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.