Hayley ReevesA 2 M e d i a E v a l u a t i o n

Quest ion 1

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Dur ing Product ion

During the construction of my media products, I often asked typical members of my target audience for feedback. This helped me to produce a successful

newspaper, website and poster.

The feedback I received either changed the way I was doing something, or encouraged me to take something in the direction it was already going, such as using blue as

the main colour.

Examples

An example of when audience feedback heavily influenced a decision is in the

planning stage of my newspaper. I was originally going to use the font ‘Helvetica’

for the name of my newspaper on the masthead, however, after asking a number of members of my target

audience to choose the font they felt worked best, I found out that it wouldn’t have been as appealing as I first thought

and I then changed my original plan. Without this audience feedback, my

newspaper may have ended up being less successful.

Examples

Another example of audience feedback affecting the design of my

media product is when I was creating Page 2 of my newspaper. After creating the basic flat plan, I began to add a few elements to the

page so I could get a feel for how the composition would work out. After doing this I decided to ask a few

people if they also felt the composition was strong. Many agreed

that it was, however, they said they felt they weather symbols were too large and would detract attention away from the stories when they were added. This prompted me to

edit the weather symbols.

Examples

A final example of when audience feedback affected my decisions during production is when I was constructing my second poster

design. Before I even began to make this poster I disliked it because it

wasn’t my original idea, therefore, it didn’t take much for me to abandon it all together. Feedback I received for

this design suggested it was too simple and didn’t fit with the theme

and layout of my website or newspaper.

Af ter Product ion

After I had completed both my newspaper and website, I uploaded them to my blog. I then decided that the quickest and easiest way to get feedback from a wide range of people would be on Facebook. I sent 10

people a message containing the link to my blog and asked them a number of

questions relating to my final media products.

Af ter Product ion

Yes

No

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Does this newspaper appeal to you?

I ensured that every person I asked fitted my target audience demographic and out of the 10 people I asked, not one said that my

newspaper didn’t appeal to them.

Af ter Product ion Cr i t i c i sm

One of the questions I asked to the audience was ‘Is there anything you would to do improve my newspaper/website that would make it more

appealing?’.Answers/suggestions I got included:

‘add a sports story to the website homepage because sport is a big part of Portsmouth’

‘add a contents page to page 2’

‘use less blue’

‘make the ‘win’ advert on the front page smaller’

‘add a logo to the masthead’

Af ter Product ion Pra i se

Another question I asked was ‘What specifically appeals to you?’. This was so I could find out if the things I thought would work actually did.

Answers I got included:

‘the simplistic, contemporary style and strong main headlines’

‘clear structure of text and positioning of images’

‘ease of navigation and bright images on the website’

‘the frequent use of blue, as it fits with the city’

‘clear focus on Portsmouth and it’s news’

‘stories and images that appeal to a wide age group’

What I Learned

From my audience feedback I have learnt more about what makes a newspaper (or similar media product) appealing to a younger audience. The newspaper must be clear, concise and simplistic. It must be bright and eye-catching, but not use too many colours as it will end up looking over-crowded. I think the simplistic design appeals to young people as they want to understand exactly what is being told to them. I don’t think that anyone wants to have to hunt for information, which was confirmed when I received the answer ‘I like that it says where everything is because if I want to know something then I want to know it quickly’ in my audience feedback questionnaire. As well as the importance of a clear layout/design, I have learnt that an audience aged 18-30 want a website to back up the newspaper. In society today, almost everyone in this age group has access to the internet and looking at the news online is far more convenient and easier than walking to the shop and buying a paper. I have also learnt the importance of images. If my newspaper had a minimal number of photos (e.g. one per page), it would not attract my target audience. The newspaper and website needs to be bright and the images need to be relevant and understandable in order to catch the viewer’s attention and make them read on.