Feedback from my focus group

These are the answers my focus group gave me in response to my audience feedback questions

Ryan said;

1) The photos don't look out of place on a music magazine, and are edited well

2) I can read the fonts clearly, and look very professional

3) I would buy the magazine, it looks a lot like the NME mags I've bought. It's great.

4) Yeah you can see everything on the cover and the fonts look good.

5) No the font is a legible size, and looks good

6) I think that black background relates to Morrissey, and looks good with the red t-shirt of the model (Rosie?) in that picture.

7) The style of writing is very authentic, you could be a journalist

8)The contents page gives enough information to know what your expecting in the magazine

9) Yes i think that the colour scheme looks very good, very much like Q magazine, although yours is better.

10) I really like it, and it looks very professional

Gemma said;

1) Yes, they have all been chosen well.

2) Looks Professional, not confusing

3) Yes, I would buy it

4) Yes

5) No, it was fine, I was able to read it.

6) Maybe, as both the background and the columns are black... but it doesn't look bad or anything

7) No.

8) Yes.

9) Yes it was a good feature

10) No.

Rosie said;

1) Yes very very very well

2) confusing

3) The cover artist would encoruage me to buy the magazine!

4) Yes, but not as asthectically pleasing as the model

5) No

6) No

7) Yes

8) Yes

9) Yes

10) No

Audience Feedback

Once I had finished my product, I thought of some questions that I could ask my classmates and focus group about my front cover, double page spread and contents page so I could receive some feedback.

1. Do you think the photographs I have chosen are suitable for their purpose?



2. Do you think the use of different fonts looks professional, or do you find it confusing?



3. Would my front cover encourage you to pick up or buy my magazine?



4. Do you think that the text on the front cover has been placed in a way that is aesthetically pleasing?


5. Do you find that the font used in the main body of text of my double page spread is too small?


6. Do you think that the dark colour scheme used on page two of my double page spread is too gloomy?


7. Do you think that the style of writing used in my double page spread is similar to that found in current music magazines?


8. Do you think the contents page would successfully fulfill it's purpose of making it easier for the reader to navigate their way around the magazine?


9. Do you think the red, white and black colour scheme used throughout gives the magazine a more professional feel?


10. Do you have any other comments about my magazine?

My Contents page

I decided on white as the background colour for my contents page as I wanted to use red writing and thought that it would stand out well on a white background. Also, my double page spreads colour scheme had been quite dark, so I wanted a lighter on e for the contents page. The first thing I did when making my contents page was wrote 'this week..' at the top left hand side (as this is where the eye is drawn to first.) I downloaded the font it is written in for dafont.com.

I then added a brief editorial under the the 'this week:' heading, as an editorial is a good way for the magazines to address and connect with readers on a personal level. The editorial just explained what was in the magazine this week. I then went on to list the articles down the left hand side of the page. I tried to think of articles that would interest my target audience and whilst focusing mainly on older bands, include newer ones as well. Whilst some of the bands featured are not new, the articles are about what they are doing currently. I used a font I had downloaded off dafont.com.

I then added some relevant pictures down the left hand side of the page. I added a picture I took of Morrissey performing live, the picture of Morrissey that Rosie is imitating the cover of the magazine and a picture of Rosie, as she is the subject of the magazine's main story. I then added the page numbers to the corresponding articles onto the pictures. The finished version of my contents page can be seen below.

My double page spread

This is the photo I decided to use as the main image for my double page spread. I liked this image as it had plenty of space around which I could put text on, without obstructing Rosie's face and she is making eye contact and smile (but the smile does not look forced or over the top.) Before I used the image, I cropped some of the right hand side and some of the bottom. I then used the spot healing brush to remove an imperfections on Rosie's face.

I then used the Gaussian blur technique and changed the opacity until I was happy with the way the picture looked. The finished result can be seen below.

I used an A3 canvas for my double page spread and split it in half. I put the edited picture on the first half. I then began to add text to the picture, the title and a brief description of the article. Picking a colour for the writing was quite hard, as the background to the picture is busy. I settled on red, but added a drop shadow to the text to make it stand out more. The images below show the text with no drop shadow and with it.
On the drop shadow I changed the distance, spread and size of it until I was happy with the effect.

After I had added text to the first page, I constructed three columns on the second page, which would contain the text of my article.

I then added the text to my double page spread. For the first paragraph, I used a technique that I had seen used in all music magazines when I did my research; I made the first letter bigger than all the others. This gave it a professional feel. Originally, I just had text in the column, but my teacher suggested that it needed breaking up and thought that I could do so with a picture of Morrissey, seeing as he is fairly central to the article. In the fished version of my double page spread (see below) I added a quote from Rosie onto the first page and the date and page number to the bottom of the second page.

My front cover

This is the image I eventually decided to use on my front cover. I chose it because I liked the pose and thought that it would be good to juxtapose this image with my article name 'This Charming Fan' as it shows her swearing which most people would not consider charming! I thought the image would look good on the front cover as the subject is maintaining eye contact, which draws the reader in and encourages look at the magazine. I thought that the brick wall background looked realistic and could have been from a real magazine photo shoot, so I decided not to cut out the picture and out it in another background. Also, I did this for my student magazine and it did not look very professional. I also like d this picture as the viewer can clearly see the 'Morrissey' logo on her T-shirt, which is an important part of the article.

I then edited the picture to make it look more professional and glossy. Firstly, I used the spot healing brush to get rid of nay skin imperfections. I did this to give the photo a more air-brushed effect, as seen on most magazine covers.

I then used the blur tool and selected Gaussian blur.

From their I clicked the fx button at the bottom of the layers column and clicked on overlay, before adjusting the opacity. This made the picture brighter and gave it a glossier finish. The finished photo can be seen on the left.

I then added text to my magazine. I used three different fonts on front cover, all downloaded form Dafont.com. I started out with my arcticle name 'This Charming Fan', which is a pun on the famous The Smiths song This Charming Man. I used that particular pun as the article is about a musician who is big fan or Morrissey (one time frontman of The Smiths.) I then put on the artist's name and a quote, a convention I've seen throughout my research. I then added another article at the top of the page and a list of other bands at the bottom of the page, again common conventions seen used in most music magazines. I added drop shadow to all of the text, as it made it look more professional and it makes it stand out more.

To finish off my front cover I added the magazine name 'Fusion' in the top left hand corner, as that is where the most important information should be situated, as it is the area are we automatically look at first. I also added a barcode and a price and date to make the magazine look more authentic. This finished front cover can be seen below.

Photos for my magazine

Photoshoots

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