using photoshop so hopefully I can get it looking good. I have downloaded the free trial at home so I can play about with it and get to know it more, I am happy with my front cover but I think if I knew more about photoshop then I would be able to make it look like a proper magazine.

I am now starting my contents page, I want to keep it simple and use the house styles that I have been using through out. I'm going to add pages that seem interesting to the reader and if they was in the shop thats what they would look at after the front cover. I want features that include grime artists and rap so you get a flavour of both. I also want to attract the readers with good and interesting stories. This is what is going to sell the magazine after the inital front cover. If I include interesting stories then it has a higher chance of people going to buy it if it was in a shop. I also want to include competitions so that if they do buy it they wont feel that the money was wasted because they have chance to win iphones or meet the artists.

This is my double page spread finished, I am happy with the outcome. I still feel there is something missing but I am now going to start my contents page. If I have time afterwards I will go back and make some changes but for now I'm happy and feel it looks professional. However I feel that the clothing they are wearing represents my genre, for example the snapback makes it look more 'ghetto' as such and people would be able to relate this because its the similar clothing. The red writing is very in your face and attracts the readers and the white goes well with it for the questions. The blue writing is the house style of the whole magazine and I have taken out quotes to catch readers eyes and make them want to carry on reading the interview.

My double page spread is nearly finished now, I have added quotes from the interview to catch the readers eye. This is on the first page of it, this has photos and big lettering to stand out. On the second page is where my interview is and has the titles of the group I am interviewing. I have kept the same text throughout my magazine so it looks professional but I have changed the colours of the text so it stands out from the rest. Paradox is the name and it is in red rather than blue like my magazine title. However the background of black still makes it look good and the colours go together nicely. This will be finished soon.

My double page spread is coming along now. I have got my interview together and now starting to add things together. I have used different photos from my front cover and have also used the lasso tool again. This is one the most effective tools as it allows me to cut out the people from the original background and add it to my magazine background. Theres a few things I need to add before it being finished but I feel I am on track to meet the deadline.The colour scheme works and the photos I used are appropirate to my genre. The clothing that they are wearing is sterotypically what a rap and grime artist would wear with hoodies and snapbacks. This would show to readers that they are wearing the same thing as the artists.

This is my front cover finished, I am happy with this and feel that its going to get me a good mark. It is quite simple but I feel it is effective. I'm happy with the colour scheme and feel it stands out. The left third has the information needed on it and feel that if it was in a store it would catch the readers eye. The double act are wearing clothing that fits to the genre, for example hoodies and hats. This shows the readers that they are the same as the artists and will infulence to buy the magazine more because they can relate just by the clothing that they are wearing. I feel that the title goes well because of the similar colour of their clothes. I edited their photos to make it more blue to add the effect. I feel it stands out and has that wow factor to it. Also the special edition writing is still in the same font but the orange colour works well with it. I was struggling what colour to have on there because none was working really but I couldn't of had it all blue or it wouldn't of worked.

It is all coming together nicely now, things are starting to going into place. I have finished my front cover and now I'm working on my double page spread. This is harder than expected because I had to interview my act and then make it look right, the colour scheme is hard becuase you want it look professional but don't want to use to much of the same colours so it looks bland. I think in a couple of days my work will be done and ready to be marked. I can then go onto my evaluation questions after this. It has been hard because sometimes you want to do things which you don't know how too because photoshop is a new tool. I haven't used it before so it has been hard. Also the preliminary task didn't help as much as I would of liked because it was basic and I didn't have the skills I needed too.

I have be working on my front page for a few more days now but I am struggling in some areas. As its a hard genre to do I can't find many examples. I have to decieded to change it to a rap & grime magazine. This gives me more examples and allows to me add more into my magazine. It also allows me to appeal to a wider market and if it was selling I would attract more customers. I have added a selling line to make it look professional and have used different fonts. I feel that I need to work a bit longer for it all to come together but I feel their is potential there to make it look good. The school computers are not the best so I am going to try downloading photoshop on my iMac so I can process faster and work from home.

Today I have started my front page. The house style that I will be using is a light blue, I am going to have this for my title and other text. I have picked this colour because of the clothing that my models are wearing, I feel it goes well but I don't want to have too much blue. I am working out what photos to use and the cover lines also. I used the magnetic lasso tool to cut out my models from the background and then cut and pasted them into my new background. I did this so it was on an A4 page and so that I could move them freely with the free transform tool.

Today I went out to take photos for my magazine, I used two of my peers within my class and went to different places to get different backgrounds. I used many different angles such as close ups, medium shots, longs shot and many others to get a range for my magazine. I feel the photos have come out very professional and with work in photoshop I can get them to a quality that I need. I am a bit worried that I didn't take enough though because the ones I did take were very similar. I went to an school that isn't used anymore so there is a lot of building work and old stuff around. I feel that its giving it a good feel and meets the grime genre.

Today I am starting my magazine, I have come up with the name Maximum. I have worked out what font I am going to be using and how I am going to lay it out. I am doing Grime as my genre so it is going to be difficult to get ideas for this. I have only found one grime magazine that is avaliable to buy in stores where as there are many magazine with genres such as rock and pop. This is going to be a challenge but I feel I from the preliminary task I have the skills capable to create a professional looking magazine.