Thumbnail Photo

I have decided to include an extra thumbnail photo at the bottom of the page to replace my two suburban female models in the street, as Luke from my focus group today described it as 'meaningless and lacks emotion'. Therefore, I intend to use one of my male model photoshoots from the Rough Cut double page spread as a thumbnail at the bottom of the front cover, as you can see below.

However, I am considering editing out the background on Photoshop and replacing it with a pure white layer.

Focus Group Feedback (Contents)

I asked my focus group for feedback on the current state of my contents page:

Olivia: "It's good but I would suggest to add the social media logos in somewhere to appeal to your young adult target audience."

Luke: "It needs to be made more clear why the Abbie article is bigger; it's not obvious enough that it's the main article, it just seems accidentally bigger"

Tommy: "You should include your cover artist somewhere on the contents page"

Megan: "Ensure the page numbers are always in chronological order or it will look messy and unprofessional"

Focus Group Feedback (Front Cover)

Today, I asked my focus group to give their opinions on the current state of my magazine in order to get audience suggestions for changes to be made, starting with the front cover:

Olivia- 'It is too symmetrical. Magazines of your genre tend to be focused more on one side'

Megan- 'Reformat the 'plus' section, it looks too formulatic and strict.'

Tommy- 'The photos at the bottom take up too much space, they might work better as small thumbnails rather than larger photos.'

Luke- 'It's good but the barcode needs a number and the photos at the bottom should be a lot smaller and the plus section could do with a redesign, maybe a different way of setting it out'

Social Media Logos Added

Today, I added the social media logos for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to my contents page to fit the conventions of a music magazine.

Changes to Double Page Spread

It became clear to me that the background of my double-page spread was just too white, as I was told during my rough cut feedback. So I decided to use another blue coastal photo but without the white transparency effect, as this photo fits the colour scheme of the magazine significantly better.

Weekly Review (Timekeeping)

This week (27 March-2 April) I continued to make major changes, involving introducing a new background to the contents page. I also photo-shopped and edited a new photo for the double-page spread. I added small conventional features such as the page number, and adding a drop capital.

This week coming, I intend to begin making some large structural changes to my contents and double-page spread. I also intend to find a way to fill up some small empty spaces on the contents page, as well as adding some more typical conventions, such as social media logos.

Drop Capital

Today, I added a drop capital to the beginning of my article in order to make it clear where the article starts and also to follow the conventions of typical articles on double page spreads in all genres, especially music magazines,