Introduction to NEA Brief

The brief that has been set for the NEA project this year is a music magazine front cover, along with a double page spread of the content of the magazine. The magazine is aimed at a specific target audience, which consists of 14-18 year olds.  Due to the fact that I have already completed a similar brief last year, I think I will more informed in what I have to do and find it easier to complete the tasks to the best of my ability. The brief is based around music, which is personally more relatable to me than the topic of fashion, which was the set brief for the previous magazine. I am quite excited to experiment with different styles and see the finished product.

I do have some ideas about the approach to my magazine, however I’m not entirely clear yet and I think this is will made more clearer as more research is carried out and I am able to plan and come to a conclusion about the overall genre and themes I want the magazine to portray. I have a rough idea about what this specific demographic will steer towards in terms of genre of music, however it could still go into different directions. As a personal decision, I am opting to stay away from the rock or classic genres of music and want to focus more on Rap/R’n’b and other types of music linked with this. This is of course just a personal preference, but I do still think it’s vital for my opinion to play a role in this otherwise I might not enjoy this project as much.

With this brief, I want to challenge myself and experiment a lot more than I usually do to try out different ideas and still make sure that I work as quick as possible because sometimes, things can be left to the last minute and I’m not usually pleased with the final result due to rushing. I am excited to create the front cover based on music as I am quite used to photoshop now and know the sort of elements that I need to focus on. One thing that I’m a little nervous about is creating the double page spread as it is not something I have done before and will be new to me. However, despite this, I am on the whole looking forward to getting started with this project and attempting my very best to create a final piece that not only meets the standards of the NEA brief but also meet my standards which are quite high at the moment.