Evaluation Of CD Cover

How the research helped me in my final product:
By researching different CD covers I could see a wide range of different layouts and styles, some of which were really popular and successful, and others not so much. This gave me ideas of how to do my CD cover. I could also see different camera angles that had been used, for example a low/angle long shot of Michael Buble on his CD "Madison Square Garden", and a medium shot of Beyonce crouching down on her album "Sweet Dreams". I could then see how they had helped the CD appeal to their target audience, and suit their genre of music. Once I had researched these things and learnt more about them I was then able to apply this knowledge to my CD cover.
How my CD cover fits into the conventions of the genre:
The genre of my music is indie, because of this I have tried to make the images individual by making the background black and white and the model colour. This automatically tells the audience that Alexa is individual and has a niche. I have used a serif font for the artists name and a sans-serif font for the album name. Both of these fonts seem quite mysterious, similar to Alexa's music. I have used burgundy for the artists name and song names, and turquoise for the album name. I have chosen these two colours because I thought that the burgundy suited the artists style and genre of music well, and then the turquoise because it is the opposing colour and so they work well together. 
How my CD cover appeals to the target audience:
My target audience is females aged 15-25. To appeal to them my model is wearing a flowery dress with a leather jacket and boots. These items are all fashionable but wouldn't normally be worn together, this gives the impression that Alexa is daring and individual, and she doesn't follow the crowd. Also the colours of the text, burgundy and turquoise, are rather popular colours within my target audince, therefore making the album more appealing to aged 15-25 females.
The editing process:
To edit my photos and turn them into album covers I used Picasa 3 and a programme called Picnik. Using these I cropped my photos to make them the right shape and size for an album cover, and also to just focus on part of the image. I then turned the photos black and white and used a 'reversing brush' to make the model colour again. I then did the same thing with making the background blurred so that the model is the clear focus of the image. Once I had done this I added the text and bar code.
What went well:
I feel that the editing of the photos went well, and helped to identify Alexa's niche style. 
Even better if:
I think that my album cover would be better if the genre of the music was slightly clearer. The audience could mistake the music for rock because of the leather jacket. Also it would be better if the text stood out more.
What have you learnt from this and how will that help with your next task?
Whilst doing this task I have learnt different ways of editing photos, and I have learnt how to use Picnik, the programme i used to edit my photos. I have also learnt different ways of successfully making my product stand out from others and appeal to my target audience.