target audience questionnaire results

construction schedule

Questionnare results and analysis for college magazine preliminary task

Test sample consisted of 16 males aged 17-19 and 14 females aged 17-18

Q1: How often would you prefer a college magazine to be printed?

a: weekly b: monthly c: termly d: yearly

results- a:12 b:8 c:10 d:0

Q2: How much would you be willing to pay for it?

a: 50p-£1.50 b: £1.51-2.50 c: £2.51-£3.50 d: £3.51+

results- a:23 b:5 c:2 d:0

Q3: Which paper size would you prefer it be printed on?

a: A4 b: A3

results- a:20 b:10

Q4: Would you like to see competitions and prizes in the magazine?

a: Yes b: No c: Unsure

results- a:21 b:6 c:3

Q5: Would you like to see articles related to revision and exam help in most issues?

a: Yes b: No c: Unsure

results- a:19 b:10 c:1

Q6: What other topics would you like to see in feature articles?

a: Music b: Technology c: Film d: Art e: Fashion

results- a: 8 b: 5 c: 15 d: 1 e: 1

Using these results I have implemented appropriate content onto the cover and the contents page of my mockup college magazine. For example, due to the high number of people who said that they would like to see film and cinema related articles and also competitions, i chose to include a coverline referencing a competition for cinema tickets.

Mood boards for advertisers, colours, and fonts

College Magazine – Textual Analysis

Highly feminine colour scheme makes the magazine’s target audience fairly obvious, the subject of the cover shoot and her pose/attire reinforce the notion that this text is aimed at adolescent girls in college. Heavily stylized text is intertextual to fonts used in cover lines for fashion magazines such as Vogue or Elle, this gives the idea that this magazine is trying to represent itself as being a more sophisticated college magazine through its use of fashion industry genre conventions.

The obvious use of heavy airbrushing connotes glamour and shows the magazine as being a highly polished text, yet its poor implementation gives the cover an overall unprofessional and somewhat cheap look. The subjects pose is highly unconventional of a magazine aiming to represent itself as being a part of the fashion genre. Her makeup and hair are not nearly immaculate enough , her clothing looks cheap and the shot does not flatter her figure of make her look thin enough to be in conformation with modern day fashion/modelling conventions. Using the fact that this is a college magazine we can assume that the girl featured on the cover is nothing more than a student volunteering for the job, which also means that she is highly unlikely to be seen actually inside the magazine. You would think that if she is just to be a figurehead they would have been more attentive to the composition of their cover, and made it look more conventional which in turn would add to the appeal to its target audience.

The use of typography in this cover is perhaps the most interesting feature through their use of symbols to replace various letters in their text, I think this is done to further the magazines relation to its target audience. The way it almost mimics modern day ‘text-speak’ further strengthens its connection to its adolescent target audience. The use of partially italicised cover lines is also interesting in its implied statements about the subject matter. For example where it says “SEX, DRUGS & SAFETY” the first two words are in italics, whereas the word safety is emboldened. This signifies its heightened importance in comparison to the other two.

Conclusively I think this magazine performs rather poorly in its intended purpose, I’ve seen better but also worse. The overall look is unconventional without being effective, however if the cover image was perhaps reworked, this magazine would be massively improved in my opinion.

Cover mockup

Target Audience questionnaire charts

Q case study

‘Q’ magazine is a popular monthly UK music publication which printed its first issue in October 1986. The founders of the magazine Mark Ellen and David Hepworth expressed their dissatisfaction with the standard of media being produced by the music magazine industry at the time. They decided to create their own text with what they considered to be a much higher quality of photography and printing.

In terms of other media, the magazine also hosts a yearly awards ceremony entitled “The Q Awards” in addition to its recently shut down TV and radio stations. This is evidence of the publisher’s efforts to appeal to a wider audience through the implication of other forms of reaching the viewer.

The magazine focuses itself around reviews and new releases, aiming itself at the more mature music listener. This is evident in its glossy printing, quality photography and writing, alongside its high profile feature artists (most notably: Artic Monkeys, Lady Gaga, Oasis etc.). ‘Q’ magazine makes consistent use of its highly established brand identity and design scheme, in my opinion being the one of the most easily recognisable and genre-defining music publications of our time. Through its constant repetition and placement of its iconic logo on most pages in the actual magazines and advertising ‘Q’ has anchored itself as the go-to magazine for readers in its audience range. On a most basic level I believe the logo itself is so effective largely through its simplicity. Its bold yet stylish typeface and bold colour are obvious denotations that capture the attention of the potential consumer. The magazines overall colour scheme is also interesting in its conventionality, a large number of music magazines in recent year have adopted a similar design. NME uses a comparable colour scheme in addition to the multiple other magazines using the same combination of black and red.

Conclusively, Q magazine is incredibly effective in its purpose which is evident in its popularity. Its highly established brand identity is also evidence of this. 

Information on magazine publishers

The magazine industry today is divided into multiple genres, each one being handled by different publishing companies. The consumer magazine market was found in 2008 to be dominated by four major publishers by an independent study. Bauer Publishing being the largest owned 25% of the overall shares in the UK magazine market. Time Warner Group was placed a close second with one fifth, followed by BBC (who were recently bought out by a larger company) and Hearst with just over 7% each. These four publishers along with the smaller groups that make up the rest of the industry produce over 3000 consumer magazine titles, compared to the much less 1300 being printed in 1980.

Bauer Media Group based in Hamburg Germany is now responsible for the production of both ‘Kerrang!’ and ‘Q’ magazines. In 1987 Bauer launched its first publishing venture entitled ‘Bella’, a weekly ‘gossip’ mag aimed at women. Shortly after in 1990 Bauer subsequently launched a similar title in the form of ‘Take a Break’. The company continued to produce a wider variety of publications and has now become the media giant it is today. Bauer now employs a workforce of over 11,000 employees in 17 different countries across the world.

Overview of the magazine industry

The magazine industry in today’s world is ever-changing in its constant attempts to keep up with its also changing audiences. If they are to remain in publishing a magazine must retain a certain level of popularity in order to generate the revenue it needs to cover the costs of creating it. To do this a magazine must keep relevant to its target audience’s interest, articles must be engaging and advertising must be carefully tailored to the reader’s demographic. For example, a magazine like NME conducts extensive market research into the psychographics of its target audience and would most likely sell advertising space to companies providing products and services compatible with the assumed psychological profile of the reader. This is basic marketing principle.

Only 3 in 10 modern magazines last more than four years. This is evidence of the highly competitive nature of the magazine industry in recent years. With over 3000 consumer magazines being published today in the UK alone, upcoming magazines must generate the income required to fund the printing and development of future issues. This is why it is essential to develop a readership in the first few publications if a magazine is to survive in the global market.

With recent advantages in technology and the availability of internet access to the general public   (in 2013 over 70% of people in the developed world were online) magazine publishers have found previously unviable ways of reaching the masses. These new methods have primarily take the form of online copies, having proved popular with modern tech-savvy audiences the online ‘webzine’ has become the secondary mode of delivery for magazine publishers.

The image above is a double page spread from NME magazine featuring Nicki Minaj. This spread employs various codes and techniques in order to relate to its audience. Firstly, its bold pink colour scheme ties in closely with the representation of the artist as a pop culture icon. The artists overall style is almost reminiscent of bubblegum pop, this is evident through the use of bright pink and other bold colours in both the design of the page and the images featured. The singer features also as the model for the main image, her clothing and props are also highly conventional for the pop genre and the use of zebra print and multicolour jewellery connotes the same upbeat feel that the genre represents.

In terms of content this article is also interesting in that it uses religious terminology and chooses to represent itself as almost reminiscent of the bible in the way that it is structured in the form of the Ten Commandments. This also places the artists on a figurative pedestal in that it represents the artists as some kind of religious figure; this is also interesting in that some people would describe this particular singer’s fan base as similar to a religious following.

This article is highly appropriate for its target audience is its use of all the genre conventions pertaining to the artist’s style of music but also appeals to the more mature audience that reads NME magazine through its use of religious motifs and professional terminology in the text. The high gloss look and heavily airbrushed photography are also common indicators that this magazine is part of the mature reader bracket of magazines.

This image is an excerpt from the modern magazine The Source, which began as a popular printed magazine centred on college oriented rock music and the emergence of hip hop in 1980s America. It was commonly held as ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine’s less establishment-based competitor.

I chose this image to analyse because I like the combination of different styles used in the construction of the article layout and design. The article is an interview piece featuring popular hip hop artist ‘Rick Ross’. The main image is very typical for the interviewee’s genre of music. Rap artists are generally represented in the media as young, black males with a focus on jewellery, money and expensive personal affects. This image is highly conventional when considering the mise-en-scene. The heavy dramatic lighting used is also highly indicative of the genre of music being featured in the article.

In terms of layout this text makes use of a highly minimalist style, using a simple but effective black and white colour scheme. The large areas of white space around the columns of bold black text make for a very stylish overall theme. The juxtaposition of the two font orientations used in the article title also makes for an interesting compositional element. As opposed to more trashy magazines which use multiple puffs and pull quotes that to me make articles seem overcrowded and unstylish.