Third Draft of Front Cover

Here I have changed my front cover based on the points risen by my focus group. Here are the points I have addressed in this draft which were raised by the focus group:

 

• My focus group didn't understand why I had chosen a different shade of red to the house style so when I explained that I wanted to create the sense of the 'confidential' stamp to imply that the article was exclusive to Amplify they said that I should improve by actually recreating the stamp outline as well so that this point is more clear. I added this line but I feel that this distracts away from the word and increases the busy ambience on my front cover although now it is fully implied that this article is 'top secret' and for the readers eyes only.
• My focus group agreed when I asked them about the continuity of my magazine as I had followed a house style in the front cover and contents page but this was almost abandoned on the double page spread. They said to improve this that I should remove the photos with my artist with brown hair and replace with the images with pink yet keep the two transparent images to create a sense of variety within the images. When I asked whether they liked the main cover image they sad they like it and it was unique. Although through changing the main image the red now clashes with the pink meaning that I will have to decide what colour to go with. Pink has very feminine connotations but suggests dangerous and unique as this colour is often widely avoided in other media products such as the album covers or the music magazines I analysed at the start. Most of these products contained red as it appeals to most genders of their demographic as well as it represents the alternative genre as dangerous due to the connotations red carries but I feel that pink is unique and 'out there' which I feel represents the genre more accurately than red. My focus group also raised that they didn't recognise that my artist was holding an amp lead and mostly recognised it as a liquorish lace, this adapted their meaning so instead of redoing a photo shoot with my artist holding an amp lead I kept to a pain and simple mid shot of the artist looking straight into the camera which conveys attitude and individuality whilst maintaining a connection with the viewer.
• To keep within this new 'mixed' colour scheme there was a high use of red so to balance this out I coloured the skyline pink to match her hair, I really like this part but dislike the two clashing colours, this reinforces that I will need to decide and finalise a colour scheme.
• I asked my focus group to look at the masthead which they said they liked but to improve they commented to move the month of the issue and the price to somewhere that couldn't be seen as easily as they felt it distracted from the design, so I moved it next to the barcode on the right hand side so when on the newsstand this wouldn't easily be seen. They also noticed at the different font of the £ sign so I changed the whole of this font, but I still feel that this doesn't fit in so in another draft I will have to find another solution.
• When asking my focus group whether they would buy the magazine they said yes but a point was raised that I should include a competition. So I decided to give my readers a chance to win mostly tickets as within my research the majority said they wanted to go but found that something was stopping them such as money issues. I used a buzz word for this and made 'win' in the biggest font to catch the viewers eye, I placed it in a guitar pick which connects to the alternative genre and used red to in the font to draw the viewers eyes to this area. I think I should remove the 'chances to' as this raises the possibility that there is a chance the viewer won't win but if I just use the word 'win' there is more of a positive implication that there is a high chance the viewer will win and therefore purchase the magazine.
• My focus group looked at the cover lines and said they felt that overall it was too busy so I removed the top one, I do agree with my focus group and feel that it is less compacted but cover lines are extremely important in persuading the viewer to purchase so by removing one there is an implication that there is less within the magazine. I also changed my cover lines to black as my focus group commented that when I have it as the same colour as something within in the house style of that stands out on the image they felt that they would 'fight' to be seen whereas now with black there is a clear defined cover line that can be easily seen and separated from other parts of the magazine.