Target Audience Research Analysis

Here are the graphs which were produced form my results which came from my questionnaire. Each graph shows the results to the answers from each question. I handed out 20 questionnaires to people aged 16 - 19 as that is my target audience. I will be able to use these results to help me design a music magazine to look how the people who are most likely to read it want it to look.

Here are the results from my first question, the first question was just to be able to see who was answering the questions. The majority of the people who answered my questionnaire were female, the graph shows that about two thirds of the people who answered were female.

The second question on my questionnaire was to find out which was the most popular genre of music for my target audience. I gave 8 options to choose from which gave a variety of music to choose from and only 5 were selected. This could be due to the size of the sample or the age group. The most popular genre of music which was selected was pop/rock, this shows that my magazine should be about pop/rock music, however it could also feature some information about another two genres that were selected just to create some variety within the magazine, like most music magazines they're not based on just one genre of music.

The third question I asked was to find out what kind of artist they would like to see on the cover. There were three choices, either female solo artist, male solo artist or group. The two most popular choice were female solo artist and male solo artist. Since male and female solo artist are about equal, I will be able to choose which one I would like on the cover, this gives me the chance to pick which is the most convenient.

The fourth question that I asked was to find out whether people prefer the artist on the cover of the magazine to be looking directly into the camera or to be facing away from the camera. This question will help me be able to create a cover that will appeal to my target audience. As the graph shows people prefer the cover star to be facing directly into the camera rather than away from the camera.

The fifth question that I asked was based on the article that will be featured in my magazine on the double page spread. I asked if people would prefer to see a question and answer style interview with the cover artist or if they would prefer an article based on the music from the artist which is featured on the cover. The results show that the most popular choice would be to have a Q&A style interview with the artist who is on the cover of the magazine.

The last question that I asked the people who answered my questionnaire was which colour scheme they preferred. At the bottom of the questionnaire was a selection of different colour schemes, this was to help whoever was answering the questionnaire see what the colours would look like when placed next to each other. The chart shows that the most popular schemes were the first and second colour scheme. Both of these schemes contained complimentary colours whereas schemes three and four contained contrasting colours.

Target Audience Research

For research on my target audience I am going to use a questionnaire, this way I will be able to design my magazine around what the people who are reading it want.

Here is my questionnaire that I will be handing out so that I can decide on how to have the layout of my magazine. It will contain information that will help me design my magazine. It asks people what kind of music they like, therefor I will know what kind of coverlines to write and what kind of genre I need my artist from. Then they're asked what kind of artist they would like to see on the cover, male, female or group. It also asks what colour scheme people prefer that way I am able to choose the colours that appeal to most people. It is also asking how the artist on the front should be positioned and how they interview should be conducted wether it is a Q&A style or Article style. This means not only does the cover attract peoples attention but the main story on the inside keeps people interested.

Music Magazine Double-Page Article Research

Here is a double-page spread from Q magazine's issue with Lady Gaga as the cover star. The main article in this magazine was about Lady Gaga and her rise to fame in 2009. The interview took place just before Lady Gaga was about to start her sold out world-wide tour. The double page contains the title for the article on the left hand side and an image of Lady Gaga from Q's photo shoot which took place in London, nothing is placed in the middle of the pages this is so there is no fold in the writing or image and therefore creates a flawless spread . Q magazine has a colour scheme of red, white and black/grey on every issue of their magazine. Shown here on the double page spread that the colour scheme continues throughout the magazine not just the first few pages from the cover page to the contents page. The title from the article comes from rumours that were circulating about Lady Gaga during her rise to fame throughout 2009.
Underneath the title is a small amount of text which describes what is going to be included in the article, it is not giving much information as Lady Gaga was the cover star for this issue so it is likely that people have bought it to read about her. In the bottom right hand corner is a set of red arrows showing that the article continues on the next few pages and is instructing the reader to turn the page. In the top right hand corner there is information on the photo.

This is another double page spread from the music magazine Q. In this article they're talking about Shakira and her new album. To keep up the theme of the new album being the main subject of this article the main image is of Shakira in the studio. The article contains a quite detailed interview with shakira about her work on her new album. Once again the colour scheme of the article is continued again by Q of red & white. However the whole double page is not just for Shakira at the bottom of the right hand page is recommendations for other artists albums, to make sure that this standsout from the rest of the article it is presented in a blue box so therefore it doesn't flow with the rest of the article.

Music Magazine Contents Research

Here is a contents page from the music magazine Q. Once again the colour scheme from the cover page is continued onto the contents page. At the top of the page the name of the magazine is displayed inside a long red banner going across the page. This is only half of a double page spread. Down the left hand side of the page is all of the articles that were featured on the cover. They will have placed the articles which were featured on the cover on the left hand side of the page as that is the first page that people turn to and it is most likely that the reason people have bought that magazine is because of the stories on the cover. Although there is no date on the magazine I think it will be from autumn 2009 due to one of the main features being the Beatles and Autumn 2009 was the release of the remastered versions of their albums. Also on the page is 3 images of 3 different features in the magazine. These images must be on the cover of the magazine as there is no text to tell you about the article it is just an image with the page number in big bold lettering displayed in the corner. Quite often Q has a double page spread for the contents page this would normally be used for a special issue, this shows that this issue won't have included any articles that were big events in the music industry or that it was likely to have been brought out after summer as normally a bigger issue is released for summer.

Here is a double page contents page from the British music magazine Q. It has a list of articles on both pages and also a selection of pictures in the centre showing images of what those specific articles are about. I think the images featured in the middle would be what was featured on the magazine cover. The colour scheme is the same again on this double contents page, red, white and black. The red is used to highlight the title at the top of the page, a red banner goes across the double page spread and features the page title in black lettering 'Contents' and then to the right in white lettering is the issue number. The use of this colour scheme in every issue gives a sense of continuity showing the reader that they can expect the same continuous standard of writing etc within every issue.
The articles featured on either side of the pages have page numbers next to them, in the size font as the name of the article, the difference with the images is that they have much larger sized numbers on them normally in the corner of the image, this will have been used to make them stand out as they have been placed on such a large image. The use of the numbers on each of the images and articles is the help the reader find the article they want with ease. This issue of the magazine must have been something like a summer issue due to the fact that it has a double page for the contents page.



This is a contents page from the British music magazine NME. The main feature on this page is a large picture in the center of Oasis and underneath is a brief description about their tour. However there is no page number on the article so therefore this is not the main feature of the magazine. Other articles in this issue are featured on the right hand side of the page, if the article was featured as a cover line it is accompanied by a red arrow. This helps the reader find an article that they were attracted to on the cover which makes it much easier to be able to navigate through the magazine. All other articles in the magazine have a number beside them so the reader can easily find what page the article they want to read is on. NME also continue their colour scheme from the cover page onto the contents page. NME use the same colour scheme that Q magazine uses of red, black & white. I think that these colours are used often as when they are used together they are eye catching and can easily grab someones attention.

Here is a contents page from the American music magazine Vibe. The main image on the page is of Kanye West. This is because for the cover of this magazine Kanye was on the front. It has kept the same colours that were used for the cover and continued them onto the contents page. For information about the image there is a small description in the bottom right hand corner of the page, the information given is about who the image is of and where it was taken and who by. The image has also been edited by changing the colour to match the background colour of the page. Although there isn't many bright colours on this page Kanye is wearing a bright red heart, this makes sure that your attention is not taken away from the main appeal of this issue of the magazine.
The articles that are featured in the magazine are displayed down the right hand side of the page. They are all displayed in quite elegant writing this is probably to the fact that Kanye is dressed in a suit and this keeps a smart theme running through the magazine. All of the articles are accompanied with page numbers, this makes it much easier for the reader to navigate through the magazine and find what they want. The two different sections in the magazine are Features and Fashion both of which are displayed in bold lettering this is to separate the articles and help guide the reader to find what they are interested in.

Music Magazine Cover Research

This is the British music magazine Q. This is their summer issue of 2009. This issue was released in the June of 2009 when Michael Jackson was set to perform his last tour 'This is it' at the O2 arena in London, however at this time was the untimely death of Michael Jackson. I think they kept his image for this cover as after his death his music entered the charts again and his song 'Man in the mirror' went to number one. Even though the magazine would have sold well originally, I think Q would have kept his image and interview as it would have made a high increase in sales as the magazine was sold out in many shops. A serif font is used on this cover for the main cover line, the rest of the cover lines have a sans-serif font. I think a serif font was used for the main cover line as it seems more professional and was probably used as Michael Jackson is a music legend who still has the best selling album of all time - 'Thriller' also the use of this font is showing authority over the other stories featured in this issue of the magazine. Also on the bottom right hand corner of the magazine is a bar code, this is a conventional look of a magazine.
Q magazine always uses a colour theme of red & white for their masthead and their cover lines. Instead of changing the colour theme every month the person who is on the cover is normally dressed to suit the cover, usually by wearing the colours red, black and gray. Continuously using the same colours shows consistency within the magazine, this shows that every month it will still contain high quality interviews and articles. At the top of the cover is the sell line - 'THE UKS BIGGEST MUSIC MAGAZINE'.

This a magazine cover from the music magazine Rolling Stone in the USA. This was their summer issue of 2010. On the cover is Lady Gaga. At the time of the interview she was in the UK on her tour 'The Monster Ball' in early 2010 (February - March) but the magazine was not released until the summer for when she returned to the USA to continue her tour. At the time of the release of the magazine was when Lady Gaga was about to release her latest 9min music video 'Alejandro'. The image on the front uses an outfit from the video so is therefore going to generate more interest in this issue.
On the cover the masthead is in a sans-serif font however the rest of the cover lines are all used in a serif font. The main cover line is in a larger font than the rest of the cover lines this makes the main cover line standout more and makes it obvious to the reader what the main article is featured in this issue of the magazine. In this issue the masthead is pink, the colour changes with different people on the cover but is mostly red. By using a pink masthead this shows that this issue could be of importance for example this issue is a summer double issue. I think the colour pink was used for the masthead as it matches with the lipstick that Lady Gaga is wearing, which is her lipstick for Mac Cosmetics and her Viva Glam campaign raising money for aids, which has become Mac's best selling lipstick. The pink colour in the masthead may also have been used to coincide with Lady Gaga's skin tone.
The cover lines are all in a bold black font, this is keeping the colour scheme of pink, black and gray. The black font matches with the guns which Lady Gaga is wearing and underneath each cover line is a small description of the story in gray font, this will be used so that you are not distracted from the actual cover line. On the cover there is no sign of a bar code so therefore it must be on the back of the magazine or on the spine/side of the magazine.

Here is the magazine cover from when Cheryl Cole was the cover image for Q magazine. Once again Q magazine has kept the same colour scheme of black, grey and red. Q organise their own photo shoots for the people who are on the cover so therefore they don't need to keep changing their colour scheme to match the image but make the artist suit the colour scheme. On this cover Cheryl Cole is dressed in black against a grey backdrop, also the fact her hair is wet gives the image a more darker feel and also the fact she is wearing a dark red lipstick is used to match the masthead.

Every cover line and even the main cover line are all in a sans-serif font. The main cover line and the cover lines down the right hand side of the page.