Quantative Research

As part of my research, I created a questionnaire in order to find out the answers to things that i think will help me when creating my magazine. I created 16 questionnaires and then handed them out to people so I could get feedback.

1. How much are you willing to pay for a magazine?

After collecting my questionnaires and reading through them all, the price the majority of people are willing to pay was £1.00-£1.50. As my magazine is aimed at young children/teens, I think i will stick to using this price as it is cheap and affordable for people to buy. My target audience are more likely to buy something for this price, rather than something being around £2.


2. What colours would you like to see on the magazine?

I made this a open question in order to get a range of different ideas of what colours people are interested in. When looking at my answers, the most common colours that came back were; Red, Blue, Black and White. As my magazine is going to be aimed at girls of a younger age, I am more focusing on using colours like pink and purple. However, I do plan on putting black and white colours onto my magazine to ensure that not too much is going on. I also received an answer that said "Colours that match the image." I think this is an important thing to take in and consider as I want the magazine to have a suitable colour scheme throughout.

3. Do you attend music concerts? // If so, Who have you been to see?

 Again, this was an open question in order to find out the different artists and bands people have been to see.  The majority of people who answered my questionnaire said that they do attend concerts and have seen a lot of different people. For example some artists and bands that were mentioned are:

• Rihanna
• Nicki Minaj
• One Direction
• The Wanted
• Katy Perry

These artists and bands fit very well into the genre of my magazine so this has helped to give me some ideas of what and who i want to include in it.

4. What do you like to read about in a 
magazine?

I made this question a multiple choice one and gave 8 different answers for people to chose from.
The answers already given were: Interviews, Reviews, Fashion, Quizzes, Real Life, Advice, Photoshoots and Other. When looking back through the questionnaire, the most common answers chosen were; Interviews, Reviews and Fashion. This has helped me to decide on what sort of articles I would like to feature in my magazine as I now know what people like to read about. It is helpful that Fashion was a popular choice to be read about as because my magazine is aimed at girls of a younger age I can include this as a feature.

5. How often do you buy magazines?

As you can see from my pie chart, the most common times people buy magazines is monthly and other. The number of people who buy magazines monthly is the same amount of number who buy magazines another period of time that isn't already mentioned. Even though that the people asked more commonly buy magazines monthly, I plan on issuing my magazine fortnightly.

6. What is your favourite genre of music?

As I was expecting, I got a range of different genres of music for this question.  The most common genres that people said was their favourite were; Pop, Indie, R&B, and Rock.

7. Would you prefer to see more text than pictures or more pictures than text?

My results came back saying that the majority of people would prefer to have a higher ratio of images to text. It is important that I take this information in and consider using this ratio when creating my magazine as it is what is more appealing to the audience.  (5 text) (10 images)

8. What most attracts you to the cover of a magazine?

In my questionnaire, I gave 4 different options to chose from to find out what is the most appealing on the front cover. The 4 options were:

• Masthead
• Coverlines
• Pictures
• Layout

More than 10 people chose Pictures as being the thing that most attracted them to the front cover of a magazine. Taking my results into consideration, I am going to concentrate on making sure that the images on my front cover are well presented and look appealing to the reader.

9. How do you find out about new music?

Looking at my results, I know that more people find out about new music from the radio. This question in particular has helped me understand what to include in my own magazine as I have found out that no-one chose magazines as how they find out about new music. I can take this information on board and maybe include a feature of 'New Music' in my magazine.

10. What sort of features would you like to see on a magazine?

I left this question as another open question in order for me to find out what features people are most interested in. The most popular features people said were; Interviews, Reviews and Pictures/Photoshoots of artists and bands.  With my target audience being young girls, I think it is important that my magazine includes a lot of images to keep them interested and make it look more appealing for them. Another feature that was mentioned by someone was posters. Again, this will help to draw in my audience as they will be attentive in receiving a free poster of their favourite band or artist.

Double Page Spread Analysis

I have looked at many different double page spreads as part of my research but have chosen 3 spreads to analyse as part of my planning for the magazine.  To begin with, I have used a double page spread from a issue of Top of the Pops. The main image that is used on the spread is placed at the left side of the article taking up the full page, which immediately draws the audience into the magazine. He is looking directly into the camera which is very effective because the reader will feel like he is looking at them, giving them a sense of closure with the article.  He is dressed in black and white clothes which match the colour scheme of the page, suggesting that the layout of this spread has been carefully chosen to help everything compliment each other.  The camera shot used is a long shot which gets his full body in to help focus and draw the reader in. The way he has chosen to pose also looks very relaxed and mellow as he is sat leaning back into a chair, allowing the reader to see him and his body full on. The use of direct eye contact helps to draw the audience in and helps to create the image stand out from the rest of the page. Another image is used in the middle of the page with a piece of text relating to the rest of the interview, this helps to split the article into small sections rather than one large chunk of writing.

The headline is spread across the left and some of the right page,  written in red and black plain font. The headline is a pull quote from the interview, the magazine have decided to use colours in this as it helps to make it stand out more. The questions are bold and in red, whereas the questions are pain black, portraying that the interview isn't serious and makes it more fun to read. The layout of this interview is very organised and not too in your face with lots of different things of going on. The columns of the writing are set into three different boxes, roughly around the same size. Near the bottom of the first column there is a piece of writing which informs you on who wrote this article and what the photographers name is, this is a convention that a lot of music magazines use in order to give people credit. 

The colour scheme of the page is very clearly red, black and white. However, this isn’t the same colours used on the front cover or the contents which shows some importance and individuality to the interview. At the bottom of each page in the middle is a page number so it’s easy to find the interview.

From the sort of language that is used in the article, you can understand that this is the sort of magazine that will appeal to young girls which is actually indeed the magazines target audience.

Top of the Pops magazine has a target audience of young teen girls, and the genre of music is pop. This is a double page spread of an interview with a  popular boy band The Wanted.  The first page of the spread shows the interview with the band and then the second page mainly focuses on the image of the band with a box that has a question.

The title of the article is only two words which makes it more catchy and helps it to get straight to the point, rather than having a 1 or 2 sentences. As you can see in the title, the first word is in capitals making it stand out more whereas the second word is in a lower case and different font, suggesting that it is less important than the first. Another thing that is appealing to the audience is when it says at the top right of the second page ‘Exclusive interview’, this would be the first thing that the reader would see when flicking to that page, therefore making them more interested in finding out what is 'exclusive' about the interview. You can learn from the title that the interview will be on them working out, which will attract a lot of girls as they will want to learn more about them working out and how they keep fit. The audience of the magazine can keep interest throughout the article with the images of the band, as the main image takes up a lot of the page. As the image is in the centre of the double page spread, the reader is immediately drawn into reading the interview to find out as why to the image is there, the larger ratio of pictures to text also helps to draw in the audience. There are quotes placed around the main picture of the band with some quotes from each member along side them. This helps to give a insight into the bands lives, which is what girls of a young age will want to read about. This also draws the audience into buying the magazine as it allows them to get to know the band more and may even help them to relate with them. 

The interview itself is kept very simple and has the layout and format like a normal interview would.  The questions and the answers are written in different colours which helps to separate the text into small secetions, making it easier for the audience to read. The interview also shows multiple answers from different members of the band which will appeal to the reader as they will be getting to know about them individually, rather then having all of them to answer the question with the same answer.

The article purposely uses bright but subtle colours that are appealing to the reader, keeping them engaged in the article. The main colour scheme of this double page spread is pink and purple/blue which i believe compliments the images and layout. The interview itself is quite informal meaning that the target audience will be able to relate to it as they are young and don't want to be reading something that comes across as more formal. The language is suitable for the target audience as the words used are like slang, i.e  "pig out".  People of a young age will understand this form of language as this is the type of words/phrases they use.

This is the final double page spread from Top of the Pops magazine i am using as part of my research. The language mainly used in the article is basic, this helps to appeal to the younger audience the magazine is based at, making it more manageable for the reader to understand what the featured artist is saying. The question/answers are laid out in a column format, going around the images on the page, these images are much larger on the page than the text. The artist in the article uses the word ‘cool’, a word that is familiar within the target audience, helping her to establish a connection between her and the reader.  The opening paragraph sets up the interview by informing the reader of her role on the new singing show, The Voice UK, and whether or not she is like how she is on the show. The interviewer asks personal questions about her past life in which her answers might be relatable to the readers. Instead of the usual title taking up the top of a full page, this one is written in a small circle with only two words. An alliteration is used which shows the quirkiness of the article and is very simple, rather than using a quote from the interview. The font is plain and simple, which i believe is still effective as it doesn't take away the attention from the main image on the other side of the page.  At the top of the page, there is one pull quote that says ‘I’m shaving my head for charity’; helping the reader as it picks out the most important quote of the whole article, contrasting with the title as people will be quick to 'judge' her on what she is doing. 



Looking at these magazines have helped me a lot when it will come to designing my double page spread. After looking into 3 different articles, I now have a much better understanding of how I should set out my DPS and what needs to be included. All 3 double page spreads have a layout that I would try and follow when creating my own as they are very colourful and will appeal to my target audience. By researching into different double page spreads, it has also helped me to gain knowledge on how the interview should be set out and written. For example, the following articles have helped to inform my own creative decisions as I know that when creating my DPS, I would like the questions to be written in bold, then the answers written in a normal font. This way, the readers will be able to understand the interview more and it will be a lot more clear to follow.

Mood Board

During a lesson in class we had to create a mood board showing what kind of music we are interested in and why we have chosen to take these pictures from existing magazines. I used a range of different magazines to get cut outs from as by doing this I have a range of different ideas I could put into my own magazine.  I annotated the mood board with small notes in order to explain why I liked the pictures/text shown. 

Firstly, the font and colours used for the word 'review' really stands out for me and is eye catching for the reader. It is important that I chose the right colour and font to use for my titles in the magazine as they help to draw the reader in. In the top left corner, I annotated this picture as i like the use of the shot and how it is portrayed. The image makes you feel like he is looking directly at you and this helps to anchor the audience. I also like how the image is very wide and stretched out, this helps to make you focus more on the person as there is nothing else around him. I plan on using shots like this for my magazine.

In the top left corner, I annotated this picture as i like the use of the shot and how it is portrayed. The image makes you feel like he is looking directly at you and this helps to anchor the audience. I also like how the image is very wide and stretched out, this helps to make you focus more on the person as there is nothing else around him. I plan on using shots like this for my magazine.

What also interested me was the use of black and white images in some magazines. I think this is very effective and would look good on more serious and stripped back sort of interviews. Taking the colour away from an image adds that feeling of honesty and rawness for some articles which I think is important for some magazines. 

My Written Article

I was asked to create an article that would be included on a double spread of a magazine. This was a practice article and I chose to write a review about The 1975's new album "THE 1975." I thought it was best to focus on writing a review as this is the sort of article I would like to feature on my own double page spread when creating one for my coursework. 

I need to work on the format of my magazine as usually a double page spread would be written in columns, whereas I just left my text in normal paragraphs instead of separating it all.

Magazine Essay

As part of the induction task, I was to asked write and explain about a magazine that I am going to be creating. Throughout my essay, I explained who my target audience was aimed at, the artists that would feature in the magazine and who would be the model for my front cover. I went into detail when talking about my model that I was using by mentioning how they would look and pose in the magazine. I also talked about the colours and fonts I would use and what sort of features I would include.  I came up with a list of 10 different articles which could be included on the contents page of the magazines. For 

example I wanted to include articles following "Fashion Picks" and "Reviews of Albums." This allowed me to begin thinking about what sort of articles I would like to include in my magazine. The pictures below show the feedback I got given from my lecturer once I had handed in my essay to be marked.  

My overall grade for this essay was a  B, which I am very pleased with. As I now know more about front covers and double page spreads, if I was asked to do this essay again I would be able to go into more detail about them both.

Ideas from a Contents Page

During class, we got given a contents page to analyse in order to help us gain a better understanding of how contents pages appeal to the target audience. Although this contents page isn't for a music magazine, it helped me gain more knowledge on the layouts of contents pages and what sort of features i could use to put into my own magazine. For example, when I was looking at this contents page, I noticed that the more important/bigger articles had their page numbers written in a larger and bold font compared to the rest of the articles on the page. I would be interested in using this technique in my own contents page as it helps the reader to navigate the main pages and allows them to skip straight to them if they wished.

Contents Page Analysis

To help us gain more of a understanding on the main features of a contents page in a magazine, we had to look at 3 different contents pages and analyse them. I chose to look at 3 teen pop magazines and then went to go on and explain how the features attract the target audience.

The first two pictures are an analysis of the contents page inside a issue of Top of the Pops.  As you can see, the layout is kept very similar in both. For example, the image of the front cover is shown in both and the main articles are highlighted in yellow to make them stand out.

The image below is from the contents page of Bliss magazine. Similarly, this magazine does the same as the Top of the Pops issues by using a picture of the front cover in the contents. This helps to create a more visual effect and comes across as appealing to the younger audience that Bliss and Top of the Pops aim for.

This has informed my own creative decisions for my final product as it has helped me to understand the way in which my contents page should be set out and what sort of layout I should follow when creating it. By analysing these magazines, I now know how I am going to organise my contents page in order for it to appeal to my target audience. For example, I plan to follow a similar layout to the Top of the Pops contents page by separating different sections of the magazine into boxes, making it easier for the audience to read.

Front Cover Analysis

The majority of music magazines keep their traditional style of mastheads the same in every issue they release.  The masthead is usually strapped across the width of the page or offset to the left. For example 'Q' magazine is commonly known for keeping the colours of red and white as the layout of magazine whereas 'Top of the Pops' often change the colour schemes of their magazines but always keep the masthead in the same position.

This is a recent issue of Top of the Pops which includes a popular boyband 'Union J' as their main image for the front cover. As this band is popular with young teens (the magazines target audience) the magazine company know that by putting them on the front cover, it will bring in a higher demand of issues and selling rates will go up. A clear colour scheme of basic yet bright colours have been used, even one member of the bands shirt matches the fonts which will again be eye catching towards the readers.  A plain yet bold font has been used repeatedly on each piece of text which again attracts the readers as young teens don't want to be reading a lot of text and are more drawn to the pictures. The main colour that is represented on the front is pink which is stereotypically very girly and feminine. 

This is also another issue from Top of the Pops which i believe is affective and a good example of how a front cover can grab the readers attention.  I believe that although this is an image of a girl band, i still think that its aimed at young girls who aspire to be like them and look up to them.  The use of the word 'secret' being larger than the rest of the words in the title and their facial expressions will draw the readers into buying it as it makes you believe the interview inside will focus a lot on what you wouldn't expect from them.  Again, the main colour that you see a lot of on the cover is pink. The colour pink has connotations of feminism and innocence which is what you would expect from a pop magazine aimed at young girls.

Teen Now is another example of a popular pop magazine for young girls that use their front covers to get the audiences attention. By using a popular and well known boy band on their front cover, then it attracts more people to buy it. Just below the title there is a quote which says "Id marry a fan" with a quirky line 'Yes! It could be you' underneath that. This attracts the reader as for every girl who is a fan of this band would be initially curious to find out if they could be indeed that fan who they would claim to marry. Unlike the two issues of Top of the Pops, pink isnt a colour that is mainly used on the front of the cover. This magazine focuses on using bright colours that will grab the readers attention and will draw them into buying the magazine. 

I will apply what I have learnt from this research into my own product by making sure that I follow a similar layout to the following magazines in order for my target audience to understand what sort of genre my own magazine is. My own creative decisions will be influenced by these other products as I would like to try and interpret the way these magazines have been set out, i.e a colour scheme to fit my target audience or use of big bold fonts.

The Features of a Front Cover

During a lesson of media, we learnt and studied about the key concepts and terminology used for the front cover of a music magazine.  The main concepts of a front cover would be a; Masthead, Main sell line, Subheading, Sell lines, Essential Info, Main image and Colour.  These concepts are important when coming to creating a front cover for a music magazine as these are the key things that will grab a readers attention and will draw them into buying it. Front covers are the front line in an increasingly competitive market place, meaning that each brand of music magazines try their best to become the most popular seller. Mise en Scene also makes a big impact on capturing an audience and making a difference on how they feel about the front cover. 

AS Media: Coursework Brief

For my AS Media Studies course, I have been asked to create a music magazine as part of my coursework.  The music magazine will include a; Front page and double page spread and a contents page. Every photo and piece of writing that is incorporated into my work must be my own and has to be original.

To get an idea of what type of magazine i want mine to be, I decided to take a look at other music magazines such as 'Blisss' and 'Teen Now'. However, I have mainly focused on looking at the music magazine 'Top of the Pops' as this particular magazine is the most popular 'pop' music magazine and includes a range of different bands and artists every week. I enjoy all types of different music and like a wide range of artists in the charts, so I believe this is the best sort of genre to base my magazine on.