Evaluation Question 5-Draft

My target audience is 16-24 year olds who are mainly female and are interested in the indie pop genre. 

Cover Page

I kept my cover page to simplistic and sleek design, as this was highly empathised by my target audience research. To try to achieve this sleek design, I only had three areas of text, with one being simply the name of my cover duo “Double ii”. The rest of the textual information is easily grouped into two sections, the general information under the masthead and then the tag lines of what is in the magazine. By grouping the information in this way I feel that the cover page looked non-hectic and not busy, which would attract my target audience and satisfy their needs.

The text is mainly black fitting the monochrome colour theme that was wanted by my audience, I have used the colour of a muted shade of pink to highlight key information on the page and bring a pop of colour to the page. This pop of colour would appeal to my target audience as this was also a key feature they also wanted in the magazine. I chose a more typically feminine colour as my magazine is mainly aimed towards women and a muted pink colour would address the majority of my target audience, however I feel by using a muted pink which is less obvious than a bright pink I am able not completely disinterest male audiences.

I choose to have my main image placed in the centre of the page leaving a white border for the rest of the page as this created a sleek look, giving me a way to line up, set and base the rest of my cover page around this continuing my target audience’s aim of a well executed magazine.  Only one piece of text is over the main image, with the rest of the text either above or below it- I chose to layout my cover page this way as I preferred less text on the image as I did not want to detract from the image and effect of the image or create a busy clashy look and this also attracts my audience as it creates the simplistic style they want. This idea was also inspired by the indie magazine “Loud and Quiet” showing how this design is proven to satisfy my audience.

My masthead in font Droidiga carries the unique styling of the letter “R” which would appeal and address to my audience as this fits well to quirkiness of the indie pop genre. This would also give my magazine an identity and a recognisable name, which is something that will attract audiences to my magazine, as it was a need that was identified my audience research. My masthead is the biggest font on the page which will attract audiences to magazine cover and will then draw their eye across the page. The general information is just underneath the masthead in a slightly smaller font than the tag lines, the tag lines also begin   with “More Inside” in the same font as the masthead. This link between the masthead and the tag lines will intrigue audiences and draw them to my magazine, by fitting the indie conventions and keeping to the simplistic and non-busy look, and also highlight to my audience the important information about what is in the magazine, which help attract purchase of the magazine to my audience.

By using a close up shot of my artists and matching the colour of font of their band name “Double ii” to their lipstick I am able to attract my target audiences by this clear link. A close up shot of my artist looking straight at the camera allows for direct address to the reader which will also attract them to the magazine as this will look engaging to my audiences and help my magazine look interesting on a shelf.   

Contents Page

Improving from my draft stages and initial ideas I have added more and more contents and pages to magazine, improving from my original attempt. I have done this as the more there is in my magazine as shown by my contents page, my magazine will appeal and attract my target audience more as these features are what they interested in. I have a varied mix in my magazine from different artists to pages that are not centred on artists such as the “Weekly Newsflash” which is still relevant to the indie pop genre and about music which will appeal to my target audience as this is different to other magazines slightly. By having a lot of contents I will be able to appeal to everyone across my target audience as there will be at least one feature they are heavily interested in. By having recurring features such as reviews this will help my magazine to appeal to my target audience as well as especially making repeat purchases appealing.

I have kept the same colour across my magazine from my cover page to my contents page to ensure familiarity for my readers and to make my magazine look professional. Within the contents page I have incorporated another colour from my pre-planned colour scheme which is the dark khaki green; this colour especially will help to appeal to my male audiences and as it works so well with the pink and monochrome this will not put off my female audiences and continues to highlight the key information.

 I have used slightly more colours on my contents page to make the page look interesting to read and not a block of textual information as this will appeal to my audience more. The use of colours also help to show my audience what is the most important information which will attract them to magazine as this helps the page to look reader friendly while the not overly bright and overwhelming colours still stick to sleek and simple design they wanted.

I chose to lay my images out on the side and to only have the page number as the only text on the image as I feel by adding text I would clutter the image and the layout which would not appeal to my audience. I have partly used Q Magazine for inspiration for my contents page by having all my images placed on one side of magazine as I feel this is a professional and clean look. Unlike Q magazine I have my images placed on the left hand side of my contents page to create a unique look which is another quirk that will appeal to my target audience.

My heading for “CONTENTS” is in the same font as the masthead of my cover to carry on providing familiarity and a link for my audiences. By splitting the title onto two different levels I am able to attract audiences to magazine, because as a indie pop magazine they would expect and enjoy quirks such as this. I chose to only have one column of text over boxes as I feel for my magazine boxes would look clunky and messy, I also feel that having only one column creates a more feminine look which would appeal widely to most of my target audience. 

Double Page Spread

For my double page spread I decided to have my image take up the whole right hand side of the page with the only text on this side of the page being the page number and the magazine website address at the top. The website address is there to help prompt readers into looking into my magazine further and will appeal to audiences in today’s technology dominated world. I have done this so nothing can clash or detract from the image as I feel the image is what draws my audience to the double page. This also keeps to the sleek and professional design my audience want. My image will appeal to my target audience as my artists are styled in conventional indie pop fashion and look similar to other artists in the genre such as Birdy and Gabrielle Aplin. By using a shot that is just slightly bigger than a medium shot I am able to showcase a lot of my artist within the double page, which will attract audiences as this looks interesting and prompts audiences to reading the rest of the page.

The styling of my artists for this page was important for attracting audiences to my magazine as this is the biggest and most major photo of my artists within the magazine. I chose for my artists to be wearing statement cardigans which are a key item of indie pop fashion as well as because this particularly stands out against the plain background of the white room where I took my photos. By doing this I was able to attract audiences to my magazine as I am using fashion trends they are interested in and having an image that stands out on the page. As I have matched the cardigan colour to the lipstick and from there used this to match the colour of the font which is used across the magazine I am able to create a link through the magazine and a link to the artists and this can also be seen as iconography. This will appeal to my target audience as this creates a sleek look as well as making the magazine look genuine and realistic.

Throughout the different stages of the draft I have changed the heading of my title from simply the band name to “More Than Meets The Eye”; this title is different and intriguing, it will attract audiences to my magazine as they will want to read the rest of the article from the heading. I have used the same theme of black font throughout the magazine and kept to using colour to highlight the key information within the title and introductory paragraph, that is separate to the columns, placed horizontally across the top of the columns. I have done this to indicate to my audience that this is the introduction to the article, before then having the rest of text in two columns of alternating colours, the two columns also being a subtle link to band name “Double ii”. 

By having two columns I am able to make my article look less like a massive block of text and make it look more reader friendly. This will appeal to my target audience as this layout makes the text look more enjoyable to read and will help them want to read the article more. The alternating colours that follow the same colour scheme as the rest of the magazine will provide familiarity as well as helping the text look more interesting to read. The pull quotes within the text will also attract audiences to my magazine as this is the second biggest font and in a slightly different font (still Wicker SF but not in bold) on the page after the heading, this will be the next information they read. By having engaging and interesting pull quotes this will also attract audiences to my magazine as this will create a buzz and excitement for the article.     

I chose to use an interview based article which is very similar to the style of articles in other indie magazines such as DIY and Clash. This style flows well and is pleasant to read while being more sophisticated and mature than a pure question and answer response, which will appeal to my audience as this is what they are looking for in a magazine. This also allows my “artist” to have a more hands on and personal response which will attract my audience as this is what they are reading the magazine for, to have a personal link with the artists. I have credited my author and photographer at the end of my article as although this is important information, some of my audience may be less interested in this. The overall style of my double page spread is similar to the magazine The Fly which is another indie music magazine that uses images on the right hand side of the page and pulls quotes within the article, showing how my magazine can appeal to audiences as this is a style they will recognise and enjoy.