Survey Analysis

The survey results have told me some things but it would have been better to get some more responses to come to a conclusion. But I can still get some answers and take them into consideration when I make my magazine. All the people who responded are male, meaning I might have to go for a masculine style in my work. But, that doesn't mean girls won’t like it but I'm only drawing conclusions on the results I have received. From these little results I can see that NME and Kerrang are most popular meaning I will probably have to use those magazines for inspiration when I make mine. The people who chose those magazines say that they have good content and a key aspect was band interviews. So I’ll have to make sure I include at least one when I make mine. As far as favourite issues goes, it seems to be the ones where a specific artist is the main focus of the magazine, like a limited edition drawn to one artist. So I might have to consider choosing a good artist to cover and make them the main focus. The music taste of the magazine of the people clearly affects what magazine they buy which is an obvious point but I need to make sure I portray a genre clearly and reflect that in the mood of my magazine. It seems that most people pre-order there magazine (or subscribe), this means the majority who chose this option are fans of magazines and get all the issues. So the magazines they subscribe to obviously, consistently, produce good content on a frequent basis. I'm only making one issue but it needs to feel like the brand produces the same content and high standard consistently. As far as content, people like to see there favourite artists front and centre, so I have to take that into consideration and make the artists leap of the page. It was basically a fifty-fifty split on who people read there magazines with, so I don’t think I need to worry about that to much when it comes to making my magazine. The final question was just curiosity, it doesn't really affect my decisions but after all the answers the people gave, I wanted to see what they put down. Overall, I wish I had had more responses but the people who did take it have given me some things to take into consideration.

Audience Analysis

From this task I learnt how the audience would appeal to and what styles make a good front cover. I also learnt what features of a front cover portray different moods or feelings to the audience and how this makes them think to purchase the magazine rather then leaving it on the shelf.

Audience Comments

Created with Padlet

From this task I learnt what people thought of the covers I posted and what made them like them. There was a post on colour scheme and how the colour scheme was a good choice to use, this confirmed the idea I had to use that colour scheme in my magazine. There is a lot of talk of the artists that appear on the covers, so that tells me people want to see artists on the cover dominating it. The mixed opinions of the responses makes it hard to draw definite conclusions but there is enough material here to be able to be flexible about the choices I make when I make my magazine. The responses have got me thinking about a complex cover compared to a simple one. It seems to all depend on what needs to go on the cover and whether its completely relevant and fits with the theme. If there's something that doesn't fit in with the cover then there is no need for it to be there. If you want a cover to show off the artist that the issue revolves around then your not going to litter the page with items that have no purpose of definite reason to be there. However, if the issue is not like this and has no main focus then its acceptable to put as much stuff as possible on the front cover to draw the reader to it. The responses have drawn me to this conclusion which will definitely influence the decisions I make when making my music magazine.

Audience Research Video

From this task I got a chance to have a 1 to 1 talk with magazine buyers and what made a magazine good to them. There is a lot of talk seeing there favourite artists which needs to be an aspect of my magazine that I need to include. I also go an insight into how there music taste got them to but a particular magazine. So I need to analyse those magazines and how they reflect those genres of music.

Music Magazine Audience Survey

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Rate Card Analysis

I learnt about what goes into a rate card for a magazine. The upper one is on NME, it's very colourful and contains a lot of pictures. It has a very red and black theme which fits in with the colour scheme of the magazine. It contains all the basic facts and figures that you need for a rate card, like Male and Female percentages and the average age for a reader. The lower card is about Kerrang!, its not as vibrant as the other rate card. Its in more of subtitle and paragraph format. It doesn't reflect the mood of the magazine, but it does have all the necessary information. I know how to format my rate card now and what to include to make it good. I have also realised what I need to do to make my rate card successful and portray its purpose. It needs to be attractive and it needs to draw the readers eye through the layout and the theme. It needs to suit the overall theme of my magazine so it looks like they go together and belongs to it. I need to get all the necessary information because I don't want areas that have no use and take up most of the space. It needs to be basic document that suits the theme of the magazine and displays all of the necessary information about the magazine.                                                                                    

Analysis of Music Magazine

Research on PhotoPeach

From this task I got to breakdown a magazine and got to analyse in person rather than on a computer screen which ultimately is how people read them, in person. It was good to breakdown the elements of what made this Kerrang! issue and use what made it work. It also told me what content I need to make sure to include in my magazine.

History of Music Magazines

I learnt about the general history of magazines and at what time things were published. About how magazines kept up with new genres of music that arose until there was a magazine for nearly every genre today. Also what magazines today were like back when they were first published and how they have adapted into to what they are now. Also how magazines looked different when they were first published, the covers and content have a more modern look to us now but they would have looked modern to the people of that time in the 60's or 70's.

Institutional Video

Overall, I learnt generally about Bauer Media, IPC Media and Wenner Media. I also found out about what other things the companies do apart from music magazines. How Bauer owns over 100 brands, some not even magazines. IPC Media has a variety of magazines branching across lots of different hobbies and genres. Wenner Media's CEO has been the same since its creation in 1967, how Jann Wenner has changed the company of time advancing the companies reaches.

Institutional Research

Throughout the course of doing this task I learnt about the magazines and got a general knowledge about how much they circulate and there first publishing date. It also showed me that some companies own several of the most popular magazines. For example, Bauer owns Mojo, Kerrang! and Q.

Research Music Magazines

Over the course of doing this task I got to go into detail and do an in depth study of these front covers. I learnt about what makes a good front cover and I will definitely be using some of the styles you can see above.

Evaluation

               I think if I had more time to complete the task my magazine cover would have come out better.  The photo-shoot went well and I got a lot of good mid-shots.  The final picture on the front cover was edited well and came out well. I think I captured the colour scheme of the school and it was clearly reflected in the front cover. I also made sure this would continue on to the contents page when I did my mock up of it. I have learnt some new skills in Photoshop, like the use of Auto Levels or using the manual version. I have also learnt the basic processes that go into making a magazine, from taking the photos to making the mock up and then the final product. I have also become more efficient in the use of blogger and posting work quickly so I can get on with other work. I think I should have gone into the photo shoot with a plan of what shots I was going to take. I have also learnt some new tools with Mac, like print screening. I have also learnt how to use pages in the process of making a magazine. Next time, I think I will be better because I wont take as much time settling in to use the computer. I can go straight into using the tools I have acquired.

Stages In Editing Mid-shot

1. I started with the original image

2. I then added Auto Levels to test the results and I liked it

3. I then cropped the image because the background I felt was useless and it fitted on the page better

4. I then added Curves and edited it manually until I had the image you see now

5. Then I just added it to the magazine cover and it was finished

front cover

Design for contents page

Photo Shoot Pictures

Design for front cover

I like the simplicity of this design and how the focus is on the mid-shot in the middle. I also used the school colors which i learned was important from looking at others work.

Research for Preliminary TAsk

This piece of work was taken off another student’s blog. This issue of the magazine clearly about results day. It has a lot of pictures, which is a strong point cause it catches your eye. However, all of the text and extra information is all over the place. Another negative is that it has white gaps. It would have been better if it were fully filled up to all edges.


















This piece of work was also a past students work. I think it is a lot of stronger than the previous in several areas. It has a central mid-shot which is good quality making it a good point of focus. It has 3 lower pictures below which fills in that extra space well. However the text and use of stand out colors don’t reflect the schools main colors. The school uses blues and yellows where as the designer uses greys and reds.

This is an extract from Arnold house school magazine. I like the way they decided to use the layout to show the event. The variety of jagged pictures shows makes the page very dynamic and nice to look at.

This is an extract from an April issue of Independent School Magazine. I can see that they have gone for a basic color scheme using purple and white.  I like this change in title boldness, it gives the articles their distinction and shadows how dramatic each article will be. The pictures range from wide shots to body shots making the page more dynamic and better to look at.

This is an extract from the 2010 issue of the Ruthin School Magazine.  The picture is dynamic and a good point of focus for the article. However the rest of the page is quite dull and simplistic. I can tell that they were trying to pack a lot of information as this is an early issue but they could use a change in font style or color of the text in some places.