Re-Construction: Double Page Spread

I have chosen to layout my Double Page Spread in this way because I wanted it too catch my readers attention in order for them to be more likely to read it. I found from researching Real Media Artefacts that the audience will be more inclined to read a Double Page Spread if the image or images in this case bleed through onto both pages as it makes the DPS appear more dramatic to the reader. I specifically chose to include humorous or casual images of the artist - Avery Rose in order to make her seem more realistic and human to the audience. As the technique of portraying her as laid back and real helps to promote her as an artist, as the consumer is therefore more likely to connect with her. This also helps to promote the Magazine, as images such as this suggest to the audience that we have a strong rapport with the artist. The Audience is likely to be more interested in a story if they think that we are close to the star or even friends with her as the suggestion of knowing her well connotes to the audience that we will have all the best stories about her. 

Since putting my text in I was afraid that my Double Page Spread looked too masculine and would not successfully attract a female audience. I have therefore decided to ask predominantly females, as I will ask 4 females what they think of this Double Page Spread and only 1 male.
"Like I said in when I gave you feedback for your Contents page: don't worry about it looking a bit masculine! Women are much more likely to be interested in a product that is a bit manly as we often think it makes us more attractive to men. That sounds weird but women do things all the time to impress men and if something is slightly manly I honestly think it makes it seem cooler and more interesting to women. Things that are too girly are often looked down upon. So I think you've just following successful magazine's by altering the balance slightly."

"The text looks fine, I like the style of the boxes I think it looks fashionable and unusual. It's good that you have come up with a layout that is not often used, I think it works well and makes your magazine seem modern."

"Everything on your page compliments one another. The quote text is modern and alien-like which is a similar style to the boxes of text which almost give off a sci-fi feel. I think the images are fantastic, it's nice to see a bit of humour in your mag. I would edit them in colour and see what looks better, just to compare."

"I love the idea of this interview. It's nice to see that you've thought of new idea's and haven't just opted for an easy double page spread about an artists new song, you're delving in deeper instead :) I like the font and the text looks good, it's clear and clean looking."

"I would edit the images in colour then they would stand out more on the page. The font looks great, particularly the heading and sub-heading. I like the overall style of it, it's just little bits you need to improve on."

I have learnt a lot from my audience feedback and now feel much more confident in my work. I decided to take the advice and see how my images looked in colour and I think they give the Double Page Spread more depth and make it appear more eye-catching the reader. I have edited the images slightly in order to give them a blue-green tint which compliments the font colour and house style of the magazine. As well as this I also experimented with a different layout below just so I had more options and was able to compare the two to see which looked more effective. The layout below is a typical, one page image, one page text Double Page Spread that often features in magazines that could be seen as my competition such as NME. However, because this layout is so commonly used I have decided against the idea of converting to the norm and would like to use my previous layout for my final double page spread, as I think the fact that it is unusual will help me to secure my audience.

Final Double Page Spread: 



Re-construction: Contents Page first draft

First Draft of my Contents page: I have decided to keep the to the house style of my construction last year as I got positive feedback from teachers and young adults who link in with my target audience. Although my front cover no longer includes the use of a range of pastel tones, I think they are needed to brighten up the Contents page in order to make it appear more interesting. It could be seen that I am challenging typical codes and conventions within a Real Media Artefact, as I have not included all of these pastel colours on my front cover or double page spread. However, I don't think the overall house style is effected by this, as I still have a clear style to my magazine, which the use of pastel colours do not disturb. Although I have not used all the colours I have included the blue in this contents page with features in all my Magazine pages, so I therefore think it looks professional and links in with the overall house style of the Artefact. The layout of this Contents page follows common codes and conventions as it includes three columns which are each individually titled as either "What's happening?" "Exclusive Interviews" or "Regular Features" I have included this so that the reader has a clearer idea of where to find things on the page, making the Contents easier to read and seem more organised.

I plan on asking 5 people that fit into my target audience what there initial thoughts on my Contents pages (above) are so far. Although the drafts are not quite complete I will be telling them how I am planning to fill the gaps and taking into account any criticism in order to ensure that I am targeting them in the best way possible.

"I like 3 columns it helps to break up the page well and gives off a professional feel. The use of grey in the background suits the front cover but it does look a bit dull. I would add a different coloured column just to spice things up a bit. Pastel colours look great and the font is easy to read and quite unusual which I like, it's quite hippy/alternative which I suppose works with the genre! Plus, Carys look like a proper Editor! Can't wait to see what you do next."

"I would try and make the title CONTENTS seem a bit more interesting by adding in more colour? That would definitely make it stand out more on the page, which it needs to, instead of blending into the background. Apart from that I'm glad that you have kept to the original style from your final draft before. It worked wonderfully last time, so you can do it!"

"I agree about the colour of the columns, you need to break them up by making the middle one black or white? A colour would not work with the pastels used in the text so a plain colour like that might work? I would also try to avoid using only black and white images, it make the page look flat and doesn't pop out to the readers eye. Make it more eye-catching!"

"All of your pages have quite a masculine and boxy theme to them - I'm not put off by this as [as a woman] I just think it is unusual. It looks very modern actually and works well with Holly [the main artist featured]. Woman are way more likely to buy a magazine that looks a bit manly than the other way around. Men would never buy a girly magazine so you are targeting both genders well by doing this."

"I would use a different image of Holly [The main artist Avery-Rose] for advertising the double page spread. You've already got one of her smiling so use something different or funny to add humour and make the feature stand out more on the page." 

Re-Draft: Construction Front Cover 1st draft

This is my first draft of my Re-construction using a new female Artist. I have kept to the house style of my orginal music magazine (featuring the artist Maxwell) as the pastel colours were popular with my target audience of young adults between the ages of 17-20. However, I have made some small changes as I did not want my music magazine to appear too girly. I have therefore tried to even out the amount of colour with the use of black and grey, by making the background grey and including mostly black text. As well as making the image black and white, this effect helps to make the pastel colours look more vintage and gives off an indie vibe which links in with the Indie/Alternative Genre of the magazine and will hopefully be recognised by my target audience.

I have also made some changes to the text including the title, I chose to listen to my audience feedback as one person suggested using a more "Retro" font for the title Voltage in order to give off a more ecclectic and vintage feel that links in well with the pastel colours and Indie Genre. I think this looks a lot more effective than the original 3D effect blue title I had in my first draft, as it gives it a more polished feel and links in well with the overall house style.

Overall, I know there are things that I need to improve on for this page for instance I am not 100% happy with the coloured font as it is quite hard to read and looks quite messy in places. I'm planning on showing this new draft to 5 people that fit into my target audience to see what they think of the changes and what elements I could improve on.

Audience feedback for first Draft:

“I love the picture! Great close up shot, she looks just like a real artist. The hat works well too as it fits in with the indie genre you’re focusing on. I like the title name and font that looks professional and clean. Only negative is I’m not sure about the font colours? Maybe using one pastel shade instead of many different ones would look better. All the different colours make it hard to know where to look first and your eye should immediately be lead around the page.”

“I think it looks too feminine. I get what you were trying to do with the pastel colours but I don’t think you need it. The black and white style of photography is already vintage enough, so you should just stick to a plain colour.”

“You’ve done a good job at targeting your audience, the text is relevant and I like the fact you’ve made it more cultural by mentioning charity work as not many music magazine focus on aspects of society. You’ve given your music magazine a new twist, making it stand out from the rest. The picture’s great, although I think it would look more effective without the border.”

 “I think you need a bolder title, this first font you have chosen is very girly. I would maybe try it in capitals with a larger font as it needs to stand out more on the page. The font you’ve chosen doesn’t really link in with a male audience, so it would be better to use manlier fonts if they exist.”

“The artist looks great, keep her and the topic about charity work I think that’s a great idea to bring in other affects from music. However I think the use of colours looks weird, I would get rid of the pink, purple and orange they are too bright and don’t link in with the indie genre. Maybe stick to one colour for your house style like the blue? That would be more effective at targeting both male and females. “

I chose to do several drafts of my front cover, which are shown below, in order to try out a number of different fonts, layouts and colours so that I can show the 5 people that fit into my target audience and see which one they think looks most effective.

Audience Feedback from 3 re-drafts:

“I’m glad you’ve gone for blue instead of a mix of colours like before. It looks a lot better and doesn’t look too manly either because it is a pale shade of blue. Therefore I think it looks really effective and works well both with you target audience. The pale shade looks very fashionable with the black and white image and I think that young people of both genders would be drawn to your magazine because of that. “

“The bold titles work really well. I like the contrast between the big title and the artists feminine features it makes the page look more interesting and grabs your attention. I think between the two bold capital titles, I prefer the second font which is slightly Italic. It looks stands out much better on the page making you want to read it.”

“Your front cover looks so much more professional without the border! It makes the picture look more eye catching and just works. I love the blue but not sure about having the entire small text one colour? The drafts that only include black text look very dull; you should include some blue text in there as well to link it in with your title.”

“The bit of text that mentions winner itunes vouchers doesn’t look right on the page. You should change that in some way it seems to sit funny. Some text also needs to be slightly larger and you need to sort out where you want everything to go so that the reader has a clearer idea on where to look. I like the bold font in the last draft that looks fantastic and works well with the other fonts. I personally think you should shorten the festival names into slang like “Glasto” etc. as you did this in your previous work from last year and it works well with the young audience you’re targeting.”

“The ice effect you’ve put onto the last font looks great. I would maybe try and make that more obvious as it is quite subtle at the minute. I prefer the front cover without the border, as it only diverted attention away from the image. I think you’ve done a great job this is really coming along! It now clearly targets males and females. Although the blue font is quite manly I would not be put off [as a woman] to buy this magazine because it features a female artist."

Final draft:

 I have taken into account all the suggestions and thoughts made from the 5 people who gave me Audience Feedback. I am now happy with how my front cover looks as the overall house style of black and blue works well with the black and white image and it allows your eye to travel around the page. I have tried to organise my text in this way so that it does not appear too messy as it is important to have the right balance, of lots of text - to show you have an interesting magazine as well as keeping it looking clean and professional - as a messy page could put readers off. I decided to change the sub-heading from "Making a Stand" to "Give what you take" as this links in with the artists charity name and seemed more relevant to the story featured in the double page spread.

The use of colour gives off an Indie/Alternative "Cool" Vibe which was recognised by my target audience and also links in with the use of ice in the title. As well as asking for audience feedback for my drafts I have asked them if they like this draft to ensure that is it acceptable to use for my final draft.