Website Link

http://christophermerritt.wix.com/northernrockmagazine

Final Double Page Spread

Final Contents Page

Final Front Cover

Final Radio Advert

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 3

What have you learned from getting audience feedback?

I think that getting feedback from my audience was extremely important in the creation of my media products as getting this feedback told me what people in my target audience would like to see in my magazine, it also gave me insight into what kind of things they were interested in. This led me to think about the way I designed my products. As you can see throughout my blog I was constantly making changes to improve my product, such as changing the layout to make the magazine look more professional. Recieving audience feedback also gave me a lot of ideas to experiment with the conventions that I already had. Some of the feedback also reassured me that I was going in the right direction, for example I recieved this feedback on my double page spread. 

This feedback was very helpful because it meant that I didn't have to change it anymore and that my target audience approved of the style I was working with.

By analysing the feedback I recieved and making the changes that I felt were important (based on how many times they appeared in the feedback). I learned a lot from what my audience said about my project and in the end this caused me to create what I feel was a professional looking magazine and website. This also caused my products to be successful in appealing to my target audience as I was designing it to meet their requests

This is the reader profile I created for my magazine (I have since changed the magazine name to 'Northern Rock') I created this profile for my readers as they are my primary target audience and understanding what they like is important because it helps me design products that appeal to their needs and interests. 

  

My audience feedback also had an effect on the colour scheme and overall design of all of my products. I chose the colours I did due to the conventions of the genre as research has shown these are the colours my target audience like. I then added green/blue at the request for some more colour from my audience and in the end this helped as the colour could be used for a lot over all platforms. 

After I had almost finished my magazine and website I recieved feedback from my class. This was very helpful as most of the people in my calss are in my target audience range so this feedback was relevant. It was also helpful becuase it told me what I needed to change for my final submission as well as what I had done well which was also good to know that my audience liked what I had done.

Audience Feedback

Evaluation Question 2

View in full screen mode

Evaluation Question 1

Time Management

Todays Magazine Progress

I have made a lot of changes to the front page of my magazine, I have moved the cover lines to the bottom of the page in their own banner, looking fro inspiration in 'The Crack' which has a very minimalist front cover, I have removed a lot of the information cluttering the cover and I think that it looks more professional.

I have changed a lot about my contents page, firstly I have added a professional looking header to the page which gives the magazine a more creative look. I then added smaller tag lines under each individual title on the page and added more information to each story which makes the reader want to read more of the magazine than they may have originally. I added a subscription advert at the bottom of the page in the magazines 3rd colour. 

To make the contents look more professional I added boxes behind the text and lowered the opacity, I feel like this has made the page easier to navigate and more reader friendly.

I need to add an image next to the list of posters at the bottom of the page .

Comparison with a regional magazine

My front cover is similar to 247 as it is a simplistic design that is not cluttered by a lot of cover lines, however 247's main image has a lot of effects applied to it whereas my image does not, my main image also uses 3 members of the band not just the guitarist, I challenged a lot of 247's conventions such as the colour scheme, 247 uses black and a blue/green, I opted to use a similar blue/green for part of my cover as I felt like it made the magazine seem more regional. But I used a lot of red and some white on my front cover so that the colours stood out against competitors whilst also sticking to genre conventions. 

This particular issue of 247 was free however its usual price is £3.85, my magazines price will be £3.99, which I feel is a fair price and will attract some people to the magazine. 

My main image is straight on and directly addresses the audience however 247's main image is a low angle shot that does not address the reader at all, I feel mine will be more effective as direct address may make the audience feel like they want to buy it more because of the.

Contents update

Today I made a lot of progress designing my contents page, I added boxes behind the text as it broke up the different sections and made it easier to navigate for the reader. 

Targets for today

Today I will continue to finish the design to my contents page, I will make some final adjustments on my front cover and then work on my website.

Regional Inspiration

One of my more recent inspirations has been 'The Crack' magazine which is regional to newcastle and the north east, I am using this as inspiration while recreating my magazines contents page. The Crack has a very basic contents page which has a lot of blank space so instead of filling every space on the page I will leave some blank space to make the page more reader friendly.

Website Progress

Today I have changed the overall layout of the website, I found that the new style I used was more professional and looked more like my inspirational website 'Thecrack'.

Progress

This is the progress I made with my new contents page today, I feel the design is better than the last one and will be more effective.

Masthead Changes

After receiving feedback on my front cover of my magazine it was suggested that it was not clear it was a regional magazine. To make the magazine more regional I renamed it 'Northern Rock'. This makes it more regional as it limits the magazine to the north of the country and then the tag line below narrows it down to the North East of the UK so the audience is aware of the location of the news.

17th March

Today I am going to redesign my magazine contents page after receiving feedback on my original.

Radio Advert Plan

*low volume music playing in the background*

Northern rock magazine,

The north easts number 1 rock music magazine,

Featuring all of the latest news, local gigs and exclusive interviews,

Including your favorite bands and the local bands you haven't heard of yet,

For a limited time only, get a 12 month subscription for only £25,

Thats a saving of £11!

Subscribe now using the code 'RADIO' and save an extra 10%,

So go online to www.northernrockmagazine.co.uk and sign up today.

*Music volume increases and plays Out*

Magazine Progress

Following feedback on my front cover I have added cover lines and a barcode which I had previously not included, I added the puff in the bottom left corner to attract readers as giving them a chance to win VIP passes will be intriguing. I added the box behind the cover lines so that they did not blend into the background as much as they did without it, I lowered the opacity of the box so that it had a faded effect and blended in more. 

I have also lowered and centered the main story for my front cover, this related it to the main image more and made it easier to pick out, I also feel that it makes the magazine look more professional. 

Todays Target - 5th March

My target for today is to use the peer feedback I received to improve on my coursework. I will upload my progress later. 

Time Management

Magazine Feedback

This is the feedback that I received on my magazine

I received a lot of positive feedback about my magazine, including comments about the image use and the colour use. There were some wishes, such as add more text to the front cover which I will aim to do.

Website Feedback

This is the feedback I received on my website

I will now use this feedback to make enhancements to my magazine and make it the best I can. There was a lot of positive feedback about the layout and colours, some of the suggestions that I got were to add gig footage so I will add footage of my friends band that I recorded back in december. I also may try adding some different fonts to the website.

Todays Progress

I stated the new layout for my magazine cover by adding a top banner to attract the audiences attention as it offers free posters inside the magazine. The main story is at the right side of the page and I will position this once I have added the main image however for now this is the design I have came up with.

My contents page uses the colours from the front cover and then will have images on the right side of the page because it will make it more reader friendly.

Update

This is my contents page up to date, I have ordered the pages and have filled in the stories, the boxes on the right side of the page are for images, the top one is larger because that will be related to the story from the cover that is the main focus of the magazine. The other images will be of the posters included and a selection of the bands from the contents.

I have added black boxes behind the main headings of each section as it makes them stand out and the black is relative to the genre, it also ties in with the black on the front cover. I have also kept these headings in the font 'CF Punk Forever' but changed the font of the stories to 'Chaparral Pro' as it is easier to read for the audience. 

Comparisons - Double page spread

This is a double page spread from Mojo

I liked the image as it showed Neil Young in action, live. I tried to create a similar image in the sense that i wanted to show my artists in action, I did this using my double page spread.

It is similar in the sense that it shows a guitarist playing, however as the band I am using is a small band I chose to take images in their home studio however I feel this was still a good creative decision, as lighting in some of their gigs was not effective for a magazine image. I feel that this will be more professional overall and will be more appealing to my target audience.

Colour Update

I have recently updated my colour scheme on my magazine from feedback I received on my last draft, I reviewed my colours and have chosen the above colours for my magazine. The red and black are still representative of the rock genre however I have added the white and light grey as it brightens the magazine and makes it stand out against others.

Front cover update

This is the updated version of my front cover, since my last update I have experimented with the colour scheme for the cover after I looked at my inspirational magazines, one of my main reasons for changing the colours was looking at NME and seeing how they use colour in their magazines. 

I have added a third colour as I feel it makes the magazine look more professional, I also think that using brighter colours as well as the red and black which relate to the rock genre was a good decision as it makes the magazine stand out more and it looks more appealing to a wider secondary target audience as well as the main target audience that the red and black as well as the font will attract.

I will replace the main image as it is slightly blurred and I want to use the highest quality images possible for this production.

Double page spread update

This is my double page spread so far, the main image shows on of the band members recording guitar tracks in a studio. I gave the image a blurred/ grained effect to give it a vintage look, I feel like this was a good creative decision as it gives the page character.

The text will be on backgrounds that I have lowered the opacity setting so that you can see the image behind the text but also you can still read the text with ease.

I feel the colours on the page fit well together as when I took the image the member was wearing a red shirt similar to the house style colour I had used, this was by request as it ties in the rest of the page.

I have used the same font on this page as the cover and contents page, I may change the font used on this page to the bands personal font that they use as it will relate the article to their album.

Time Management

Front Cover Flat Plan

Masthead
The masthead of the magazine will be 'Region Of Rock', after researching many different font styles for the masthead I decided on a font named 'CF Punk Forever', I will make the font a dark red so that it stands out from the background. I will add a black outline to the dark red text to make it pop out of the page more and will stand out against competitors. 

Main Image
The main Image of the magazine will be of the members of the band 'Speedy Violet' I will arrange the image so that the lead singer is in the front of the image with the other band members stood behind him, using natural lighting. 

Main Story
The main story will directly link to the main image. It will have a black outline with white text and then the band name will have a black outline with dark red text so that it fits the house style and the other conventions of the front cover.

Contents page update

I am currently in the process of re-designing the contents page of my magazine to match the cover that I have already re-designed. I will add images and more stories to the page soon to finish it.

January 21st

Today I have started to put content into the layout of my website, I need to arrange the images, create adverts and rename the pages in the navigation bar. 

I inserted the image slideshow and then arranged the images for the website. 

Contents Page Flat Plan

Magazine Name

The magazine name will be in the same font as it is on the front cover as will the date and issue number and contents title.

Layout 

The left third of the page will be used for the contents of the magazine, there will be different headings which feature the main articles of the magazine, posters and reviews.

The right side of the page will be another image of 'Speedy Violet' as I will place the page numbers over the top of the image so that it features as the main article of the magazine.

Colour

The background of the contents list will be the same colour red that I used for the text on the fort cover and the list of contents will be in a dark grey with the first letter of each article highlighted in white to make them stand out. The background of the right side will be black.

January 8th

Today I started to change the layout of my website, I have put image boxes where I think they will gets the most attention and catch peoples eye. I added the masthead to the website in the same font so that it has brand identity. I also added social links tot the top of the page as that is a common feature on almost all websites now. 

Update

After designing the first four pages of my regional music magazine I have changed some characteristics from my original brief. 

1) The house style colours: I will still be using dark red, however instead of using black and white I am using a dark and a light grey because they looked more professional and I believe it will help appeal to my target audience as it does not look as plain as using black would have. 

2) The font that I used for my masthead and throughout the magazine will no longer be 'Red Rocket' as I feel that it did not represent the rock genre well and that it would reduce the effectiveness of the front cover. The new font that I am using is called 'CF Punk Forever' and i think that this is a better font to use for my magazine as it will appeal to my target audience and help to show the genre of the magazine is rock.

Time Management