Questionnaire graphs

Here are images of my questionnaire graphs. I decided to draw them because I felt they would be easier and quicker to achieve that way and I would be more easily in control if I could physically see them and alter the measurements. Although the work does look less professional, I also feel to hand draw the graphs was also more creative and original.

I feel that the reason Q was the most popular magazine choice for question one may be due to the fact that they always produce very detailed issues full of a variety of features and a variety of musicians. The vast content will appeal to a larger audience by offering a lot of different articles that always seem professional and focused with interesting, high quality images. NME appeared to be second choice and some of the reason's offered were the length of their articles and their special feature countdowns (e.g. top 50 albums) With mention to their writing style, here is an interesting response to the next question... "I find that NME is an 'easy read' which is less wordy and more humorous, in places, than others which is kinda important to me as I don't have much spare time to pick up a magazine."

The most popular answer for this question was the aesthetics of the magazine. I feel this is because it is the image that most draws people towards a magazine and with consistent use of high quality photos the magazine will be more appealing and look more professional. Other feedback included this valuable and detailed quote about Q's writing style: "They are fairly open to new music and most of the time they seem more interested in the actual music than the lives of the musicians. I also like the length of the articles."Another interesting point was raised in this question about magazine websites, this led me to research how many music magazines have also adapted into websites or more. In doing this I found out that NME, Q, Kerrang and Rolling Stone have websites as well as Twitter accounts. Not to mention a variety of the referenced magazines also hosting awards, organizing tours and broadcasting radio shows as well. Interestingly, I also discovered that Rolling Stone, as an American production, has more global success, which could define as to why they are such a renowned magazine. 

Interview's seem to clearly be the most popular type of article within my target audience. I think this is because they are usually the first thing that springs to mind when considering which type of texts are included in magazines, so may therefore be expected to appear. Simple question and answer interviews are a basic and understandable method of providing information so are easy to follow and take in. More complex interviews styles also exist and are usually written in a block of text, they sometimes begin by describing either the setting, the artists body language and clothing or their past,

before including a quote. The variety of styles within one text type will also appeal to a wider audience and because there is always direct speech from the musician, this gives a sense of personal depth and honesty, as if the reader is more involved with them than in a gossip article. Gig reviews and album releases were also popular choices and this shows that the people I asked also care about the actual music and what has been recently going on with the bands. I shall remember to consider this when creating my own magazine work by possibly referencing concerts and new releases within the contents page.

It is very beneficial for me that the strongest results for this question are also the genre's that I want my own magazine to focus on - rock, indie and alternative, I think this is because me and the people I asked to answer my questionnaire all share similar music tastes. This positive feedback is also helpful to my idea of focusing on Hole, because they are an alternative rock band and although no body mentioned them in the question below, their style of music fits perfectly to the most popular styles chosen within this question. Rock and alternative are both very vast music genre's containing a massive variety of artists, old and new, as well as the exceptions of soft rock and hard rock as well as experimental and unique. This means that a lot of popular musicians will most probably categorize under the genre's of rock or alternative, which could be a reason why they were the most popular choices for this question.

There was understandably a vast amount of responses for this question and I think the answers were in such high quantity because people who have a passion for music will most likely be open to a variety of artists, even within just one or two genres. Because I asked 20 people that also resulted in a lot of responses, not to mention the amount of musicians that are out there to choose from. I decided that the best way to graph the results in a more orderly format would be to section the responses into individual categories based on the answers themselves. In doing this the results are easier to digest as I was able to display the musicians as follows: solo artists, bands that have split up, older bands, new bands and other. The most popular answers within the solo artist category were Lady Gaga and Nick Cave, I feel this is because Lady Gaga is possibly the most well known musician/ celebrity right now and has a massive fan base so will be understandably very popular. However, the artists most frequently mentioned overall were The Smiths/ Morrissey whom appeared (due to Morrissey's current contribution to the music industry) in the older bands category. I think they were most popular because they are seen as cult musicians meaning that people who like them really love them and become dedicated followers to the music, as highlighted in the results. Interestingly, newer bands appeared more popular than older bands which is a worthwhile finding for me when beginning my own magazine work, so that I will know to reference both. I think my target audience are more interested in up and coming bands because they are advertised and referenced in magazines and on the radio more so than older artists, as well as touring more frequently. These overall results were very interesting because I happen to like all the bands that were mentioned, this is also beneficial as I will be able to happily reference these artists within my own work still knowing that the target audience will also appreciate it.

I did originally consider my front cover image being of Hole instead of just Courtney Love until I realised that it would be easier to position one person correctly and get a successful photo than to try with 3 other members as well. Luckily, the second most popular answer for this question was to have just the singer in the main image so these results will not negatively effect my ideas after all. I think the reason that the people I asked like full band images more could relate to the previous question about music genre's. Because rock was the preferred option and that type of music is known mainly for guitars and loud instruments, people will instantly picture the entire band instead of just the singer so may ultimately prefer group shots. Famous re-used photo's also peaked highly on the graph results and I think people like these because they can instantly recognize an iconic image and therefore understand it's importance and meaning, possibly without being told. The Beatles' Abbey Road is possibly the best example and when magazines re-print or re-use such well known images readers will know that the band's history will be discussed. NME recently used this technique on their front cover by issuing a previously used image of Jarvis Cocker to symbolize Pulp's reunion, this will bring back nostalgic memories to those who may have bought the original copy and will also highlight how loved that band are if they have a universal image.

These results were quite harmonious and equal which is helpful to me as after being inspired and guided by the answers I can still decide the final outcome myself. Because my target audience are partial to both natural and posed photos this means that I could incorporate both styles within my magazine. Posed photo's seem more professional and organized so (as somebody in the questionnaire mentioned) would look better on the front cover yet natural photo's appear more intimate and personal so would be better along side the double page spread,  a mixture of the two will also appeal to a wider audience and demonstrate wider photography skill.

Interestingly, black and white images were the most popular choice for this colour scheme question. I presumed that people would be more drawn to bold and colourful images but I think people like black and white as well because the simplicity seems classic, respectable and quite honest with a sharp impact. I will take these results into consideration when later experimenting with image editing. Warm colours were also highly favoured and I think this is because red is the most unmissable and commonly used colour in music magazine covers so will therefore look professional by complimenting popular codes and conventions. Both black and white and red colours are also flattering and complimentary to both males and females as well as all music genre's. This ultimately makes those colours very versatile and easily adaptable, possibly suggesting why they received the highest rating for this question. 

The results for this question were the most interesting to me because I thought they would be the complete opposite. For example, I instantly presumed that the most popular image location would be indoors in front of a white screen as those types of photo's seem to be the most frequently used within music magazine covers. Instead, that was ironically the lowest result. Perhaps this is because being so regularly used those images may actually appear, to some, quite boring and un-original. The highest result however, was photo's with an interesting background which is actually the option that I thought people would least like but also the option that I myself most wanted to do. This is very beneficial in helping me to still pursue my original magazine ideas knowing that the target audience will appreciate them. Outdoor images were also a high rating which I think could possibly be influenced by festival/ outdoor gig photos that usually appear within the contents pages or double page spreads.  

I feel that these results are very understandable because an orderly contents page is easy to follow and due to it being one of the first magazine features, the readers will not need to be majorly impacted until reaching the main articles. The aim of a contents page is simply to inform the reader where certain aspects of that issue's features will be placed and offer a brief description of what that page consists of. Because of this it is understandable that text dominated was also a popular response because that way readers can simply scan for a piece that seems interesting to them and flick to that page instead of being obscured and baffled by excess images. Image dominated contents' were not rejected however and I feel this is because a page with no images will be less appealing and possibly less professional. I will also take all points into consideration by producing a contents that is easy to follow with informative text and a few photo's simply to compliment the discussion and make the page more attractive, also to include more of my own photo's.

These results compliment my original thoughts perfectly because I have interesting ideas about the location of my own photo's so an image dominated double page spread will ultimately allow me to exhibit the image in a way that will gain more focus. I feel that my target audience also prefer image dominated texts because large photo's act as an interesting and visually stimulating break between text that makes a read seem less challenging. This could also reflect the previously used quotes about the length of articles and the amount of time there is to read a magazine because a large block of text will not advertise a piece as much as an impacting photo would.

I feel that the largest response for this question about colour schemes was aimed toward the option 'don't mind' because most music magazines seem to usually use a colour scheme on text that has been inspired by the colours apparent with the photo's, instead of always taking photo's to fit the conventions of a chosen colour scheme. Always sticking to a fixed colour will be more difficult and could appear less experimental and interesting as apposed to a new variety appearing more complimentary and well coordinated.

I feel that the reason dark colours and a variety of different colours were the most popular answers in this graph may be due to the fact that current music magazines tend to use those two combinations rather frequently, for example a colourful image combined with black or dark text. The balance between colours looks professional and I think because that scheme does appear regularly my target audience will therefore appreciate it as a common convention within magazines. Another possible reason why dark colours were a high choice could be demonstrated within the previous results for question 8, because during the question about image colour, black and white was also the most popular choice.

I feel that a sharp style of font was most favoured within this question because it appears forceful and impacting and usually relates to the genres of music within the magazine. NME and Q both use sharp font and capital letters within their articles and because the first question demonstrates that these magazines were the most frequently read, this could suggest that the reason my target audience appreciate those particular text types above the other options could be influenced by the text used in the magazines they read.

Because free posters were the gift most desired by my target audience this will allow me to pursue my original idea of including some artist images within the contents page. This will demonstrate a vaster assortment of photo's and now also appeal to an audience. I feel a reason why the people I asked like posters and CD's so much could be because of the way they feel about music. When someone likes musicians so much, especially such a vast amount of musicians, they may want to advertise the way they feel through posters and also expand their listening of that artist into albums and CD's, so when such features are advertised on magazines that will appeal to a vaster audience as they will feel they are getting their money's worth from the magazine. Posters are also another visual feature within magazines which could relate to the image dominated response of question 11.

For those who love music and therefore read music magazines, the use of lyric printing within text will act as a special and meaningful feature towards those who recognize them, especially if the lyrics used are favoured within that band's work or seem universal and poignant to what is happening at that time. They could also hint at the topic within the article as well as seem complimentary and knowledgeable of the featured artists work. This could reassure the readers that the magazine does care for who they are writing about if they are aware of the song lyrics. This is why I feel that most people questioned answered yes.

I feel the reason that such a large quantity of people prefer quotes to be displayed on both the front cover and the double page spread could be because when used on the front cover they will invite buyers to read the article itself and therefore see other quotes. This will appear more structured as if following on in order and leading to the complete text. Interesting quotations will highlight the personality of the artist and could also reflect the style of the magazine itself so when successful and appropriate more use of quotes could be a beneficial advertisement towards the main features.

When there is a continuous running theme within a magazine there is a professional sense of organization and structure which could be why so many of the people I asked decided that the contents page, front cover and double page spread would look better when all sharing a similar colour scheme, font style and layout. This way, the running story will be clearer if images from the piece appear on the cover, the contents and the article itself because those who will be interested in the text will gain more satisfaction from seeing regular references to the featured musician.

My target audience have displayed that £4 is the highest price they are willing to pay for a magazine and I think this is a reasonable amount to pay in knowing that you will receive money's worth with detailed text and impressive images. If I were to make my own magazine £5 then less of my target audience would be interested in paying that price for fear of being ripped off. This information is therefore helpful for me when deciding how to price my work so that I'll know the limits as well as the regular/ lowest amount that magazine buyers are usually comfortable to pay.

The people who I asked to answer my questionnaire have clearly demonstrated that they prefer music magazines that focus on broader and more varied styles as apposed to a magazine that discusses specific genre's. I feel that this relates to the answers displayed in question 5 because that resulted in a vast amount of different artists and a broader magazine will ultimately feature a vaster amount of different artists instead of one fixed style. This way the magazine will target a wider demographic who will have more opportunity to find an article or band that interest them as well as an opportunity to discover new up and coming artists.