Tuesday, 10 March 2009

Tuesday, 20 January 2009

questionnaire results


By looking at this quiestion we can see that the majortiy of the people who took this servey were aged between 16-19, in order to create a sucessful music magazine it must be aimed at those in this age group, however we still have to consider everyone else and make it suitable for people over this age too.

The Results from this queistion show us that the ratio for male and female who were asked this servey were even, this is a good result as we will have better equil information to work with to make our music magazine better.
The etnicity of people may affect the type of music they listen to, it wasimportant to ask this question so that we could get an opinion from all diffent ethnic groups.


This was also an important quiestion because if the people asked in this servey read music magazines they can give the desighner of the magazine understanding what they like and dislike about music magazines.

As we can see, one of the main reasons why people read music magazines is because they are entertaining, we can use this information to make sure that our readers get what they want.

The results of this Question show that the majority of people are attracted to the background photograph of a music magazine first, by looking at this result we can focus on making sure that our front cover picture is eye catching and stands out a little from all the other competeing music magazines.

It is very clear here that our audience would prefer to have a bright and colourful music magazine, therefore we must not steer away from this result but make sure we give the readers what they prefer.


To a music magazine, this is one of the most important quiestions asked in this servey, because we could focus on just one type of music, that not alot of people would be interested in reading about, our music magazine would therefore not sell very well. The results of this quiestion show us that the large majority of people preferd a mixed genre of music instead of just one paticulare genre. so our music magazine should be targeted at audiences who want to read about all types of music.

This Question was a follow on from the previous just to make sure that our audiences want to read about all types of music, although some people said that they would prefer to read about just on type the majority said they would prefer to read about all types.


this shows us that the majority of people would prefer the music magazine to be informal, so we have to take this into consideration when desighning our music magazine.

The Results of this question show that the majority of people reading this music magazine would prefer to have a fashion section so we have to also consider this in the desighn of the music magazine.
not only did our audience say that they wanted the music magazine they also said that they also wanted the music magazine to talk about some serious issues that we face today.
the audience also said that they would like some celeb gossip in the music magazine.
when asked the quiestion, the majority of people said that they would pay between £1.00-£1.99, this means that we need to keep our music magazine within this price level otherwise the magazine is likely to not sell very much.

textual analysis of double page spread

textual anlysis of a doublepage spread.


This double page spread consists of a photo of a woman on the top left of the page, and a photograph of the same woman on the right page, covering the whole of the right page. In the first photograph on the left page the woman’s body is at and angle and so is her head, she is looking into the camera and she is smiling, this photograph is a medium shot, cutting off under her chest. The photograph is in black and white, and colour is shown through the writing in her name.

On the right hand side of the page the woman is also looking directly into the camera and she is bent over with her knee brought up to her body, she is resting her head on her chin, this photograph is of a medium long shot, it is cut off just below the knee. It is a colour photograph and has writing placed in front of the photograph.

On the left hand side of the page there is writing that is placed underneath the photograph, it has a text title written in bold white writing, followed by questions wrote in orange and the woman’s reply written in white writing, it is clearly separated from the photograph of the woman.


On the right hand side of the page the interview is continued in the white and orange font, it has a quite a transparent box around the interview writing to separate it from the photograph, there is some orange writing towards the left side of this page which contains the lyrics of one of the woman’s songs, the writing has been placed over the photograph of the woman.


The double page spread has an anchorage of the woman’s name underneath her photograph, it is transparent writing with a white outline, the anchorage bring through the colour of the photograph it is placed on, this is the only part of colour we see on the photograph of the woman. The writing is in a serif font and all the letters of her name are in lower case letters, they do not join up. Just above this writing there is a caption in large white bold writing saying ‘the queen of UK r & b on finder her voice, and feeling exposed’ this is almost like an introduction to who the interview is going to be with, instead of putting her name right at the top of the page they put this at the top of the page, it could connote that she is very popular and it seems as if the magazine are trying to create suspense.

The main photograph on this page is of Jamelia, her body is slightly turned away from the camera and her head is also turned away at an angle from the camera, this could connote a bit of shyness as she is turning away a little, Jamelia’s clothing is very casual, she looks ,like she is somewhere hot and is wearing a simple stripy tank top and a hat, there are some trees behind her which could suggest she is in a park or on holiday, Jamelia looks very relaxed in this photograph, this could show us that she is a ‘chilled out’ kind of person. She looks like she’s having fun, she is also hardly wearing any make up and maybe that’s the message she is trying to give out, that she is not all about the glamorous life of celebrities. It seems as if Jamelia is trying to target an audience of women who get fed up of looking at glamorous women in the magazines every day.

Continued on the right side of the page there is another photograph of Jamelia, she is sitting on a bed, the colours are simple, whites and light shades, her body is coming off the edge of the bed and her knee is brought up into her body and she is slightly slouched into herself, she’s not trying to show off her figure or make any sexually suggestive poses. Her make up is very simple and her hair is also very simple, again this connotes that is not trying to show off or be glamorous, I think that she is trying to send out a message that she is a ‘real woman’. The writing on this page is placed over the photograph of Jamelia, I think this is suggesting that what she’s saying is more important than what she looks like. The writing is kept in the same simple colours as the first page; it is easy to read and to follow.

When I consider all of these points, I can come to a conclusion that the design of this page was set out to a targeted audience of women mainly, because Jamilia is not posed in any sexual way, and she is not trying to show off about how beautiful she can look, I think that this magazine spread was probably in a woman’s magazine, aimed at the ages between 25-50, and for people who like reading about life experiences and peoples ambitions.

Quiestionnaire

Questionnaire for magazine design



Question 1: How old are you?

15-19 20-24 24 and over


Question 2: What gender are you?

Male Female


Question 3: What is your ethnic background?


White/Caucasian Black Asian

Indian Mixed Other



Question 4: Do you read music magazines?

Yes No


Question 5: If so, what is your main reason for reading them?

They are informative They are interesting


They are Entertaining


Question 5: When you pick up a magazine, what is your attention brought to first?

The background photograph The Different cover lines.


The Masthead



Question 6: Do you Prefer the magazine to be…

Plain Bright and colourful


Question 7: What type of Font Do You Prefer?

New Roman Forte Script

Question 8: What type of music do you prefer?

Pop Rock R & B Rap Reggae


Dance Funky house Garage Mixed Genre



Question 9: Would you prefer a music magazine to have…

A Diverse range of music genre’s Just One music genre.



Question 10: Would you prefer a music magazine to be…

Formal Informal



Question 11: Do you think the music magazine should also have a fashion section?


Yes No


Question 12: would you prefer if the magazine also talked about serious issues?

Yes No


Question 13: Would you prefer if the music magazine had lots of gossip?

Yes No



Question 14: If you were buying a magazine how much would you be willing to pay ?

0-99p £1.00-£1.99 £2.00 & above

Monday, 12 January 2009

Textual analysis



This magazine consists of a colour photograph of a woman placed in the centre of the page, she is looking directly into the camera and her body is slightly tilted at an angle, the camera shot is of a medium long shot showing her head arms and body, the photograph is cut off above the knee. The background colour of the photograph is different shades of red and some black. The photograph covers the whole of the magazine front cover.

Behind the woman is the rolling stone masthead which appears on all of their magazines. Slightly in front of the woman there are six different cover lines in the colours black white and blue. The name of the woman photographed is placed in the bottom left corner, however it is the largest font size on the page.

Masthead: the rolling stone’s masthead is at the top of the page, spreading from left to right; the masthead is blue, with a white outline and a black backdrop. The masthead is written in a serif font, the first letters of each word are in capitals, followed by lower case letters. The letters in the masthead are all joined, the ‘R’ and the ‘L’ on the masthead are joined up with a swift curve, by doing this it is giving the effect of smooth movement, or rolling. ‘rolling stones’ are a famous long running band who had a lot of success, but have also been known for their rock and roll lifestyles and the magazine seems to use this name to connote this lifestyle and gives us the impression that the magazine doesn’t ‘play safe’.

The cover photograph is of Shania Twain, she is posed in a seductive pose with her body slightly slanted to show-off her curves. She is making direct eye contact to the camera and had her arms above her head, while holding a microphone. She is wearing a grey t shirt with a cannon printed on it, the t-shirt has been tied up at the side to show her stomach which could connote being rebellious or going against the grain. Shania is also wearing a short mini skirt with fishnet tights. The costume pose seems to have been deliberate to attract a particular audience which would likely be male. Under the cover line that has Shania Twain’s name it says ‘ she knows what you like’ which is also trying to pull in the targeted audience which is male, I think that it also makes her cover line look more personal.

There are also different cover lines on the front page, it shows that the magazine is not completely about Shania Twain the month. Not only does it have different cover lines but it has a diverse range of cover lines, which show that rolling stone magazine doesn’t only concentrate on one type of music, but a whole different range of music and artist, it shows that it is a diverse and interesting magazine, and can interest many different audiences. Some of the cover lines include ‘ 50 cent, his life and crimes’, 50 cent is a huge contrast from Shania Twain, she makes country and pop music, and he makes hip hop and rap, this shows us that the rolling stone magazine is not afraid to explore every type of music genre. Not only does it show this but it shows us that rolling stone magazine must have a lot of different audiences who read the magazine for different people and music, rolling stone magazine would be perfect for somebody who listens to all types of music.

When I consider all of these points I can conclude that the rolling stone magazine has a likely targeted audience of both male and female, whom have a diverse taste in music and enjoy reading about different subject in a magazine. I think that the target ages would be for around 25-55 because it seems as if this magazine is for the mature audience.