Magazine Production Process

The Front Cover

I decided to produce the front cover of my media product in Photoshop (some work done in CS6 and some in CS2), as it is the program I am most experienced with and I felt my skills would be most effective in conjunction with this application. To start with, I went through my photo shoot (after I had gotten the planning permissions signed) and noted the best photographs in terms of overall quality of the image (focusing, least camera shake, etc) and in terms of what my subjects looked like in the photographs as I needed particular poses. For this reason, in the photo shoot, I made sure to get a variety of photographs, for example in some I had my subjects do serious poses, each of them representing a different personality type, whereas in others I had my subjects just have fun together. I also made sure to get some shots of my subjects independently as well as with each other.

For the first draft of my front cover I chose IMG_6142, shown below.

I attempted to use this for my front cover, but later decided (after producing a first draft) I no longer liked the design although it was a good photograph, as I didn't think it suited the colour scheme I needed. I also thought it may confuse my audience in terms of the magazine's genre as a shot of a single member of the band, doing this pose and with this outfit, may imply a fashion magazine. I decided to use one of the group photographs to avoid this and so I could show the character types in the band, a technique I noticed was common in my research of professional magazines as this way, they can appeal to the differing tastes of their target audience. The first draft for this magazine cover is shown below.

After experimenting with this front cover image and masthead shown left, I decided that it wasn't good enough as it didn't convey the rock/metal genre I wanted it to, and I didn't think it made sense to only include the lead singer of the band in this case. I decided to re-draft the front cover completely, and so decided to use the image shown below instead.












For the second draft of my front cover I chose IMG_6063, shown below.

I think that this image is a lot better suited to the purpose as it shows the different personality types of the band and makes it more interesting. The model in front represents 'the cute/pretty one' as she is smiling and looking directly at the camera, the model on the left represents 'the mysterious one' as she is looking away from the camera with a serious expression, and the model on the right represents 'the tom-boy' as she is dressed very casually and with minimal make-up. I also generally like the image and think that with some basic adjustments and improvements on Photoshop such as cropping and hue/saturation layers, it will make a good base for my front cover.

The Process:

Above is the second draft where I started to design my masthead. I began with a simple large, black bold font and used a paintbrush tool to make the ends of the letters longer. I then added some green and black spikes to stylize my masthead, as I recognized in my masthead that this is what most magazines do to give themselves a defined brand and further suggest the genre to their target audience. However, I later thought that this design didn't look very professional and I decided to start over again and experiment with a different style of masthead.

Next, I worked on my third draft of my magazine's front cover, shown above. I added my edited main image, blended it in to create a background colour (using the colour-picker tool on the photograph to get the correct tone) and started working on my masthead. I used the font 'Bernard MT Condensed'. I chose this because I thought that since it was a quite large, bold font, it would connote the genre of rock/metal. As with my previous masthead, I stylized it to create a brand image. I added the scratches and crack lines going through it by creating a copy of the text layer and erasing parts of it so the background would show. I did this because I think the cracks and scratches connote the aggressive nature of rock and metal music.

Then, I started on my colour scheme. I decided to go for a colour scheme of blue, yellow, black and white, so that I could create a magazine that breaks the conventional colour scheme of red, black and white that is often seen in other rock magazines. I think that this gives it an exciting and fresh, new look that my target audience will instantly recognize as being different from the rest. I also added my tagline, "Bringing you the latest in the world of music" to make the aim of my magazine clear to my readers.

Next I added my main story line and additional story lines. I chose to name the fictional band my models represent, "Mild Distress at the Party"- this is a play-on the real band of a similar genre, "Panic! At the Disco". In my additional sell lines I included more rock-sounding bands such as "Happiness From the Bottle" and "Crushing Diamonds". I also planned to include more band names and sell lines in the banner at the bottom, as I didn't want to obscure the main image or make the cover look too crowded.

I then added my skyline and banner, shown above. For the bottom banner I added band names along with some advertisements for freebies that come with the magazine (as in my survey most people said that the offer of free items influences their choices when purchasing a magazine). These band names were slightly more conventional, and I included some from my flat plans. I also tried to include some that would appeal to males because of my main image's models being all female, as I wanted my potential target audience reach to be as open as possible. For example, the band names 'Rage Brothers' and 'Steal the Empire' sound quite masculine.

Finally, as shown above, I added an extra graphic advertising a free CD that contains Affliction's Top 20. This was to be the main free item that would attract more potential buyers to the magazine, as again, in my survey, a lot of people agreed that free items would influence their choice. I used a yellow circle graphic with a darker yellow circle underneath it to give it a 3D look as if it was a sticker, a technique I have seen often in my own experience of rock/metal magazines. I overlapped it slightly with the masthead to make it look more integrated into the cover and so it wouldn't distract too much from the main image. As a final touch, I added the bar-code and price to the magazine. I put the bar-code in portrait form so it would take up less space and I wouldn't have to re-arrange my banner text. This completed the process of making my front cover.

The Contents Page

After creating my front cover, the process of creating a contents page was relatively simple, as I had already established my colour scheme and fonts, so it was just a matter of transferring article names from the front cover to this new page and creating a few more to fill any gaps. I planned to have article names and page numbers on the left, and images and article teasers on the right, as I noticed in my pre-production research that this layout was conventional for a contents page.

Next, I moved on to finding images to go on the right-hand side of the contents page based on articles I knew I would be including. My sources for the below photographs were old image files I had on my computer, such as the image I edited for the new album cover, but I also used an image of a concert that I took as in November 2015 I went to a Marina and the Diamonds concert in Cambridge, so I took the opportunity to get a photograph of the crowd at the stage from a balcony to use in my contents page.

Images used:

Above is the photo I used to represent the editor of the magazine. Previously, in my first draft of the contents page, I had used an informal photo of a male I knew personally, but later decided they didn't have the right facial expression and the background was unprofessional so I couldn't use it to represent the 'editor' of the magazine. I then found this more appropriate photo of a female I personally knew (who agreed for me to use this photograph I had taken of her) and I used Photoshop to white-out the background. I thought this looked a lot more conventional as an editor photo as the editor will usually be smiling and looking directly at the camera. This photo was to go alongside the editor's letter, to act as an introduction to the magazine.

On the left is the process I went through to feature a poster special of the band/artist 'Bandits'. Unfortunately, at the time, this was the only model I had available so I couldn't produce any group shots, but I was a lot happier with the results of the re-shoot that the model offered to participate in as I think the background and lighting is a lot more professional. I got my model to do serious poses as well as one informal one (I noticed in my research that real magazines often do this) where he has his hands up in hand symbols that connote rock music. 

After I had edited and sorted all of my additional images to go on the contents page, I added them to the page and gave them captions. Again, I used my secondary font 'Rockwell' for this so that my contents page had consistency with the rest of the magazine. With the posters I ended up using two of the edits I had made, one with a serious pose and the other being the funny, informal pose. This was to show a contrast between two aspects of the artist's personality and make the shoot seem more personal, as I thought this would attract readers who are bored of the conventional, strictly professional photo-shoots for bands and artists they may usually see.

Next, I added my article names along with some lines aiming to tease the reader into wanting to read on to find out more. For example, in my main features I included lines such as "Lying Lullaby - once you hear them... you'll refuse to sleep!". This is a sort of word-play on their band name, whilst also implying to the reader that the band is a must-hear, and by extension, the article is exciting and they won't want to miss it. I also included rhetorical questions such as, "Rage Brothers - they've finished their tour- what next?". As well as subtly getting the reader to ask these questions themselves and reading on to find out more, it acts as a form of direct address to give the magazine a sense of audience interactivity.

Then I added the editor letter and photo I had previously edited. I made sure to size the text so that it filled the gap between the list of contents whilst at the same time not making the page look too crowded. Prior to writing the editor's letter I read some real magazine letters and took note of any conventions they use, whether it be the form of language in the text (formal or informal), or even just the kind of font they use for the first and last lines. In my own letter, I used quite informal language and tried to use direct address in the form of imperatives (for example, the ending line "So sit back, get comfortable, and get ready to be amazed"). The aim of an editor's letter is usually to act as an introduction to the magazine before the audience starts reading the articles, so I kept this in mind when writing the letter and included some references to the most exciting features in the magazine. Finally, I noticed in my research that there is often the editor's signature at the end, so I used a font that implied hand-written lettering, and wrote "Yours, The Editor x" to give it a more personal feel for the reader.

Finally, I finished the contents page by adding the page numbers for the list of contents and for the captions on my additional images. This was a fairly simple process, although I ensured that I left gaps between numbers for advertisement pages, as this is conventional for most magazines and was mindful of how many pages I was dedicating to each feature: for example, I knew that the double page spread article would be two pages, whereas I dedicated more or less pages to other articles depending on how 'big' or popular I thought the fictional bands would be (as readers would most likely want more detail on the popular bands than the ones that are little-known). After these touches, the contents page was finished and I could move on to creating the double page spread.

The Double Page Spread

The First Draft:

My first draft, shown below, was created using InDesign. This was a program I was completely unfamiliar with, so I found it quite difficult to get used to all of the tools and features. At the stage of creating the first draft of my double page spread with a main image and headline, I decided that I wasn't happy with the layout and that the image I used wasn't suitable. As I was still having difficulties adjusting to the new program, I spoke to my teacher who agreed that I could re-produce it using Photoshop, providing I could create the expected conventions of double page spreads (such as drop-caps, article columns and other text formats) successfully. I was a lot more efficient with this working in Photoshop as I already had prior experience creating such products in the program, and so I began constructing a new version in Photoshop.

The Second Draft:

Below is what my double page spread looked like after moving to Photoshop. I still wasn't happy with this design, as I thought that it wasn't appropriate to only include two of the band members and leave out the supposed lead singer. I also thought that the headline of the article was too long and taking up too much space, so decided to discard this second draft and start completely anew with a different layout, main image and headline.

The Third Draft:

For my third draft, I first of all started with finding new images to use. I decided to make a collage of the three models from separate images, as I didn't have a suitable group shot. I chose the best poses and expressions I could find for each model and adjusted them so they looked like they were in the same lighting. I then made a split in the page to separate the two halves of A4 so I could arrange the images accordingly, added my new headline and images (shown below), and prepared to write the article.

To start the article-writing process, I began with an introduction. I included a drop-cap at the beginning as they are used to let the reader know where to start reading. This introduction was a summary of the topic of the article, the band members' names, and how the interview is exclusive to Affliction magazine.

To speed up the production process somewhat, I wrote my article content (the interview) beforehand in a Word document and copy and pasted it in sections. At the stage shown above, I left a gap for my pull-out quote. The composing of the interview was fairly simple, as I had already observed the conventions of real interviews and so it was just a matter of putting them into practice and using my own writing skills to create an interview that my audience would be excited to read. I used 'Q:' to mark the interviewer's questions along with the names of the band members who were answering. I tried to vary who answered so that there wasn't a repetitive or boring pattern, and tried to make the answers quite imaginative, aiming to give each band member a distinct personality. For example, Ange's answers (the model in the middle) were quite short and to-the-point, as she is supposed to represent the band character type of 'the mysterious one'.

Next, I added the pull-out quote as I noticed this was conventional for interview articles. I chose a quote from one of the questions, "We want to shake things up a bit and see where it takes us". I chose this because I think it would act as a teaser and entice readers into wanting to know more about the band's plans for the future. It doesn't give away much standing on its own, but if the audience reads the full article they will get more details, which is what the pull-out quote aims to subtly make the audience do. I overlapped the quote with the main image to make it look more integrated and gave it a darker blue drop-shadow so it was easier to read. As with the contents page, I stuck to the colour scheme of black, white and blue to keep the magazine consistent.

Then I added the rest of the article, making sure to have the text in columns, and carefully framed the text that was close to the main image around it to again, give it a more integrated look and make it more professional.

 Finally, I added some finishing touches. To end the article, I added a small paragraph telling the reader they could more information on the band's tour and new album, along with "more exciting news" on the band's website, 'www.milddistressattheparty.co.uk'. This acted as an ending statement of sorts, signalling the end of the article. As well as this, I decided to add a graphic to the article headline by using an ink droplet tool and adding some blue splashes, to make the headline stylized and the page more interesting to look at. I used the colour-picker tool to make sure it was the same shade of blue I had used with the rest of the page. After this, the production process was complete.

Magazine Content - Idea Update

My research and analysis of other magazines has helped me to gather my own ideas of what I want my magazine to roughly look like. Here are my ideas so far for the cover, contents and the double page spread, along with what kinds of articles I may feature.

Front Cover

Magazine Name Possibilities: 

Anarchist/Anarchy
Noise
Bloodstream
Ashes
Affliction

I think I will most likely use either Affliction or Bloodstream, as I think they sound quite conventional in terms of how rock magazine names are usually aggressive sounding words in order to connote the nature of the music genre. Although I like the other names as well such as Noise, I think Affliction sounds more attention-grabbing and has more of an impact.

Image Ideas:

My ideas for images I could use that I will take photographs of or make are concerts (this will be achievable as I have been to one very recently), a male/female model with a guitar, friends posing as band members, or a new album by said band members (I could make a cover for the album using Photoshop).

Colour Schemes:

I think I will determine the colour scheme by the fonts I use, what my masthead/magazine logo is, and the colours of the images I use so they don't conflict too much. So far I think that shades of green or purple with black are a possibility, but again I think it will depend on what is featured on the front cover so that it looks consistent. I would like to break the convention of black, red and white so that my magazine looks fresh and new, something my target audience would notice instantly is different from the rest.

Contents Page

Bands Likely to be Featured in Article Names:

- Mallory Knox
- KoRn
- Marilyn Manson
- Three Days Grace
- Breaking Benjamin
- Panic! At The Disco - I could do an exclusive on their upcoming album
- Any other bands that have recent news
- Fictional band names that sound like they are of the rock/metal genre

Other

Possible Ads I Could Feature:

My ideas for adverts in the magazine are the new Guitar Hero game, upcoming band tours, merchandise and generally adverts that don't appeal to a particular gender. This means I will be able to keep my potential audience and reach as open as possible.

Double Page Spread:

Article Ideas:

My ideas for articles so far are:

- An exclusive interview with an artist or band about their upcoming tour/album - For the interview I would be making up a band rather than doing it on one that already exists because I wouldn't be able to represent a real band's views and so a made up one would be easier to produce. For the image on the double page spread I could get some friends to pose as said band according to conventions of how bands are usually arranged in magazine photos (representing different character types, for example the leader, the mysterious one, the pretty one, etc).

- A review for a game or album - For this article I could review a popular game or album such as the new Guitar Hero or a new album of a band's that has came out recently, providing I have played/listened to it. I think this would be a good option because it would be fairly easy to structure in terms of what I could write about, although if I were to produce my own images for the article it might be difficult because I would have to show the front cover of the CD or game. I would have to also keep in mind the different platforms the game may be on, such as X-box or Playstation.

- An account of a concert - I think that an account of a concert would be a good idea as I have been to one very recently (November 20th) by Marina and the Diamonds. Although the band isn't strictly in the rock genre, I have photographs of a supporting act that are more of the rock genre. However, if I wanted to I could give an account of a Mallory Knox concert I went to not long ago that I still have photographs of the venue and band for.

- A list recommending things to people who like the rock/metal genre - This list could include things such as a list of albums all rock fans need to hear or a list of bands that are a must-see live. This overlaps into my article ideas for an account of a concert and a review for a game/album idea so I think combining these into one article is a possibility, although it might be difficult to keep the tone of the article consistent all the way through because of the topic changes.

Flat Plans

Above are the flat plans I have drawn as a rough design of what I think my magazine will look like. I will now be moving on into my production stage. 

Research into Institutions that Distribute Similar Products

NME Magazine:

Owned by: Time Inc. UK

Other magazines owned by Time Inc. UK include magazines targeting a mass female audience such as Woman's Weekly, Pick Me Up, Chat, TVTimes. They also own a range of magazines that cover specific interests, and are mainly directed at men, such as Rugby World, Cycling Weekly and Amateur Photographer although Amateur Photographer is arguably non-gender specific.

Time Inc. UK don't publish any other music magazines, which I think is unusual as their other areas such as the ones that target women cover such a broad range and it would make sense to maximise their profit by covering music magazine genres other than rock/metal. However, this also means that they may be interested in a new magazine that would help to fill the gap in the market, although mine is also of the rock/metal genre, so it would be better to aim for a publisher who has either no music magazines or no music magazines of that genre.

Source: http://www.timeincuk.com/brands/#iconic-brands - 09/11/15

Classic Rock Magazine:

Owned by: Team Rock

There is only one other magazine owned by Team Rock which is Metal Hammer, although they also own an internet rock station, Team Rock Radio. Their target audience is very niche, as it only covers an audience who is interested in the rock/metal genre, so for this reason, if this company were to publish my magazine, I would have to acknowledge the competition against Metal Hammer and Classic Rock and make sure that my magazine is more unique and covers a wider range of sub-genres. I think the target audience is also most likely an age range of 16-20+. Team Rock don't publish any magazines of any other genre, making their distribution and potential reach quite small.


Source: http://www.teamrock.com/commercial-terms?ns_source=global&ns_mchannel=desktop&ns_campaign=footer-tracking&ns_linkname=commercial-terms - 09/11/15

Imagine Publishing

In my research I also found a publisher that may be more likely to benefit if they were to distribute my magazine. Imagine Publishing are UK-based and publish magazines of the creative, video game and computing genre. For example, they publish Advanced Photoshop, Digital Photographer, Retro Gamer,  Play and Smartphone Essentials. I think they may be interested in my magazine as they don't currently publish any music magazines, so mine would be a way to gain a larger audience and perhaps more interest in other magazines they publish as well.

Sources: https://media.info/organisations/names/imagine-publishing - 10/11/15
http://www.imagine-publishing.co.uk/at_a_glance - 10/11/15

How this research will influence my magazine:

From this research, I now know that I will have to aim for a publisher who distributes magazines of a similar genre to mine- as although it is preferable to be the only rock/metal music magazine on the market, I know that this is unrealistic and there will always be competition. I will therefore make sure that my product has unique qualities that appeal to more niche sub-genres as well as the mass appeal of the genre in general that magazines like Kerrang! tend to go for.

For these reasons, I have chosen Team Rock as my distributor. Although Imagine Publishing and Time Inc. UK were both equally good choices, I thought it would be a wiser decision to choose a publisher with an already well-established readership. This also means that although they already cover the genres of rock and metal magazines, they may be more likely to be interested in widening their potential reach by distributing my magazine that covers a wider range of sub-genres for niche audiences as well as mass, so it would give them a more well-rounded distribution. To set my magazine apart from the rest, I will aim to make my content more unique while at the same time keeping the main conventions of the genre to keep my target audience consistent with Team Rock's likely audience of 16-20+.

3-Point Lighting Research

3-Point Lighting Definitions:

Key Light: The main light which is usually the strongest and has the most influence on the look of the resulting photograph. Key lighting is placed to one side of the subject so that this side is well lit and the other has some shadow, and provides most of the contrast in the photograph.

Fill Light: Fill light is secondary lighting which is placed on the opposite side of the key light to balance it out. It is used to fill in shadows created by the key. The lighting of this is softer and less bright.

Back Light: Back lighting is placed behind the subject and rather than providing direct lighting, its purpose is to provide definition and subtle highlights. It helps to separate the subject from the background and gives a 3-dimensional effect.

Below is a diagram I found that illustrates this:

Found image examples of the different effects the lights have:

Other Lighting Definitions:

High-key Lighting: A lighting scheme where the fill light is raised to almost the same level as the key light. This creates bright photos and there are few shadows on the subject.

Low-key Lighting: A lighting scheme that has very little fill light, which creates strong contrast between the brightest and darkest parts of the photo. It also often creates strong shadows that obscure parts of the principal subjects.

High/Low-key lighting examples:

How this research will influence my shoot:

This research will help me to understand the effects of different lightings I use when I do my own photo shoot for my magazine's photos and help me to make them look professional. I will most likely use this 3-point lighting technique for any photographs I do in a studio, although I will try to experiment to see what looks best and gives the effect I want, for example if I wanted half of the subject to be in shadow or if I wanted the subject to be illuminated by just the back light. I also think it will depend on any incident lighting there may be if I chose to do a photo in a setting other than a studio. I will also experiment with high-key and low-key lighting and see if it is a possibility for any of my magazine's photos.

Costume & Props Research & Planning

For inspiration for my costume & props planning, I first of all did an image search to find out the typical type of clothing and make-up for someone who likes rock/metal music, or is in a rock/metal band themselves. I also looked at sites such as http://asylumindustries.net/ who describe themselves as being a shop for "alternative clothing and band merch".

I found in this research that the kinds of clothing items that are typical for people into this genre to wear are leather jackets, boots, eyeliner and sometimes checked shirts, so I will use something similar to this for mine as it will communicate the genre to my target audience easily. Below are some examples of the images I found that gave me this impression:

I also think that I may use a prop such as a guitar or microphone to make the genre more obvious to my target audience.

In terms of models, I plan to have both males and females so that my potential audience isn't limited by gender. For the setting I may use either somewhere outside, such as having the model posed against a wall, or in a studio, but I think it will depend on the props I use and the impression I want to give.

My ideas for an outfit for my models so far are:

Male model: Black jacket, a t-shirt that shows a band name, black jeans and possibly a small necklace of some sort. Props I may use include a microphone or a guitar. The hair won't be styled in any particular way as I don't think it matters as much for male models and won't connote anything.

Female model: Black leather jacket, ripped jeans or a skirt, accessories such as bracelets or earrings most likely with spikes, high-heeled boots, and a casual top. I will probably use a microphone for a prop with them or have them posed naturally, and feature them as an exclusive interview.

To experiment further, I will be making a collage of different ideas and seeing which outfits look best and which ones connote the genre and appeal to the target audience the most efficiently to make the photo shoot look professional. I don't think buying the clothes will be a problem as I will make sure that the outfit I want to put together is similar to items I already own, or that my sister already owns as I may ask her to be my model because she is older and would relate to my target audience more.

Primary Audience Research - Questionnaire & Analysis

Primary Audience Research – Questionnaire & Results Analysis

The Questionnaire

    1)     What age are you?

__________

   2)     What is your gender?

___________________

   3)     How often do you purchase magazines?

[   ]                   [   ]                    [   ]                    [   ]

Always      Most of the time      Occasionally      Never

   4)     What magazine genre do you usually purchase?

Celebrity	TV	Health	Sports	Cars	Science	Technology	Music	Other

   5)     If you were to buy a music magazine, what genre of music would you want to be featured?

Rock	Metal	Classical	Hip-Hop	Rap	Charts Music	Pop	Alternative	Other

   6)     What topics would you be interested in reading about in a music magazine (not considering the music genre)?

Gigs/Tours Information	News	Band Gossip	Interviews	Merchandise (clothes, jewellery, etc).	Music Reviews	New & Upcoming Bands

   7)     What do you consider a reasonable price for a magazine?

£0.00-£1.20	£1.21-£2.00	£2.01-£3.20	£3.21+

   8)     What features or topics would you want to see in a new music magazine?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

   9)     How often do you purchase a magazine solely because of the celebrity/band/actor/actress featured on the cover in the main image?

   [   ]                      [   ]                      [   ]               [   ]

Always      Most of the time      Occasionally      Never

   10)  What kind of adverts would you be interested in seeing in a music magazine? (for example: band      merchandise, fashion, upcoming albums, etc)

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

   11)  How likely are you to subscribe to a magazine?

             [   ]                   [   ]                [   ]              [   ]

Almost definitely       Likely to       Possibly       Never

   12)  How likely are you to enter competitions you see in a magazine?

             [   ]                   [   ]                [   ]              [   ]

Almost definitely       Likely to       Possibly       Never

13)  How often do discounts, offers, free or exclusive items influence your choice when buying a magazine?

   [   ]                   [   ]                        [   ]                [   ]

Always      Most of the time      Occasionally      Never

The Results:

I conducted my survey in-person and asked 16 people of varying ages, but mostly people of my own age group and slightly above as my target audience is ages 15-25. The median age from the data I gathered was 18. I surveyed 7 males and 9 females. My results were:

1) Age:  Median age: 18

2) Gender: Male - 7
                  Female - 9

3) How often do you purchase magazines?
    Always: 5

    Most of the time: 4

    Occasionally: 6

    Never: 2

4) What magazine genre do you usually purchase?

     Celebrity - 2
     TV - 3
     Health - 0
     Sports - 2
     Cars - 3
     Science - 1  
     Technology - 1    
     Music - 4    
     Other - 0

5) If you were to buy a music magazine, what genre of music would you want to be featured?

    Rock - 3
    Metal - 3
    Classical - 1 
    Hip-Hop - 1
    Rap - 2
    Charts Music - 4
    Pop - 2 
    Alternative - 0
    Other - 0

6) What topics would you be interested in reading about in a music magazine (not considering the            music genre)?
   
     Gigs/Tours Information - 2
     News - 3
     Band Gossip - 1
     Interviews - 4
     Merchandise (clothes, jewellery, etc) - 2
     Music Reviews - 1
     New & Upcoming Bands - 3

7) What do you consider a reasonable price for a magazine?
    £0.00-£1.20  - 2
    £1.21-£2.00  - 7
    £2.01-£3.20  - 5
    £3.21+ -  1

8) What features or topics would you want to see in a new music magazine?
     Most Common/Interesting Answers:
     Advice column – advice given by music artists

     Concert reviews, album reviews

     
9) How often do you purchase a magazine solely because of the celebrity/band/actor/actress featured       on the cover in the main image?

    Always: 2

    Most of the time: 5

    Occasionally: 6

    Never: 3

10) What kind of adverts would you be interested in seeing in a music magazine? (for example: band                      merchandise, fashion, upcoming albums, etc)

             Most Common Answers: Merchandise, fashion, upcoming albums

      

      11) How likely are you to subscribe to a magazine?

            

             Almost definitely: 3

       Likely to: 2

       Possibly: 7

       Never: 4

12) How likely are you to enter competitions you see in a magazine?

       

       Almost definitely: 4

       Likely to: 5

       Possibly: 6

       Never: 1

13) How often do discounts, offers, free or exclusive items influence your choice when buying a               magazine?

      Almost definitely: 6

      Likely to: 5

      Possibly: 3

      Never: 2

Analysis

From these results, I found out some very valuable information from my target audience, although I did ask quite a few people slightly above this range, but I think this was a good decision because it guaranteed a wider variety of opinions. In my questionnaire I tried to be specific and made sure to include questions that would get me both quantitative and qualitative answers, such as questions that asked for data such as what genre of magazine they usually purchase along with questions that asked for more opinionated answers, such as what features they may look for in a new magazine. These types of questions especially will be the ones to help me to decide on key features and articles in my magazine so that I can maximize my potential reach.

The key information I found were the similarities I saw in answers, even though there was difference in age, as this will help me to narrow down the interests of the majority of the target audience. For example, from question 13 I found that discounts, offers, and free or exclusive items, for the most part, do influence a potential buyer's choice when purchasing a magazine, as 14 out of 16 answered either: 'almost definitely', 'likely to', or 'possibly', meaning only 2 people said it would never influence their choice, and can therefore be disregarded from the majority. From this I can see that free exclusives, or freebies, can most often tempt a reader in their decisions when buying a magazine, and my product would probably benefit from advertising one. For this reason, I will be including on my front cover an exclusive such as a free CD or other perk, exclusive to readers of my product only.

Other findings that will influence my magazine product include the answers for question 8, where I asked what features my audience would look for in a new music magazine. The most interesting answers I got for this question were: 'Advice column – advice given by music artists'. I find this interesting because after my studies in existing music magazines, I don't think it is a very common feature, and there is therefore an opportunity for me to break a convention and make my product more unique. I will definitely keep this in mind when designing my product. The other common answers I got to this question were 'concert and album reviews'. I will make sure to include these in my designing and production stages, as they were most requested.

Overall, this questionnaire has helped me a lot in getting to know my target audience first-hand by collecting my own primary data, and I think it will influence my choices in the design and production process a lot as I can now tailor my magazine to their interests more precisely.