Cover Drafting Process

Here I have posted a few of my InDesign drafts to show how my cover has transformed. As you can see a lot have changes have been made in the process.

Above you can see one of my basic early drafts. The masthead still remains as the initial full title "Live N' Let Rock!" and the cover lines are all missing.

Here I have changed my masthead to the shorter, catchier "Live Rock!" I have changed this due to the results of my market research, I agreed with the results, where the majority preferred this shorted title. I've added coverlines, and a layout plan for a banner at the bottom of the page, as well as a barcode. However the coverlines are only on the left hand side and changes were needed regarding the main cover line and it's font/layout. I've also added a subsidiary image of a festival in the additional space the shorter masthead has created.

Here my front cover is almost complete, the bottom banner has been slightly improved and at this point only a few changes needed to be made.

Front Cover, nearly completed

CONTENTS PAGES so far..

Here is one my first drafts of the production of my contents pages. As you can see it is incomplete, but I am using a double page spread which I hope to fill with content as it is a monthly magazine. There is also a lot of white space which I hope to fill and make the over all design look a little eye catching to the reader.

How I will use my market research...

I will use my market research to improve the designing of my magazine, now that I am more aware of what my target audience want.
After seeing the results, I have decided to change my masthead to the shorter title "Live Rock!" I feel that this will in fact be a more appropriate title as it is catchier, and suggests the idea of live rock music as well as living a rock lifestyle.


I will take the responses on board by designing the cover to meet my audience half way- not too cluttered and not too simple.
I am glad that the audience chose the colours which they did, as after studying popular conventions, I am aware that these work well.
I will feature the content that my audience chose as well I can- if it does not feature on the front cover,I will try and feature it elsewhere in the contents and article.
I was previously intending to use only one subsidiary image, so I am also pleased that this option won the majority of votes in the survey. I hope to find a suitable subsidiary image that reinforces the genre of a magazine. The image I'm thinking of using is a photograph of a festival which will hopefully interest my readers who I know have an interest in live music.

Results from my primary market research

My survey showed the following results:

17 people felt that the masthead should be short , catchy, and bold.
Only 3 felt that it should not.

4 chose the masthead "Live N' Let Rock!"
3 chose "SoundBase"
10 chose "Live Rock!"
2 chose "Let Rock!"
0 chose sound base.
1 chose BackStage.

The majority of participants felt that a combination of all 8 content options should be included in the magazine.

8 people felt that the cover should be sleek and simple.
12 people felt that a cluttered cover is more appropriate for a rock music magazine.

5 preferred only one main image on the front cover.
9 preferred a main image with one subsidiary image.
6 preferred more than one subsidiary image.

People suggested numerous different cover lines which would interest them:
"exclusive interview with (popular artist)"
"gig reviews inside"
"competitions"
"posters"
"100 greatest rock tracks"

7 people chose colour combinations of black,white& red.
Many others chose black/red/yellow,    or black/white/blue.

The questions about contents pages was fairly evenly split, 11 people chose a detailed version with lots of references, whilst 9 chose a more simple overview.

12 people chose an age group of 16-30.
3 chose 15-24.
2 chose 15-35
2 chose 16-40
1 chose 35+

Secondary Market Research

In addition to my primary research I have decided to do some secondary market research by looking at statistics of already established rock music magazines. In doing this, I hope to gain a better idea of what readers of this genre will expect from a rock magazine.

Reader Stats for alternative/rock music Magazines:
Readership :345,000

Kerrang! Readers purchase over six albums per month on average. Readers have a gender ratio of 45.3% female and 54.7% female. 56.1% of readers are in the 15-24 age group. Their readers are 5.5 times more likely to go to gigs.

Rock Sound stats:

Total brand audience is 585,000. Their target audience are 15-24 year olds. Their readers in total spend more than £210 million on music and gigs.

Metal Hammer reader profile:

Metal Hammer has an 85% male readership. They spend on average £112 each month on music, tickets and merchandise. Readers spend at least 3 hours reading each issue.

How this will help me:

From this information I can interpret that other magazines are also aiming their product at a youth audience. By studying other alternative music magazines I can see how they do this. For example I have noticed that they tend to use a friendly and informal mode of address. It also seems that the readers in this genre are prepared to spend a lot of money on music and gigs from their favourite artists. In order to appeal to them I need to make sure I feature tour dates and gig reviews in my own product.

As you can see below, I have created an online survey in order to get some feedback on how to design my magazine. I have also specifically asked people whom I know have interest in rock music to complete it. I hope that by doing this, I will gain a more valid type of feedback which will be more relevant to my chosen genre. Once I have gained enough response, I hope to analyse the feedback and put it into good use when designing.

Primary Market Research

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Planning Process