QUESTIONNAIRE:AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

BY LAUREN HOMER

QUESTIONNAIRE LINK - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1YHYON2FV7trbJRkiW7VfzBkWNHcbLLq_ykWVjhqrvZ0/viewform

MY QUESTIONNAIREMY QUESTIONNAIRE REFERS TO MY MUSIC MAGAZINE FIRST DRAFT EDITS. I HAVE SENT THIS QUESTIONNAIRE TO A RANGE OF PEOPLE THAT FIT THE TARGET AUDIENECE THAT MY QUESTIONNAIRE IS AIMED AT – YOUNG ADULTS 16-25. IN TOTAL, I HAVE HAD 22 RESPOSES FOR MY QUESTIONNAIRE, SO I NOW HAVE A RANGE OF ANSWERS THAT WILL HELP ME TARGET SPECIFIC AREAS OF MY MAGAZINE THAT NEED IMPROVING.

AS ALL OF THE QUESTIONS ARE BASED AROUND MY FRONT COVER, CONTENTS PAGE AND DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD, I DISPLAYED THESE QUESTIONS IN MY QUESTIONNAIRE SO PEOPLE CAN ANAYLSE THEM AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS ACCORDINGLY BASED ON WHAT THEY COULD SEE.

THE TYPES OF QUESTIONS THAT WHERE ASKED IN MY QUESTIONNAIRE WERE ABOUT THE CREATIVITY AND WHO IS THE AUDIENCE AIM FOR THE MAGAZINE? THERE WERE ALSO QUESTIONS ABOUT THE SOCIAL SIDE OF THE MAGAZINE – WHETHER YOU FEEL AS THOUGH YOU BELONG TO A ‘SOCIAL GROUP’ WHEN YOU READ THE MAAGZINE ETC… HOWEVER THE MAJORITY OF THE MAGAZINE WHERE QUESTIONS THAT WILL HELP ME IMPROVE MY OVERALL MAGAZINE. THE QUESTIONS WERE ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHY, LAYOUT, FONT AND COLOUR CHOICES AND WHETHER THEY FIT WITH THE OVERALL THEME. ONCE I EVALUATE THESE ANSWERS, I WILL BE ABLE TO MAKE APPROPRIATE CHANGES ACCODING TO THE RESPONCES.

1) FROM LOOKING AT THIS FRONT COVER, CONTENTS PAGE AND DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD, WHAT TARGET AUDIENCE WOULD YOU SAY THIS IS AIMED

AT?THE RESPONCES THAT I HAVE HAD FOR THIS QUESTION ARE ALL VERY SIMILAR TO ONE ANOTHER.

10 PEOPLE SAID RESPONDED WITH TEENAGERS THE REST SAID AROUND 16/17 – 20/15 YEAR OLDS OR YOUNG ADULTS.

ALL 22 PEOPLE HAVE SAID THE CORRECT ANSWER TO MY QUESTIONS AS THIS IS THE AGE RANGE I WAS AIMING MY MAGAZINE AT. THIS MEANS, THAT THERE IS NOTHING THAT I NEED TO ALTER IN MY MAGAZINE IN ORDER FOR IT TO LOOK AS THOUGH IT IS FOR AN OLDER OR YOUNGER AUDIENCE.

2) DO YOU THINK THAT THE MAGAZINE IS CREATIVE? EXPLAIN YOUR REASONS

THE MAJORITY OF RESPONCES I GOT FOR THIS QUESTION WERE REALLY POSITIVE AND AROUND 20 PEOPLE AGREED THAT MY MAGAZINE DESIGN WAS VERY CREATIVE.

QUITE A FEW PEOPLE SAID SIMILAIR REASONS FOR CREATIVITY. PEOPLE SAID THE COLOUR SCHEME WAS VERY EFFECTIVE AND LINKED TO IMMEDIATE RECOGNITION THAT MAGAZINE IS INDIEWORKS. PEOPLE HAVE ALSO COMMENTED ON THE FONTS THAT HAVE BEEN USED ON ALL PAGES IN MY MAGAZINE. THAT THEY WORK WELL WITH THE COLOURS AND IMAGES THAT HAVE BEEN CHOSEN.

3) DO YOU THINK THAT THE MAGAZINE IS UNIQUE/DIFFERENT FROM OTHER

MAGAZINES? EXPLAIN YOUR ANSWERS.WER.I ALSO GOT A RELITIVELY GOOD RESPONSE FOR THIS QUESTIONS, AND LOTS OF PEOPLE WERE WILLING TO SAY WHAT THEY THOUGHT MADE MY MAGAZINE UNIQUE.

THERE WERE MENTIONS THAT MY COLOUR SCHEME MADE THE MAGAZINE UNIQUE AND DIFFERENT, ALONG WITH THE FONTS USED, ARTICLES INCLUDED, THE LAYOUT, THE CREATIVITY, AS WELL AS THE WHOLE THEME LOOKING VERY MODERN, WITH A CHOICE OF MODERN BANDS.

ONE PERSON MADE A COMMENT THAT MOST MAGAZINES MENTION POP MUSIC, AND NEVER SEEM TO SPEAK ABOUT ANY OTHER BANDS OR UPCOMING BANDS. AND ALSO, THAT THEY INCLUDE PICTURES OF NOTHING BUT SUPERMODELS – AND THIS IS WHY THEY FELT MY MAGAZINE WAS UNIQUE.

4) OVERALL, DO YOU THINK THAT THIS IS A SUCCESSFUL MAGAZINE? WHY?

20 PEOPLE RESPONDED TO MY MAGAZINE SAYING YES , THIS IS A VERY SUCCESSFUL MAGAZINE. THEY SAID THAT THE MAGAZINE IS VERY INFORMATIVE AND DRAWS YOUR ATTENTION. ALSO, THAT THE MAGAZINE IS RELEVANT TO THE TARGET AUDIENCE AND INCLUDES INTERESTING ARTICLES WITH ADDED PERSONAL DETAIL TO THE DESIGN.

THE OTHER 2 PEOPLE DIDN’T NECESSARILY DISAGREE THAT MY MAGAZINE WOULDN’T BE UNSUCCESSFUL, JUST THAT THEY ONLY WAY YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO PROVE WHETHER IT IS SUCCESSFUL OR NOT IS IF YOU LOOK AT SALE FIGURES.

5) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF OF THE OVERALL THEME OF THE MAGAZINE? HOW DO YOU THINK THAT THIS IS APPROPRIATE TO THE

SELECTED TARGET AUDIENCE?THIS IS YET ANOTHER QUESTION WHERE I HAVE BEEN FORUNATE ENOUGH TO GET REALLY GOOD, POSITIVE FEEDBACK FOR WHAT PEOPLE THINK OF THE OVERALL THEME OF THE MAGAZINE AND HOW IT IS APPROPRIATE TO THE TARGET AUDIENCE.

I HAD A VARIED ANSWERS THAT WERE ALL VERY POSITIVE. THE THEME WAS BRIGHT AND RECOGNISABLE AND THE CHOICE OF COLOURS LINKED WELL TO THE TARGET AUDIENCE. PEOPLE ALSO THOUGHT THAT THE ARTICLES THAT WERE USED IN THE MAGAZINE WERE APPROPRIATE TO THE TARGET AUDIENCE, AS WELL AS THE BANDS THAT WERE FEATURED LINK TO THE SPECIFIC ‘INIDIE SOCIAL GROUP’.

THERE WAS SOME FEEDBACK THAT STOOD OUT TO ME IN PARTICULAR. ONE PERSON SAID THAT THE UPCOMING BANDS INTERVIEW COMES ACROSS AS BEING INSPIRATIONAL TO YOUNG PEOPLE, AND THAT IF YOU WANT SOMETHING THEN YOU HAVE TO WORK FOR IT.

6) WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE MESSAGE OF THE MAGAZINE, RELATED

TO THE TARGET AUDIENCE? I HAVE HAD MIXED RESPONSES FROM THE QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THIS QUESTION IN PARTICULAR. THIS IS MORE OF AN OPEN QUESTION WHERE I CAN FIND OUT HOW THE AUDIENCE INTERPRET THE MAGAZINE, AND I CAN SEE WHAT SORT OF MESSAGE COMES ACROSS.

I HAD ANSWERS SUCH AS “TO WORK HARD AND FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS”, “DISCOVER NEW MUSIC”, “BE SPONTANIOUS AND ENJOY LIFE”, “ITS OKAY TO BE DIFFERENT”, “EMBRACE THE WORLD OF MUSIC”, “TO STAY UPDATED WITH THE LATEST MUSIC AND GIGS”.

THESE ANSWERS ARE ALL PRETTY RELEVANT AND WHAT I WAS AIMING FOR ANYWAY! THEY ALL LINK THE CRITERIA TO HOW I WAS DESIGNING MY MAGAZINE AND HOW I WANTED IT TO COME ACROSS.

7) HOW SUCCESSFUL DO YOU THINK THE MAGAZINE IS AT PORTRAYING THIS MESSAGE?

100% OF RESPONCES FOR THIS QUESTION WERE POSITIVE! I GOT REPLIES THAT SAID “YES THIS MAGAZINE IS VERY SUCCESSFUL” OR “GOOD” OR “THE MAGAZINE IS REALLY GOOD AT GETTING THIS MESSAGE ACROSS”.

SOMEONE DID LEAVE SOME IMPROVEMENT FOR ME TO PICK UP ON. THEY SAID THAT I SHOULD BOLD SOME TEXT TO MAKE THE AUDIENCE AWARE OF KEY TOPICS THAT ARE IN THE ARTICLE ETC…

8) WOULD YOU RECOMMEND THIS MAGAZINE TO YOUR FRIENDS? WHY?

8) 18 people out of 22 responded to this question that they would recommend my magazine to their friends.The other 4 people said that they would only recommend my magazine to their friends if it’s the same music as to what they listen to.

9) Again, I had a variety of different responses to this question. The most popular answers that I had for this question, was that people would share the information with their friends about upcoming tours and gigs, information for festivals and local new and upcoming bands.

9) WHAT INFORMATION IN THE MAGAZINE WOULD YOU SHARE WITH

YOUR FRIENDS? WHY?

10) DO YOU THINK THAT THE DESIGN OF THE DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD AND THE

INFORMATION INCLUDED IS APPROPRIATE TO THE TARGET AUDIENCE?

100% of people said yes to this question.Some people then went on to say:• “Great way of finding out about new up and coming bands,

which the targeted age group would listen to”• “I like how it has a picture, this will catch the teens' eye so

it's appropriate, the information used is clear and very understandable for such target audience”.

11) DO YOU THINK THAT THE STORIES THAT ARE FEATURED ON THE CONTENTS PAGE

ARE RELEVANT TO THE MAGAZINE?Again, 100% of people said ‘yes’ all of the stories that are featured on the contents page are relevant to the rest of the magazine.

Someone responded to this question saying “It's clear the magazine is about bands, so the fact that even the fashion with the "merch" ties into bands is creative and relevant”

12) WHAT FEATURES OF THE MAGAZINE DO YOU LIKE AND DISLIKE?

For this question, lots of people were giving their opinion to what they like and dislike in my magazine, making my results inconclusive, which will however be very useful to when it comes to making improvements to my magazine.

A really interesting response that I had on this questionnaire, which is something that I had never thought about is that I feature a girl on the front cover and two girls on the contents page. This may affect males from buying the magazine as it may come across as a little biased to males. Someone else said “I dislike the black over red colour of the text on the contents page, I almost think the colours don't jump out to your readers, perhaps having a black background with red font could work” Another point was “I think that in some places there is too much going on and I don't know what to read first because it's too crowded, but at other points I think the colours chosen are incredibly effective”

When it comes to improving my magazine, I will look at editing the contents page to try and make it more spacious so that the text is more easier to read and maybe add more pictures to that it doesn't’t look too over crowed with lots of text.

13) DO THE MODELS THAT ARE FEATURED IN MY MAGAZINE, LOOK AS THOUGH THEY ARE A POSITIVE ROLE MODEL, AND FIT WITHIN

THE THEME OF THE MAGAZINE? I have conclusive results for this question as the responses were very similar to one another. Lots of people said that they thought the models that I used for my magazine were very ideal and represented the magazine well, fitting in well with the genre.

There was a specific mention about the my image used on the double page spread – saying that the model looks as though he is very passionate about music, and fits in with the overall theme of the magazine.

14) DO YOU THINK THAT THE PHOTOS IN THE MAGAZINE LOOK PROFESSIONAL AND SOMETHING THAT YOU WOULD SEE IN A

MAGAZINE BEING SOLD IN SHOPS? I got really good responses to this question, making my results conclusive.

People have said that the photos and the actual magazine itself looks to a professional standard.

15) AFTER LOOKING AT AND READING MY MAGAZINE, DO YOU FEEL AS THOUGH YOU BELONG WITHIN A 'SOCIAL GROUP' OF PEOPLE? SOMETHING

THAT YOU CAN ALL ASSOCIATE WITH? My results for this question were inconclusive according to the responses I was left with from some people.

Around 80% of people answered yes to this question (probably because they understood this sort of question). The other people said no because that this is not there preferred ‘style’ of magazine – but still enjoyed reading it, and some people said that they have never associated themselves to fit within a ‘social ‘ group.

16) DO YOU LIKE THE COLOURS THAT ARE USED IN MY MAGAZINE?

My results for this question were almost conclusive, just one person said that they didn’t like the colours used. Some people prefer different things and would like to make changes, such as the colour scheme. 95.5% of people said that they liked my colour scheme that I had used in my magazine.

The person who disagreed with the colour scheme said that the grey and black colours are hard to read against one another. This person later went on to explain his reason for this mentioning about people who are colour blind. They said that this could be a problem for them and by sorting it could widen the target audience.

17) IF NO, WHAT COLOURS WOULD YOU PREFER?

18) ARE THERE ANY IMPROVEMENTS THAT YOU WOULD RECOMMEND FOR

MY MAGAZINE? IF SO, WHAT? This last question in my question proved very popular as this is where my audience got to have their say in what they would like to change about the magazine. My results were inconclusive as some people said that there are no improvements for my magazine. Others did explain what they thought should be changed.

A popular answer was to work on the contents page and make it less ‘cluttered’. Other pages seem to be well spaced out or too much blank space…and the contents page text and images seem very tightly squashed together. This is something I wish to work on when it comes to redrafting.