Audience Feedback
- Does it look like a real magazine?
- Would you buy it?
- Are the pictures suited to your taste?
- Which page do you think looks the most alike a magazine and why?
- Is the story interesting?
- What factors would you suggest to improve on?
- What is your favourite element of the magazine pages?
I designed a pop magazine aged at girls from 5-11 years old. My audience specification was specific and aimed for the children who love school discos and cheesy lyrics. This magazine had to be quite basic and simplistic language with big images and bright colours in order to draw in the younger female age group. In order to do this I used basic font which was quite rounded and chosen by my target audience in the questionnaire I produced and used simple language. After receiving my questionnaires back from 30 young girls I analysed my results in order to produce the best magazine I could for my target audience. On each category I found what the majority liked and decided to produce that/use it in my magazine.
In my magazine I included a female solo artist from the pop genre. I also included a free itunes download as my results show that a freebee is favoured by my target audience and also they most listen to music on their ipods. On my contents page I included a page for posters; puzzles; celebrity interview; cringe stories and news as these were the most popular. I used a theme of pink and yellow as my target audience favoured these colours. The font I used will be quite bold and rounded as this font was chosen as favourite by my target audience. My magazine is priced at £2.50 as this is the middle of the favoured range in the questionnaire.
The image on my front cover is of ‘Britney Spears’ a popular icon from my target audience’s point of view. This big and bold picture will instantly draw in the audience as they will be attracted to the familiar publicized face that they know and love. The girl is smiling sweetly attracting the target audience as they like friendly faces and this sets the magazine in a positive light. She is looking directly into the camera in order to lure in the audience and almost capture their eyes with hers. This is essential as the reader then may feel connected and more liable to read and buy the magazine. The singer is dressed like a school girl because not only is the audience able to connect with this but it also relates to a song that she previously has sung ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’. And hopefully by portraying her in that image it makes her even more recognisable and lures the reader in. Also as this singer has not been in the limelight for a while by having her portrayed on the front cover will intrigue the reader to read the spread on her as to be informed on what she has been doing (one of the uses and gratifications). I kept this picture in colour to still appear vibrant and stand out amongst the bold background.
The image of this particular person is linked throughout the contents page and double page spread to keep a feel of consistency and to highlight the main feature of the magazine. The image of the star on the contents page is in different costume just in casual clothes to symbolise her as down to earth and friendly and approachable. This will attract my audience because they can aspire to be a pop star if they see that someone that appears so normal can too. Especially as they are at such a s young age where aims in life tend to be to become famous. On the double page spread there are 3 images of the pop star, pulling funny faces with a fade to normal effect. This is eye catching and also humorous to the young audience. This will satisfy the entertainment aspect for the audience as they are still in a young and easily entertainable age. These pictures may make them escape and feel silly or better about themselves showing that even famous people can act silly and make mistakes too. This factor may also generate conversation as and social interaction as the pictures may humour the audience and make them feel urged to enlighten others.
The magazine’s title contains 2 different fonts as the bold POPULAR with a heart in the middle attracts the target audience as it is pink, fun and visual. Underneath the Girl is swirly and heightens the girliness of the magazine attracting the right audience. The text on the main page varies different sizes slightly as it complies with the conventional girly magazine. It also highlights the main features with a little more information underneath. This is to help the audience scan the page easily to see what features are within the magazine without any hassle. The rest of the texts were in a comic type font to show the informality of the magazine and create a fun and happy tone.
I used an informal register in my double page spread and also on the front cover and contents page. The informal register created a friendly tone of voice in the magazine which appeals to the young children as it appears as if it is written by a young adult and at an inspiring age that young children like to be at. Also this conversational tone makes the feeling chatty, happy and interesting for the reader. I used buzz words such as ‘exclusive’ to make the reader feel like they’re going to read something they have never heard before. I used anchorage text in the contents page, for example I wrote about an exclusive interview with Britney and had a picture of her at the left hand side of it.
The style I wrote my double page spread in was on the basis of a simple question, answer. This was easily defined by bold answers. This would appeal to my target audience as they are quite young and probably don’t have the largest attention span to look through a big block of text rather than a well defined broken up interview. This follows the conventions of young girls magazines. This is so they could be easily entertained and informed about Britney’s life and comeback. The content in this could be used for social interaction as they may discuss with their friends what they have heard about her come back.
The content of my magazine would be clearly viewed from my contents page. I included quizzes and puzzles to satisfy the use and gratification of personal identity. One of the quizzes was find out which popstar you are. This helps finding what type of person they are through a series of questions but then at the same time relating it tom someone they look up to and aspire to.
The price was asked in the questionnaire but also based on the fact that they will be buying it with their limited pocket money or their parents will be buying it for them and therefore was priced quite lowly.
I tried to follow the conventions of previous magazines as I wanted it to look as realistic as possible. The layout of my front cover was conventional as I used a medium long shot alike to previous magazines I’d researched before such as Cosmo Girl and Bliss. Also these magazines appeared to have a colourful background on it like a pink or yellow but I found that the most popular background colour was blue. I decided to also follow this convention but play on it a little by adding a fade effect to create some originality. On my contents page I tended to follow the conventions also as the Contents Page font tended to link to the front cover. This makes the magazine look tidier. I placed an image of the artist in the cover story along the left hand side this is also conventionally and I felt it made the magazine look organized and well linked. I slanted the contents information to make it eye capturing and individual as I want my magazine to not be a copy-cat of another. My double page spread was conventional for my type of magazine as a series of images would be on the left hand side with a large bold title and then the main text on the right hand side. This indicates a simple layout for my young audience and also eye-catching with bold images and text.
Celebrities and pop stars are mainly represented throughout the magazine in particular girls as my target audience aren’t quite at the age of devoting themselves to boys. Through my magazine it is representing young girly girls into their pink and pop, cheesy music. It stereotypes who they like, this is because from the questionnaire I tended to get this idea of my target audience which complied completely to the stereotype.
I would sell this magazine in the main supermarkets and newsagents around the country as they appear to sell the widest range of magazines and therefore may likely distribute it. This would be easily available to my target audience through their mothers and fathers as the majority of people’s food shopping is done at major supermarkets where they can also pick up the reading materials. Therefore the children that usually attend the weekly shopping trips will be able to ask and persuade their parents to buy the magazine.
I have learnt many different technologies throughout this process. I learnt how to compose eye-capturing pictures with digital photography like the rule of thirds. I have learnt how to use photoshop, to crop pictures, take the foreground away from the background using the magic wand or lasso tool. Also creating certain effects like a fade, or a glow around a picture. All these Photoshop tools were useful because it enhanced good pictures and took out the clutter in the background. However at times it was difficult to do the lasso tool as colours around the foreground picture were similar; creating edging lines rather than smooth.
I have learnt the conventions of magazines particularly music and girly magazines. That they tend to be basic, straight forward, uncluttered and appealing colour wise to it’s audience. The questionnaire particularly helped me find out how to follow these conventions for my music magazine specifically for my target audience. This gave me a great understanding of what they like and don’t like in magazines and generally set up a good basis for the start of my magazine. I also have adapted my technological skills and will be able to use them to my advantage in the future. And by the questionnaires it also helped me get used to the register and language I needed to use to address and use in general in my magazine in order for them to understand and not lose interest.
