Final Magazine Cover Audience Feedback

For the final magazine cover I created, I wanted to get one last set of audience feedback to see what my target audience think about my magazine cover and how it matches their interests.

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These are the suggested improvements from the questionnaire:

Pros

+ Looks more like a magazine cover

+ More conventions of a magazine cover

+ Masthead looks better/more professional

+ Fonts are different

+ Key information stands out

+ More spaced out than before

+ Not as much going on

+ Colours don't contrast/compete

+ Appealing to look at

+ Good use of the gun

+ Gun gives a view of the genre

+ Image overlaps the title

Cons

- Could include more magazine features, like a puff or a pug

- Bar-code may be too big

Overall, I am pleased with the final magazine cover and the feedback it received. There were a few negative parts/improvements that could be made to the magazine cover, however, they aren't too drastic.

Final Magazine Cover

This is the final version of my magazine cover. I have taken into consideration all of the audience feedback I collected from my target audience to create a magazine cover that will match their interests as much as possible.

Firstly, I added more additional cover lines to the magazine cover as that was a common piece of feedback I received. I did this as the magazine cover looked to plain and there was a lot of free and empty space left on the magazine cover. I researched the upcoming action and thriller films being released this year and decided to include them in the cover lines.

I also changed the main image of of the poster as the other image was hard to position centrally. The image used in the second draft left space in the middle of the poster and didn't allow for any additional cover lines to be placed around the side of the magazine cover, so I decided to use another mid-shot/long-shot photo of the main protagonist of our film still holding a gun, but this time closer to his body so that I was able to include more cover lines.

Finally, I re-worded the cover line as it now has more of an attraction and shows of more of the cast of the film, which is the unique selling point of the film. The actors, Ansel Elgort and Jesse Eisenberg, as well as the director, Edgar Wright, have all been highlighted as they are important bits of information. I also used the word "confrontation" to give an insight into what the film is about and who is fighting who.

Magazine Cover Second Draft Audience Feedback

Like for the first draft of the magazine cover, I asked people that fall into my target audience demographic for their feedback on the second draft of my cover.

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These are the improvements suggested from the feedback questionnaire:

Pros

+ Additional information stands out
+ Strap line fits well

+ Not as boring as before

+ More going on

+ Good image, shows action

+ Image overlaps title so looks natural or not out of place

Cons

- Not enough text
- Lack of additional cover lines
- Image just cuts off
- Lots of free space at bottom of cover
- Image covers both sides, not central area
- Image may be too small
- Align main cover line better

Magazine Cover Second Draft

This is the second draft of the magazine cover. I have incorporated the audience feedback from the first draft to create a poster that will appeal more to my target audience.

The first thing that I changed about the magazine cover was that I added a different background image. The feedback said that the cover looked to plain, bland and boring without a background image. So I chose to use a dark background of black wooden planks. I chose this background as since it is dark it conforms to the generic conventions of the thriller genre and could also give an insight into the setting/tone of the film.

I also decided to change the splatter of blood on the magazine cover as the large, bright red splatter of blood could have potentially made the magazine cover hard to look at or hard to read due to the competition of colours on the magazine cover. I chose to use a smaller, more subtle splatter of blood. The blood splatter also implies that there will be violence and potentially gore in the film.

Another thing that was missing from the cover was the other features of the magazine, like cover lines including the different films being reviewed, etc. I decided to look at upcoming films that are soon to be released and included similar films to our film genre and blockbuster films, as the magazine I based my cover off usually covers large-name, large-budget, blockbuster films.

Another issue with the magazine cover was that the masthead looked to simple/lacklustre, I decided to completely overhaul the masthead area/top third of the magazine cover to create more space and make that area look better/more professional, so instead of just having the magazine company masthead, I decided to move the additional features in the magazine above the masthead to make them smaller, but still readable and in a better position.

Another suggestion that my audience feedback returned was that I should include more font styles. Before I just had one font style for all of the text on the magazine cover, however, after looking through more fonts, I chose a few more fonts that still look professional and I feel fit the genre of a thriller film and magazine cover.

Finally, another main issue with the first draft of the poster was that there was a severe lack of features that conformed to a standard magazine cover. Therefore, I decided to add more of these features/conventions, like a bar-code and a price, as well as a website to the magazine company and a release date. These features help my magazine cover conform to the standard conventions of a magazine cover.

Magazine Cover First Draft Audience Feedback

I have shown people in my year who match my target audience my magazine cover and have received their feedback, which I will try and incorporate as much as possible to improve the magazine cover. The feedback has been ordered with the feedback that occurred the most appearing at the top.

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These are the main responses from the questionnaire:

Pros

+ Good cover line

+ Key information stands out

+ Nice font

+ Font matches the genre of the film

+ Font matches the film poster

+ Good use of the gun in the image

Cons

- Bland

- Boring

- Spacing of the poster is quite poor
- No conventions of a magazine cover, like a bar-code, price or date, etc
- Not many conventions of a magazine cover
- Title/logo looks a bit plain/lacklustre

- Might be too much red, especially in the top right corner

- Use some different fonts

Magazine Cover First Draft

This is the first draft of my magazine cover. Firstly, regarding the cover line of the magazine, I have kept the same font as my film poster. I felt this was appropriate as it clearly links both pieces together.

I also decided to highlight the key words like actor, Ansel Elgort, director, Clint Eastwood and the name of the film, Hostage. This helps make the important information of the trailer evident to the reader and also makes it stand out. As well as changing the colour of the important information on the cover, I also increased the text size of the information.

Continuing, the colour scheme of the magazine cover is also the same as the film poster, again this links the two pieces together, but it also fits in with the conventions of the thriller genre and the colours, black and red, have connotations with danger, violence and, potentially, quite a dark story.

Regarding the main image of the magazine cover, I decided to use a side-angled mid-shot of the main protagonist of our trailer holding a gun. The gun also gives the connotations of danger and violence and helps the magazine cover conform to the conventions of the thriller genre.

I will now get audience feedback on this version of the magazine cover to see what areas need improving and if there is anything else I can add to the magazine cover in order improve the quality and make it appear more professional.