Audience Research

My data shows that all of the people who did my survey were in the 18-24 age category. These results are biased as all the people asked we're all college students which would make them all of a similar age. This will affect the way the magazine should be designed as a younger audience require different contents in a magazine compared to an older audience.

Two thirds of the people asked we're female. This will make my later results biased as a female audience has generally got a different opinion of what content should be included in the content of a magazine compared to a male audience. As a consequense at the moment I have no real data on what the general male audience may want to see in the magazine.

All of the people who we're asked had an average household income of $0-$24,999 which suggests that they will not spend a lot of money on magazines. This also means the magazine should not be aimed at an upperclass audience and should be aimed at a lower and middle class audience so the magazine should not include certain stories or lexis.

My results show there is a variety of ethnic groups in the people I asked this means that the magazine should be aimed at all ethnic groups. This means the magazine should include stories aimed at all ethnic groups and not just a british audience. It should also include only simple vocabulary as not all people will be able to understand complicated english words.

All of the people asked in my survey were hetrosexual which means the magazine should be aimed at a hetrosexual audience. However it would be good to get the opinion of any homosexual or bisexual members of the college as it would be beneficial to get their opinions about content of the magazine.

Two thirds of the people I asked to complete my survey said that they don't currently read the school magazine. This may be because it's not really relevant to them or the stories inside don't really interest them. The data further on in this post helps back up this theory.

All of the people which I asked did not like the stories inside the current college magazine this may be because the stories aren't really related to their age group or the stories which are usually included in the magazine do not interest them. Also a third of the people which I asked do not like the layout this may be because the cover is poorly designed or the layout of certain stories or pages in general.

Two thirds of the people which I asked would consider reading the college magazine if it was better and the other third said they would read it if it was made better. To make the magazine better the design the of the cover and contents page could be changed , the  name and masthead could be changed to make the name sound "cooler" as the magazine is aimed at the target audience of young college students, the layout could be made much simpler, the colours could be changed to colours which are generally popular with young people and the vocabulary could be changed so it is aimed at a younger audience.

The main genre that people like is fashion but apart from that all other genres had an even number of people. This suggests that the magazine should include all sorts of stories from different genres bout possibly prodominantly fashion.

My data shows that the majority of people would be willing to spend £1-2 on a college magazine so the magazine should be low in price. 

Analysing Contents Pages

This contents page is from Vogue magazine. The main image in this magazine uses a photograph of a female model, which suggests that this magazine is aimed at a female audience. The main information is highlighted from the rest by using different colours, fonts and sizes that make it stand out.

The masthead of this contents page clearly displays the name of the magazine in a fairly fancy font which is used to connote that the magazine is elegant. This will relate to the target audience as this is a fashion magazine and the whole idea of fashion is to look cool or elegant.

The idea of the main image is to sell what she is wearing and the brand. It does this by using a famous person which makes other people want to look like her. The person in the main image is made to look elegant which also is used to connote that the magazine is elegant. This will relate to  the target audience as Vogue is a fashion magazine.

The layout if this contents page is professionally made the reader can tell this because of the way the text is laid out. Once again the person in the image is made to look like the most important part of this contents page, so the most important stories are put closer to the image to highlight their performance and the less important stories further away. The audience can also tell this is professionally made is because there is an option to subscribe to the magazine in the bottom right corner.

The colours used are black, white and red. The colour black connotes power and authority which may relate to the target audience as it makes woman look more powerful which may encourage the target audience of women to buy this magazine. The colour white connotes innocence and purity which along with the black connotes that woman can be powerful but still keep a sense of innocence. This will also appeal to the target audience as women want to seem more powerful compared to men but yet keep a sense of innocence and purity. The colour red suggests passion and love which may relate to the target audience of women as they want to seem full of passion.

This content page is from TechRadar Magazine. The masthead unlike the one on Vogue magazine above doesn't include the name of the magazine but does display the main story of the magazine. The font used is simple yet effective as it stands out clearly from everything else. This point is also backed up by the colour black as it is connotes power and authority. This may appeal to the target audience of technology lovers as it suggests that this magazine has an authority over all other technology magazines which suggests it is better.

Unlike most magazine contents pages this doesn't just have one main image but two which may be used to connote that all stories within this magazine are equally as important as most of the stories are an equal distance apart from the images. Also the magazine used two images of modern technology and software which will appeal to the target audience as they know they would be getting the most up to date information which is important for the target audience of technology lovers.

This contents page is laid out to highlight the main stories from the rest of the text as the most important stories are given their own separate blocks and are placed in relation to the images which relate to these stories which gives the a higher importance to the other minor stories.

The colours used are white, black, red and blue. The colour white usually connotes innocence and purity which doesn't really relate to the context of this magazine however I believe in this instance that the colour white is used to connote modernity as a lot of modern technology is made in the colour white as it show the device is clean and is clinically made which also suggests it is well made which is what a buyer wants to know. This will relate to the target audience if technology lovers as the magazine contents page looks modern and "well made". The colour black connotes powers and authority which is what a technology lover ants his device to be, powerful and better than the rest as it has more authority. The will appeal to the target audience as they may believe this magazine has the information needed to get the correct device for the reader. The colour red connotes passion which will relate to the target audience as their passion is technology. The colour blue connotes wisdom and intelligence which will appeal to the target audience as they need the information source about their passion of technology to not only be intelligent but also confident about what they are saying.

This magazine may also appeal to the target audience because of the lexis used. This contents page uses words such as "system" and "processors" which will appeal to the target audience because these words connote that the magazine is aimed at readers who are passionate and skilled with technology and not people who are complete amateurs when it comes to technology which allows the target audience to know that this particular magazine is aimed at them an no-one else. 

This is a contents page of Q magazine which is a music magazine. The masthead clearly displays the name of the magazine in a fairly fancy font which connotes that the information in the magazine is "fancy". The colour red is used to connote passion in this instance. This will attract the target audience as it shows that this magazine is passionate about music just like their readers.

The main image is of someone I can only assume is of someone famous when it comes to music. This connotes that the magazine can get access to exclusive interviews with famous music artists or get access to exclusive information about these musicians which would cause the audience to buy this magazine over other music magazines.

The layout of this magazine context page also makes the main image the most important part of the contents page as it takes up most of the page an everything else is based around this one person. This connotes that this person is a very famous person which the magazine is very proud to have an interview with or exclusive information on.

The colour used in this magazine like the others which I have analysed are white, black and red. The colour white connotes purity and innocence but I think in this instance connotes simplicity as neither purity nor innocence fits into the context of this magazine. The colour black connotes power  and authority which may have been used to suggest that this magazine has the "power" to get the exclusive interviews or information that attract the target audience of music lovers to buy this magazine instead of other music magazines. The colour red connotes passion which may attract the target audience as they know that the magazine is as passionate about music as they are.

Also by using famous names such as the "Beatles" and "Xenomania" this magazine is attracting people who like these particular artists as they are interested to find out a bit more about them.

Content Page Conventions

·      Title

·      Images

·      Main articles/ features

·      Page numbers

·      Chronological order

·      Colour is important/ indicates the content

·      Magazine title

·      Main image of someone we recognise, which may or may not be named.

·      Level of formality

·      Subscription opportunity

·      Use of fonts and upper/lowercase letters

·      Lexis- choice of words- questions, invitation, challenge.

·      Editors note/ Staff list

·      Shapes/ boxes/arrows/splash/colour

Analysing college magazine covers

Analysing Magazine Covers

I will be analysing two magazines designed for the college, one designed by the students and the other designed by the school secondary. The primary audience for both these magazines is students at the college aged between 11-19 of all ethnicities and for both a male and a female audience. The secondary audience is the parents, grandparents and teachers of the students. I will be analysing the common conventions on both magazine covers to find out how to design a successful college magazine cover and content for my prelim.

The first magazine:

The Masthead of this magazine has no real clear title as the fonts and colours don't make it standout from the rest of the cover. The colour red is used in the mashed which conotates danger, anger or passion which don't really relate to a college magazine.

This magazine doesn’t look like a very professional magazine cover because the cover doesn’t really contain one main image unlike most professionally made magazines, which generally have one clear main picture. However the images used are very busy which suggests the college is a very busy and lively place.

This magazine is also not very well made because the layout isn’t very good because everything on the cover is organised around a small piece of text in the centre of the cover. This is a complete contrast to a professionally made magazine covers, which have a general layout of text, based around a single main image.

Also unlike most professionally made magazines this magazine has no real colour scheme which suggests that this was not professionally made. The only colour which is used is red which connotes passion and danger which doesn't fit into the context of a college magazine. This is also a complete contrast to a professionally made magazine covers as most professionally made covers have a colour scheme which represents the theme of the magazine. For example a fashion magazine such as Vogue usually have the colour red on their cover as it connotes passion and they generally contain the colour white because white  purity. 

The second magazine;

The Masthead on this magazine cover is much better than the one on the first magazine as it is well designed and clearly displays the name of the magazine. This masthead connotes that the magazine is elegant because of the use of fonts and images. The colour silver connotes fluidity, mystery, elegance, emotional and calming. The colour silver may have been used to suggest that the college has a calm and relaxing atmosphere.

This magazine looks more professional as it has one main image of young woman made to look lifeless with no colour in her face.This image also goes along with the theme of elegance and mystery. The main image also connotes elegance and fantasy. This may attract the target audience because of the sense of mystery. Her face is a blue colour which may be used to connote wisdom and confidence which are key things a college student may need. This may help the magazine to relate to the target audience. Also by using an image of a person of a similar age to the target audience can help them to relate to this magazine.

The layout of this magazine is much better as everything is based around the main image. This suggests that this person is the most important part of the magazine.This may attract the target audience as they can clearly see what is in the magazine and whether the stories interest them. This magazine may also appeal to the target audience because the designers have chosen to include very little text which is ideal for  a teenager as most of them don't want to be reading a lot of text. Also by using very little text the magazine doesn't look over busy and simple the magazine may appeal to more of the target audience.

The colour scheme is much better with this magazine as it has a clear colour scheme which is blue, black and grey. These colours also connote elegance especially with the way they are used. The colour blue is used to connote wisdom and confidence which are key themes for the target audience of college students as these are key traits which they may need to do well in college. This may as a consequence appeal to the target audience. Also blue is a very popular colour which means it will grab the attention of more possible readers as it is in a colour which they like.

Finally the words connote that this magazine is based at teenagers as it uses words like "woz on" and "nightmare dates" in order to relate to a young audience. The use of this language may attract the target audience as they can relate to the magazine and clearly see that this particular magazine is targeted at them which will mean the stories are more related to them. Also by using well known singers and bands on the front cover may appeal to the younger audience and they may be more likely to read this magazine.

Prelim Task

 Prelim Task

I am completing a practice task, making a college magazine contents page and cover, in order to learn the skills I need to do well on the main task.