Target Audience Research

For the target audience research I created a questionnaire for the students in media to complete. This questionnaire contains questions such as what genre music they are into, what fonts they would prefer, how much they would pay for magazines and how many times they purchase magazines.

The questionnaire is just simple as it is only asking questions and no colour scheme has been decided yet for it to match the magazine. This is why no images have been put on. The questionnaire has been left black and white as it looks like the most easiest questionnaire to do.

On my first question I asked what gender are the pupils. 10 said they were female and 8 said they were male. Therefore all together there were 18 students who did the questionnaire. The next question was on what colour scheme they would want to see, the most popular colours were green, purple and black. The third question was on the masthead asking which font the students would most like to see, the answer was 'Stencil'. One photo is the most popular choice for how many photos they would like to see on the front cover. The next question was on whether the students would rather see an article or an interview for the double page spread, the answer was that they would rather read an interview. They next question was how much would they pay for a music magazine. The most popular answer was £1.50. The second last question was how often do you purchase a music magazine, once a week was the popular answer that the students chose. Last of all, what music genre do you prefer? The most popular music genre was Indie! I asked 8 simple, straight forward questions for the students to answer with no difficulties at all.

Music Magazine Double Page Article Research

This double page spread is kept very simple. For example the colours are all very similar. The picture of the band 'The Vaccines' covers up three quarters of the double page, therefore one of the band members has a crease down half of his body. The rest of the band are fine the way they are standing. Their faces are posed as serious, therefore this represents that they are serious about their music and band. The title for the articles is called 'The Vaccines', in a non serif font with navy blue colour writing. The title is large and this helps catch readers attention aswell as the giant photo on the oppocite page. Below the title there is a small opening paragraph of brief information on when they got together and how sucessful they are becoming. Again done in a non serif font with navy blue writing, the important words are done in a light blue colour to make it stand out. The article is in two columns, at the beginning of one section the word starts with a J therefore they have the J in a light blue colour as well as much larger than the rest of the writing. Again for another section it starts with F, therefore the F is light blue and much larger. In the middle of the article there is a quote from 'Justin Young'. This quote is larger writing in a blue non serif font. This quote will be featured somewhere in the article. Around the page there are light blue squares and lines, this is letting the magazine be creative with it's colour scheme.

The next article is on the 'All American Rejects'. The title is on the top left corner called 'Dirty Little Secrets'. 'Dirty Little' is in a serif pink font and 'Secrets' is in a non serif red font done in capitals. Below the title there is a small paragraph about what the article is going to be about. The writing is serif with half red and half pink words. The article is done in columns again with half pink half red words. The subheading is red. In the middle of the double page is the mid shot picture of the band. A crease in down the side of two of the members. Smaller individual black and white pictures are placed around the main picture. The singer of the band is wearing a red hat to go with the red writing through out the magazine. Their pose is guilty faces as their article is about all of their dirty little secrets. On the other side of the picture the article continues with the last column of writing. Above this column is a quote from one of the band members. Done is black serif writing with a pink background to match half of the title.

This magazine article has a colour scheme of white, red and black. The title is half red and half white in a serif font. The writing is quite large therefore catches readers attention. The Article is small in  two columns, the first coloumn starts off with a word beginning with M. The M is large and in red. The rest of the smaller writing is white. The main picture is on the left hand side of the page. It is a mid shot of the main singer of My Chemical Romance, in the background the drummer is present as the photo is taken from a gig of theirs. Below to the right of the picture is three smaller pictures of each of the band members in black and white. The black and white effect shows that the band is not pop, but alternative rock! Alternative rock isn't silly about about their colours. they represent them really well.

Street Fighters is the title of this article. The 'Street' word is done in serif italic writing. The 'Fighters' has a red background to it and white non serif writing. This makes the word fighters stand out and attract the readers.  Below the title there is a small paragraph explaining little details about the band. The writing is in white and the main words in red. The article is written in columns, at the start of the first parapgraph there is a drop cap in red. The picture is in the middle of the page, therefore one of the band members arms is in half. The effect of the photo is in black and white. This lets the readers know that the magazine is rock alternative. No silly pop colours are used in this magazine. The red and white colours represent a link between the magazine logo and the title of the article. Next to the main picture are three smaller black and white photos of each member of the band. The black and white is part of the colour scheme and is unique as normally magazines are filled with bright colours.

Music Magazine Contents Page Research

The Kerrang contents page basically matches the front cover with the colour schemes. The contents is positioned at the top left hand side of the page in a non serif bright yellow font. Kerrang's contents page has a rather large picture in the top half of the page of an artist, 'Show me the Horizon' signing autographs. This is a mid shot. In the bottom half of the page there is the actual contents information! What is on the pages etc. The title is 'Kerrang! This Week'. The writing is done in a non serif font. Kerrang is white and This week is yellow. The yellow colour matches the other writing such as sub headings for the story's inside the magazine and the title contents. This represents that yellow and white are the colour of the Kerrang magazines. The sub headings and story's below are in columns along the bottom half of the page. There is five pictures in total on the contents page, mainly very small compared to the main picture of 'Show me the Horizon'. These pictures show who are going to be featured in the following pages and gives you a sneak peak of what the page will look like. In the bottom right there is a small picture of three magazines, these magazines are ones that have already been released that the Kerrang editors would want their viewers to take a look at. On the opposite side there is a column written by one of the editors of the Kerrang magazine. This column is positioned in the same place every week.

The NME contents page is called NME This Week. The font is non serif and is exactly the as the word NME on the front cover. Bold red writing to stand out and again catch the readers attention. Next to the title there is a column with the same 'Band Index', then a list of band names and what page they are going to be on. The only picture on this page is a wide shot of the band Kasabian and below the picture is the first little bit of their interview that is further in the magazine. The picture and cover line of the Kasabian story match very well as they are pictured inside a church and their article is about 'The moment Kasabian got romantic in a church'. On the following side of the page down a column there are sub headings of what else is going to be featured in the magazine. These sub headings are in a non serif font with white as their colour and a black background so the headings stand out. Below the half article of Kasabian there is a box of subscription details on the magazine. The background of the box is black, this bring out the bright yellow writing to advertise the offer and then the white writing that explains what to do. The font is non serif and extremely visible. Sitting next to the information box there is a thick red arrow pointing towards the other page. The information inside the arrow says 'The UK's no 1 gig guide starts page 58'. This lets the reader know about stuff that will be near the end of the magazine so they can skip a few pages.

Q's magazine contents page is very simple. The logo of Q is in the top left hand corner and placed next to that is the word 'Contents' in a white non serif font on a black background, therefore the title stands out. Down the left hand side theres a white column of all the page numbers and what is on them pages. The title of that column is 'features' created in white non serif writing on a bright red background. The page numbers is red and information is black writing on a white background, it doesn't stand out as much as the other writing. Below the column is a section of whats on every month in the magazine. Again in a white non serif font on a red background lets the title 'Every month' stand out. Placed next to the features column is a very large wide shot of the band 'The Courteeners'. The background of the photo goes with the colour of a review on the bottom of the page. The colour is a misty blue. The reviews title has the Q logo in red then 'Review in white non serif writing on a black background, this catches the readers attention. Below the title review there is a wide shot of a character standing next to a podium. To show that the photo is related to the writing, the black background of the review goes along the top of the photo and section of writing. The background of the writing has the misty blue look, and small bold black subheadings or questions.

The contents page of Kerrang uses a colour scheme of black, yellow and misty blue. The yellow writing on the black background helps catch readers attention as the colours stand out. Down the right side of the page is a column of the page numbers and what will be featured on them pages. The subheading are in yellow with a black background. On the oppcite side of the page there are nine pictures of different bands and below these pictures are the page numbers and titles of the storys on the pages. The page numbers are in yellow writing with a black background matching the other subheadings. A magazine review from an editor sits at the top left corner of the page. Black writing on a white background, next to the paragraph theres a small picture of the Kerrang magazine. On the bottom right hand side of the apge there is subscription information on how to get Kerrang delivered to your front door. A non serif white font lting on a red background. Above the writing are three pictures of different Kerrang magazines to give examples.

Music Magazine Cover Research

The Kerrang magazine is for the people who love the indie/rock culture of music! The title Kerrang is spread across the top of the page in big bold writing. The sell line is positioned across the the side of the title in yellow writing, the sell line is 'life is loud'. The picture looks like a mid shot but is cropped because of the text at the bottom which then makes it look like a close up. The name of the band 'Fall Out Boy' is in large bold white serif writing so that it does not blend in with the background. The cover line is positioned under the band name, and is slightly smaller and yellow writing to go with the colour of the sell line. There are two smaller cover lines telling the viewers what else is going to be featured inside the magazine. The sign that says 'two free posters' goes with Pete Wentz' t-shirt, they are the same colour therefore the magazine does not clash. Along the bottom there is information telling us the bands that are inside the magazine. The background colour of this information matches the sell line and the cover line of Fall Out Boy. This shows that Kerrang have been very professional and careful with how they have chosen their colours for the front page of the magazine.

 

The NME's title is positioned at the top left hand side of the page in bold, capital, red writing. Straight away this catches readers attention to look at the magazine to see what it's about. The sell line goes above the NME title. The bands name 'The Killers' is centered at the lower middle of the page. The writing is unbelievably big so you can't miss the word 'KILLERS', it is also done in a non-serif font. Below the name there is the main cover line about the singer of the band and above the name there is a quote of what he has said. The quote writing is much smaller and thinner than the cover line as it's more important for people to read to cover line before any thing else. The picture is split into three of the same person doing different poses. There is a tear separating each picture which makes the magazine look 'bad'. Obviously in a good way. The pictures are all mid shots and obvious that it's the same person as he is wearing the same clothes on each but has different objects to show different 'emotions'. This goes with his quote 'I'm having a personality crisis right now'.

The Q mgazine cover is very simple but exciting! The Q logo is positioned at the top left hand side of the page. The lack of a sell line doesn't interfear with the magazines popularity as there is a comment in the right hand corner saying 'The 50 best albums of 2008'. The font of this quote is serif as there are flicks on some of the letters. Again it's the same with the quote 'Play time for The Killers', they are the same type of font (serif) and same colour. The picture of the Kings of Leon matches the main cover line so well. The fact that the cover line is called 'Kings of Leon Breakthough' and the picture is of the four band members breaking through a sheet of glass just puts the whole magazine together so well. I was very impressed with what they had done to match them both up. The main cover line is non-serif font. The colour pink is used three times in each set of writing so show that the colours match and don't clash.

The rolling stone magazine is extremely popular. The title of the magazine is done in a serif font and the colour is bright red to match all of their other magazines of the same name. The main feature of the magazine is Oasis, the band name is just below the Rolling Stone, to right hand side of the page. The writing is bright yellow and again is serif font. The only thing the picture and the follow on from the cover line have in common is the fact they are about the same people. The picture is a close up of both the Gallagher brothers, mainly focused on the lead singer. The photo is of them pulling straight/sad faces to try and prove that they are better than how low people may think they are. The follow on of the main cover line is a short sentence explaining who they are. The writing heads down the middle of the brothers and is done again in a serif font. The red and yellow writing fit together well as they do not clash in any way.