Diary Entries - Week 3

In my third week of this media coursework I have began sketching my ideas for the design of my front cover, contents page and double page spread. I used the results of my audience research to decide on specific areas of the magazine such as colour scheme, style of font, layout of contents page as well as what articles should feature in the magazine.

We also began to analyse what were problems with some previous students work and what we could do to prevent us making those very mistakes. We found that little things such as a spelling mistake or a different font style or size can drop your grade down by several marks. We were taught to stick with one style on our content page which we should take from our audience research. This would mean that the contents page would be effective and be likely to boost our marks.

Overall it has been a useful week which has taught me many things about producing a music magazine from the overall design to the content of the magazine which can separate you from a higher grade.

Diary Entry - Week 2

In week 2 of the AS level media coursework we had a look at our initial ideas and our audience research. For our initial ideas we had to draw a spider diagram which contained all of the ideas for my magazine that I had at the time. It contained categories such the target audience, colour schemes, layout of the magazine and even the type of fonts that will appear on the magazine this was so we could gather together all of the ideas which connected to each target audience. I think this initial ideas diagram will help me develop my ideas into practical production for designing my music magazine layout.

First of all I decided I would do a indie magazine as that is my preferred gere of music and the genre I know most about. I decided that I would have a target audience of 16-30 as I felt that the people between these ages like the indie genre of music more than any other age group. I also decided that the title of my double page spread would be either the band name or the band’s new album. I also decided on a range of articles which I could include in my music magazine.

I also completed my audience research which was in the form of a questionnaire. I asked a total of 30 people for their opinions and ideas of music magazines. This will allow me to use the ideas of others to help me with the production and content of my music magazine. To gather the information I had to ask people in my media studies class and post my questionnaire on Facebook so I could have more people’s opinions and suggestions of what to include in my magazine. I asked people from both genders from my target audience.

Audience Research 3

Audience Research 2

Audience Research 1

Audience Research with Charts

Question 1 - For this pie chart the question that was asked was are you a fan of indie music? The pie chart shows that 22 people out of 30 said that yes they were a fan of indie music. This shows that an indie magazine would be a good idea as a lot of people enjoy listening to this type of music. All of the people asked this questionnaire were at the age of my target audience which is between the age of 18 and 30. As an extension to this question I asked people who were their favourite bands/artist in the indie genre. There was many different answers but the bands Little Comets, The Maccabees and The Strokes were mentioned the most times. As a result of this I have decided to include some of these bands in my magazine as I like their music myself.

Question 2 – The question for this chart was “How often do you buy music magazines?” The majority of people said rarely which means that I have to find a way of persuading my target audience to buy my magazine by finding out what would make them buy a music magazine. The next option that received the most votes was monthly, this could mean that I produce a monthly magazine as it would not cost as much over a month. NME costs around £2.30 and a new issue is released every week. If I could produce a magazine costing around £3.00 then this may prove to be a very popular decision. A disadvantage for the reader of this though would be that people may read NME very quickly so the target audience would want a new magazine to be produced quickly.

Question 3 – The third question of my audience research was “What would you like to read about in a music magazine?” The majority of people surveyed said that they would like to read interviews than guidance and new artists. This means I am likely to produce at least one interview in my music magazine as suggested by my target audience. Articles about new artists could also appear in my magazine as there is also a high demand for this type of article by my target audience. Music magazines of the indie genre such as NME include articles like these which must be a popular choice for their target audience also.

 Question 4 – This question was” What do you think would be the most suitable colour scheme for my magazine?” There was an overwhelming choice for red, black and white which I felt was the most suitable colour scheme also. This is originally NME’s colour scheme which I felt worked very well. This opinion was shared by my target audience also. This colour scheme appealed to two thirds of my target audience which was a clear winner. I also liked that the second placed colour scheme but I felt may be slightly boring and dull for the reader.

Question 5 – This question was all about the layout of the contents page, the question was. “Which style do you prefer, Blocky or Image Dominated for a contents page?” After collecting all of my results I found that both styles were equally liked. This means that I was given the free choice of which I thought was the best. This means that around half of my target market would like the layout where the other half would prefer the image dominated style. I prefer the blocky style which I the layout which I am most likely to use in my music magazine.

Question 6 – this question was asked to see what style of font is should use in my magazine. The question was “Would you prefer a Serif or Sans-Serif font?” The font that received the most backing was the sans-serif style. This font is known to be masculine and bold compared to the serif style font. I too prefer the sans-serif font so I will be using it in my magazine front cover and in all of the articles due to the results of my questionnaire. The sans-serif font received over 76% of the votes which gave it an overwhelming backing.

Question 7 – this question related to the results of the second question as I asked my target audience “What often would you want a new magazine to be released?” The majority of the people asked gave the answer weekly. This may have been because the people who read music magazines will read them within a couple of days and then want a new magazine to read soon. The only problem with producing a new magazine weekly is it will be costly for the target audience if they buy every issue. Based on this question and question 2 I have decided to produce a magazine weekly rather than monthly.

Question 8 – This question related to what makes my target audience buy a music magazine. The question was “What would make you buy a music magazine?” For this question I received a number of answers from my target audience. The answer which stood out for this question was that the target audience wanted articles and interviews which bands they like. This answer was given by half of the audience, sending a clear message that this is what should be included in my magazine. I am also thinking about adding a competition for free items and ticket information. Which are the answers with the next amount of backing.

Question 9 – I asked my target audience the following question relating to the name of my target audience. The question was “Which name do you prefer for my magazine?” I then gave the audience 3 choices to choose from they were ‘Acoustic’, ‘Amplified’ or other. I then asked the audience to put forward opinions about names that they would like if they selected other. One response gave the suggestion ‘Volume’ or ‘Set-List’. I thought that volume was a good suggestion and will consider using that against ‘Amplified’ which received 80% of the votes. I think these are both decent names for music magazines and will have to decide between what the target audience want and what I think is the best.

Question 10 – This question helped me decide what the price of my magazine should be. I asked the following question “What price would you be willing to pay for a music magazine?” Most of my target audience said they would pay between £2.00 and £2.99 rather than between £1.50 - £1.99 and £3.00 - £3.49. This obviously tells me that I should price my magazine around about the £2.00 mark rather than the £2.99 mark as more people said they would pay less than two pounds rather than three pounds. The majority of weekly music magazines are priced around £2.30 but as they are established magazines they can charge more and they know people will purchase the magazine. I will need to produce a magazine that is cheaper than say NME to have a more competitive edge in the market.

Initial Ideas Digram