Evaluation: Appeal to target audience

In the primary optical area are the date of the issue and the issue number, it is also the beginning of the masthead. These are the things that people want to see first, once they notice that it is a new issue and they then look for the date and number. The masthead is the first thing they look at and this follows the beginning of the route of the eye. It is the largest piece of text on the page. It is pink and blue layered to keep it bold and bright. Using fresh colours like these make the magazine look very modern and something the target market looks for, as identified in my research.

The coverlines appeal to the audience due to the artists they feature. From my audience research and then deciding on the target audience, I found out that they like these type of artists. So by including on the front cover they are likely to catch their eye and be picking up the product.

The colour scheme is a major way I appealed to my target audience. By using bright fresh colours as identified in my questionnaire they audience is immediately attracted to the magazine. It is quite a childish immature colour scheme, but this is ideal for the younger target audience. Also because the page is quite bus with a cluttered layout, using as many different combinations of the colours over and over and in blocks make it stand out and bright.

Along the route of the eye, it goes through the image on the cover. This is something very noticeable to the audience as it is one of the things that would make them pick up the magazine in the first place. Placing the image right in the middle of the page makes it the most prominent feature on the page.

Continuing with most magazine conventions they only use two or three fonts on the cover. I used a bolder different font for the main coverline and masthead- something that would be continued through the magazine, as the ‘house style’. And then used a simpler sans serif font for the rest of the coverlines, not to over complicate things for the audience. I used a lot of coverlines as this is something that attracts the audience as it makes the page busy.

In the terminal area are the barcode and the other magazine information, something that is not really read by the reader immediately, but is essential for a magazine. 

From my finished product research I asked specific questions for the cover. By doing this I could gage what they audience thought about certain aspects and how far they agreed with statements I through out. My questionnaire was once again placed onto my blog, my personal facebook and twitter pages to get the correct age of target market answering the questionnaire. Particular standout results are 100% of the answers agreeing with 'The colours used are eye-catching'. This is something very important to the appeal to the audience, especially on the cover, as it is the first thing people see. The high 'strongly agree' response shows that this convention worked and that it does appeal to the audience.

The contents page is the second thing the audience turn to when flicking through the magazine. I needed it to be clear and logical for readers who use it to navigate to certain features or for one off readers who are not familiar to the magazine layout.

To appeal to my audience I made sure I used a lot of household names in the content. In my research survey I found that they are quite picky on who they are reading about so I tried to use the most popular artists that the specific ‘pop’ listening audience know and what to read about.

In the primary optical area are the magazine masthead but smaller and the contact details. Along the route of the eye continues through the list of articles in the magazine. It then reaches a 'subscribe' box. This is something that is conventional to be advertised on the contents page.

Towards the end of the route of the eye is the page number. Something people still look at but not the most necessary element on the page.

I added a editors letter to the page which makes it seem more realistic. The language used appeals to the audience as it is talking directly to them. I used words such as 'Have a wonderful week' and 'See you soon' to make it more personal to them and make it more interactive.

In my initial research I found out that there wasn't a clear answer for what type of layout they would like. There was a slight advantage for cluttered layout with lots of features. So to my audience's choice, I decided to keep my layout quite ordered in the principle of thirds. The first vertical third is the editor's letter, the second the first list of content and the third is the rest of the content. However, to keep it busier and appeal to the audience I continued the house style of using the bright colours. It is also clear horizontally for the principle of thirds, the first being the title of 'this week...', the masthead and contact details, the third being the main content and the last horizontal third being the lesser important content with the subscribe box.

The answers to my final product questionnaire once again mainly agreed with the statements I asked about. One that shows my magazine is appealing to the audience is the response to the content is suitable for me as a reader. I tried to carefully pick and construct the list of contents by researching artists, in my initial research survey, to see what appealed to them so they would want to read my magazine. The questionnaire highlighted the importance of the contents page, with all the responses agreeing with the fact it makes it easier to navigate through the magazine by using this page. It shows it was the correct reason to include this page, of opposed to when I analysed Top of the Pops magazine, as they did not include a contents page. One stand out result is the response to 'There is a balance between pictures and text' although it was all positive, there was majority just agree, which shows that maybe I could have added extra images to the contents page to break up the blocks of text more.

For the contents page I used a lot of different ways to appeal to the audience.

The main picture on the double page spread is a long shot of 'Lily-Emma' standing on a park bench. I wanted to represent her as a stereotypical teenage that the audience would warm to. By positioning her on the park bench makes her look very dominating. As the background is quite dull, with dull greens and browns, the bright red hoodie stands out. I also added extra pictures over the picture to make it more immature. By adding the drawn on cloud, butterfly and snail, makes it appeal to the younger teenagers because it looks like it have been drawn on or 'doodled' over like a notebook, something that they would be doing at their age and therefore be attracted to. At the end of the route of the eye is an album cover and an advertisement. This is something that conventionally would be in a magazine article as they are there to advertise their cd's. I placed this at the end of the route of the eye because it is the last thing the audience will see, so they will remember it.

On the first page of the double page spread I continued the house theme of the sticker like features. By using 'Downloads Lily-Emma Exclusive' it draws the audience in as it says it is 'exclusive' making them think that it is something that they will not read anywhere else.

With regards to appeal to the audience with the language I made sure the article with 'Lily-Emma' was quite personal. I also made it so it is written exactly like it is being spoken by her.

The colours appeal to the audience. By using the background colour as pink it stands out. If someone was to pick up the magazine and flick through it they would be attracted to the pink and the bold red on top of it because it stands out. The use of the red and pink also compliments the hoodie she is wearing and picks this out of the picture.

From creating another survey I found that majority of the people asked said the article was identified clearly and it was clear who the article was about. They also agreed with the statement that the article is similar to what would be read in a music magazine. This showed that my style of language and written article appealed to the music magazine readers. I also found that there was a good response to 'the colours and the style  the page fit in well together', although is was mixed between agree and strongly agree I showed that the carefully thought about combination of colour on the left hand page and the matching with the red hoodie go well together.