Audience Feedback on Front Cover

Audience Feedback on Front Cover

For my audience feedback on my front cover I left small sheets of paper by my first draft of my front cover so people could write on the paper what they liked and disliked about it. Below are the pieces of paper and the main targets I am going to focus on putting into improving my front cover. 

Here are the main points I need to focus on when improving my front cover: 

• "More variety of fonts need to be used"
• "Wider variety in sizes of fonts"
• "Could make the date bigger"
• "There is a bit more space on the bottom right, could add more cover lines"
• "Fonts look very simple"
• "The headlines need to be bigger"
• "Make it clearer who is the main person featuring in the magazine"

Finished Front Cover

1ST DRAFT FRONT COVER

This is my first draft of my front cover. I will be getting feedback on what to improve from my target audience and then I will be updating my front cover taking the advice from my feedback and adding improvements. 

Magazine Analysis 3

Magazine Analysis 3

General

• The company that produces the magazine is VIBE.
• The target audience is around 16-25 for people that are interested in the urban/rap genre of music as most of their information and models on the covers are urban rappers.
• It costs £3.99 which is around the average cost of most music magazines.
• It has been published monthly since 1993, however it was shut down in 2009 but the founder Quincy Jones insisted she would keep the magazine alive as an online publication. 
• As of June 30, 2012, Vibe had a circulation of 300,943, of which 202,439 was paid, and 98,504 was non paid. 

The Cover

• The title/name of the magazine is called 'VIBE'. Originally, the publication had been called Volume before co-founding editor, Scott Poulson-Bryant gave it the name Vibe. Vibe is a very dominant and simple name but it gives people an insight to the genre of the magazine as the people who use the terminology like 'vibe' are associated with urban and hip hop. 

• The masthead/title logo is bold and stands out as probably the second most eye catching feature on the front cover because the model has to dominate the page. The use of bright red makes it stand out distinctively. Part of the masthead is covered up by the models head which could suggest the company are very confident that people already know the name of their magazine as it is such a well know magazine. 

• The magazine doesn't have a specific slogan or strap line, however it says at the top "All that was cool, crazy and crass". This headline at the top is basically summing up the year of 2010 and giving a brief insight/description to white happened in that year. 

• The main image on the front cover is of TI and he is a rapper which immediately ensures the customer what the genre of the magazine is. The posture and look that TI is giving is very intriguing, as he looking directly at the camera when the photo was taken. The way his hands are grasped together gives him a very stern, bold look. The lighting effects on TI's face and his shoulders are very effective as it look as if the camera shot has had some artificial light shining onto his face and shoulders. 

• There are no other images on the front cover which benefits the main image as there are no distractions when people are drawn to the magazine. The main image dominates the cover and there are no other images to look at, only the cover lines and title. 

• The content that is promoted by the cover lines is an exclusive interview with TI, News about Jay-Z's New York Takeover, Keri Hilson being a 'bad girl' and the miseducation of Waka Flocka Flame. Plus they are promoting free giveaways inside the magazine. 

• The typefaces (fonts) used are simple but effective as the colours of the fonts are white and red which stand out well on a blue background and they compliment each other as well. The sizes of the fonts vary which makes it more interesting to look at, also the fonts that are bigger than others are made bigger so they stand out more. Some fonts are bold and some are regular which they use to make the more important headline stand out. 

• The language features and devices I can identify on the cover of the magazine are quite informal which fits in with the genre and style of the magazine, which is urban/rap. The way the cover lines are used in various text sizes and colours are effective as they draw the customer's eye to the headlines. 

• VIBE does follow the same style/trend as other magazines such as RAP UP and RWD magazine, however VIBE have their own style but are only associated with the other magazines because of the genre that they all fall under. 

Magazine Analysis 2

Magazine Analysis 2

General

• The company that produces the magazine is Q.
• The target audience according to the publisher's website is roughly 16+ as they release a wide variety of music on their cover which could interest any age over 16.
• It costs £3.99 which is just over the average cost for most magazines.
• It has been published monthly since October 1986. 
• Q magazine suffered sales declines of almost 20% year-on-year in a tough first sixth months of 2012. Q was the worst performer in the music magazine sector, with sales down 16.7% according to the latest Audit Bureau of circulation figures released in august 2012. 

The Cover

• The title of the magazine is Q and it is called that because originally is was to be called Cue Magazine (as in the sense of cueing a record, ready to play) however they decided to change it to Q so that it wouldn't be confused with a snooker magazine, another reason is because Q is a much more effective name for a magazine and the company felt it would be more prominent on news stands to potential customers.
• The masthead/title logo is simple but effective as the background attracts your eye as it is a square section of red which is one of the first things you look at as a customer. It then has 'Q' in white which also stands out on top of a red background. The font of the title logo is quite formal but not too fancy in order to fit in with the house style of the magazine. 
• The strapline on the magazine says "The World's Greatest Music Magazine" which is quite a big statement as there are many other good magazines in the media market but this is a very bold and confident statement which could intrigue the customer into thinking the magazine could live up to its strapline.

• The magazine's main image is of one of the band members from 'The Killers' and he is giving a very interesting hidden look towards the camera. The fact that he is not directly looking into the camera, like most magazine covers, is very mysterious. He is almost looking upwards with his eyes looking down towards the camera. This image can easily attract a customer to the magazine just by the look he is giving. He is wearing rock style clothes and is wearing a leather jacket that he is holding onto in a striking pose which looks cool, stylish and effective for the genre the magazine is associated with.
• The other images that appear on the cover of Q Magazine is a small picture of 'Neil Young' playing his guitar and telling you about an autobiography exclusive. The other images on the cover are of small heads of people from Radiohead to promote their move from Rock Star to Radio DJ. Lastly there is a small image of a character from Breaking Bad to promote the TV Show inside the magazine to give readers an insight into what it's all about.
• The content that is promoted by the cover lines is of 'The Killers' and promoting Brandon Flowers being 'reborn'. Also Q are promoting 3 interviews in the top right hand corner of the page.
• The typefaces (fonts) used are simple but bold which is effective as they stand out but are not too strong to overpower the main focus on the cover, the main image and title. The colours of the fonts are fitted in with the colour scheme of the cover which is generally black white and red with the exception of 'The Killers' in grey. The graphics used in the bottom right hand corner of the page are of flowers and a small bird which is used to tie in with the title of 'Weediest Records Ever'.
• The language features and devices that I can identify on the cover of the magazine are simple language as there are no phrases or words that are too informal or formal. There is a general balance between the two making Q's language features simple and safe, appealing to every age group. The language devices Q use on their cover invites the reader in as they announce big exclusive events and information.
• Q does follow the same style/trend like a lot of other magazines such as NME which is very similar to Q magazine as they both have simple but bold fonts, simple backgrounds and intriguing main images on the cover. It is also a square magazine and not rectangle like most magazines, this is what is distinctive about this magazine as it is a different size to most.

Inside

• There are 146 pages inside the magazine.
• There are 14 pages of adverts.
• The adverts inside the magazine are categorised into perfume, technology, album releases, beverages and travel.
• List of features/article topics inside the magazine- Q Mail, Return of Radiohead, Rolling Stones return, Lunch with Ludacris, Fatboy Slim property pages, Charlotte Church interview, The Bluebells interview, Alice Cooper interview, Keane interview, Breaking Bad promotion, Neil Young interview, Pitbull interview, Example interview, The 50 Weediest Records Of All Time, The Killers interview, Robbie Williams interview, New Album reviews, Entertainment reviews, Live event details, Contests, Competitions and Florence Welch Q+A.
• Categorised features/articles- The Q Recommender, Q Mail, Interviews, Autobiographies, Album Releases, TV show, Contests, Band Returns. 
• There are 34 double page spreads inside the magazine. They are a mixture of interviews, band returns, event details and adverts.
• There are some pages where it isn't clear what the page is and it looks like it could be either an advert or an article.
• The magazine achieves a unified "house style" as the language is kept simple and not swaying towards either formal or informal too much. The colour schemes are kept very simple but effective as the colours and text all match throughout the magazine and the use of red white and black is both interesting and effective in the sense that it looks professional.
• The house style is appropriate to the target audience as there is a wide variety of music genres and relatable stories to read for all age groups for example for the older generation they could read about the Rolling Stones or the Beatles, and for the younger generation they could perhaps read about Example or Ludacris.

Magazine Analysis

Magazine Analysis

General

• The company that produces the magazine is NME (The New Musical Express). 
• I believe the target audience for the magazine is teenagers up to about the age of 20-21. I believe this because they are the type of people who go to more gigs and music festivals so they want to read up on bands so they know the latest news. Also because of the style of the magazine, it's very informal and looks as though it's made for younger people. Big bold texts are used and bright colours that make it stand out and make teenagers want to buy it. To people a bit older is doesn't matter as much what the magazine looks like more the stories that are published in it.
• Also the contents of the magazine are on certain music artists or venue's that are out at the minute that teenagers who are very interested in music would enjoy reading more and possibly understand more. 
• The magazine costs £2.40.
• The magazine is published weekly since March 1952. 
• The circulation was down 14.2% as they suffered double-digit year-on-year sales declines in another torrid period for the music magazine sector in the second half of 2011. 

The Cover

• The title is called NME as it stands for The New Musical Express, however, NME fits in better with the style and genre of the magazine. 
• The masthead/title logo is very bold and stands out well so the first thing you look at is the title, it is the biggest font on the page and is also black so it can be easily distinguished between the other fonts and background colours. 
• There is no strapline on this edition of the magazine. 
• The main image on the cover is a band called 'Muse' and there are three men crouching down with staring, interesting facial expressions that draw the customer into the picture as it feels like they are looking directly at you. Their body language is very open as if they have things to tell everyone as they look intriguing. 

• The other images that appear on the front cover are a picture of the Rolling Stones and a picture of one of their band members. These images are on the front cover because NME is promoting their return with details of their comeback shows and classic posters. 
• The content that is promoted by the cover lines are band reviews, interviews and returns/event details. 
• The fonts on the cover of NME are bold and simple, more informal than formal as it uses a quite urban font style to reach out the the younger target audience. The colours used on the cover of the magazine are very outstanding and effective as orange, black and white go well together. The sort of language features and devices used are statements rather than information to shout out to the reader straight away so they would want to read inside the magazine.
• This magazine's cover isn't the typical style a magazine has, it has much more space on the cover and it has a much more simple and has a bold layout which is effective as it can be seen as more professional and stylish. The reason for this could be that NME wants to stand out as being different to other magazines when competing for sales in shops.
• The size of the magazine is very large in width compared to other magazines which is also original and makes it stand out as most magazines are taller than wide.

Inside

• There are 66 pages inside the magazine.   
• There are 7 pages of adverts.
• The products advertised are categorized into shoes, new offers, events and technology.
• List of features/article topics in the magazine- bands, live events, tour dates, interviews, stories and reviews.
• There are 13 double page spreads and they are about bands including interviews, reviews and tour dates/upcoming events.
• There are no 'advertorials' because they label what type the page is in the top right corner. 
• The magazine achieves a unified "house style" as they have a specific language which is quite a formal font style but there is some use of slang on some pages. The colour schemes are kept very dark and bland, there aren't many bright colours used.
• The house style is appropriate to the target audience as it is quite dark and serious which fits in with the teenage stereotype the magazine doesn't want to make the colour scheme too colourful as it could be interpreted as too young and happy for the target audience.