Qualitative Survey Responses

I carried out a survey with some members of my target audience (both male and female aged 16-19) to gather quantitative data on what my readers would like to see on my magazine. 

1. What kind of colour scheme do you find attractive on a magazine?

2. Do you prefer a contents page which is mainly images or mainly words?

3. What sorts of artists would you like to see in a magazine, can you give any examples?

4. What gender would you prefer to see as the main cover star?

5. Do you prefer to see lots of cover lines or minimal on a front cover?

6. Do you prefer the language used to be formal or informal?

7. On a double page spread, do you prefer little writing and lots of images, or the other way round?

I then showed some of my target audience group questions about the following front covers of existing music magazines with a similar genre to my own: 

8. Which of these front covers appeals to you most? Why?

9. Which aspects of these do you dislike? Why?

10. Do you prefer the cover star to have an invitational pose like Lana Del Rey or a super-smiler pose like the Kings of Leon?

By carrying out this survey I have gathered some quantitative data about what my target audience would like to see in my magazine and what would be effective, this is extremely useful as I have direct opinions of a group of people who fall into the category of my target audience and this will help me to decide on a number of things for my own work, such as not having a cluttered front cover and to use informal language as it is more appealing.

Double Page Spread Deconstructions

As part of my research into double page spreads, I have deconstructed 3 existing examples from music magazines such as NME and Q, which are of similar genres to the magazine I am going to produce myself.

The highlighted annotations are my opinions on the analysed features of the magazines, and how these existing double page spreads have inspired and added to my own ideas. 

These deconstructions have given me lots of useful ideas on the common conventions and styles of existing double page spreads I should use in my own work in order for me to make it look as realistic and effective as I can. It has influenced my ideas on the type of language which will be most effective to address my readers with, and ideas on colour schemes, fonts, layouts, images and more which I will incorporate into my own work. 

Contents Page Deconstructions

As part of my research into contents pages, I have deconstructed 3 existing contents pages from music magazines which have similar genres and artists to the one I will create myself.

The highlighted annotations are my opinions on the analysed features of the magazines, and how these existing contents pages have influenced my own ideas. 

From this I have gained a much better insight into the conventions and layouts typically used on a contents page, and this has helped me think of many ideas of my own about colour schemes, images, conventions such as credits and dates and more which I will use in my own work to make it as professional and realistic as possible.

Front Cover Deconstructions

As part of my research into front covers, I have deconstructed 3 front covers of existing music magazines which are similar to the genre of magazine I will be creating myself.

The highlighted annotations are my opinions on features of the magazines, and how these existing covers have influenced my own ideas.

By doing this I have found many more conventions of a front cover that I will need to include in my own work, such as a consistent house style, and found out more about what sort of layouts, images and colour schemes I like on a front cover which I can incorporate into my own designs.

Mood Board

I have created a mood board by searching through existing magazines of all genres, but mainly music, and finding a variety of images and typography which I may like to incorporate into my own designs. I have organised my mood board into sections so I can understand it clearly, and have annotated it with my thoughts and ideas on each image.

From this I have found artists, features, images, colour schemes, font types and poses which I may use for my own magazine and also identified aspects of each thing I found which I would not use myself or could adapt to fit with my own ideas. This has been very useful in helping me identify things I do or do not like about existing magazines so I can use or avoid these things in my own work. Below are some closer up images of the mood board as the writing is slightly unclear on the full image.

 

Practise Article

I have produced my own article as an initial practise. In order to do this I looked at existing articles and tried to use the common conventions in my own work, such as pull quotes, a kicker and drop caps. I didn't find this task too challenging as it is something I have done before and had a lot of examples to help me, and I quite enjoyed researching my own chosen topic and writing about it myself. 

There are a few changes I will make to my final article based on the feedback I received; I would try to write about a more up to date topic as most of this was written in past tense, use more interesting images although the ones I chose did look like a photo shoot, and add credits to my writing as the photos and some of the information was found on the internet. I would also make sure that it is a double page spread article and has a catchier headline. 

Initial Magazine Designs

Another initial task I was given, was to create mock ups of the front cover, contents page, and double spread I planned in my essay, using simple DTP software and images sourced from the internet. Here are the 3 pieces I produced. 

I was given a grade C for my front cover design, marked down due to the main image not being of a good quality when downloaded from the internet. The advice I received off my teacher on this was to ensure that the images I use in future production tasks are off a high quality so do not appear pixelated as I am now aware this could potentially affect my mark. Despite this I included all of the appropriate conventions and was told by my teacher that I have a good design style developing which can be improved on further when I start to use more advanced software such as Photoshop. 

For my contents page design, I was given a grade B which is because my design work and layout were good here. The advice given to improve my contents page further was to take care when placing text as I have placed it across my models on a few occasions here. As a result of this I will ensure in future tasks I avoid doing this and place text either in the margins or in a different location on the images.

Finally I created a double page spread, following my plan for a main article in my magazine 'Beat'. For this I again received a grade B as overall it was a good design piece, but again I received the same criticism as in my contents page which is to be careful where I place text on an image, because as you can see here I have placed the pull quote obtrusively over one of the faces of the main image. I know now that this makes my design look less professional and will improve this aspect of the layout in future. Another improvement I will make in future is to ensure that my page numbers are placed in the right place, as they should be in the bottom left hand corner of the first page, not the right hand side, and on the second page I have forgotten to include page numbers altogether. This is a necessary convention that I will remember to include in the right position in my work.

Initial Magazine Research and Ideas

My initial task was the research into 3 existing music magazines, and find out their target audience, and reasonings behind this. To do this I found an example of each of the named magazines I have chosen on the internet and did a brief analysis into the ways they appeal directly the their target audiences through the images, colours schemes, cover prices and more shown on the front cover which is the first aspect of a magazine the reader will see when deciding whether to purchase it. This helped me begin to gather ideas about the way music magazines are carefully designed and presented using semiotic signs.

After this, I wrote a 1,000 word essay on my own initial ideas for a music magazine, using the following brief set by my teacher.

In this essay I included a description of how my front cover would look, the celebrity I would choose to use and all of the features such as colours schemes and the mise-en-scene of the image, like clothing. I then described an idea of a main article for my magazine, including the topic, the artist and images used, and some information on the target audience of this article. Finally I came up with a list of 12 articles which could be included on a contents page, using both ideas for regular features which would be in every issue of my magazine, and also articles exclusive to this issue. This has started to give me ideas into the types of things I would like to include in my own production task for this coursework such as articles which would appeal to a certain target audience, and the composition of a front cover, as I am aware that I need to produce 3 things; a front cover, contents page and double page spread.

The grade I received for this piece of work was a B. I was pleased with this grade as this was just an initial task having done very little research into existing music magazines. My teacher said I had good ideas for the magazine and knew what my audience would like to see, as well as having a 'current' hook regarding One Direction's new movie, therefore will ensure in my real task I feature a very current and relevant topic to entice a reader into buying my magazine. The advice I was given was to be careful when including circular flashes as these can sometimes make a magazine look unprofessional and to be careful to choose an artist which will appeal directly to my target audience, so these are two things which I will take into account when creating my coursework.

Action Plan

This is my action plan which I have created to ensure I keep up to date with all of the work set and organise my time, to make sure it is completed in time for the deadlines.

Task to be completed:	Date to be completed by:	What do I need to complete it, help from anyone or extra resources?	Is it completed? One time, later or earlier than intended?
Initial Brief, Research and Ideas	15.9.13	To complete it I will need information from my teacher about the tasks, and access to the internet and an editing software to create initial designs and gather ideas.	Completed on time and some things much earlier.
Research into existing magazines	25.9.13	Extra resources I will need are existing print magazine to gather things for my mood board, and some help on what aspects should be analysed on the examples I use.	Completed later than intended as the deconstructions took a lot of time to analyse.
Background Research	30.9.13	I need access to youtube videos and websites of insitutions to research into existing companys and music.	Completed earlier than intended.
Audience Research	5.10.13	I need help from members of my target audience group to answer surveys and be videoed to go onto my blog.	Completed earlier than intended.
Mise-en-scene of images research	20.10.13	I need access to the internet to find images and inspiration to complete this task.	Completed slightly later than intended as a lot of time was needed to find suitable images.

Magazine Double Page Spread Elements

After doing some research into common conventions of double page spreads I have found that these vary a lot but have come up with a last of conventions which are usually, but not always used.

• 3 columns per page. Sometimes there are 2 or maybe 4 columns however in my own work I think 3 columns looks the neatest, most organised and least dense so doesn't put the reader off.
• A dominant image conveying the subject of the article through use of costume, hair, makeup and props. 
• Pull quotes highlighting phrases that are particularly appealing and possible relatable to audience.
• Article title which is intriguing and has visual impact based on the font size, style and colour, enigma codes, puns or shock tactics.
• A good introduction to the copy is needs: a strap-line under the header might explain teaser or add further information to draw in the reader or alternatively a kicker is used to hook the reader in and is denoted in larger or bold type-face.
• Drop caps are a convention always used, to guide the reader to the start of the text.
• An effective element in injecting dynamism and energy into the layout is text elements being at quirky angles, usually diagonal.
• The colour palette is limited, often in harmony with the colours in the image and house style of the rest of the magazine.
• Overall the composition is important, the narrative flow of the text and images should guide the readers eyes in the right direction.
• The font choices vary, a copy font is utilised for the main body of the article whereas a display font is used for titles, strap-lines and pull quotes.

Another thing to consider in creating a double page spread, is the primary codes in language use.

• Narrative style - 1st/2nd/3rd person.
• Pace - fast/slow/dynamic (through use of punctuation)
• Voice - male/female/deliberate/sensuous/powerful
• Type of Language - colloquial/formal/repetitive/use of slang/assonance/alliteration/sibilance/tabloidesque

I will try to incorporate and consider as many of these general conventions as I can in my own product.

Magazine Contents Page Elements

From my research into existing examples of contents pages, I have identified a number of conventions which are essential to making my contents page suitable for its function of informing the reader of what is included and where to find them within the publication. The main thing is that is is essential that it makes it easy for the reader to navigate both on this page and throughout the whole magazine so to do this clear, large page numbers, distinct categories and possibly colour coding.

Unlike the front cover, contents pages include a variety of images, with one main image, in some cases replacing the text and this is something I want to include as a collage of images will look more aesthetically pleasing and appealing to the eye of a youthful target audience which my magazine will be aimed at. Similarly to front covers the necessary information should be small and unobtrusive such as the credits for the front cover images, as the contents page is usually packed with information, it is important that this information doesn't take up too much space.

A digital subscription box is a feature which not every magazine uses but I want to use in my own work as it is an effective way of increasing sales by encouraging readers to subscribe. A letter from the editor is another feature which not every magazine uses and I will consider including this as it is a direct and personal touch to the magazine.

Magazine Front Cover Elements

Through my research into magazine front covers, I have found that it is extremely important to maximise impact and appeal of my magazine so that it stands out at the point of sale as a massive amount of magazines are sold in retail. For this to be successful the front cover must be as eye-catching as possible and immediately set the tone. This is done by the font style, contrasting colour palette, framing of the image and mise-en-scene.

As my magazine is a music magazine with a hybrid genre it will have a broad readership, but overall this is still a niche market of music fans. It is aimed at all 16-19 year olds so my front cover must connote youthfulness and fun immediately to entice the reader. To do this I will include semiotic signs and pay careful attention to the layout; for example I will place 'boring' information unobtrusively, privilege one article over the others, and use only one bold main image.

The cover image must be relevant to my audience and content and create impact. This is often a well known star who people are attracted to, or can aspire to. The cover star's pose is also a main factor in its appeal, for example on a mens magazine, a romantic/sexual pose will strike their attention. Typically availability will be hinted at by a dreamy, self-absorbed female icon in this pose.

For my own magazine I would have my model in an invitational pose, including emphasised eyes, a mysterious look and a hint of a smile. This will appeal to both genders and the element of mystery will be relatable to the social group reformers. Other poses I have found are the super-smiler; a full face shot, big smile and confident look, and the chocolate box; slight parting of the lips, face is shot full on and the emphasis is on flawless beauty.

Coursework Brief

For my AS Media Studies coursework I have been asked to create my own music magazine. This will include a front cover, contents page, and a double page spread.

I am aware that this must include my own original photography and article content. These are examples of the genres of music magazine I would like mine to be similar too, and layouts, colour schemes and artists I also like.

I will use this blog to record my research and planning into the coursework task.