Diary entry week 10

Weekly review 05/04/2010 week 10

Now that I have all my feedback from my consumer I can start to improve my magazine from the improvements given to me from my consumers for example I change my genre of magazine to sophisticated pop which is like “Q” magazine’s genre, therefore it matches my style model better. My magazine has dramatically changed which just shows that these improvements have really made differences and have made my magazine a better quality one. After doing these improvements I think my magazine looks better and I’m glad I got my magazine critically evaluated as this has helped me create a better quality magazine. I also made my own improvements such as changing the layout of my front page in columns of artists as I think the front cover still looked too empty and I am glad I took this risk as it worked out better. Now that I have done my final product evaluations will be my next step which I will show that my improvements really made a difference to my audience’s second responses.

Final product

Diary entry week 9/feedback

Weekly review 29/03/2010 week 9

After all 3 weeks all three drafts of the 3 pages are finished I will show my magazine to my target audience of 16+ to see what they think of my magazine “REPLAY” and what could be improved. After my magazine was critically evaluated by my audience I took the feedback to see what they liked about my project at this stage and what I could improve. Many consumers liked the layout of my magazine as it was easy to read with it being set out in columns and having many focuses. Like my double page spread being almost half and half with the image and text. They also liked my front covered image as it was very striking and the Mise En Scene of the headphone linked to music perfectly, therefore demonstrating that this magazine is a music one. Another reason why they liked this picture was that it captured Ke$ha’s personality as she is wild and crazy and doesn’t care what anyone thinks so she can get away with pulling a face like this on the front cover. Also they thought other parts of my magazine related to music well as my magazine was called replay and the symbols used related to playing music. Although due to this they said I needed to improve on my Mise En Scene of my pictures for example making them have more music equipment in them. Therefore some of my pictures need retaking, for example my contents pictures, but some don’t such as my front cover picture and my double page spread picture. However to make sure my magazine is to good quality I will retake all my photos to see if I can improve the pictures any better. For example using more lighting that is unnatural to bright out every part of the image and putting more and bigger music equipment that you can see like audio boxes and record CDs as my double page spread pictures uses a CD and it is quite small and hard to see. Also another point my consumers pointed out was the colour difference in some parts which should have been the same, which was spotted very cleverly as you can tell when working on the computer until you print it out. Therefore it should have all been bright yellow, but it was greenish yellow. My music magazines genre is pop although people thought this didn’t suit the magazine, therefore I my have to be more specific and change it to sophisticated pop. Although many people liked parts of my magazine there was still room for improvements like the symbols in my magazine names were good but they could be better by putting the play symbol is the actual word play so it related more. I also had to be carefully with the text as they thought that “GLEE” was very sophisticated pop so I had to change that and the name “Puddle Pie” as it wasn’t relevant to the genre. Therefore I must apply all these improvements to my magazine pages as this will really benefit me by making my magazine more liked and sellable.

Technical guide for photoshop

Photoshop guide

Photoshop has really helped me whilst creating my magazine, I used many tools to create my 3 pages and these are the tools I used and how they helped me.

I used many tools:

· Clone stamp – this was very helpful when getting rid of photos times and dates which my camera automatically puts on the photo and perfecting models face e.g. getting rid spots and removing.

· Crop tool – if I used a picture on my magazine and it was too bit and I wanted a closer, smaller picture the crop tool was great for removing big parts of photographs

· Blur tool – when cutting out photos the outline of the image wasn’t always the sharpest and straightest, therefore by using this toll it blurred and smudged the outline making it smooth and straight.

· Magnetic lasso – when cutting shapes out of the photos I used this tool as it let me cut it out with a steady, accurate hand.

· Paint bucket tool – this tool made it very accurate when colouring in shapes as it was quick and easy, whereas if I used a paint brush it wouldn’t be as I would need a steady hand and it would take ages due to me wanting it colour in large areas.

· Horizontal type tool – I used this when writing text all over my 3 pages and I used the horizontal one as this is the normal way to type text.

· Rectangle marquee tool – this helped me select parts that were square e.g. the name of my magazine and delete multiple things

· Gradient tool – I used this tool to make my background colour more interesting rather than just the plain block colour as this blended the colour into light and dark, going from the bottom to the top of the page.

· Magic wand tool – this helped me select many different areas therefore if it was a very difficult shape this tool was ideal e.g. deleting backgrounds from photos.

· Eye dropper – this tool let me make sure all the coloured I used were the same shade as this can be difficult to tell when looking on Photoshop.

· Move tool – this tool helped me create everything I wanted to as it places everything I wanted in the right place.

· Shape tool – this created by difficult shapes I could do like my play sign and replay sign in the name of my magazine.

Diary entry week 8

Weekly review 22/03/2010 week 8

The final page I must create is my double page spread this is a very important page as it is all about my main artist who is the main feature of this issue of “REPLAY”, therefore this page is all about Ke$ha. I don’t want my page to be overwhelmed my text as my consumer said they didn’t want that in my questionnaire, therefore my image goes over the centre line slightly to make the picture the main feature of the page and more dominate. When doing the interview I had to capture Ke$ha’s personality so I used my research to help me see how see speaks, in radio chat shows, therefore I used slang like “OMG” and American lexis such as “sick and awesome”. Also when creating the interview I did a question and answer system as this is easier to reader to a whole article just talking about everything. When doing a double pade spread I must think about my centre line and break up the text by putting in another photo.

First draft of double page spread

Diary entry week 7

Weekly review 15/03/2010 week 7

The next page I must do is the contents page this will be on the next to the front cover on the next page. This page is very important as it tells the consumers where to look if they want to get to a page easily and quickly and not look through everything they don’t want to then find what they were looking for, this saves time. I will use both images and text on this page to make the list of pages look more appealing by showing them who features on that page. To relate to my style model “Q” on the pictures I will on one side of my contents page I will put a page number on the photo is big bold writing this is another way of making the consumers life easier and quicker. As they will see the picture which is of their favourite artist and then see the page number on the photo, then go to the page.

First draft of contents

Diary entry week 6

Weekly review 8/03/2010 week 6

As I have collected relevant data for my magazine I can now start making a draft of my real magazine, by using photoshop and my photos that I have taken I can start to make my front cover, also by using my research such as by pricing my magazine between £2 - £3, I can start to see what my real magazine could become. Before making my music magazine I thought about the name first of all, I came up with names like Stereo, MUse, MiX (8) and styling them in different ways. Although before I could decided on my final name I had to research if there was already a music magazine out there with that name, which was very hard as there are so many of them and lots of my names I thought of were taken. In the end I decided on REPLAY as there was no music magazine with that name and I thought it really related to music as on iTunes there is a replay button so it relates to playing and listening to music. Then to make the name look more interesting and music associated I added a play and pause button, this makes it look more sophisticated and stylish to look at and remember. As I have to relate back to my style model “Q” I put the title in a box and shifted it to the left hand side to have a similar layout to “Q”, but to not just copy the magazine I have used my own colour scheme on yellow and black as it stands out better than “Q” colour scheme making it more attractive than it. i also did things like a close up for the front cover image as this is very attractive and eye catching.

First draft of front cover

Diary entry week 5

Weekly review 01/03/2010 week 5

The next step in the development of my music magazine project is the photos for the 3 pages, the topic of the photos must be relevant to my results, such as I had to take images of Ke$ha, as she was the highest voted singer, therefore I will use her as my main feature, to do this I will have to get a model and dress up as her. For development I collected some images of her from the internet for inspiration, so from these photos I could make my model have curly hair like her and recreate her personality which is quite fiery and doesn’t really give a damn about what anyone thinks. As a result I have done a plan of what photos I could take represent her character e.g. wearing ripped and frayed clothing to show that she is rough and a bit wild like an animal; which is the name of her album which is ironic and links very well. I have done a plan of what four photos I could use on my 3 pages for example close up on the front cover of the model looking straight at the camera with a lot of music attitude e.g. breaking an iPod. This grabs the reader’s attention and reflects the artist’s personality. When doing my photo plan I did a table of four photos which is needed to create my magazine, therefore I wrote down which page, location, costume etc for each photo. For example for my double page spread it is going to be very big photos which covers most of the page as this is the main feature, therefore it has to stand out. This is why I would take a picture of a full body/long shot as it will fill up most of page whereas a close up wouldn’t do this as well. I would dress a model in something which is suitable to the artist’s personality such as a leopard print top so show that she is very wild like an animal. Also as I am doing Ke$ha and her latest album is called Animal, this links well. After doing my plan I started by actual photo taking. With this I did lots of development through my photos as I took loads of different poses and use different props. I matched a lot of my photos with of my plan by adding new ideas of photos for example loo king quite crazy with my hair all messy and eating a CD this is very like Ke$ha’s attitude as she is young and mad therefore she likes to do whatever she likes. When taking my photos I took them of myself but someone else took them, although I was looking at the photos constantly and advising my photographer to do certain things to make me look more like Ke$ha, I wasn’t allowed to use these photos as I didn’t take them myself. Therefore I had to retake my photos using a tripod, although I am not allowed to use these photos I have used them for development and help me when taking my own photos so that I know what makes a good photo. I have learnt from this I took better photos and I ended up using these ones as they are better poses and lighting etc. Now that I have taken my photos I can decide which ones to use for my drafts of my magazine, as this is only for my drafts I will keep the other photos in mind as I might change my design. To make my photos look more professional and more natural looking. An important part of my music magazine development is my style model, and whilst looking at various magazines I have decided that I will use “Q” magazine as my style model as I wanted to do a pop genred magazine but for an older audience, therefore “Q” is a perfect match. For example to my make “Q”’s style into my own I could use similar layout e.g. have a box around the title in a contrasting colour to the writing and being in the top left hand corner of the magazine. Therefore why making my magazine I must make sure I always relate back to this magazine for guidance. The next week I will create the 3 pages in 2 weeks by creating and finishing one very week so that I am up to date and every page is looking like a real music magazine.

Photo development

Diary entry week 4

Weekly review 22/02/2010 week 4

After doing my interviews I evaluated my questionnaire to see what the results were and see what answers came top, therefore showing what today’s 16 – 18 year old likes in terms of every aspect of a music magazine. I presented the information is tallies and graphs to help me sum up my survey with the highest percentage, as a result making it the best answer of what my consumer prefers. I have some idea of what I want to do for my magazine to suit my target audience of 16-18 music lovers for example, through my results I know from my question: How much would you pay for a magazine? That they want a magazine to be priced between £2 - £3. Therefore if I price my magazine at this price or below it, I will know my magazine will sell as my consumer will be willing to pay for it and be able to afford it as it came out highest percentage. Another question I asked was: What puts you off a magazine? They said they don’t want too much text as they don’t like to be overloaded with things to read as it is very intimidating and puts them off reading the magazine. Therefore from each question I asked, I have taken the highest percentage of answer and made this part of magazine such as Ke$ha being my many pop artist. By doing this I am making my magazine exactly the way my consumers want and as the answers were voted for the most it can’t be wrong. All these answers from my questionnaire have made me decide what I want to do for my music magazine with the consideration of my consumer’s requirements, this has now let me imagine what my actual magazine will look like in the end. This is why I have drawn my first drafts of my music magazines front cover, contents and double page spread. I have also looked at my initial ideas to help me with this as these were my first ideas and they may have changed or stayed the same. For example I have decided to use a medium close on the front cover as normally magazines do this and I will have a band across the page to really show that this issue of the magazine is about Ke$ha then I will have lots of different, less important information down the sides in different fonts to attract the consumers eyes and not confuse them as one. For example other artist like Black Eyed Peas split. For the contents I will only put the pages down that are important such as the main features like interviews with artists, as this makes sure that the consumer isn’t wasting their time reading all the features and reading the ones they don’t want to know about, therefore this helps them get straight to what they want. For the double page spread I will make up a title about my page such as RAWR Ke$ha is here! This grabs the reader’s attention and makes them want to read on about this wild girl. I am still not sure about my colour scheme therefore I will experiment on photoshop later when I have actually created my magazine but I am think about using neutral colours such as yellow and green or grey, white and black as they aren’t gender specific. Therefore I could mix contrasting colours such as grey, yellow and black as the yellow is really bright so it makes it stand out and look colourful, whereas the black and grey gives it a sophisticated look for it to look more like my music genre of sophisticated pop. For example I could use yellow on the name of the magazine so it stands out and people remember it when wanting to buy it again. Although before doing all that I researched further, into my artists and my music magazine development. For example as I am basing my music magazine mainly on my artist Ke$ha who was voted highest by my consumer from my questionnaire. Therefore I have searched for photos and information on her to see how she dresses, acts, personal information . This will help me created a model of her when I take picture in the sort of clothes and act like her to make my magazine look more real.

Drafts & development

Evaluation of questionnaire - question 10, 11, 12

10. What’s your favourite genre of a music magazine?

Answers: Jazz - 0 Other - 1 DJ - 2 Hip-Hop - 2

Dance - 3 Rock - 3 R&B - 4 Pop - 5

The genre of the magazine must be clear from the front cover as this lets the consumer pick their favourite type of music based on colour scheme, artist etc. It is also important as it affects everything on the magazine such as the artists as they are related by the music they create. For example there is no point having a pop artist like Britney Spears on a rock magazine as she doesn’t write or sing that type of music therefore she can’t comment on the subject. Jazz was the least popular and got 0% of my consumers votes. This is probably because it is a very old type of genre like rock and roll and is now seen as out of date, this is due to the fact that there are so many new genres coming about today and some get out dated like Jazz and some get renamed as something else which is more updated. Although many people like Jazz today like people aged 30+ although this isn’t relevant as music magazines sells are high due to young people below the age of 30 buying them therefore Jazz doesn’t affect my results. This is why other had such a low percentage at 5% as people came up with genres which don’t fit into the answers I provided. For example one interviewee said Eletropop which is like Dance, therefore it is quite hard to categorise music types as there are so many and lots of songs are combinations of different genres and are similar. DJ came at quite low at 10% this is probably because it isn’t very popular as there isn’t a lot of singing involved in the making on the music, just mixing, which doesn’t need a lot of talent. Although this music is very popular in clubs but not as something you would put on your iPod as it’s not something you listen to its a type of music you rave and dance too. Therefore it isn’t a big topic that has a lot of issues to talk about as DJ’s aren’t as well known as singers and bands. As a result they aren’t in the media attention a lot and therefore people prefer singers as they have more interesting lives with their music and are seen as having more talent than DJs and being more popular for their work etc. This could be the same with dance at 15% as well suggesting that club music stays at the club, although this differs to DJ music as there is more talking making it more popular than it. Another reason why it is so low is because not many bands/singers create dance music as many DJs take all music and mix it to create dance music, therefore getting two songs for the price of one. As a result some people don’t like remixes of the original song as its spoils it by making it into a dance genre music, making it not very popular. Hip-hop was at 10% as it’s isn’t a very used genre nowadays and is quite an old music type and is more known as rock or pop rap, or street as so much music is being joined together to describe a song or music type. At 20% was R&B this scored highly due to the fact that this music is very peaceful and is a type of music people like to listen to do relax and enjoy as it is quite slow and mellow with its tunes and lyrics etc. Some genres haven’t changed over the years like rock at 15% as a lot of rock singer’s play their own instruments mainly and sing the same shouting type of music; therefore it could be seen as a classic. Pop was rated to be the most popular at 25% this is because it is an old timeless classic been brought through to the 21^stcentury and is also seen as a classic and a reinvented classic, therefore it has never died out and just got more popular with the new and the old songs. Overall I think I am going to make my magazine a pop magazine mostly as the main theme as it scored the highest in my questionnaire, although as there is so many genres out there and they are all connected I may include other artists and bands that fit into the other genres. This makes my magazine an all rounder and liked by all music lovers and very popular.

11. Who is your favourite music artist and band at the moment?

Answers: Taylor Swift - 1 Beyoncé - 1 T imbaland - 2 Paolo Nutini - 3 Jason Derulo - 3 Lady Gaga - 3

Pixie Lott - 3 Ke$ha - 4

Diversity in a band is very important to show that the magazine isn’t sexist this is why the black eyed peas, The Saturdays and The Killers are voted at the highest at 20%. Consumers like this because each member brings something different to a song e.g. Black Eyed Peas have 3 boys which are rappers and a pop singer Fergie. The Saturdays is all girl band therefore a lot of girls will have different vocals and styles of singing low high etc. As these are all male, female and mixed bands this shows that boys mostly voted for The Killers, then mostly girls voted for The Saturdays. Which means Black Eyed Peas was perhaps voted for both. Glee cast also has the same diversity as it has lots of girls and boys making the gender split almost even in glee due to its mass of artists. Although it only scored 10% this is probably because it sings lots of different songs by other artists, therefore they don’t create their own songs which is copyrighting, whereas if they wrote their own songs they would be more popular as their diversity has disabled people, ethnic people, males females etc. Whereas the other bands were voted low because they could be seen as old at the moment as they haven’t brought out anything new e.g. Green Day at 5%. N-Dubz scored only 10% this is probably because there songs don’t range that much and all sound the same, also all of them don’t bring a special something to the group they all have the same style. As a result if I do use a band on the front cover I must make sure that it has diversity if not they I must show that the magazine is not sexist being using over gendered pictures in it.

Answers: Jonas Brothers - 1 Green Day - 1 N-Dubz - 2 Glee Cast - 2 Girls Aloud - 2 The Killers - 4

The Saturdays - 4 Black Eyed Peas - 4

12. Who would you want to see on the front cover of a music magazine?

Answers: The Saturdays - 2 Black Eyed Peas - 2

Pixie Lott - 3 Glee Cast - 3 The Killers - 3

Jay Sean - 3 Ke$ha - 4

This question is very important as this will determine who I have on the main issue of my magazine; therefore it has to be an artist that is popular at the moment and an artist who people like and like their music. A lot of people said some of the same artists as they said above, some said their own and others said different ones in the question 11 this shows that lots of people these day have the same tastes. This question also let me some up both questions on question 11 to show which they prefer. Many of the artists drew at 15% therefore as a result I could incorporate all these artists on my magazine somewhere to keep all my consumers happy. Like a little comment on the front page about them. Many groups/bands such as Glee Cast, Black Eyed Peas, The Saturdays and The Killers were voted at 10% – 15% this shows that groups are quite liked, although were probably voted quite low due to this fact that bands take a lot longer to organise and write songs as there is more people to consider than a solo artist. As a result bands bring out less albums/singles than solo artists as band members may fight or lyrics, tune etc. Therefore making them less popular due to this. Although through my research of music magazines, bands aren’t seen very often on the front covers these magazines. This is probably due to the fact that bands don’t always fit on front covers the best as there is so many of them On the other hand many people perhaps prefer bands. Although many solo artists were at the same percentage which suggests that bands come pretty much evenly with solo artists, shows there is a lot of competition. However overall Ke$ha was the most favourite artist at 20%, which shows she is the most popular artist at the moment, due to her bringing out singles that are in at the charts in the moment. I could use this as the main image on my front cover and for my double page spread as main of my consumers like her therefore my magazine will be very popular as it has likable artists and good topics. I could also write about other artists around this image is thetext going down in list form such as “Free Killers poster” or “The Saturdays spilt!” This makes my magazine aimed at all my consumers as I have put everything that they want on and not just sticking to one artist.

Evaluation of questionnaire - question 7, 8, 9

7. How much would you pay for a music magazine?
Answers: £0 - £1 - 2 £1 - £2 - 3 £2 - £3 - 7 £3 - £4 - 5 £4+ - 3

Price is very important when buying a magazine as it can stop the consumer from buying it. Therefore I have to find the right price band to price my magazine in as it can’t be too expensive or it won’t sell and it can’t be too cheap as I won’t make a profit. Not mainly people voted for £0 - £1 this is probably because many magazines at this price aren’t very good quality therefore they would prefer to spend a little bit more money and get their money’s worth on better music magazines. As a lot of music magazine aren’t in this price range they don’t tend to have aesthetically pleasing features such as glossy front covers or have as much pages this really affects the magazines popularity, which makes all the difference for the consumer when choosing which magazine to buy. At 15% was £1 - £2 many people may have voted for this price as they pay this amount when an expensive magazine goes on sale such as a £3 magazine dropping down to £2, although music magazines don’t do this very often as they are seen as very upper class magazines and are seen to be the most expensive along with fashion/photography magazines. Therefore offers on these music magazines don’t come around very often as the manufactures want to make a profit. £3 - £4 at 25% was my 2^nd highest, which suggests that some people do like to pay higher prices for good quality magazines as it is worth the money. £4+ didn’t get many people paying this amount at only 15% as this is a lot of money for a magazine and could be seen as too expensive and a con for your money. Although many people would pay this price for a subscription such as £15 for 12 issues of the magazine for a year, therefore making each magazine £1.25 and saving lots of money for good quality magazines. So this could correspond to £0 - £1 band for people paying so little due to the money their saving on a subscription. As £2 - £3 was my highest percentage at 35% I will price my magazine between these two prices as my consumers have voted for it therefore it is seen as an affordable price for a good quality magazine as it is not too expensive like one of my answers £4 and not too cheap like my other answer £1 - £2, making the price just right. Also whilst doing my research for existing music magazines I found out that many of these magazines prices range from £2 - £4, for this reason I will also price my magazine at this price as it keeps in competition with existing magazines. Although as I have only got a price band and not a actually price I need to choose one, I want a round price so that it’s easy to pay and you don’t need lots of pounds on pennies to purchase it. This is why I am going to price it at £2.50 as it is in the middle of existing magazine price bands therefore mine will be the cheapest and my consumers will choose mine over “Q” etc.

8. Would free items such as CDs and posters persuade you to buy the music magazine?Answers: Yes - 16 No - 4

Attached to a magazine there is often free CDs or posters, this makes the audience want to buy it as it is free and you’re not paying extra. Therefore they think they are getting their money’s worth and getting a good deal. Normally the item is on the front cover and slightly covering the magazine and make them want it more as it’s the first thing they see. Also the iconic word or “FREE” is very symbolistic as it makes the consumer want to know more and this is very good emotive to get more consumers. As 80% of my consumers would be persuaded to buy the magazine if it did have free items, I will use this as a persuasive technique to catch the consumer’s eyes with words like “FREE, WORTH £30”, this is very like propaganda. Although 20% of people said that they wouldn’t be persuaded by this as perhaps they think that the free items aren’t good quality therefore they probably won’t use it and it will be a wasted. Especially since CDs aren’t as popular as they used to be, this is another reason why it probably wouldn’t persuade people. This is because all music purchasing is through the internet on iTunes now. On the other hand 80% of people agreed they would be persuaded and this percentage wins overall, this is because some free items such as free posters aren’t available elsewhere and these items can be given to other people as presents if they wanted to. As a result I will put free items on the front cover as my consumer prefers it and it is all about the customer when creating my magazine, therefore I have to please them aesthetically. It also attracts my consumer to my magazine as other magazines may not offer this and persuades them to buy it more and that’s what I want as I want to make a profit.

9. What puts you off a music magazine?

Answers: Price - 2 Bad magazine name - 2

Horrible image - 3 No interesting topics - 4

Dislike the artist - 4 Too much text - 5

The magazine has to be aesthetically pleasing to catch the consumer’s eye and if they don’t like it then the magazine has failed to attract its target audience. At 10% was price some people aren’t affected by the price as they will pay for a magazine due to the fact it has what they want on and they will pay extra to get this or that they are willing to pay the price due to it being in their price range. Therefore I must make sure that the price is affordable for my consumer. Also at 10% was bad magazine name this isn’t very important as it doesn’t effect the magazine very much as it is just a name and it is only featured a couple of times in the magazine. For example the music magazine “Q” is only one letter and has nothing to do with music, whereas if it was “M” you could understand it meant music or something else. Although “Q” is still a very successful magazine due to its well thought presentation, colour, scheme, and layout etc. Horrible image was at 15%, if the image on the front cover is not very attractive then it will have failed to represent the magazine by being aesthetically pleasing for its targeted consumer. Therefore I must make sure that my front cover image especially, is very good quality and is presented in a way my target audience will love. Another reason why people may have said this answer because people are greatly against photoshopping and this can create a horrible, fake image of the artist that people hate as it is false advertising. As a result if I do photoshop any of my images I must make sure I use it to make them look more natural and not enhance them greatly beyond reality such as incredible skinny waists. Next was no interesting topics at 20%, if the magazine doesn’t have any appealing topics the consumer won’t buy and read the magazine, therefore it would have failed to aim at its audience and their likes. The topics used must be relevant to a magazine such as music magazines having relevant music topics such as pop artists not food or sports. For example Katy Perry punches Ke$ha after UK tour!” this is very shocking and making the reader want to know what happened as it is very gossipy and entertaining to read. Dislike the artist was also at 20%, this is very important as the artists are a big part of the a music magazine, therefore it has to be a relevant musician to the type of music magazine for example Pixie Lott would be seen on the front cover of a pop magazine; whereas you wouldn’t see Ozzy Osborne on a rock magazine as he is known for this rock music career. The artist also has to be popular with the audience at the moment for example if a music magazine put Chris Brown on its front cover after the fight with Rihanna this is very bad publicity for the magazine and no one would buy it as everyone hates him for hitting Rihanna that badly. As a result the artist has to be popular and be liked at the moment so that people know who they are and want to know more about them. Too much text was the answer that scored the highest in percentage at 25%, it is clear that my audience are strongly against this and this is because of it making the magazine boring and can make the readers eyes feel funny as looking at too much text does this to some people and this is very off putting. This is why many magazines split up its text with images which lets the reader feel more relaxed with a light read and images to look at and picture in the scenery.

Evaluation of questionnaire - question 6

Evaluation of questionnaire - question 4

Evaluation of questionnaire - question 3

Evaluation of questionnaire - question 2

Evaluation of questionnaire- question 1

Questionnaire evaluation: I have created a questionnaire for my audience research to find out what my consumer wants and not just what I want or think them to like. I have designed 12 questions on the topic of magazines to see what my consumer says and get a good idea what they really want. These questions ask thing like “What type of magazines do you buy?” and “Would free items such as CDs and posters persuade you to buy the music magazine? Yes or NO” therefore I have used opened and closed questions for the reader to answer easily and openly. I asked 20 consumers both male and female to get an even, fair and relevant result; and so that my magazine isn’t sexist and to see what both gender say. My audience I asked was aged between 16-18 as these young ages buy magazines the most rather than older one. I also used this age group as then I could have a small specific age range and base my magazine specifically to my consumers needs.

1. What types of magazines do you buy?

Answers: Science - 2 Game - 4 Fashion - 6 Music - 8

Diary entry week 3

Weekly review 15/02/2010 week 3

This week I did my initial ideas which helped me see everything I could do for my magazine and help me decided what genre of magazine I want to do. So I did a spider diagram on the 3 pages to help me see what I must do to my magazine by thinking back to the existing magazines to help me see what music magazines normally have on them and don’t. Also lets me see everything that I have to think about when making the magazine like the story I’m going to right about and the images I’m going to use etc. For example I drew a medium close up image on the front cover this attracts the consumer as it is close and personal. It will be located in the centre for it to be a main focus and my audience is going to be male and females aged 16-18. After looking at existing music magazines, to know my market, I now need to get to know my consumer. I have created a questionnaire to ask my target market which is young adults and teenagers aged 16 -18. I collected a group of consumers in this age range and in different genders and asked them questions like “What kind of magazines do you buy?” and “Why do you buy these magazines?” This will help me see what my consumer likes and dislikes in music magazines, then I can shape my magazine to what they want to see and pay for etc. I asked a fair amount on consumers, the number was 20 to get an even result that would be reliable and collected this data. I created different ways in interviewing my consumer by doing written, videoed and voice recorded questionnaires with one person then a group to see how they all felt and reacted to the questions and magazines I showed them. I did this to see how they wrote and acted when doing a questionnaire and being recorded.This let me personally get involved with what my consumer really wanted and let them answer with more freedom then just handing out surveys.

Question Interviews

Questionnaire

1. What type of magazines do you buy?

“I normally buy music or fashion, as these are my interests”

2. Why do you buy these types of magazines?

“Well I take media and textiles as AS subjects at school so they come in handy for that, I also like to know the gossip in these areas with the celebrities and artists, so I am very interested in them areas.”

3. Can you name one of these magazines you bought recently and tell us why you buy it?

“I bought the fashion magazine “GLAMOUR” about couple of weeks ago, I bought because it was only a £1 and it had a picture of an artist I liked on.”

4. What features do you like about this magazine?

“The image on the front cover”

5. What attracts you to a magazine?

“The front cover and the price”

6. What’s the most important part of a magazine?

“Defiantly the front cover and the image used, so the celebrity used”

7. How much would you pay for a magazine? Please choose one from below

£0 - £1 £1 - £2 £2 - £3 £3 - £4 £4+

“Depending on the magazine but I would say £3 - £4”

8. Would free items such as CDs and posters persuade you to buy the music magazine?

Yes No

“Yes, you got to get your money’s worth!”

9. What puts you off a magazine?

“Hmm, if the image on the front cover is of a celebrity I don’t like or isn’t a very good picture taken”

10. What your favourite genre of a music magazine?

Rock R&B DJ Pop Dance Hip-hop Jazz Other

“I like a range to be honest but if I had to choose then Dance”

11. Who is your favourite music artist and band at the moment?

“Pixie Lott and then The Saturdays”

12. Who would you want to see on the front cover of a music magazine?

“Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga”