EVALUATION PRESENTATION.

 

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A transcript of my presentation is also available.

 

http://www.slideshare.net/EllieMorris/power-point-17755665

Evaluation interview.

 

In this short interview I asked someone what they thought of each page of my magazine. The person I interviewed fits into my target audience- she is 17 and enjoys Punk music. I thought it was the best idea to interview someone from my target audience as I could see if my magazine would actually appeal to them as I hoped it would. I told them to be honest and if they didn't like anything they should say, as it would be constructive criticism.

FINAL PRODUCTS.

 

 

I have continued editing my front cover, and it is almost finished. I plan to create my contents page and double page spread, then go back and do any final touches of editing.

 

I have put some text in circles to draw attention it, as this is a typical magazine convention to attract readers.

I like the lay out of my front cover, but I think I might change some of the colours slightly to make them more powerful.

 

I have tried to keep all the colours related to the picture- for example all the blues were taken (using the 'eye drop' wand tool on Photoshop) from the girls shirt, and all the reds were taken from her hat. There are a few small final changed I'd like to make, but I will make them once everything is completed, so I can see what it all looks like together (what the front cover, contents page and double page spread look like together).

 

 

I have been working on my front cover for a few days now. I am happy with what I have so far. The colours for the text I have used are going to change so they fit with the background colour/other colours, but for the time being I’m trying to sort out text positioning. The colour of the banner at bottom of the page is the exact colour of the girls hat, as I used the Magic Wand tool to select the colour, then fill in the box. I plan to have some more writing, more exciting colours and some boxes/circles possibly on the front cover.

Here are a selection of pictures I have taken that I am going to use in my magazine.

Design ideas- Masterhead fonts

Title Ideas.

 

 

Focus

étape (French for stage)

Punk, Rock and Pain

Punk-Rock and Pain

Punk, Rock and Punches

Punk-Rock and Punches

 

I have decided the magazine title should be 'Punk, Rock and Punches'

I like this title as it flows nicely, fits in with my genre, and obeys the rule of three, which is usually used in advertising and stories. (Saying things in groups of three so you remember them, for example Goldilocks and the 3 bears, 3 blind mice, 3 little pigs, etc). The first two words tell you what sort of music you will see in the magazine (punk, rock, punk rock). 'Punches' refers to gigs- oftenat shows of this genre there are moth pits (agressive dancing) where people will often get hit.

 

 

 

 

Flat Plans

The first image is my flat plan for my contents page, I'd like it to have columns of text laid out in a way that is easy to read and clear. There will also be a picture and text underneath.

 

The Second sketch is of the double page spread- the whole right side is going to be an image with a quote, and the left page will be an interview or article layed out in columns.

 

Finally, the last sketch is the front cover, consisting of one main image and some other smaller images, a bar code on the bottom right of the page, the title of the magazine at the top, with the date and issue number just underneath to the right. I have tried to keep as many magazine conventions as possible to make my magazine a success.

 

I have also tried out some colours out to see what goes well together, but I haven't come to a final decision yet.

What I found out from my survey.

 From my survey I found out many things that I think will help me to create a good music magazine that is priced right, and appeals to my target audience.

1. How often do you buy music magazines?

Once a week Once every two weeks Once a month Rarely Never

 As a whole, most people said 'Once a month' or 'Rarely'. Based on this, I would release my magazine monthly, as I think it would get more sales than if I released it too often, or not often enough. People like to keep up with magazine issues, and do not like to fall behind, so monthly is a good choice.

 

2. How much are you willing to pay for a music magazine?

£1-£2 £2.50-£3.50 £4+

Most people said either £1-£2, or £2.50-£3.50. I would aim to have my magazine in these price ranges, as if it was to expensive people wouldn't bother buying it, but if it was too cheap I would have top have not so good quality printing and free things.

 

 

3. Would free things, such as posters or objects, influence your decision on buying a magazine?

On this responce I found out that it depends what the free thing is. A random, un-useful, or cheap/badly made object wouldn't attract customers, where as something appealing and/or related to the magazine and genre would. For example, I would plan to give away posters of big bands, or bands included in that issue, or things like plectrums (small guitar instruments, good quality but in bulk are not that expensive) that could possibly band ones (bands release plectrums with the band name or faces on). I think things like this would attract customers of the target audience.

 

 

4. What sort of music do you listen to?

Chart Music Rock Music Punk Music Alternative Rap Music Classical Music

Other

 

Most people said Alternative, Rock, or Punk, with an exception of a few who said Rap. Because of this I plan to have my music magazine as rock/punk genre, similar to Kerrang! Magazine. There are many chart music magazines out so there would be a lot of compitition, where as there are less ones of rock/punk genre. I also like this sort of music, which means I can include bands that are popular, and I'll know a lot about the music, and what people want to see.

 

 

5. Do you enjoy reading interviews with band members in music magazines?

Almost everyone said yes, so I plan to include an interview for my double page spread.

 

 

6. On a front cover, would you rather see more pictures or more text?

Again, most people said pictures, which is what I expected as pictures draw in the eye more that big bodies of text. I will have one main image and possibly a few smaller images, along with text.

 

 

7. Do you attend music gigs?

Out of the 10 replies, seven of them said yes. This means gigs are still popular, and people will still be interested in things about them.

 

 

8. Would a Gig Guide appeal to you? (Up and coming gigs that are happening in England and near where you live)

The people who attended gigs said that a gig guide would be a good thing to have and they'd like to see one. For this reason, I will include one.

 

 

9. Is music an important part of your life?

100% of people said yes.

 

 

Thank you.

This is a print screen of some of the answers I recieved. In total I recieved ten back.

Distribution

I decided to email my questions to a group of 15 people ages between 16 and 19. I did this because it saves time, and means I don't have to print out 15 pieces of paper. This also eliminates the possibility I might lose a few of the papers.

Primary Research- Target Audience.

Target audience is important when creating a product as you need to know who to aim it at.

I have created a range of questions that I will ask 15 people to answer on what they would like to see in a music magazine, their musical interests, how often they buy the magazines and what sort of price they expect to pay for a magazine. I will be aiming my product at teenagers, probably 16+, so I've planned to hand my questionnaire out to people of that age. The reason I've decided to do this target audience is because firstly I fall into this age range, so I have an idea of what I myself, and people my age, would like to see and what would and wouldn't appeal to them. Secondly, because I would like to include a Gig-Guide, and most gigs are 16+. If the magazine was for people who were younger and I included a gig guide it wouldn't appeal to them.

 

 

 

Below is a list of questions I have thought of to ask teenagers.

 

 

1. How often do you buy music magazines?

Once a week     Once every two weeks   Once a month      Rarely      Never

 

2. How much are you willing to pay for a music magazine?

£1-£2          £2.50-£3.50            £4+

 

3. Would free things, such as posters or objects, influence your decision on buying a magazine?

 

4. What sort of music do you listen to?

Chart Music    Rock Music    Punk Music   Alternative   Rap Music   Classical Music   

Other

 

5. Do you enjoy reading interviews with band members in music magazines?

 

6. On a front cover, would you rather see more pictures or more text?

 

7. Do you attend music gigs?

 

8. Would a Gig Guide appeal to you? (Up and coming gigs that are happening in England and near where you live)

 

9. Is music an important part of your life?

 

Thank you.

 

 

 

 

The answers to questions one and two will help me to determine how often I would release my magazine, and how much I would sell it for. This also links to question three, because if people said they'd only want to pay £1-£2, but wanted free things, and they wanted the magazine every week, the free things wouldn't be very expensive as I wouldn't have the money to buy and supply them, or put free things in the magazine each week. However, if people said they wanted a magazine once a month and were willing to pay £2.50-£.3.50 the free things included would be better as I'd have more money to spend on them.

 

Question 4 will help me to find out what genre of music I should make a magazine about. I will choose one or two of the most popular genres in my final piece.  From my research I already know that there are lots of chart music and rock music magazines available, so there would be a tough competition.

 

Question 5 will help me decide what to write in my double page spread. If lots of people like reading interviews, an interview would probably be my best option, as I would know lots of people would enjoy reading interviews.

 

Question 6 will help me with the layout and structure of my front cover. I will defiantly have a large central image, or a few images, on my front cover as this is a typical magazine convention. I think most people would prefer more picture than text, so I will have to make sure my pictures are good quality and effective.

 

Questions 7 and 8 help me to get an idea of whether or not people attend gigs and if a Gig Guide would appeal to them. Even though I think it's a good idea, if no one says they go to gigs and a Gig Guide wouldn't appeal to them I will have to re think my decision of whether or not to include it.

 

Question 9 will allow me to get a general idea of how important music is to people, which will help in the overall production of my work.

 

 

I plan to give these questions out and collect the answers and make decisions based on these answers. 



Double page spread analysis.

This is the analysis of a NME double page spread.

The layout of this page has been carefully thought out, neither the text or picture are effected by the page crease in the middle. If the writing overlapped this it would be hard to read, and if the picture overlapped this it would be distorted.

The eye contact of the subject draws the reader in, and the use of a close up gives us the feel we're up close and personal. The expressionless face he is pulling, and how he is slightly looking down on us, gives us the sense of seriousness and slight sadness, which is fits well with what the interview is about. The large letters of the title grabs our attention. The effect of having different sized letters is different to what we often see in magazines, or in text in general. The altering between black and grey makes certain words stand out, these words are the most important ones in the title (the black words).  The idea of using a powerful, comical or interesting quote of the title of the article works well, as it gives us an insight to what we are about to read. The fact that the quote is something quite abnormal and crude gives the impression we are going to read something completely different to anything we've read before.

Contents page analysis

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First of all, the large V at the top of the page links to the title of the magazine, 'Vibe.' The point of doing this is to constantly remind readers which magazine they are reading, and to introduce continuity throughout the magazine. Some magazines also have their logo on each page. At the top there is also 'CONTENTS', which makes it abundantly  clear this is the contents page, and not an advert, as many magazines have advert pages before the contents, which people tend to flick past.
The large image is framing the text nicely, and the readers eyes are drawn to her legs (as eyes are naturally drawn to curves) and then to the text. The image is also quite revealing and there for sexual, which would attract both genders, as females would aspire to look like that, and males aspire to be with someone like that, and find the woman attractive.
All the colours on the page go together well, and only blacks, whites and greys are used. Even though these are usually quite boring colours, they have been put together in a specific way to make them not boring, but aesthetically pleasing and calming to the eye. If there were any contrasting bright colours the eye would get distracted.
The fading of the background is a nice effect, and makes the page look more interesting. If there was just a block colour background I think it would look slightly boring and not as professional as it does.
In my magazine contents page I will use some of these conventions. I'd like to have 'Contents' written on the contents page to make it clear, pictures and colours that work well together. All of these things would suit my target audience and magazine genre.

Analysis of music magazine cover

This front cover has many of the same connotations of the previous music magazine cover, and music magazines in general.

The title is, again, placed in a large font at the top of the page so it's easy to see. The bright colour and simple font draws people's eyes to the title, then to the rest of the magazine. This is usually the first thing we see. The next thing we see is the image, placed in the centre of the page. The eye contact makes us engage with the picture as we think the subject is looking straight at us personally. The bright blue in the title is also use on the subjects collar, as well as on other texts around the page. The decision to limit the magazine texts to only 3 colours (bright pink, black, and bright blue) makes the front cover eye catching. but not too busy. If there were too many different coloured fonts our eyes would get confused and easily distracted.
There is a cleaver play on words at the top of the page. "Exclusive on set report: the making of Notorious. 10 B.I.G Secrets the film won't tell." The film (called Notorious) is about a rapper who's name if Notorious B.I.G, so by writing 'big' as B.I.G it references the rapper, and how amazing the secrets are. Words such as 'Exclusive', 'Big' and 'Secretes' puts the reader under the impression they are going to read about something other people don't know, like they're getting a 'treat' reading these secrete things that they're not meant to know.


The image catches our eye, but so does the writing to the left of it. The font size is larger than any of the other fonts (except the title) and relates to the image. These two things together form the basis of what this issue's main article is about- it's about Kanye West. At first glance some people would identify him just from the picture, but for others it will take seeing his name to make us remember who he is. As he is very famous, both these things together will ensure that as many of the target audience as possible (late teens/young adults) can recognise who he is.
The target audience is late teens/young adults as many of the artists mentioned are aimed at this age group (some have explicit songs that children shouldn't listen to). This magazine cover doesn't have neutral colours like the previous one has, it has one feminine colour, pink, one masculine colour, blue, and one neutral colour, black. This still makes it appealing to both genders.

Analysis of Music Magazine covers

This is the front cover of the popular music magazine called Kerrang!
Kerrang! appeals to many audiences, but is mainly aimed at teens and young adults who are interested in music genres such as rock, heavy metal, punk, indie and nu metal.
In this issue, there is an interview with My Chemical Romance, an American alternative rock band, who are very popular in the UK and overseas. They are the main focus of the magazine cover, which will help to attract people to the magazine as they are well known. By putting 'Exclusive' and 'The Inside Story' it makes us, the audience, think that we are going to be told something no one else knows- something we couldn't find anywhere else. By putting these in banners it helps them to stand out. The one main, central image also helps to attract us, as he is a well known member of MCR. The eye contact we have with him also helps to engage the reader and catches our eye as we think he is looking at us.
The use of 4 main colours (yellow, black, white and red) makes the front cover stand out, but not become too confusing. They are also neutral colours, allowing the magazine to appeal to any gender.  There is a lot to look at and read, if there was a variety of 15 different colours used our eyes would get distracted when we're trying to read something, and it would make it look unprofessional and tacky.
The barcode, price and issue number is placed on the front cover for a few reasons: it is quick and easy to find and scan; it makes it easy for the consumer to see what issue they are going to buy, and how much it will cost. This means people won't have to stand and look through the magazine to find these things, which would be very time consuming.

By having one main image accompanied with some smaller images helps to draw eyes in- the right balance of text to pictures will make magazine covers most effective. If there is too much text, a cover would look boring, if there were too many pictures a cover would look too busy and confusing.

This magazine front cover has many conventions other magazine covers have. For example, it has the title in the biggest font at the top of the page- meaning that it will stand out. Also, but always having the title at the top in the same font and same colours, consumers will start to look out for these things when looking for the magazine. By having the title at the top it means that it will always been seen. Due to how magazines are stacked, if the title was at the bottom it would most likely be covered up by the magazine that was stood in front of it.
The magazine also has things a certain phychographic would be interested in, for example, a 'gig guide', the people buying and reading this magazine are going to be interested in music, and there for interested in seeing the bands they like live.

TASK: Create a Music Magazine

 

Our task is to create a music magazine that appeals to a target audience.

 

We must produce:

Research into music magazines

Analysis of music magazines

A Survey

Plans of what we are aiming to produce

1 Front cover

1 Contents page

1 Double page spread

 



Draft Contents

This is a draft of my contents page. I have tried to keep the colours similar to those on the front cover, as in my research of different types of magazines I noticed many people did this to their magazines.
If I made a real contents page I would include images relating to the articles, and the school logo (large in one corner or along the bottom banner).
I think it's important to keep the same range, or a very similar range, of colours, as it makes it look professional and neat. I would also have contact details, for example the school phone number, in the bottom banner, so it's easy to find.

 

This is my final front cover for my Post 16 magazine.

I have included magazine conventions to make it suitable and appealing to my target audience. I have done things such as put the main, important points in a circle and placed it on the 'sweet spot' (where your eye is naturally drawn to). The use of a circle also makes the text stand out. I have decided to choose colours for the text that compliment the colours in the picture- all the colours fit well together and sit nicely on the background image. I decided to add extra things that are included at the bottom, and I put it in a banner so they were still noticable and stood out, even though they are slightly out the way and with a smaller font size. I kept all the fonts similar as too many different fonts confuse the eyes and make things look tacky and unproffessional. Next time I make a front cover I will try and take more time editing and maybe try some more complex things, like blurring the background and adding multiple front cover images.

Magazine name ideas

Here are a list of names I came up with that I could call my magazine.

- Post 16 Life
- +16 Life
- +16
- Your +16
- Step Forawrd
- The Step Forward
- The Next Step
- Stepping Out
- The Final Step
- Final Step






I have decided to call my magazine  Your +16.
I think this is a good choice as the magazine is for people over 16, and so it automatically applies to the target audience. I also like how it's short, and would look good in the corner of  my magazine cover. If the title was too long (eg Post 16 Life) it would take up too much room, and could look unprofessional. Most magazine titles are short and catchy  (eg Elle, Mode, Vogue, etc). I think my title is effective as it is short and memorable, and applies to the type of magazine I am creating.