1. Final Major Project Reflective Diary
Reflective Journal Week One
The first week of the FMP we were asked to complete our pre-proposals, proposals and influences
PowerPoint.The firstthingIgotdone wasthe pre-proposalwhichwasrelativelyeasyasIhada pretty
good ideaof what I want to make for thisproject,butI had trouble answeringthe lasttwoquestions
about the tone and style of the piece,as although I know what content to put in it, having explored
differentvariationsof existingstylesof rockgenre musicmagazine.I’ve done astyle centredtowards
teens,and I’ve experimentedwith1970’s fanzine style butI thinkI’ve settledon makingthis project
aimed towards an older audience and having the style be focused on photography and typography
making an impact, making the pages cleaner and more modern.
I’ve done the first draft of my proposal which allowed me to make some specific choices about my
magazine and it’s target audience, as I’ve chosen to make it focus on the north of England as it’s a
more niche market and easier for me to cover in terms of artists and events. Another reasonis that
there are alreadymanymusicmagazinesfocusedonthe entiretyof the UK but by reducingmyfocus
to the northerncommunityI will be able to give it much more attention.I’ve alsotriedto include all
the differentpartsof the projectI’m planningondoingbut acceptingthat some of themmay not be
realistic.
Reflective Journal Week Two
During the second week we were expected to begin our research, which included market, audience
andexistingproductresearch.Ifocusedmainlyonthe socialmediaof the threemagazinesI’mlooking
at for my existingproducts;Metal Hammer,ClassicRockandRock Sound.I didthisbecause I wantto
use the physical copies of the three magazines for the actual content they have. I found that the
Instagram sites have large differences that are representative of the three brands target audience,
withRock Sound havingthe largestfollowingdue toit havingthe youngesttargetaudience.There is
alsoa large differenceinthe contentthat theyuploadsuchasRock Soundpostingmemesrelevantto
the artists that they cover, whereas Classic Rock focuses more on their covers and the exclusive
content in their magazines, but being much more inconsistent with their posting due to the lack of
interest from their audience in their Instagram as an older audience is more likely to use Facebook.
The comparison between the following on Facebook and Instagram makes the audiences age very
clearforeach of the three brands.Istartedtolookat the differencesbetweensomeof the magazines
pagesand where there mightbe cluestosome of the definingfactorsof eachone'sownaudience,as
well as looking for an audience profile to dissect at a later point.
Reflective Journal Week Three
This wasthe week before ourfebruaryhalf termso i knew that i wouldbe able to do the majorityof
my surveyresponse analysisduringthattime,howeveri neededtowrite itfirstandtry and getit out
to as many people aspossible thatwouldbe able to give me an informedansweraboutthe subject.
2. Most of my questions were basedon what kind of content people like to see on social media and in
magazines as well as where they are more likely to get their information from. I did make sure to
include the two most basicquestionsthatwouldgive me some informationaboutthe people taking
the survey,beingage andgender,asi know thattheycanreallyinfluence thekindof responsesi might
get,especiallyinthismusicgenre.Isentout the linkto the surveyto some college contacts,peoplei
knewtookpartinconsumingthe kindof producti wanttomake,membersof bandsaswellasposting
the linkinalocal musicsessionsfacebookpage,askingthemalltopassitalongtoanyone theythought
mightfit the demographic.The main reasonfor puttingit in a facebookgroup whichisn’tsomething
i’ve done in previous projects is because i really wanted to make sure that i got a wider range of
responses in terms of age groups, as the existing products i looked at had an older average reader
thanonesi’ve lookedatinthe past.Ifinishedanalysingsome more of myexistingproducts,aswellas
beingable togotoaconcertoverthe half termwhichi knowwill provide me withimages,socialmedia
content,and a live reviewof the showthat i can include inmyprojectas ittook place in the north of
england.Inthe endi was able to get 23 responses,whichallowedme tosurpass my goal for twenty,
as i’ve found in previoussurveys it can be really difficult to find people who are interestedin taking
time out of their day for a student survey.
Reflective Journal Week Four
Week four is the beginning of Problem solving,however having not been able to finish my research
overthe half term i am continuingtowork on that in my spare time.Problemsolvingduringthe first
week for the post part has been working on writing about what potential theoretical, practical and
technical problemsi might have to face during this project and what different thingsi can do to try
and avoid and overcome them. I was able to find ten theoretical problems and eight
practical/technical ones to outline, hoping to be able to add on to them as the project progresses.
Duringthisweeki alsobeganthinkingaboutwhatkindsof practical experimentsi wanted tododuring
the second week of problemsolving,as well as any independent research for thispresentation such
as printing costs.
