My Reader Profile.

Based on the questionnaire I carried out a few days ago, I can now create a reader profile that will help me consider what to include on my front cover, contents page and double page spread. I believe with the information obtained, this will be the foundation to my magazine and will provide me with the right features that I want to include in my magazine. With this information from the market research I have done over the past 2 days, I'll construct a reader profile for my Indie magazine.


Reader Profile:

Sam is a seventeen year old girl currently studying Music, Media and English at her local college. She is often praised in her music class as she's always coming up with new ideas of how to compose music. However, she often leads herself into her own world when listening to her iPod. She mostly listens to Kings of Leon, Ellie Goulding, Blink 182, Bowling for Soup, The Midnight Beast, the made up band from the movie 'Jennifer's Body'; Low Shoulder and the occasional Hip Hop artists such as Nicki Minaj and Drake however, she listens to this genre rarely in her spare time. She was brought up with 50's music which is why she is holding a vinyl record in her hand.

She often attends gigs with her two friends from college although, she does enjoy spending time with her older sister; Gemma. The last gig she attended was 'The Midnight Beast' at the O2 Academy in Islington.

Her hobbies and interests include; singing, playing the guitar, playing the piano, reading Tolstoy (e.g. Anna Karenina) listening to music, watching comedies such as Zombieland and ballet - however, she hasn't told anyone that she enjoys dancing as she doesn't want to be seen as 'soft.' In her spare time, she enjoys reading 'Q' magazine as her favourite artists are usually featured on the front cover.

When it comes to fashion, Sam often looks at pictures in magazines for fashion inspiration. Her fashion icons are: Pixie Geldof, Hayley Williams (Paramore) and Ellie Goulding -- all of which dress with a edgier look. She also takes inspiration from the 1970's when rocks and indie music was slowly developing. If she could pick a music icon from the 70's, it would be Joan Jett. She often goes for the bohemian look at school which sometimes grabs the boys attention. 


In the future, she would like be either a music teacher or a solo artist however, she feels that her social skills are slim to non-existent as she never speaks to anyone other than close family and friends. 


With this reader profile, I'll be sure to make my magazine look like a lot of fun e.g. fun colours etc to make my readers feel good about themselves as well as the music featured. 

Market Research Questionnaire.

For our third task, we were asked to create a questionnaire for our target audience (mine being 16-20 year olds.) In my questionnaire, I mainly looked at what type of magazine people buy in shops rather than how people buy music merely because I wanted to know what increased interest on a magazine and what the reader wants. Below, I have shown the questions asked throughout my questionnaire which I had created for my target audience (16-20 year olds). With this information, I produced 9 pie charts where my answers were combined together. 

With this question, I found out that most of my target audience are attracted to the stories featured on the magazine. With my 18-20 year olds, I wasn't surprised however, I was surprised to find out that 16-17 year olds are more interested in the stories than the actual celebrities on the front cover. This has helped me with how I will develop my magazine as I will take into consideration how important my target audience feels the stories and articles featured are in the magazine. 

With this question, I found out that most of my target audience are interested in R'n'B rather than Indie/Rock. Although my genre is close second, I feel this will negatively impact my magazine as more teenagers and young adults might think twice before buying my magazine. However, I do believe that if more Indie magazine are distributed across the UK, more people with my target age range will gain interest in the genre if the front cover looks appropriate and if I provide a selection of artists such as Ellie Goulding, Lily Allen, Paramore, Kings of Leon and artists within different genres e.g. Kanye West and B.O.B.

With this question, I found out that my target audience is mostly interested in the articles inside. This contributes to their attraction to the magazine in shops so, I feel if I provide the right amount of articles as well as small images of celebrities, my magazine will be a success.

With this question, I found out that the majority of my target audience would prefer to pay between £1.50 and £2.99 for my magazine. As I said before on my post on the analysis of 'Q' magazine, theirs costs £3.99. Although my target audience may not be the same as theirs, I feel my magazine will attract more consumers as it will be cheaper making it a successful magazine. 

With this question, I found out that my target audience is interested in the trio: Red, Black and White. This is a common trio with Indie magazine for example, 'Q' and 'NME' magazine. In order to make my magazine successful, I'll have to consider what shades of these colours I will use that will make my magazine stand out as well as how I will place all of my information, key features and images.

With this question, I found out that my target audience would prefer it if my magazine featured more articles than it did small images of celebrities. This will be a great advantage to me as I obviously don't personally know any chart-topping bands however, my front cover and contents page may suffer as I feel if it contained just articles, my target audience wouldn't be interested. 

With this question, I found out that the majority of my target audience would be put off by the price of my magazine. As the majority of my target audience would be willing to pay between £1.50 and £2.99, I feel I'll stick to this price range as my magazine will be affordable yet attractive enough to sell.

With this question, I found out that most of my target audience would rather have a group of artists on the front cover for example, a mix of artists within different genres (Ellie Goulding, Kings of Leon and Kanye West for example) This may work to my advantage as I could gather friends or people (preferably within my target age) and pose as celebrities. This could show readers that my magazine isn't just based around Indie/Rock - it could contain some elements of other genres.

With this question, I found out that my target audience didn't have anything to say about what they would want on the front cover. However, the readers that answered 'Yes' suggested features such as fashion advice, gossip and 'juicy facts on celebrities'. Although this may attract my target audience more, I feel this contains more elements of a Pop magazine than it does an Indie/Rock magazine. However, I could 'jazz' up the fashion advice page that younger readers can also enjoy without making it look too innocent and child-like as a Pop magazine would. 

Magazine Market Research. Analysis of 'Q' & 'NME' Magazine.

For our task today, we were asked to decide on our target audience. For a few weeks, I already knew what music genre I wanted to focus my magazine on and that was Indie/Rock. My audience is aimed at around 16-20 year olds. I chose for my audience to be 16-20 year olds as although there may not be a gap in the market for this age range, indie magazines are uncommon when searching in shops such as WHSmith and off-licenses.


The magazines I used for inspiration were: Q Magazine and NME. All of these magazines have the conventions of an Indie magazine as they have a contemporary and unique style on the Front Cover, Contents page and the double page spreads featured in their magazines.

I've noticed that the colours used by BOTH of these magazines are mainly red, black and white. Although I believe this might not target my specific audience, NME for example has a similar target audience (16-19 year olds) and Q having a audience from the 30-40 year old age range however, younger audiences can read it too.

During this task, I had to deconstruct the key features of the front covers. From this, I discovered that Q and NME have very similar key features.


Prices: Out of the two magazines I've picked, Q seems to be a little more expensive than NME with its price currently standing at £3.99. This makes it £1.79 more than NME with their price only at £2.20. Q Magazine could face a slight problem with my target audience as the younger generation have recently hit money issues regarding university fees and having to buy essential materials for college.



Colour Schemes: Both of these magazine have pretty much the same concept; red, black and white with the occasionally gold (on Q's front cover) This targets their specific audiences as it's simple and concise. The front covers aren't too flashy so this tells me that their aiming at their target audiences. On the front cover of 'Q', there is only one main image. This instantly grabs the consumers attention as there isn't too much to look at. However, NME's front cover presents us with various images. Although this front cover may look cluttered, I think their front cover reflects their target audience as 16-19 year olds have various bands that they admire and love - this could represent the young adult mind.


Articles: On the front cover of 'Q', they've featured an article called '50 ALBUMS of the YEAR' - this relates to both the younger generation and their target audience of 30-40 year olds as Indie isn't a typical music genre that young adults listen to. However, through aunts, uncles and parents etc listening, this may also hook siblings and people related to the targeted audience. 


Layout/placement: Both of the layouts are very straight forward. On 'Q' magazine, the text is emphasizing the young female's body which increases sex appeal as well as promotes a curvy star as opposed to other magazines 'promoting' anorexia by including unhealthily thin celebrities.  On 'NME', the group of artists shown appeals to both older and younger audiences as they show a variety as opposed to current artists such as Florence + the Machine. 


On a double page spread in 'Q', they've featured the band; Razorlight who are an indie/rock band. The double page spread appeals to both male and females audiences. The way that Razorlight have been dressed appeals to males as they're 'fashion icons' for example, they're wearing skinny jeans and blazers which younger audiences tend to wear nowadays. The rain effect instantly adds sex appeal to the image so this appeals to females.

In contrast to 'Q', 'NME' has a more basic layout for their articles. Their colour scheme is black and white and occasionally red. This appeals to their target audience as the model; Lily Allen, is a younger solo artist so, she's encouraging the younger generation to be aspirational. The font used is often used in gossip magazines which also makes it suitable for their target audience. 


Website: http://www.qthemusic.com/ On the 'Q' website, they pretty much have the same concept as they do on the hard copy. The colours used are red, black and white which appeal to the younger audience. The features on the site are more technological (including videos, photos, blogs etc) which can also appeal to a younger audience. On the website, articles are available however, they're not as detailed as they are in the hard copy.
http://www.nme.com/magazine/ On the 'NME' website, again. they have the same concept as they do on the hard copy. The colours used are red, black and white which appeal to the younger audience. Both sites are very similar to eachother with NME also featuring videos, photos and blogs which appeal to their target audience.

Music Magazine Research + Presentation.

Hello :) Well I guess this is my very first post.
On this blog, I'll be presenting all of my work that I've done for this part of the course. The work done on this blog, will affect 50% of my overall AS Media Studies grade at the end of the year. :)


For our first assignment, we were asked to create a powerpoint presentation (with a partner) based on a particular magazine. We were chosen to do a presentation on Top of the Pops magazine. However, as my partner was absent for most of the media lessons, I had to prepare and present the powerpoint myself.
For this task, as well as researching on the internet, I also took time outside of school to go to various shops such as my local off license to find out where they place TOTP on their shelves. However, during this time, I found out that TOTP was placed near various magazines such as Nuts and Zoo which are DEFINITELY not suitable for the younger generation. 


Below is a summary of what I had said during this presentation however, wasn't as detailed on the actual slides as they are now.


Front Cover of TOTP:
Masthead: All exactly the same font & size - helps the reader find the particular magazine they want to read. The colours are also eye-catching which grabs the consumers attention.
Cutout: The male models are placed as a mid-shot (apart from the brothers - bands are usually placed as a long shot) which grabs the consumers attention as these models are all 'heart-throbs'.
Pull quotes: Gets the reader interested in what is featured in the magazine.
Angle of gaze: The models are directly looking at the consumer at the consumer which draws them in.
Puff words: Used to increase interest in what the consumer will be reading . Also gives them an opportunity to either skip to that page as soon as they open the magazine or dodge that article.


Target Audience:
From my research, I found out that this magazine was aimed at 11-15 year olds although it is wide spread across the country. They've targeted their audience by narrowing down their choice of colour to just 4: pinks, yellows, purples and blues. All the colours used represent innocence and immaturity which reflects the audience well. The font the editors have used is simplistic and child-like (as if the editors and designers hadn't put too much effort into what they wanted the magazine to look like.) The language used on the front cover is very colloquial and 'modern' for example, they've used words such as 'snog' and 'OMG'. Text talk is very popular with the younger generation which shows that they want their readers to be able to understand what they're reading as well as have fun whilst they're reading different articles.


Double Page Spread:
The double page spread I used was based on the Jonas Brothers and their Disney Channel Original Movie; Camp Rock. Almost the entire second page is an image of the band themselves showing they're the main focus of this article. The quote used in the middle of the first page increases interest as young girls want to hear that they're favourite bands are willing to date fans. The colours are again 'girly' (pinks and yellows) which makes the magazine look fun, interesting and age-appropriate. 


From this task, I've learnt that a lot of time and effort is put into preparing magazine for the younger generation as they need to make the magazine age-appropriate. With this, I'm sure that designing my own music magazine (with more research), I'll be able to present and compose a magazine that will most definitely target my specific audience.

Top Of The Pops Magazine Powerpoint presentation.

Powerpoint presentation created for Top of the Pops magazine. First task: Music Research.

Top Of The Pops Magazine

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