Audience Research

Audience Research.

Due to my target audience being the pupils at my school, I decided to make the age of my target audience the age of the pupils at my school which is 11-19 years old.

To make my magazine appeal to a broader audience I decided to collect some results using SurveyMonkey, with these results I will be able to create the Cover and Contents page accordingly to the results I get which should show what appeals the most to the audience. Although my secondary target audience will be mainly the parents of the students, I think that I should direct the magazine towards the primary target audience but use understandable writing and grammar so the secondary audience is also targeted.

The results from my first question show me that the 7 people that took my survey are between the ages of 11-19, these results compliment my target audience as my target audience is 11-19 year olds. This gives me a more reliable set of results as it gets an opinion for someone who is younger than 15-19, and the opinion of people who are older and are 15-19 years old.

The results from my second question show that the genders of the people that took that survey aren't equal, as there were 5 females and 2 females, I think that this doesn't convey the overall gender ratio of the whole school, which is roughly equal, but because it was only between 7 people, there just happened to be more Females than Males. When thinking about my target audience I think if I used a broader set of results from more people, I would find a more equal ratio between genders, so my cover and contents page should be appealing to both genders.

My third question is about the household income this shows the amount of people that may be reading the magazine are of a wealthier background so might be more inclined to actually purchase copies of the magazine. The results from this question might not convey the results that would have been received from the whole school but it does show that the majority of people are from a household with lower household income.

The fourth question I asked is about the ethnicity of the 7 people that took my survey. The majority of the people were white/caucasian and one other person was hispanic/latino.  This shows me that the majority of people that will read my magazine will be White and British so I can put content that is mainly for white and british people, where as if I has a group of people with a with a wider group of ethnicities I would have to use content that is interracial.

The fifth question is asking what the people's sexuality is. The results show that 6 of them are Heterosexual and 1 of them is Homosexual. This means that my target audience will most likely be majorly Heterosexuals, but there will still be people with other sexualities. 

Question number 6 is asking them whether they read the school magazine or not. From my results I can clearly see that the majority of the students do not read the college magazine, and the minority only sometimes read the college magazine. No-one chose the answer yes which shows me that the current college magazine may not be interesting or appealing enough for them to read it.

The seventh question asks what they do not like about the magazine. 4 of the people that answered chose "The Content" as the reason they do not like the magazine, this shows that they may find the content of the magazine uninteresting so they choose not to read it. The other 3 people each chose "The quality", "The cover" and "The layout" as their reasons for not reading the magazine, this shows that other people do not read it for reasons mainly to do with the look of the magazine.

The eighth question asks them whether they would read the magazine if it was more appealing and the quality was improved. The results show that 4 out of 7 chose the option yes, this means that more people would read the magazine if it was more appealing, therefore I need to make sure that the magazine I create is of a good quality. 3 out of 7 people said no to the question. This means that I would have to do more to try to get them to read the magazine.

 

My next question is asking what kind of magazines they usually read. There was a mixed set of results which shows that the audience will most likely all have different tastes in magazine. This means that I would have to try and cover all kinds of different content inside, and make the cover appealing to people that have all different tastes.

The last question I asked was about whether they would be willing to pay money for the magazines. The results show that the majority of the people would not be willing to pay for a school magazine, which is a drawback for the school. It is a drawback because if the target audience want a magazine of a higher quality, the magazine would cost a lot more to make, therefore the school would lose money. But if the magazine did cost something, the amount of readers would decrease heavily due to the fact that they would not be willing to pay for the magazine.

Analysis of Contents Pages

Analysis of Contents Pages

Carve:

Carve magazine is a popular surfing magazine sold in the UK,  I think the magazine's target audience is 16-30 year old males that are fans of surfing. The Carve Magazine's Contents page is made up of half a picture in the background which continues onto the next page and shows a surfer performing a trick. The picture is very high quality and is a very well taken picture. They may have used this picture because it attracts the surfing audience due to it showing a specific trick that looks good and is difficult to perform without a lot of practise. Its made of light blue and green colours, then the surfer is more dark and his board is very white. This makes the surfer and his board contrast against the sky and sea and draws your attention to him. The colours are very summery and give it the ocean feel that you would expect in a magazine about surfing. From a quick glance the contents page looks very clean and simple, which I think might relate to water, simple and clean. From the look at the contents page, I think that magazine is aimed more towards men, because the colours black, white, green and blue might be seen as masculine to most people.

Masthead:

The title of the page is very noticeable because it contrasts well from the background and is very large. I think the fact that the word Contents is hyphenated and takes up two lines makes it very eye catching as well, although it was probably hyphenated so you can see the picture better. The underline under the title gives it a clean look and shows where the title ends and the list of contents begins.

Typography:

The words on the page are written with a very simplistic, squared font, I think they have used the simple font so it doesn't draw attention away from the picture as much, but is still readable due to the colours contrasting against the picture. I think the squareness of the font gives it a slick, smart and clean look which relates to the audience of males. The font used is very consistent and you can clearly see the hierarchy that the words are supposed to be read in due to the use of size differences, this allows the reader to follow the words down the page instead of being distracted by other things. 

Page Layout:

The layout of the page is excellent. The words are aligned perfectly down the page and has a strong edge line for the reader's eye to follow, this gives the contents page a more sophisticated, clean look which attracts the audience. The layout allows the reader's eyes to be guided down the words, then as your eyes reach the bottom, they immediately move along the surface of the water in the picture and you focus on the surfer.

Good Housekeeping:

                

The Good Housekeeping magazine is a magazine sold worldwide although I think the contents of the magazine differ from country to country, allowing a different set of designers and journalists to contribute in each country. The target audience is mainly 25-55 year old females that are mothers or housewives. The contents page is made up of 6 pictures which are tiled along the left of the page. The pictures used are very relative to the target audience, I think this because they have used pictures of nice healthy looking food which the readers might want to learn how to cook, or a pair of red heels which the readers might be inspired to buy. The use of healthy, smily women is also appealing to the target audience as it might make the readers feel at ease. There doesn't really seem to be a trend in the colours, as they have used a mixture of blue, orange, red, pink and green, but these colours relate to the month the magazine was released, May being in the season of spring which usually reminds you of bright fresh colours. The contents page is very full of stuff, the photos and text fit well together, but the amount of text may be unnecessary as it clutters the page.

Masthead:

The title of the page is very classic and traditional looking which appeals to the target audience very well. The fact that the title is actually the edition title and not the title of the page is a little bit confusing, but it gives the page a springy vibe, due to it saying May. The lines beside the word May guides your eyes to the title which gives a nice effect.

Typography:
The fonts on the page are very classic and easy to read, this reflects the audience because I think the readers are quite classy and traditional people. I think the typography is slightly inconsistent, on the right hand side of the page the font and writing is consistency, but at the bottom of the left side, the text doesn't fit in to the rest of the page, it seems to be smaller sections of text and the colour and size of the title which reads "In Every Issue" doesn't fit in with the blue theme on the right, this is slightly distracting due to the inconsistency. The alignment is also slightly inconsistent due to the small section on the left hand side as well. The font and the size of the page numbers on the pictures are inconsistent giving it a messy look.

Page Layout:
The layout of the page is very effective due to the tiled layout of the pictures and the way the contents are listed to the right of it, giving the list a very smart and regimented look, although at the bottom of the page I don't really understand why they have changed it. Over all the layout is very effective and well composed but some of the components of the page don't really make sense.

Billboard:

The Billboard magazine is a music magazine aimed at 14-30 year olds as its a magazine that covers the latest and popular music in the charts, which is not what a lot of older people like to read about. The contents page is very packed with text and images at a glance, but when you look closer, you can begin to see the components a lot clearer. The pictures used on the cover are pictures that relate to the target audience as they are pictures of recent and popular artists. The colours used are mainly grey, blue, white and black, these colours are very professional and subtle colours which compliments the slightly cluttered look, this is because if the colours were brighter, there would be a lot more noise and far too many different things happening on the page. 

Masthead:

The masthead of the page is very bold and contrasts well compared to the background colour of white. The font kind of has a stencilled look to it which gives it a cool, trendy look and also makes it stand out a lot more than a normal font would. The title is very clear and you can tell straight away what the page is showing from it.

Typography:

The fonts on the page are very modern and simplistic, giving the page a new age feel and making the text easier to read. The simplicity helps the reader to focus more on the content of the page, and focus less on the formatting of the page. The different sizing of the text is not very consistent and gives the text a confusing hierarchy, this means that the reader might not be able to read it in the order is supposed to be read in, due to there being larger text above and below certain points. The text is aligned very clearly from the right of the charts section which helps guide your eyes, which is helpful considering the hierarchy is unclear from the text sizes.

Page Layout:

The page is laid out in a very cluttered way at a first glance, this may be due to the fact that they have put a section for the charts on the same page as the contents, which makes the text for the contents more squashed together and compact, giving less space, and making the page look complex. I like the way they have used the main larger picture as a background for a section of the text and the text follows the subject in the picture's back down which leads your eyes down the page like stairs. I like the fact that they have used blue lines to clearly section off the different parts of the page, this gives a clearer view of what is where on the page and compliments the blue which some of the words in the text are coloured giving a more organised look. The images used seem to be very different genres/subjects which can draw the attention of readers because it can attract attention to things they want to find out about inside the magazine.

Analysing College Magazines

Analysing College Magazine Front Cover:

The first magazine I will analyse is the Bodmin College one. The target audience for the magazine is both males and females and is Students, Parents and Teachers. The magazine is most likely aimed at ages 11-19, but is for parents and students alike. The magazine’s aim is to inform the audience of the College's current affairs and achievements.

Masthead: 

The magazine has not got a very clear masthead unlike most magazines. In a normal magazine you would expect to see a conventional typography which involves a contrasting background and the use of an eye-catching, bold font to attract the audience, but on this magazine there isn not a significant title, it is the Bodmin College logo which does not stand out against the header image that has been chosen. A good example of the type of typography that is usually used is the magazine "Kerrang" which has a very eye-catching and iconic title with a black or white font which contrasts with the background and fits in well with the images. Also the font is a shattered or cracked style which fits the style of the magazine. The fact that there is no main title does not relate to the target audience of 11-19 year olds because younger people are usually drawn to colourful and bold titles.

Main image: On the front of the magazine there are three images and a header style image. The three images are of what seems to be a the annual dance show we have in Bodmin College, this may attract the readers that are interested in dance. The images on the front also give you an idea of what it is that might be inside the magazine. The fact that there is only one text box (which is difficult to read due to the colours) used on the front gives the reader a very little information to go by as to what will be inside the magazine. Most magazines have one (very high quality) image on the front page, usually a medium close up of a model or maybe an image that goes with the theme/style/subject inside the magazine, this is to catch the reader's eye and create a focal point for the audience. The college magazine has no focal point for the eye to look to, because is has three low quality images. This can confuse the audience and make the magazine less appealing to look at. I think the magazine's front cover does not appeal to the target audience, but more to the student's parents and teachers. This is because of the dull colours and small titles, the images may appeal to a small portion of the students that like to dance, but it leaves a large quantity of students that are not drawn to dark, low quality dance images. The parent's and teachers may be drawn to the magazine as it shows extra curricular activities that are encouraged by the college.

Layout: 
This magazine's layout is not the layout that is traditionally used on most other magazines. The traditional layout is a large title at the top of the page, with a main image below the title and text surrounding it. For example the magazine "surfer" has a main image of someone surfing, with some text surrounding it and a big eye-catching title at the top. The Bodmin college magazine does not follow the traditional layout which makes it displeasing to most people's eye. The college magazine follows it slightly, if you are looking at the positioning of the title area and the image are, but it is not as simplistic or effective as the traditional layout.

Colour Palette:
There is not really a set colour palette on the cover of the college magazine which is also displeasing to the eye. The magazine uses mostly dark colours with hints of red, yellow, green and pink which are all very noticeable colours. The colours are not contrasting and don't compose/balance on the page well, for example in the image at the bottom the pink light patch is very bright in comparison to the rest of the page having no pinky colours. The fact that the palette has not got a trend and uses dull colours might result in the magazine not doing well to attract the target audience's eye.

Typography:
The typography is very unappealing to the eye, it does not stand out well and the colours of the text is not very readable. I think the use of basic fonts is boring, it makes the magazine less eye-catching and unattractive. It makes the magazine less appealing to it's target audience as it looks boring.

Analysing Skive Magazine Front Cover:

The second magazine I will analyse is a magazine called  "Skive" which was designed by a Year 12 AS student from 2013. I presume that the audience is mainly 16-18 year olds due to the cover saying "Sixth form magazine".

Masthead: 

The magazine has got a very clear masthead, the word "Skive" is very large and stands out above the image. The fact that it is made from a denim and that it says "Skive" makes the magazine seem cool and trendy. The title is very bold, but the colour is not very contrasting to the background or the picture used which is not very conventional but because of the boldness and the smoke effect, the title is still eye-catching. The title they used might attract an audience because the word is very rebellious and subversive, this may attract the audience as it makes the magazine seem interesting.

Main image: On the front of the magazine there is a main image as a focal point, and they have also used two small images which are related to the little bits of text around the main image. The main image is of a girl with very heavy eye makeup. The picture might make the reader interested as it goes along with the rebellious theme that is seen with the title. The image is of a good quality and has been photoshopped very well to look frozen, this may make the reader inquisitive and will make them want to read the magazine to find out about the girl on the front. The two small images to the left of the main images are of good quality also and are laid out well, but may not be necessary as they don't really represent anything that you cant work out from the text that is already there.

Layout: 
The magazine is laid out similar to the traditional layout, where the title is above a main picture which is usually surrounded by bits of text. I feel like the layout of this cover is abit crowded and cluttered. I think the cover should not have had text on all edges of the page, this over fills the cover and makes it seem unprofessional. The many text sections make the magazine seem to be trying too hard to get an audience and makes it seem like they're trying to attract as many people as possible.

Colour Palette:
The colour palette is very good in my opinion, they used black, grey and blue as their main colours and I think they succeeded in making the cover look appealing. The use of colder darker colours gives the cover a very trendy, cool look which reflects the title and the main image. The smaller images to the left of the main image are slightly distracting as they don't fit in with the palette which makes the cover slightly less professional looking.

Typography:

The typography on this magazine is a lot more appealing compared to the Bodmin College magazine. I like the font on the title as it is very bold and different from what you usually see. I think the writing "Frozen out" is also very good as it looks like it is very cold and has a frozen effect which makes the magazine cover a lot more interesting. The other writing is in plain fonts but this draws your eyes to the titles with the more interesting fonts and makes the other writing simpler and easy to read.

Preliminary task

I am currently doing a practise task that involves creating a cover and contents page for a School/College magazine. I am doing this to learn the skills I need to have to complete the main task. To do the preliminary task I have taken report style pictures from around my college and also studio style pictures to use in the magazine.

AS Brief Choice

For my AS brief choice I chose to do the print brief, which involves making a front cover, a contents page and a double page, spread for a music magazine. I chose this because I really enjoy playing music on my guitar and also listening to music. I feel that creating a magazine front cover can improve my photography skills as well as teaching me a lot about composition and persuasive titles and writing. I did not chose media for my GCSEs so never got the chance to use many computer programs and develop the skills needed, but this makes AS Media exciting because it gives me a chance to use new programs.