Audience feedback on final product

Aidee:- After taking into consideration everything I said in my previous comments I honestly feel that the final product is a great example of a magazine that incorporates everything an audience would want from this genre of magazine. I love the way the audience can participate In the construction and I also love the use of sustained use of colours as it gives it a real sophisticated edge.

 Raees:- The final product looks really professional and the images use are perfect for the tone you were trying to create. The webpage looks sophisticated yet it is simple and easy to navigate. The double page spread is my favourite as it makes your magazine look like one of the best and is very reminiscent of the top end music and lifestyle magazines. If I was to say one criticism it would be that the arm on the front cover is to prominent in the image and I would go back and change this. 

Will:- Listening to what Aidee and Raees have to say I agree with both of them. Your magazine is appealing to its target audience and it is clear that you have really focused on making the magazine stand out from the rest by including the audience in the decision making processes. I would definitely buy your magazine. 

Evaluation

Music: The art of the creative mind, the written experience and the window into social cultures. The creation of this foundation portfolio has been an eye opening experience into the world of the music press and journalism. Looking back over my research it has become evident to me that this whole process has taught me a lot about the importance of knowing your audience and what they expect from certain products as well as the relationship between institutions and audiences.

When referring to my main task as the culmination of the researh I have studied, I strongly believe that my product challenges the conventions of the music press by offering a product that has never been offered before to my target audience. Fundamentally, I felt that the success of my product would lie in being able to give audiences and fans something that have not previously had access to. With my product the readers become the critics and I have given them the flexibility to become the journalist and really listent to the opinions of those who share the same musical tastes. Structuraly my magazine follows the traditional conventions of a sophisticated and professional magazine with a lot of my inspirations coming from Q and Billboard magazine, as these magazines targeted the sort of demographic I was aiming for with my product. Looking back at my initial plans and ideas it became clear to m that my product never really changed that much with the fundamental changes coming from text positioning and image selection. Just like GQ and Q magazine I wanted my main image to be a subtle connotation of the integrity and relationship between artists and music I wanted to portray, hence why my final decision to have no eye contact in the main image came about. My text choices and mast head decisions were pretty much unedited from the original plan as I managed to find the perfect font face to tie on with the overal effect of my magazine as well as being appealling to my traget audience, as a more youthful and stylistic effect is created. Colour played an important part in my overal production and I felt that this is one of the reasons my product came out the way it did. The sustained use of similar colours helps to promote the stylistic and professional quality to my work and it allowed me to really focus of making the look of my magazine right. I would like to think that my product has taken the traditional role of the music magazine and turned it on its head by using the readers as a base for the main articles. By doing this my USP was formed and slowly my magazine became about creating that strong link between audience and product as now the readers have a chance to express their opinions in a widespread format.

The key to making this work was using the internet and social messageing sites to allow my target audience the opportunities to put forward their views. From lookign at my case studies and market research I found that it was common place for a music magazine to have a webpage as this allowed for technological convergence and a more interactive element to their products. By designing and producing a webpage this gave me the opportunity to really involve my audience in the decision making, as well as adding another aspect to my brand. In terms of style and layout, I followed the same principles and conventions I learnt from studying sites such as NME and Q magazine to make my webpage have some chance of success within the industry. I also discovered that simplistic yet informative layouts were important as they ensured all ages could be able to use the website, as well as a large degree of sponsorship helping to fund the projects that target specific audiences more accurately. With regards to sponsorship I felt that having backing from the Glastonbury Festival would send out the right message to my audience as, after all music is the focus of my product, as well as more closely targeting my audience as I found out that the majority of my audience would participate in such events and find a common interest in the 'festival world.' This was important in terms of targeting the right audience and how I acheived this.

In regards to my target audience, I decided to go away and really take a closer look at the workings within the cultures they associate with and the types of day to day things that interst them. I knew from the start I wanted to create an Acoustic Music magazine and I felt that inorder to really make it work I needed to understand what my audience would expect from such a product. I came to learn that my audience had no loyalities in the manufactured world of pop music but instead focused on the integrity witin the music and the raw talents that came out of relatively new social scenes. I decided that my magazine would have to be a detraction from the more mainstream press inorder to really attract my target audience. In order to do this I decided to use artists that have in a sense been 'homegrown' from fan support and social sites such as Myspace. By doing this my magazine has an edge over the music press because by keeping a close eye on the undeground music scene I would be able to provide audiences with the most up to date and current information on artists and music generally to new for the mainstream press to recognise. My product is a representation of a social scene that is not bothered about the 'celebrity' of the music world but instead the talents and the art of making music. I believe that my choice of images, layout, colours and use of text help to represent this same belief to audiences. My focus group also helped me to stay on track as they were able to give me useful advice and insight into whether or not my product would work in a competitive market.


As well as taking into consideration the views of my audience, the institutions making these products are also an important element to the world of the music press. I looked at the media publishing house of Bauer media which produce and distribute endless media products and noted magazines. A company such as this would be responsible for the distribution of my product as they have the contacts and the foundations to reach large audiences.

I decided it would be wise to define my target audience in a way that would allow me to acheive focus for my product. I looked into gathering statistics into the media habits of my target audience aged between 17-35 as well as looking at what they expect from media products. My findings were incredibly fascinating as they told me that most teenagers and younger adults are extremely 'plugged' into the tricks and conventions of the media press and will reject any product that questions their intelligence and wrongly represents their beliefs and views. From a survey taken in 1999 music was defined as the most influential and pervassive medium, it can define teen experiences and is culturally significant. This told me that music was an extremely important part in my audiences life and to create a product that didn't do their beliefs justice would be an insult on their own tastes. I was very careful to consider this in the construction of my product.

Audience research and Statistics


How I was to address my audience became the one most important element to my production as I needed to create the right balance between content, tone, and mode of address. I also found from my research that the most successful magazines don't just rely on music to fill their pages, aspects of the news, sport and entertainment also added an extra flare to their products. This was something I was really keen on reproducing in my own product. Due to the age range of my target audience I found it hard to determine the areas in which I should also include but I went with the generic conventions most magazine use which is to include news and entertainment as this appeals to all audiences. I was careful not to patronise my audience yet at the same time I wanted to put across an appropriate tone for a sophisticated magazine. This was perhaps most poignant in the double page spread as I was unsure how to write the article. After a lot of thought I decided to make the article entirely from the readers perspective adding upon the participation element, meaning that he basis of my article was formed from questions produced by my readers. An unconventional stance to a main article in any music magazine, readers now become the journalists and are able to find out the information that they really want to know.


Taking the entirety of both my Preliminary task and my main task into consideration I feel that the one thing I will take away from this whole process is the importance of planning, because a good plan and market research will ultimately mould a successful product for you. Audiences should always be considered and never underestimated because they have the ability to conrol the success and failure of any product. On a more technological level I have learnt about the basic principles of blogging and built upon my photoshop and photography skills which I will take with me into new projects. My preliminary task allowed to explore different ideas with text and image placements that helped me in my main task as well as giving me the ability to make more decisive decisions about layout, structure and tone. I fully enjoyed both tasks and have learnt some invaluable lessons that will always remain with me. I have a new outlook on the music press and I have gained a new resepct for different cultures and audiences. Finally I strongly feel that my progression from the premliminary task to the main project is indicative in the initiall stages of development and how I came to form my final product. The preliminary task taught me to plan properly and I am very proud of the final outcome.

Preliminary Task

Magazine Webpage

After looking closely at the music industry I discovered that in order to keep up with the ever changing technologies that seem to define the media world these days, my magazine would need to have a website so that a larger audience, and a younger audience, could reach and interact with my brand. It also became clear to me that many of the leading magazines all have official websites that offer download capabilities and opportunities for the readers to participate. I felt in order to match the standards demanded by the public I would need to compete with such websites in order for my magazine and brand to become a success.
I paid particular attention to the Q music magazine website as this is the magazine I closely analysed for my case study. I thought it would be poignant to look at the design features of a successful brand and apply them to my own design ideas. From looking at this website I discovered some quite interesting things. The main home page was very simplistic in design and followed a continual colour scheme that provided a very sophisticated look in concordence with their target audience demands. Their current issue was on display creating a link between the two formats. Music downloads were also offered with images and videos also available. The layout appears easy and simplistic in practicle use as well as displaying all of the information one would expect from a music webpage. Finally it became ovbious to me that music pages have links to sponsors on their pages, so this is something I will need to consider when designing my brand as they will potentially fund my production.

After looking at a lot of webpages in detail I came to the conlusion that my own design would need to be simplistic yet still housing the appropriate content, music downloads and updates will need to be taken into consideration as well as focusing on the link between the current issue and the website.

Below I have gone on to look at possible sponsors for my product:

Glastonbury Music Festival
Orange
Fender
Gigs and Tickets.com

Final Product

Myspace Page

After taking everything into consideration and after lookign at my case study in more detail I decided to set up a Myspace Page that would allow readers access to my magazine in a different format as well as adding to the brand identity.

I also felt it was quite an important decision as most of the music that will be in the magazine has been grown from formats such as Myspace and having that link between Myspace and my magazine it shows that, as a brand, there is an understanding between audience and product, and that their needs are being taken into account as savy consumers.

The Myspace page will also help with audience participation in the magazine as this will give them the outlet to write into the magazine with reviews and interview questions as well as providing them the opportunities to get further involved with their own images and content ideas. This is where my USP is coming from,, this concept is completely new within the music press and I hope to fill a whole with it that will be filled for a long time.

http://www.myspace.com/acousticmag

Final conclusions

Now, after drawing up some initial plans I have gone on to create some flat plans that have provided some opportunities for my focus group to intervene and help with some decisions.
Thee flat plan to the left was creaed on photshop as a basic layout and helped me to determin text placement and see how my ideas would translate onto page.

The image that was used in my flat plan was not an original as I wanted to use the image to explain to my focus group the sort of representations I wanted to come across in my product. It was also a way of helping me establish how the cover image should look when I came to adding to my final product. This initial flat plan was a basic outline of my ideas and the photo really inspired me to create my pwn image similar to the one on the plan as I felt that it was very appropriate and eye catching. I put this plan to my focus group to gain some insight into whether my ideas would relate back to my audience. There opinions are expressed below:

Aidee:- I absoloutely love the effect that this is trying to create and I feel that if you can use an image that is similar to the one above then the final product should be really good and effective.

Raees:- I think the layout really works and is positioned in the right place. I do think, however that the title of the magazine should be made more prominant.

Will:- I think that the title font works really well and the product really relates to the target audience. I also think that you should use a colour theme like you have in your plan on your final product as this will make it even more professional.

After hearing what my focus group had to say I went away and really thought about my image compositions. From previous research I knew that I wanted my image to link in with my main article and I thought that having my text focused around the center image would be the best and most professional layout. I ended up taking very few images as after I took the first couple I could really see how I needed to get the final image and this happened within a few trials.

The first image i took was a test shot so I could get the right composition and framing for the following pictures. I liked the angle of the shot however I felt that there was too much background in the image and therefore it was unuseable.

The next image I took was more indicative of the look I was trying to aceive although there was something about I didn't quite like. I felt that the there was to much of a wide angle on the shot and once again there was too much background interference to make the image work.

The third image I took ended up being the final image. I loved the angles and the way the guitar drew the eye across the picture. I also feel that by having the artist looking away from the audience would have a better effect as it connotes a connection between music and the artist, something that is important to my audience. After making my decision I took the image and edited it in photshop, where I put a crop around the edges as well as editing the contrast and buring the edges of the picture to get my final result. If i was to change one thing it would be the positioning of the arm in the image as I feel that this is a little to prominant and draws the eye away.

Also taking on board what my focus group said about layout and colour's I decided to stick with the same colours that I used in my flat plan as I liked the way they all worked together and they also work well with the colour tone in my final image. The colours are bold enough to stand out against a dark background yet they are serene enough not to put off the older ranges of my demographic. Colour was also a vital part to my masthead and I felt that the wrong colours would ruin the magazine, therefore I stuck with three very similar colours that again, work well together as well as giving the masthead an interesting look and creative design.

In regards to the layout and font face of my text I took inspiration from the Billboard magazine I researched previously as I felt that their text positioning worked really well. My flat plan showed me that the balance of text postioning was important meaning that I had to carefully place my text inorder to make my magazine appear professional and balance it out against the main image, leading to the final text placements. I also felt it would be better to place the text on the opposite side to the mast head as this would create the balance I was aiming for, most professional music magazines seem to follow the same principle.

In terms of content I want to include articles about current events in news, sport and entertainment as I feel this will broaden my target audience as well as giving my magazine a more professional and sophisticated feel. I think it is important to include the different genres of content on the front page as readers can make an informed desicion about whethe or not to buy into my brand.

As well as taking into consideration my front page, I also need to produce a contents page and double page spread. Continuing from my research I read through Q magazine and analysed the pages I would need to emulate in my own product. I took a lot of inspiration from these pages and I want my own product to acheive a highly professional, yet stylish look that Q magazine acheived. They used clean cut lines and bold colours that linked with the title page, they were careful not to overfill the pages with information yet provide readers with the information they needed, I want the inside of my magazine to follow the same principles. What was really ovbious to me was when designing a double page spread it was common place to dedicate one entire page to an image and then go on to write the article on the following pages. I want to try and acheive this same look as I feel that it portrays a more refined effect.

My double page spread image is just as important as the front cover and I have listed below my thought processes in choosing an image. I want to make my double page spread tie in with my main article on my front page so to do this I thought it would be poignant to use the same person in the photo and link the cover page with the spread article, giving a considered effect to my product.

This is one of Two photo I ended up taking. I decided to make this my final image as it portrayed the effect I was aiming for. Once again I editied the final image in photoshop by increasing the contrast and saturation of the image to sharpen some of the lines and highlight certain elements of the image.

Initial Findings

Research Conclusions

After looking at all the research I have gathered from studying the music press I now understand that the music press is an industry that has fallen under a lot of pressure over the past few years due to changes in the way mass consume their own music genres and media brands. There is an underground music scene that is slowly but steadily creeping into mainstream music culture and fans are finding new ways to bypass the mainstream and inject their own individual styles into the music press with fansites, fanzines and personalised Myspace pages. Audiences have begun to bramch out from more mainstream music ideals as they fear that music is fastlly becoming more about celebrity than talent and audiences dont appreciate the way most music magazines dictate the tastes in music to its readers. By creating brands and identities within music magazines most find this a way of stereotyping certain music tastes with specific cultural representations and this is becoming less widely accpeted by mass as auidences are now more open to accepting other genres of music.
This is key to creating a new brand that will be accpeted by audiences as when audiences feel that their needs and demands have been understood they will be willing to listen.
You need to give audiences a change to become the critic and to ask the questions, let them make up their own minds and show that there is an awareness of an underground music scene that has not been acknowledge in the past.

Product Conclusions

Taking the results of my questinnaire into consideration and the opinions of my focus group I have drawn together some initial conclusions that will help me in determining some flat plans and will allow me to gains some sort of focus.

I aim to produce a brand that enstils some back to basics music back into the music industry with focus on raw talent and the inspirations behind originality. My brand will be dedicated to acoustic music that has been homegrown from the underground music scene and will allow audiences access to their music. After doing some research into the music magazine industry I found that their were no magazines dedicated to acoustic music with the only option out there relating to professional music publications about how to create music based around acoustic styles. This tells me that here is a gap in the market for the type of brand I am offereing and I would face to no real competition in terms of content.

I hope to produce a product that incorporates audience participation in relation to interviews and reviews. I aim to do this by making my double page spread interview entirely dictated by questions sent in from readers. This will hopefully create a greater relationship between my audience and my brand.

As well as this i want to also include diversity in content by introducing politics, entertainment and sport into my magazine. This will widen my target audience demographic as well as targeting a wider range of readers.