Summary of primary research

I started my primary research with a preliminary task, involving creating a college magazine. This helped me understand the process of creating a magazine, the steps involved and the shortcuts I can use in Photoshop to make my life easier.

I then carried out 15 textual analysis's of 5 magazine front covers, contents pages and double page spreads. This helped me understand the typical codes and conventions of music magazines and made me realise the features I felt were successful and wanted to include in my own magazine. I furthered this understanding with my essay on codes and conventions and then wrote a second essay on music genre where I learnt about the stereotypes of different music genres, how they are presented in a magazine, and what effect different genres have on the features of a magazine.

From my questionnaire, I learnt about what my target audience want from a magazine and what appeals to them, therefore hopefully helping me with the process of creating a succesful magazine that my target audience will want to buy. It also gave me inspiration for genre and colour scheme ideas.

I am now ready to begin mindmapping magazine ideas and chose a genre to focus on. I will then be creating a production schedule, mood board, making drafts and eventually start producing the final thing.