The mode of address I used to address my audience was informal/chatty with some slang, as this would appeal the most to a younger audience, and would make the language easy to understand and relate to, as formal language would put a young person off buying a magazine. I used the language in a way so that it directly addressed the audience, by using words such as ‘you’ and ‘we’, which gives the audience the impression that the magazine is personally reaching out to them.
The font I have used attracts my young female audience because it’s quite fun, curvy and attractive, which also makes the font look feminine, unlike masculine fonts which are plain and square.
The content of my magazine attracts my audience because it’s clear that it’s a magazine about indie music, due to the bands listed and mentioned on the front cover and contents page. The magazine also features an exclusive behind the scenes article with Betty Chicago, which will tempt them into buying the magazine as they will know it will be a "fly on the wall" type magazine with gossip about the band. I have included articles on upcoming bands and artists, top 10 singles and albums, recent film reviews, music news and views, recent gigs and tour dates, which meets my audiences needs and demands as it’s responding to their craving for the latest information. It also includes crosswords, comics strips and fanmail, to add a bit of fun and keep them entertained.
Photos of Betty Chicago frequently appear through the front cover, contents page and double page spread, which attracts my audience as Betty Chicago are a band consisting of two girls, so they will appeal to my young, female audience. On the contents page I have also featured images of two bands made up of males and a photo of one male artist. The photos of the male bands would get my audience’s attention as they may find some of the band members attractive. Also, one of the photos are from a live gig, implying there will be information about a live gig, tempting them further into buying the magazine.
The masthead would attract my audience because it’s made up of curvy, girly font. Also, it is red, which is a colour that stands out a lot. As the red colour of the masthead stands out is the largest piece of text on the front cover, this will grab their attention, especially if it’s placed on a shelf in a store amongst many other magazines.
The layout is simplistic and easy to follow, which would attract my audience as it will not be crammed with images and text and therefore things would be easier to find. I find that a magazine that has pages (especially the front cover) filled with a large amount of text and images is off-putting, as it looks untidy and is hard to find things.
The main elements of my magazine that I have used to attract my predominantly female audience are a fun looking, female band (Betty Chicago) and feminine fonts and colours.
My initial audience research impacted on my decisions on how to target my audience as I found out that a lot of people like indie music, which also relates to the fact that my audiences prefers indie bands, as opposed to artists from other music genres, so by using a popular music genre it will attract more buyers. I priced my magazine at £2.50 ($4.01), as when carrying out audience research I found out that my audience would be happy to pay between £2-£3 for a magazine. I also found out that the main cover story and pictures, featured bands and artists and interviews were elements of a magazine that attracted them to buying it the most. Therefore, I included a picture (Betty Chicago, who are an all-girl band) on the front cover that would attract a predominantly female audience, along with a headline that showed that the magazine includes an exclusive behind the scenes article about them and a list of popular indie bands and artists (Arcade Fire, The Gossip, Darwin Deez)
The audience feedback has impacted my final outcome a lot. After the first draft of my front cover, contents page and double page spread I created a blog poll for my audienceto vote on in terms of what they thought of it. They could vote either 'amazing', 'good', 'It's OK', 'bad' or 'awful'.
For my first front cover draft, I got a very negative response. Some people voted 'It's OK', but most people voted either 'bad' or 'awful'. Obviously, my front cover did not appeal to my target audience. So, I created a second draft, but once again I got a negative response with some people voting either 'It's OK' or 'awful' and most people voting 'bad'. There was something very wrong, so instead of making a 3rd draft straight away, I interviewed a member of my target audience to see what was going wrong. The interview really helped, as the interviewee was really honest. The member of my audience particularly didn't like what I had done to the image on the front cover. She didn't like that I had my front cover photo in black and white and the models cut out of the original background and instead put on a grey background, as she found it looked boring and didn't stand out. And she didn't like the way I faded the image in the second draft. Another thing she didn't like was the text and font. She thought there was too much text and too many fonts. Therefore, I took all of this information into account and started from scratch. I started by changing the colour scheme completely because obviously my original colour scheme of white, black, grey and pink just wasn't working, so I changed it to red, black and white, which is a very complimentary colour scheme that is commonly used in music magazines. Then I scrapped the idea of having the main image in black and white and putting it on a grey background and instead kept the image in colour and kept the original background, which actually looks a lot better than my original idea, as it's a lot more colourful and eye catching. I cut back the amount of text by taking away all the headlines (apart from the main headline) and puffs, reducing it to only one headline with some text anchorage and a list of bands. I thought this looked a lot better, as it was neater and uncluttered. Once I was completely happy with the front cover, I posted another blog poll for my target audience to vote on. The response was a lot better, as my target audience voted either 'good' or 'amazing'!
For my first contents page I got a fairly positive response, as my target audience voted either 'It's Ok' or 'good', which showed me that they weren't completely satisfied. Therefore, I changed it a bit by putting the page categories in red box and changing the page numbers from black to red. The contents page looked good and stood out more by making these few adjustments. I then created another blog poll for my target audience to vote on, and the response had improved. Some people voted 'amazing' and some people voted 'good'. It got no negative reactions, which showed me my target audience was please with the outcome.
I immediately got a positive response from my target audience for my first draft of my double page spread, as when I posted a blog poll about it some people voted 'good' but most people voted 'amazing', which showed me that it really appealed to them. Therefore, I didn't feel the need to change anything.
The audience feedback has impacted my final outcome a lot. After the first draft of my front cover, contents page and double page spread I created a blog poll for my audienceto vote on in terms of what they thought of it. They could vote either 'amazing', 'good', 'It's OK', 'bad' or 'awful'.
For my first front cover draft, I got a very negative response. Some people voted 'It's OK', but most people voted either 'bad' or 'awful'. Obviously, my front cover did not appeal to my target audience. So, I created a second draft, but once again I got a negative response with some people voting either 'It's OK' or 'awful' and most people voting 'bad'. There was something very wrong, so instead of making a 3rd draft straight away, I interviewed a member of my target audience to see what was going wrong. The interview really helped, as the interviewee was really honest. The member of my audience particularly didn't like what I had done to the image on the front cover. She didn't like that I had my front cover photo in black and white and the models cut out of the original background and instead put on a grey background, as she found it looked boring and didn't stand out. And she didn't like the way I faded the image in the second draft. Another thing she didn't like was the text and font. She thought there was too much text and too many fonts. Therefore, I took all of this information into account and started from scratch. I started by changing the colour scheme completely because obviously my original colour scheme of white, black, grey and pink just wasn't working, so I changed it to red, black and white, which is a very complimentary colour scheme that is commonly used in music magazines. Then I scrapped the idea of having the main image in black and white and putting it on a grey background and instead kept the image in colour and kept the original background, which actually looks a lot better than my original idea, as it's a lot more colourful and eye catching. I cut back the amount of text by taking away all the headlines (apart from the main headline) and puffs, reducing it to only one headline with some text anchorage and a list of bands. I thought this looked a lot better, as it was neater and uncluttered. Once I was completely happy with the front cover, I posted another blog poll for my target audience to vote on. The response was a lot better, as my target audience voted either 'good' or 'amazing'!
For my first contents page I got a fairly positive response, as my target audience voted either 'It's Ok' or 'good', which showed me that they weren't completely satisfied. Therefore, I changed it a bit by putting the page categories in red box and changing the page numbers from black to red. The contents page looked good and stood out more by making these few adjustments. I then created another blog poll for my target audience to vote on, and the response had improved. Some people voted 'amazing' and some people voted 'good'. It got no negative reactions, which showed me my target audience was please with the outcome.
I immediately got a positive response from my target audience for my first draft of my double page spread, as when I posted a blog poll about it some people voted 'good' but most people voted 'amazing', which showed me that it really appealed to them. Therefore, I didn't feel the need to change anything.
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