Audience Questionnaire for B-Side

Thirty 15-24 year olds took part in this questionnaire – all of whom regarded

themselves within my target audience of “rockers” and/ or “indie kids.”

Front cover

1. Do you think the cover repre-sents the genre of music it focuses

on?

yesno

1. Only three people answered this question negatively – which is brilliant feedback. As the number was so low I gathered feedback from them and their main criticism was that it represented rock music a lot stronger than any other alternative genre (including indie.)

2. Which part of the cover do you think best represents the audi-

ence?

Main image

Typography

Masthead

Other features

2. The main image was voted top here by the vast majority. This is good because obviously it’s the main focal point of the FC.

3. Do you think the colour scheme/ proportions work well?

YesNo, too much blackNo, the colour scheme doesn't fitNot at all

3. Nobody voted against the colours on my FC in this question. However there were a significant amount against the amount of black. Further questioning showed this was down to a risk of it appearing to “rock-y.”

4. Would you pick up the magazine in a shop if you saw the cover on a

shelf?

Yes, definitely

Maybe, I would have a look

Definitely not

4. Almost half the people said they would definitely buy the magazine with nearly everybody else saying the would consider it.

Contents page1. Does it represent the genre/ music/

audience?

yesno

1.Out of the 7 people who answered “no,” nearly all of them were at the top of the age range and said that it could come across as a bit young for them.

2. Does the contents page go with the front cover?

YesNo

Everybody voted that the contents page went with the FC. They said this was mainly due to the colour scheme and typography.

3. Are there enough images?

Too many

Not enough

Yes

3. Bar one vote that there were too many images, the rest of the votes were tied between there not being enough and there being the right amount. If I were to do it again I would probably take more images of different features to include in the contents page.

4. Is it easy to understand? Does it serve its purpose?

Yes

No, I found it difficult

4. Only two people said that they couldn’t understand the contents page, and they said it was due to the separation of “features” and the regular items. So overall I think it served its purpose well.

5. How is the layout?

Too busyToo plainGood

5. Although 15/30 people said that the layout was good, almost the same amount though the contents was too plain. I think this is probably the same people who said they thought it needed more images as the two are very similar.

Double page spread1. Does it fit with the other two

pages?

yesno

1.When asked, all 30 questioned stated that it fitted well with the other two pages. Again, they said it was due to the typography and colour scheme.

2. Does it match how it is represented on the front

cover?

YesNo

2. Out of the three young adults who thought it was mis-represented on the FC, they all said this was because they thought it would be a heavier artist from the main image, and two out of three said it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing – once they read the article.

3. Do you like the layout of the double page spread?

Too busy

Too plain

Yes

3. Over three quarters of my sample group were satisfied with the layout of the double page spread.

4. Do the pictures work well on the double page spread?

YesNo

4. Two out of the three people who weren’t satisfied with the images said they would rather had seen “sexier” ones. However, there is a limit to how sexualised you can present a woman in a multi-age/ gender/ sex music magazine without upsetting somebody.

5. Is it what you'd generally expect from a rock/ alternat-ive music magazine double

page spread?

Yes, but too similar to others

Yes, and still individual

No, not at all

5. Considering I asked such a wide age and lifestyle range, the fact that almost all of them considered my magazine to fit the conventions of an alternative/ rock magazine whilst still remaining unique is really great – even if 5 of them weren’t as pleased.