Focus Group

First draft.

This was the very first attempt at my magazine front cover, all images are original and writes about this front cover are featured on my blog. When presented to my peers and people in my focus group the comments weren’t particularly supporting. The images and colours were described as very ‘In your face’ I did lower the saturation of the image and then see if this was to make a difference but the offer aspect that made it in your face still stood out. The subject has a very direct mode of address and keeps dead eye contact, this was seen as intimidating and took peoples attention away from the magazine itself. Comments on the layout and font were mainly that it was along the same styles as Kerrang, this was something i didn’t want. The sketchy lines around the mast head and text sections suit the style but the style is not exactly what i am aiming for. Fonts were commented on as to be to same-ish and repeated. I do like the fonts for the bottom half, the fonts for the words ‘Free’ and ‘featured’ although i do not like the mast head font. All in all looking at this front cover i can’t see the design that fits my magazine.

Second Draft.

The main comments made on my first were that it was to loud, that the primary image was to distracting and didn’t fit the whole meaning and personality i wanted to create for my magazine. this primary image was more along the lines with the picture was planning to use. The comments i received with this draft were the total opposite to the last, this one seemed to be to bland and boring, it had the same effect but for the opposite reason. Speaking to a potential audience, i took into account what they had said and realised that i need to create something that balances between these 2 drafts. In terms of fonts, this was turning out to be the most time consuming thing. The comments on this font, were again that it didn’t suit the style and ideology of my magazine. Other changed i made for this one was that with the Featured and Free text sections, i changed the White to transparent making the background take the place of the white. Nearly all of the comments were that it looked better in the first draft. One thing that i was advised to do was to use the same model, i had already planned on using the same subject for my pictures. We agreed that the subject gave the exact personality and representation the magazine needed and would be a good look for the magazines front cover.

Final Draft.

This draft received very good feed back from my focus group. It was said that the right representation is created for my magazine with this front cover, it contains the right elements to make the perception that i want people to see. The mast head font was received well, although it has a strong similarity to Kerrang my audience found that it had the right shape for the style of magazine. I personally don’t think it work, I’m not keen on the similarities to Kerrang and i don’t think it suits the rest of the design. I had to make the decision to settle with this font because i had spent so much time already looking at fonts, the one thing i will not try is designing my own. This may take twice as long to achieve but i feel i have more freedom in doing this. Seen as we were so close to the deadline i decided to leave it as it is. The image was highly rated by my focus group, it was said to look very professional and a lot like something they would expect to see in a music magazine. The layout was also something that got a good response, the lines that separated the top and bottom and the mast head were said to make it look a lot neater. I’m pleased with the overall outcome of the front cover, i know now seeing it after everything is finished there is a lot i would love to change, but i am happy with this result. I think my audience received my front cover well and were slightly intrigued about the general idea of the magazine.

Contents.

This was my only draft for the contents, after making it i was really pleased and didn’t wish to draft another. The comments i got from my focus group were good and i was totally happy with the results. The main things said were that it follows in the theme with the design and layout, the picture works really well and looks very good. There was a few comments saying that it looked to bland and i felt as though a few things were missing. I did take these into consideration and looked closer at my research to see if there were any common things that i had left out. There was some but nothing majorly important, the main one being competitions and sell lines. I personally think these things look tacky and wasteful, so i make the decision to leave them out. I want my magazine to focus more on the design and the pictures most of all the music not making it look tacky with promises of prises and give aways, these things are more for the front cover. Fonts and text were commented to fit well with the design, keeping it neat and clean.

Double Page Spread

Again the same thing happened with my double page spread, i was so pleased with the outcome i didn’t see it was it necisary to create another draft. The comments again ewre all good and, the layout which i have carried on from the front cover was liked a lot and photograph was also something that was highly rated. This was my favourite part of the design process i loved working with the image and then creating the layout and design. Although i must admit the picture on my contents is my personal favourite, i sued my forst action that i had created on it. The one part then went down really well when discussing was the interlocking of his arm and the line through the middle of the page, i did this to add more to the design. I personaly think it makes it interlock more, as though he isn’t just a picture on a random page, you know he is part of the story. The text was something that was commented on and how it works with the name, I wasn’t to sure about the lined through the text at first but after taking it to my focus group and seeing that it went down well i decided to leave it.