Coursework Evaluation

Feedback Analysis

Below is a full analysis of the feedback I got from the survey I produced for people to answer about what they thought the positives of my magazine were and what the negatives were and what improvements they would make.

 

 

The first question was 'How would you rate my magazine?' As you can see in the graph I got almost unanimous result with 80% saying that it was good and 20% saying it was average. I am glad that no one thought it was either terrible or bad because that means that I have produced a decent magazine however, no one thought it was excellent which suggests that there are improvements to be made so I did ask the respondents to leave comments for improvements which I will go over nearer the end.

 

 

 

The second question is 'What genre do you think my magazine is?' Thankfully, 100% of the responses I got thought that the genre of my magazine was a pop magazine, which is very good to hear considering that was my intended genre so I am glad I have put this across with how I have designed my magazine. This may suggest then that my house style was very pop like and the images were suitable for a pop magazine, but I have gone into more detail about finding out what people thought of the images and house style.

 

 

 

The next question is asking 'On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest) how would you rate my front cover?' Personally, I think that my front cover is my weakest page because is doesn't quite have the professionalism that the contents page and double page spread has and this is shown in the feedback. The results aren't terrible but the scores are certainly lower than the other pages with 40% saying they would rate my front cover 7 out of 10, another 40% 6 out of 10 and 20% 5 out of 10. Later on in the survey I asked the respondents to make any improvements to my front cover and this is what came out:

 

"More images"

"You could add a few more images on to the front cover to attract more viewers"

"I think you could choose another image which represented the genre more clearly."

 

The main thing that came out of the improvements for my front cover is that I should include more images and maybe to change the current image. Therefore, going by this feedback, the biggest problem with my front cover is the image or lack of images and not anything like the masthead, colour or text. So if I was to go back and improve my front cover then I would definitely add a couple more images and find another image for the main image.  

 

 

 

My next question is asking ''On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest) how would you rate my contents page?' I think that my front cover is the strongest part of my magazine as I feel it looks very professional, the images are good quality and are suitable and I like the way that I have laid it out. This has reflected on the feedback as 60% said they would rate it 8 out of 10 which is a high score with 20% rating it as 7 out of 10 and another 20% 6 out of 10. Therefore, judging by this feedback then, its very good but quite not perfect so there are still a few improvements that can be made. Below are the improvements of what people said:

 

"Similar images"

"Maybe make the font more formal so that it is more professional"

"Maybe choose a more professional font, however that's just being picky"

 

The main improvement that people have picked out is the font. I should make it more professional. I personally, quite like the font as I think that this font represents the brand of my magazine well. I deliberately chose an informal font because I thought that this would look better with the genre of my magazine and would also make the readers feel more comfortable and more 'family based' if I was to have an informal font. So I chose to defy the norms of the standard magazine font to try and be different and stand out from the rest, however, this may not have worked as well as I hoped so therefore if I was to go back and improve my contents page I would take the comments into consideration and choose a different font to make it look a bit more professional.

 

 

 

 

My next question is asking '''On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest) how would you rate my double page spread?' My double page spread comes second in my favourite pages after my contents page. I like how I have laid it out by defying the norms of standard double page spreads as I think it looks different and effective. I do feel though that personally, I could of added a few more images around the page to fill the blank space. Still, 80% of people rated my double page spread 8 out of 10 and 7 out of 10 with the other 20% rating it 6 out of 10. The feedback that I got from people about the double page spread is below:

 

"More images to cover up some of the open space."

"Cut the background out of the image and you could also rearrange the layout of it all. It does not go towards the norms of a typical magazine so you could maybe add a few norms of the magazine on your double page spread"

"Maybe be careful with the editing of the main images."

 

I got a mixed set of results for the improvements for my double page spread. One was to include more images to fill the open space and as mentioned, I have said that myself so therefore agree with this comment and would 100% most definitely go back and add some more images to the double page spread which would fill the blank space and therefore make it more professional looking. The second comment states that I should cut the background out of the image. This doesn't make sense because I have cut the background out of the image as the model's are there on the blue and white background. Anyway, the other part of the comment was maybe I could change the layout of it all because it  does not go towards the norms of a typical magazine. I disagree with this because I deliberately defied the norms of a typical magazine because I thought it worked well an makes my magazine stand out and look different. By defying the norms this helps me in a way to create my brand, however, I must take this comment into consideration as it may not have worked well, but this was the only comment I got about the layout of the double page spread so its obviously not a big factor. The other comment was maybe to be careful with the editing of the main images. I do agree with this comment and see the point this person is making. The edges around the model's head is a little bit scruffy so I would definitely go back and edit the picture better.  

 

 

The penultimate question is asking is they thought that my house style was suitable for the genre of my magazine. Thankfully, 100% of the people thought that it was suitable for the genre which is good to hear as that means I have succeeded in this element and have no improvements that need to be made on the house style.

 

 

 

The last question is asking 'do you think my images are suitable and to a good quality?' 60% of people said yes they are suitable and good quality and 40% said no they aren't. The feedback I got from the people who said no stated:

 

"You don't get many artists casually wearing a suit"

"I think that you need to be careful about the outfits your model is wearing. I don't think that the outfit suits your theme. However your image on your contents page does look very effective."

 

The main aspect then is what the model is wearing. The reasons for my choice in clothing was firstly, on the front cover I was trying to show the formal side of 'Alex Morgan' so perhaps that photo was taken coming out of an awards ceremony or a formal dinner. The reasons for my choice in clothing on my double page spread is that this would be the band at 'The Illusion Music Awards' because they are all in smart suits. So that is what I was trying to do, especially with the front cover, trying to show a different side to the artist as a pop magazine is also a gossip magazine so the target audience of pop magazines like to see and hear about the artists in their life away from singing.

 

 

So that completes the feedback from my music magazine. I have gone through what people think of my magazine and what they think I could improve. I have focused mainly on the improvements because this is what will help me the most if I was to do this again. A written self evaluation will be carried out too in order to fully reflect on my magazine.

Magazine Feedback

Could you please take 5 minutes to complete my survey so I can get feedback from my magazine. Please click on the link below.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NWYPGRZ

Front Cover Final

Above is an image of my front cover for music magazine. It is a pop magazine that is called 'Illusion'. As you can seen I have kept to the norms of music magazine front covers by having 1 main image in the middle of the page with the cover lines surrounding it and the main cover story in the middle of the page. I have made the main cover story yellow so it is much brighter than the rest of the page so it stands out clearly. The rest of the cover lines are in red so as you can see my main colours are red and yellow so this is the brand I am trying to create. I have also put my logo in the bottom left hand corner and I will put this on every page of my magazine because this helps create the brand of 'Illusion'.

Contents Page Final

Above is an image of my contents page for my music magazine 'Illusion'. I have changed the layout of this from my original mock ups because I originally started off by going with what I had in my mock ups, however I felt that it didn't work so I changed it to this current one which I think works well. I have my main articles down the left hand side of the page with the page numbers on top of the article name. I have kept the same background as the front cover because this helps me create the brand I am trying to create and also to keep a specific house style as this shows a professional aspect to my magazine. I have also put my logo in the bottom left hand corner of the page just like it was presented in the front cover as this creates the brand. I will also do this on my double page spread to create consistency.

Double Page Spread Article

Below is the article that I will use for my double page spread article. My article is a question and answer based article about 'The Ravens'. The background behind the whole point of this story is that band member 'Alex Morgan' (who is on the front cover) has left his solo career to join 'The Ravens'. He talks about why he made the decision to leave his solo career and what the other band members (Ross and Stephen) think of Alex joining the band. And also not to mention a little bit of gossip about relationship issues between Ross and Alex because everyone loves a bit of gossip and conspiracy in a pop magazine!

The UK’s new hottest music band - they have just released their new album Waterwork and is the fastest selling album in the UK this year. With newest band member Alex Morgan leaving his solo career to join The Ravens, Illusion have a lot to ask the UK’s hottest boy band.

Q: Alex, how does it feel knowing that your debut album was the fastest selling album in the UK this year?

Alex Morgan: Man, it feels superb. It is just a great feeling knowing everyone likes the album. It was totally unexpected considering I left my solo career to join The Ravens. It was a big risk to take, I didn’t really know what to expect but with having the fastest selling debut album in the UK

this year obviously means that everyone has approved of the change and the decision I took.

Q: Stephen and Ross, how is it having Alex in the band?

Stephen Baker: It feels absolutely grand. It’s just an honour to work with just a talented music artist. He brings so much to the band what both myself and Ross lacked so it was a great surprise when Alex announced his departure from singing solo and when I got a phone call a month later asking if we want to put a pop band together I immediately spoke with Ross and the band was formed.

Ross Palmer: Yeah, it was a surprise to me too when Alex announced his departure from singing solo. As Stephen mentioned, it’s just an honour to work with just a talented music artist and also I now know what an incredibly nice guy he is, so I am so privileged to be at this current stage of my life.

Q: So, with this being so successful, do you have any plans to go on tour?

AM: Yeah there have been talks of a tour. We think we may start off with just a British Tour.

RP: Yeah we think we may tour at about 100 venues across the country, hoping to play at venues such as Wembley, The O2, The LG Arena and Manchester Arena.

SB: If this tour sells well then we hope to be adding additional dates and hopefully may consider doing a world tour, but at the moment this is a little ambitious for us so we will stick to the UK

tour and see how we go from there.

Q: Is there any talk about releasing a second album considering ‘Waterwork’ was so successful?

SB: Yes, there has been talk of releasing a new album, we wanted to make sure that our first one sold okay before there was any talk about making a second one, so now we know that ‘Waterwork’ was extremely successful we have indeed started to record for a new album.

Q: Alex and Ross, are the rumours true that you two are seeing each other?

AM: (chuckles) no Steve, that is not true, I have no idea where that rumour has come from.

RP: Errrr… No that’s not exactly true Alex… (winks at him)

Double Page Spread Final

Above is the final version of my double page spread. I have adapted it slightly from my orginal mock ups. What I have done is combine two mock up ideas togther, so this includes the big box on the right mixed with the pages smaller boxes on the left page and then joined with the image behind filling up the two pages. I also decided to remove the background from the image and just keep the people because I thought this looked better and more professional and it also allowed me to have the blue and white background that I used on both the front cover and the contents page which helps me create a brand. Because of the change in layout slightly I had to move the article quote to the top right of the page. Finally, as you can see I have my logo in the bottom left hand corner as seen on both the contents and the front cover.