Changes made based on rough cut feedback

After gathering the feedback for my rough cut magazine, it occurred to me that there was a lot more to change than I thought.

1 Firstly, the colour scheme: my target audience said that the colours were too plain and boring, and if the magazine was going to catch the reader's attention, they would have to be brighter. In light of this feedback, I did some further research into Q magazine and some of the colours they have used in some of the issues. In this issue with the Foo Fighters, there is a fourth colour in the colour scheme - gold. I decided to try this in my magazine because it wasn't too bright, and I didn't think it would clash with the paler background as much as a bolder colour (such as red) would. Not only did this change make my magazine stand out a lot more, but the gold-yellow is a contrasting colour with the purple colours which are already on the page, which makes the page very pleasing to look at.

2 My target audience also highlighted that I needed more photos on my contents page, which I was planning on doing. The feedback helped me to decide what type of photos I would use, for example I wanted a mix of angles and numbers of models. So, I took two more pictures to fit below the large existing one. One of these photos was a picture of a female, inquisitively looking into the distance; the other was a two-shot of a duo who are looking straight into the camera.

3 As featured in my rough cut feedback video, my double page spread used to look very plain. It was with the aid of my feedback that I changed the colours and fonts of some of the text - such as the artists name - to make the page look individual, instead of blending in with the rest of the magazine. Although, I did ensure that I followed Mojo's double page spreads closely so that I didn't crowd the page.

Contents page photos

The photos below are 3 from a selection that I took for my contents page. I wanted them to be incredibly simple, and that is why the girl in the mise-en-scene is minimal. I asked my model to wear a plain top with a plain skirt, and to have to her hair down. My model was good for this photo because her hair is dark and it stands out from the lighter colours of the sky and the grass. I took my pictures outside on a field so that it looked natural, and fitted with the picture which I had already taken of Reece; also outside. I began with long shots, but soon learned that they made the model look really young and innocent, which was not the look I was going for. The second picture, though the tree outlined it well, looked too busy with the background and didn't really grasp the look I was aiming for. For this reason I zoomed in on the subject when it came to taking the third photo, and it worked quite well. Being closer to the artist means that the reader is more inclined to look at their facial expression - as I found out in my questionnaire - and I found this when I looked back at the photo. My model is almost scowling, her face being blasted by the wind; and her is free flowing nicely over her left shoulder, displaying her face fully to the reader. I like her pose because she is looking out into the distance, almost inquisitively, intrigued by something in the distance. After taking a few more in this pose, I chose one of them to put on to my contents page.

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The picture below is the final image after being photoshopped. The floodlight on the left which can be seen against the trees was not shown as the box for the photo wasn't as wide as the original photo.

New colour scheme

After receiving my rough cut analysis, I realised how plain my magazine is. Not just the front cover, but the colours on my contents page and double page spread were all quite similar and nothing really stood out. This led to me trying out numerous colours, but nothing looked good. I tried changing the background to green, but this completely subverted the conventions of my style model, Q. I changed the background back to how it was, and began altering the colours of the text, however, none of the colours went with the purple background. I tried reds, both bright and pale; blue and yellow, but even the primary colours looked odd. After looking through a number of Q magazine issues, I found this one, from 2012.

The colour scheme on this page is black, white, red and gold, and because I vowed to myself not to use red, gold appeared to be the only colour that I could try. After changing the colours of the lines in between the text, and the headline, my front page looked a lot brighter. I used gold on my contents page for continuity, changing the colour bar across the top of the page, page number boxes. This slight change in colour made a big difference to my magazine, making it lighter and immediately more appealing. On my double page spread, however, I realised that I actually needed to change the main title to a different font in a different colour in order for it to stand out. I experimented with some of the colours and decided on a turquoise-blue because it features nowhere else on my magazine. Next, I changed a couple of other features on the page to the same colour so it all tied in, these were: the box for the caption, the quote and the line across the bottom of the article. 

Rough cut feedback

After handing in my rough cut magazine, I gathered 4 members of my target audience to sit down and analyse my front page, contents and double page spread. I know these people well so I asked them to be as critical and specific as they could with their feedback.

Album covers

The album covers below are hand drawn, and they feature on my double page spread in a column down the right hand side.

My aim in drawing these album covers was to give my magazine an element of explicit content, without being too blatant. The red album is based on Sex, an album by The 1975. Firstly, I drew out the outline of the woman, then I used the bands original logo as a censor across the chest. On photoshop, I used to paint tool to colour the background red, varying the size of the brush so I was able to get as close to the outline as possible. The significance of the red is to be sensuous and alluring. I think the black, white and red contrast well against each other because there is a clean break between where one colour ends and another starts, so it is striking to the viewer.

The second album cover I created was meant to be simple so I could get my message across firmly with no distractions. The name of the album by Andreas Moe is 'Long Time' and I thought a tree would be a good way to present this. The tree is the main focus of the picture, placed in the centre, holding the text up with its branches. In the process of making this cover I printed out the artist's name on a speckly cream background, then began to work the picture around it to ensure that it would be large in comparison to the other things on the page. I placed the 'Long Time' on the cover once I'd scanned in the sketch of the tree.

The final album cover is my favourite because it allowed me to be creative and bring art into my coursework. The album title 'Mistaken' does not actually exist, but I thought it was a typical Indie album name, and it also mean that I could create a cover which was simple, yet makes the point. The way in which the girl's hair is free flowing over her face gives the impression that the artist, or whoever she is singing about, is hiding away from something. I think this is something that my target audience will relate to because they are at an age when there is a lot of pressure on them. For example, school and university. The aim of this cover was for my target audience to be able to escape from reality and become intertwined with Hannah Grace's music.

Aims

By the week ending Sunday 21st April, I would like to:

• have designed and scanned in my new album covers for my double page spread
• have taken at least 2 new photos for my contents page
• decided on a new colour scheme

Rough Cut

[There are still photos to upload onto my contents page]

[There are three album covers still to be uploaded onto the right hand side of the double page spread, and an album cover for the artist to be placed in the bottom right hand corner of the left page]

Colour Scheme

Although still undecided on my colour scheme, I began creating my music magazine front page with an open mind. I wanted my magazine to be unique, and so I thought using red in the colour scheme was a bit predictable, as it is the main colour of Q magazine, which has been my main influence. Once I'd chosen the image for my front page, I realised that I could use the purple of my sitter's shirt as the colour scheme, so everything would tie in on the front page. Though I was a bit apprehensive due to my survey showing that purple was the 1st option for only 3 of the respondents (blue being the first option chosen by 14 people), I am hoping that my target audience will warm to the colour once they have seen the finished product. My decided colour scheme was black, white and purple (with bits of grey due to the colour of the background). I liked this colour scheme because I don't think purple can be stereotyped as a typical girls or boys colour - as it is a mix of both of red and blue - resulting in the appeal of a wider audience.

Photo/Editing Powerpoint

When I was not taking photos in locations outside of school, I was using the studio:

The studio is available for all students to use, equipped with tripod, lights, umbrella, and reflector (which is not in the photo above). When taking my photos, I used all of these pieces of equipment to enhance the quality of my pictures. In particular, I altered the aperture setting on the camera and the intensity of the lights to make sure that the light didn't create any shadows on my model.

Editing from yelrevebeverley

Magazine name

• Decide chosen magazine name and explain why
• Write it in the 3 different fonts
• Upload video of 10 people from target audience deciding which font they prefer and why
• Analyze

Using the wordle I created and with a bit of thought, I have come to the conclusion that my magazine will be called

INTRO

This name has a double meaning. It can be the introduction to a song, or it can be the introduction of new music, which defines the focus and aim of my magazine. I'm proud of the name because although it doesn't sound like a typical music magazine, the reasoning behind it has a lot of thought. Also, the shortening of the word 'Introduction' should appeal to the younger part of my target audience because it's short and easy to say. The word itself is smooth, rolling off your tongue when you say it, and the 'o' sound is powerful and striking, making it memorable.

Target Audience
The target audience for my music magazine will be roughly people between the ages of 15 and 25. My reasons behind this include the results of my questionnaire, when the majority of people to responded were in their late teens, and teaming this with my knowledge of teens being very up to date with new music, I decided this was the right age to aim my magazine at. Also, the fact that I wanted to include some explicit language meant that I couldn't target people of any younger age than 15 because it would be inappropriate. I expect my target audience to be a range of genders and ethnicity who have a range of different interests and hobbies. However, I expect them to be well educated so the slightly more complex language will not be a problem to understand.

Wordle

The wordle below is made up of the words which sprung to mind when I thought of new music and music magazines. I will use the wordle for inspiration when I am deciding on the name of my music magazine.

InDesign plan

Front page

Contents page

Double page spread

Question 10

This question made me consider my own influence on my magazine more - I began to question whether to change my plans to coincide with the responses to my survey, or whether to stick to my plan because I made it with the analysis of my own research. The outstanding response was 72% of the respondents choosing sans serif font as their favourite to read on a music magazine. If I was to ask this question again, I'd add a written answer box so I could discover why this is their favourite. Personally, I prefer serif fonts, but this question has helped me to strike the right balance between the two so it appeals to my target audience.

Question 9

This question was one which the respondents could give more than one answer to. 25 people said that they like finding out about an artist's personal life - so I assume this is their life away from their career including things such as family and partners. It surprised me that only 7 people said that they had an interest in an artist's future career because I thought that this was something which fans wanted to find out before anyone else, and this is the sort of theme which my magazine promotes. The second top answer is musical influences, though I hadn't considered this to be something which people took an interest in - I will now have to incorporate this into my article. I will look back on this question when I come to writing my article and have a look at answers belonging to individuals so I can analyse my target audience's views more closely.

Question 8

As I expected, the most popular response was simple language - which I will definitely use because it clearly appeals to a wide audience, and will be important especially as my target audience can be as young as mid-teens who may not understand language which is too complex. Just slightly more than the number of people who voted for complex language, 17 people voted for explicit language. Although this was part of my original plan, analysing this survey and looking at the ages of the people who have filled it in has led me to change my mind. I have decided to now use mostly simple language, with as few complex words as I can, and no explicit language whatsoever - I just hope this doesn't effect the humorous aspect of my article and its appeal to an older audience.

Question 7

The aim of this question was to help my final decision of the colour scheme for my magazine. The top result was blue, with an outstanding 14 of the respondents choosing it as their favourite colour. However, I have decided not to use this colour because I think it can be stereotyped as more appealing to males rather than females, and it would be wrong to use it if this was what would define the kind of audience which I am aiming my magazine at. The second top rated colour was red with 10 of the votes, and again, I am deciding not to use this colour because it is the main colour used in Q magazine, and I don't want Q to influence my music magazine too much. Instead of using the third most popular colour (pink) I have decided, along with the influence of my front cover photos, to combine the two most popular colours and use purple as my main colour.

Question 6

I didn't expect an outstanding response to this question, so it was interesting to find out how many of my respondents preferred colour photos. This outcome fits well with my plan, though, because  only plan on using a black and white photo for my double page spread, so the majority of my photos will be colour to keep them eye catching. Although I don't agree with the majority of the respondents, I am not going to change my plan and base it on this survey because then my magazine will lose its purpose and that is to follow the codes and conventions of a music magazine.

Question 5

I was surprised to find that 17 of the respondents preferred a mid shot on the front cover of a magazine, though this might be because I, personally, much prefer close ups. Out of the front covers I analysed, a mid shot only appeared once and that was on Mixmag, a dance genre magazine which made me think that this was the kind of genre which most people preferred, though this wasn't the result on question 3. As this was the most popular answer, I have decded to experiment with different angles for my photos, however, I am still drawn to my ideas of a close up, especially due to the positive feedback I got from this survey. I had a feeling that a low angle photo wouldn't be very popular because I know it isn't a very attractive angle and it can be quite intimidating, so it didn't surprise me to see that only 1 person preferred it. This is also the case for the long shot, 12 people voted this as their favourite type of photo, though it contradicts a lot of the feedback from question 3 which revealed that people like close ups because they feel "closer to the artist". Though I will be experimenting with photos in the studio, I doubt I will use any too extreme (such as a low angle) because these tend to be unconventional, especially for an Indie magazine, as well as being my least favourite type of photo. As for a high angle photo (which I've been thinking of using), I will try and achieve this but I am having doubts as to whether it will look as good as I've imagined it to.

Question 4

As seen above, the front cover image received 31 of the number 1 ranks for the feature which most draws someone to a magazine. I already know that the front cover image was the feature which most draws me to buy a magazine due to buying them myself, however I didn't think this many people agreed. This result emphasizes how important the front cover image is and how important it is to take time with to get the right photo. It also made me think about what type of photo I want on the front and the type of message I want my readers to get from viewing it. Ranked second is the stories and plugs featured on the front page, which I have already began to think about: I want the readers to have a personal connection with my magazine; I want them to feel as thought they are the only person who knows this information. This is why I am including features such as "Behind the scenes with..." and "V Fest: who's there?". Ranked third is an amusing headline. Having began making my magazine, I'm finding it difficult than expected to invent the persona of the main artist on the front page (my friend Reece). I need to invent a quirky name for him which stands out, and from there, invent an amusing headline which also ties in with my double page spread. After a while, and looking at a lot of other Q magazines, I have decided against using an amusing headline because I don't think it fits with the style of photo I have planned for the front page: a close up of the artist with a serious facial expression. I will, however, consider using a pun in the quote, instead. Ranked last, as I thought, is the layout. Thinking about it now, I've realised how the layout isn't very important to the reader: because if the magazine follows the conventions of a normal music magazine, then the layout will be appealing anyway, and so the layout is only appealing to the creator of the magazine. I already have an idea in mind for the layout of my magazine and I doubt I will stray very far from this idea due to the simplicity of it.

The second part of question 4 is the written answer which all respondents must complete. I hoped that all the respondents would take the question seriously, however a few didn't, so I have taken their answers out and selected the relevent comments. Below is the answers which the other 34 respondents gave:

It makes it easier to see details

I have seen many magazines like this and think it attracts more attention

Because it gives the reader a proper sense of the genre of magazine due to the clarity of the picture

Long shots feel too far away and close ups are too in your face

Feels closer to the artist, more engaging

Close detail to the artist, more engaging

Closer detail to the person

Because it shows dominance and confidence within the photo

Easier to use/see

I don’t have a preference, it depends upon the story that the picture is promoting

It’s what they mostly have on front covers and I think it looks professional

Focuses on subject’s face and you can see some of the clothing which can match the colour scheme of the magazine

See what people are wearing

It allows you to see their face and clothes without the image looking too crowded

Eye catching

I like to see what the person is wearing

It fits on an A4 page better

Looks better

Usually appealing

Gain more information

I like finding odd details about the artist which I might not have noticed before

I can't, of course, analyse every single answer, because magazines can be subjective and I know my magazine won't appeal to everyone. However, a couple of the answers seemed relevant to me: for example, numerous people said that a close up makes them feel closer to the artist, and it's more engaging - this is partly the reason why I have decided to change my front cover plan [the final result is on my rough cut with I will upload]. Also, comments such as a close up shows 'confidence and dominance' in the photo gives me confidence because using a close up for the front of my magazine brings with it the attitude which I want my main artist to have; I want the readers to have a positive reaction when they see the photo. The fact that 20 people said the layout was the thing which they cared about the least was good because that gives me more space to experiment and work within what I've noticed about the magazines I've analysed. The plugs and an amusing headline were voted joint second (each with 3 votes) as the things which most draws the readers to the magazine. However, as they weren't deemed very important at all, I know that I should concentrate on my front cover image the most. I have decided to use my artist's name (which I haven't chosen yet) as the main headline across the bottom of page, which means I can build the character of the artist by using a quote along the side of the page which will be short and straight to the point.

Question 3

As I expected, the most popular outcome for favourite genre is Indie, with pop as a close second. I'm very happy about this because Indie was always going to be the chosen genre for my magazine, despite the outcome of the survey. As for pop, I knew this genre would be one of the top answers because of it's constant presence on TV and radio stations. Pop also fits into my magazine in places in features such as Bastille's section of the magazine because Bastille have recently made it into the charts, and so are becoming more widely known, making my magazine appeal to a wider audience. In terms of rock and RnB being rated number 5 by 27 of the respondents, I half expected this result. I know RnB music has became less and less popular in recent years due to the increase in new rap and dance artists, but I didn't think that it would come this low down in this question. Despite this, it does not affect how my results will develop my magazine.