Evaluating OCR's example magazines

Cover;
It is obvious that the cover has been planned out and thought about, with the layout being based around the extreme close up of this girls face.
They have loosely stuck to a three colour pallet yet used different shades of orange/red which I think makes the cover look a bit messy. The lipstick used on the model is also not one of the matching shades, which just adds more unnecessary shades of orange.
I also think that the fonts used (bar the masthead) are ones you would find on Microsoft word which didn't make the magazine look professional, it just looks like it was made by a media student.
The image quality also appears to be poor so I think that effects how good the magazine looks.
The angles of the 'Exclusive' and 'Country King and Queens' isn't the same, this also makes the cover look a bit messy and unorganised.

Contents;
The colour pallet improves on this page, I like the music notes in the top right hand corner as it sets the theme for the magazine; that it is a music magazine.
The lack of images on this page makes it look dull, especially as the image used isn't very good quality.
The page numbers used also aren't correct, unless the contents page is on the back of the cover, also the contents page doesn't have a page number in the corner.
There doesn't appear to be any specific pattern with the colour of the page numbers also, as it goes orange - black - orange - orange - black -orange, I think this looks messy as there is no specific reason for the '9' and '14' to be the same colour.
There is also a lack of information underneath each page title, also the magazine only has just over 24 pages which isn't enough for a proper magazine.
Also the feature artist isn't obviously highlighted on this page.

Double page spread;
Despite having the colour scheme of orange and black/white it would appear that on the double page spread they have used a completely different colour scheme; this doesn't keep the house theme running and makes the magazine feel disjointed.
Again, there isn't any page numbers on the page.
The text used over the image on the left hand side of the page is really difficult to read, they have also used a font which could be found on Microsoft word; this shows lack of style and creativity.
Whilst reading the article I noticed they had made many grammatical errors such as having a lower case 'i' instead of 'I'. The writing on the right hand side also ends half way through a sentance, which you obviously wouldn't see in a professional magazine.
The images used also would appear to have no relevance to music whatsoever; if I looked at this page without knowing it was from a music magazine I wouldn't assume it was. The right hand image is also really dark and clearly hasn't been manipulated on photoshop to improve it.
Overall I think the magazine is average but not good enough to be a level four.

Draft Double Page Spread

Contents Mockup #3

Draft Cover

Mockup Double Page Spread #2

Evaluation of Photoshoot Shots

Judging by the comments left on my Photoshoot photo's post, the pictures of Sara in the black dress seemed more appropriate for my genre and target audience, as the photo's of her in the jacket looked too casual for the type and genre of magazine I am trying to acheive.
The same photos of Sara in the black dress with the darker makeup, as it looks more fashion concious and and simplistic (not overly complicated so my cover wont look trashy) which relates back to my inspiration being from fashion magazines such as Elle and Vogue.
The slightly more 'jokey' shots (Sara posing like a tepot) which would make her more accessable and relatable to my target audience.
The comments made me think the shots of Sara holding the 'S' were more casual, so I think I will use those photos on my double page spread as it brings out more of the 'fun' side of her personality.

Representation of a social group within my magazine

The feature artist in my magazine represents a specific social group in our society; a middle classed group aged 15-25 of a predominantly female gender, who are interested in mainstream pop music, and take an interest in their appearance. Preferably they would shop at high street stores such as Topshop, Zara and River Island - contemporary fashion. I wouldn't expect a more ' chavvy ' audience to enjoy my magazine. My magazine would be considered to be a white, hetrosexual female targetted magazine and by using Sara I represent all three of those areas of society. My target audience would also have to be semi-literate about current music and fashion.