Evaluation: Audience Feedback Form

Click here to complete an audience feedback questionnaire for my music magazine

Production: Editing Double-Page Spread

I added the text to the double-page spread once I had written the article. I chose to layout it out in columns to follow the main conventions of a magazine, and I also chose to use a drop-cap at the beginning of each section of the article. I chose to make the masthead a quote from the article, using the same fonts as the rest of the mastheads in the magazine, to make the house style of the magazine consistent.

But I thought that it would add some effect and more dimension to the article if I enlarged some of the quotes from the article to form pull quotes which would make them stand out on the page. This would also immediately attract the attention of the audience when they initially saw the page, to draw them in to read the article. 

Production: Editing Front Cover

Before finalising my front cover, I asked a few members of my focus group to see if there were any final improvements that they would make, and they suggested that the masthead didn't really seem like it fitted in with the rest of the layout of the page. They said that I should keep the same font, because it was relevant and appropriate to the house style of the magazine, but I just needed to edit the colours or how it appeared on the actual page.

So I experimented with various tools on Photoshop to try to improve the appearance of the masthead, and with the help of my focus group, we chose the following masthead:

Production: Editing Double-Page Spread

Initially, I was only going to use one image on my double-page spread with a neutral background, which would have looked like this:

However, I felt like that even once I had put the text on the page, it would look quite boring, so I asked my focus group for some suggestions as to how to improve the page. They liked the picture that was already on the double-page, and had the idea of having a selection of small pictures of the main artist on the other side of the double-page. 

As I felt that this would be a good idea, I organised another photo-shoot and took some more pictures of my artist in different clothing. I chose to take the pictures in an interview style, so it would be like having the pictures complementing the text, as the article would be an interview with the artist. I also liked the idea of having more natural-looking pictures of the artist, as the magazine already had posed pictures of her, and this would engage the audience more and break down the barrier between them. 

I organised these pictures into a column, so that it would appear as something resembling a photo-strip on the other side of the page. After editing this 'photo-strip' according to the style and appearance which my focus group agreed with, I chose to have the main layout of my double-page spread like this: 

Production: Contents Page Font Choices

I experimented with several different font types when choosing how to present the title for the contents page:

I liked the first one, as it continued the theme of the font from the front cover, however, this also meant that the two pages maybe looked too similar. So I used the same font, but instead of using the same colours to fill the letters, I chose to use the design which I used for the background of the contents age, but increasing the opacity of the design to make it stand out more. I tried having the whole word in the same font, but I still wanted a similar theme to the front page, so I chose the second option rather than the first, because this carried the same style through to the contents page.

Production: Editing Contents Page

I made a basic layout of the contents page which ended up looking like this:

However, I felt that the page looked quite boring, so I chose to use some of the pictures from my initial photo shoot and use them to anchor some of the articles:

Although this improved the appearance of the page, I still felt that it was missing something. So I experimented with some font and background designs and, using the 'Magic Selection' tool n Photoshop, I was able to give the masthead and the article headings are more aesthetically pleasing appearance, which also complimented the rest of the page:

Production: Editing Contents Page

For my contents page, I had narrowed my choices down to three pictures which I think suited the page:

After speaking to my focus group, we decided that the first image was the best one to use for the contents page. This was because we thought that the second picture took up too much space on the page, and the third image was too similar to one of the pictures that I was using for the double-page spread. 

Production: Front Cover Background Choices

I wasn't sure whether the background of my front cover should be a spotlight on the model, or the model leaning against a bridge:

    

After speaking to my focus group, the majority preferred the bridge background. this was because they said that, although they liked the spotlight background, it was a bit simple. However, the bridge background was brighter, and therefore gave the front cover a lighter tone and happier atmosphere, and even though they knew that the model was photoshopped onto this background, it still seemed more natural than the other background. 

Production: Editing Front Cover

After speaking to my focus group, they told me that they were unsure whether the picture that I had used suited my magazine front cover, and that if it was a real magazine, they would probably not be drawn in to read it.

So I decided to show them different pictures that I had taken as potential front covers, and they chose this picture:

They chose this picture, as they said it engaged the reader more, mainly because the model was using a direct mode of address.