Audience Feedback

I asked a selection of people what genre they thought the magazine covered, the publication's purpose and intention and who they thought the target audience were simply by looking at the cover and contents page. In response to these questions, they were asked to consider features of my magazine front cover and contents pages and make remarks on aspects such as colour scheme, typography, photography etc.

How did they respond?

Genre: To the audience, the cover didn't seem to reflect 'indie' or electro music, as they suggested the colours and people photographed meant the magazine was about a different genre of music. They could only tell what the genre was by looking at the information in the contents. The response showed that I had not represented the genre well enough visually in the magazine.

Target audience (click to read my target audience profile): They felt that the colours and photography implied that it was aimed at a teenage/young adult and that the magazine appeals to all races as the cover suggested diversity in the music industry. This was intentional, because I felt that the magazine should have a wide appeal to ensure it is widely read. Only one of the people made a comment about the location of the magazine. I now feel that I should have emphasised this, perhaps the tagline 'London's ultimate new music monthly' was not visible enough.

The masthead colours seemed to suggest an older target audience, but the 'cartoon' pair of headphones appealed to a younger audience, thus making it appeal to a wider audience.

Purpose and intention: 

The audience felt there was an emphasis on concerts and gigs and that in general, the purpose of the magazine was to  inform the audience about music and popular culture and promote artists. The minimalistic layout showed that there was an emphasis on the information provided by the magazine. I wanted to use a minimalist layout so the magazine would be easy to navigate and read. I wanted to challenge the conventions seen in the music press by having lots of text and images on one page because the audience would be used to seeing this in the media, especially on websites. As well as being visually appealing, it would be more practical for the reader to see less text on the page.

Evaluation Question

Looking back at your preliminary task of designing the front page and contents of a school magazine what do you feel you have learnt in the progression of it to full product?

Comparison of the covers:

• Whereas the preliminary task cover only uses one font, the full product cover uses a main font (Helvetica) and a different one for the feature story
• The photography in the final product is also more suited to its purpose. The lack of objects makes the text more legible and the fact the audience can see the subjects' faces allows them to identify with them, an concept that relates to the uses and gratifications theory
• The full product also incorporates more magazine conventions, such as the issue number and date

Furthermore, the planning required for the final task was much more developed than the preliminary task planning. For example, I used a flat plan to make my production more efficient. Additionally, the knowledge I gained about photography (iconography, shot types) when making the school magazine helped me think about how I wanted the music magazine to look. Learning about mise-en-scène was particularly helpful when it came to arranging the lighting, backdrop and actors in my photography.
 I also became more discerning when selecting the photos for the final publication, despite not being restricted to using a certain type of shot on the cover.


I developed my skills in Photoshop during the process of completing the product, learning more about layers and other techniques which sped up the production of my front cover and contents page.

Feature article from NME, October 2010

Looking extensively at existing publications helped me recognise the features of a magazine that I needed to include in my final project. Continuity features such as a page footer on the contents page and feature article page allow the reader to easily navigate through the magazine. I also summarised the contents of each section on the contents page, copying this from the examples of the music press I looked at.

The magazine's page footer shows the page number, the publication title, the publication date and the logo

Evaluation Question

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Evaluation Questions

What kind of media institution might distribute your magazine and why?

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Evaluation Questions

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Evaluation Questions

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Evaluation Questions

Who would be the audience for your music magazine?   

This mood board gives some information about the target audience such as age, race, gender, location and interests

The magazine focuses largely on new music in the indie genre and other similar types of music. The style in articles would be quite informal without using colloquialisms to avoid being inaccessible for some readers, although it is largely aimed at people aged 16 to 24. The gender of readers would not be overwhelmingly male although this is a trend present throughout the music press. For instance, NME’s readership is 69% male and only 31% female.

NME reader profile January - June 2009

 The lifestyle of the readership would vary, from the younger readers attending school or college perhaps working part-time to slightly older readers in university or at work. The readership is informed on global matters and takes interest in issues more local to them like politics. They would have a low income due to working part time, relying on an allowance or working in low-level jobs as graduates. The audience access music in a range of ways; using the internet or music streaming programmes, listening to radio shows and television music channels, attending music festivals and gigs and downloading MP3s or buying CDs. They spend most of their disposable income on entertainment: music, video games, gigs and live events and films with the latter as social activities requiring them to spend money on clothes, food and transport. After entertainment, the audience spend most of their money on clothes. Other hobbies and interests may be performing in their own bands, volunteering, using social networking websites and playing sports. The type of advertising featured would mainly be promotions for albums and singles, films, video games and activist organisations as they are relevant to the readership’s interests. Inexpensive audio equipment such as headphones would be advertised due to their universality and relevance in a music magazine. 

 The uses and gratifications theory demonstrates how the content would fulfil the audience’s needs:

•     Diversion: The publication provides entertainment through its light-hearted articles and features. Also, it encourages its readership to enjoy music whether at concerts and festivals or in the comfort of their own homes.
•     Surveillance: Information about the music scene is offered in every issue’s news section and the gig guide is a listings page of events taking place every month.
•     Personal Identity: Interviews published in the magazine may affirm the identity of the reader, for example, an artist based in London (where the publication is solely distributed) may mention areas in it which a reader would be familiar with.
•     Personal Relationships:  Media such as magazines can be used within existing relationships, for instance, friends may discuss the content of ‘Sound’ with each other.

How did you attract/address the audience for your music publication?

In my article I attracted readers familiar with the type of artists featured in existing publications, such as NME and similar magazines that cover the same genre of music. I made it more relevant, satisfying the audience’s need for personal identity, to my audience through representation: the featured band is from London (the magazine will be based in and circulated throughout the city) and young. Descriptive terms such as 'eagerly anticipated' and 'innovative' are critical in captivating the reader, encouraging them to read on. The mode of address to an extent mirrors the style in which the audience communicate with each other, allowing them to relate to the publication better. The layout of the cover in comparison to very genre specific magazines such as Top Of The Pops or Kerrang! is rather minimal, making it appeal to a slightly older readership while the use of bright colours still will attract teenage readers. The typography used does not appeal to a niche market, but still reflects the style of music as exclusive and contemporary. 

The use of capitalised text on the cover demands the attention of the audience, with language such as ‘exclusive’ appealing to music fans in search of new music. Moreover, the competition sticker is a lure to appeal to music fans, regardless of age. The magazine would promote itself to the intended audience in advertising space on websites. It would also have a presence on social networking websites in order to relate to the audience.


The low cover price of £2.00 attracts readers from the target audience and widens the publication's appeal. I decided to price it slightly cheaper than established magazines (Kerrang!'s cover price is £2.20 while NME is priced similarly, both are published weekly) to persuade potential readers into buying it. My magazine is published on a monthly basis, priced lower than others published every week. This would appeal to teenagers who receive a small allowance from their parents or students working part-time jobs.

Feature Article

Feature Article

Music magazine cover and contents

Design and Layout

The above screenshot demonstrates how I have followed a conventional layout style in my product. I feel that the while the layout adheres to conventions instead of challenging them, this is necessary as the audience would be familiar with this kind of layout style as it is seen in a variety of existing magazines including Mixmag and NME. The bright colours are attractive and white, black and grey are used to add impact. I used a pale green colour for the background to make it easy to read against the black text. The typography, a mix of Helvetica in the body text and Geo Sans Light in the headline, byline and pull-quote, presents the content as non-traditional and interesting.

The sans serif typography seen in the masthead and throughout the magazine reflects the content as it has a contemporary feel. The headphones logo appeals to the target audience, frequent users of mobile phones and iPods which require them. I specifically used black, white and grey in the masthead as these colours could fit i with almost any colour scheme used in different issues of the magazine.

Using Pages

I used Pages to create my feature article. Using feature articles from NME and Mixmag as references, I included elements seen in existing publications such as a title, subheading, a dropped capital and a pull quote. I used a combination of fonts to make it the title, subheading and pull quote look stylised. For the body text, I used a simpler font that would be easier to read.

For continuity, I also included a footer made in Photoshop with the magazine's logo, the issue number, date and page number

Yet another continuity feature was the use of colour. The colour scheme of pink, green, grey and black was used throughout my publication.

I created a pull quote using the text box function on Pages and included a photo of the artist on the page opposite the text, a layout seen often in NME. The colour background was made using a shape moved to the background and I changed the placement of the title and subheading in the final version.