Evaluation Question 3

EVALUATI

ON QUESTION 3

WH A T H A V E Y O U L E A R N E D A B O U T A U D I E N C E F E E D B A C K ?

AUDIENCE PROFILESIn order to create a more detailed description of my target audience, I studied 3 individuals who were eligible to be within my target audience. From there, I gather their likes, job roles, location, interests and preferences. Using this information, I created a social media style interactive presentation, using Prezi. This exercised my use of the media within my blog. I used a social media theme as I feel that those within my age range are majorly involved with social media accounts such as Facebook and Twitter. This in itself supplied me with an element of audience feedback, which caused me to decide to make a Facebook and twitter page for my magazine, as it would accommodate to their interests and hopefully increase the chances of my magazine success and loyalty with my audience. The exploration of location ensured that my target audience fit into my chosen region. Works experience was an area which allowed me to research into whether my target audience applied for jobs that were more tailored to what they enjoy/are interested in. For example, Millie works at MAC Cosmetics, suiting her interest in make-up, therefore making her an ideal target audience member for my magazine. Within interests, my target audience members gave me several examples of things they generally enjoyed/liked. For example, Ethan’s love for art took a more musical approach, however this still allowed him to fit into my secondary target audience. One of his interests was BALTIC Museum of Contemporary Art in Gateshead. This, being directly next to Newcastle, fit into my region and was also a main location in my region for art itself, directly linking to my magazine’s genre.

AUDIENCE PROFILES CONT.This shaped the way in which I chose my magazine articles within the contents page. I featured an article within my contents page names ‘What’s On,’ which I felt would be ideal for organisations such as the BALTIC Museum whenever they would like to feature any shows/exhibitions in my magazine. This embedded advertisement within my magazine may also create another area of income for my magazine, therefore helping to support my magazine as well as advertising local organisations and helping them to gain visitors and therefore, income. Using the information I gathered from my target audience members, I created mock Facebook status, video shares and image uploads tailored to their interests and personality. These uploads were created by both the target audience members and myself, so we could create an accurate representation of their social media presence. This also gave me an idea of how my target audience would appear online when interacting with my magazine’s social media accounts. The use of the status put across again their interests and gave an example of how they act around certain topics. For example, Millie’s status read, ‘No better feeling than taking 6 empty products back to MAC and getting a free lippy!! #bargain #lipgoals.’ The use of the hashtag reiterated the social media presence of my audience and guaranteed her interest and excitement, surrounding make up. Overall, I found the audience profiles very helpful, as they were ideal to refer back to when making decisions about my magazine. For example, the use of the ‘What’s On’ article on the contents page. It also gave me an idea of the vast range of personalities that my target audience covers, therefore causing me to cover a variety of topics within the contents page.

TARGET AUDIENCE INTERVIEWSThe Questions:• How much would you be willing to pay for a professional regional

magazine?• What encourages you to buy a magazine?• Do you prefer a text or image led double-page spread?• Would you prefer a question and answer (interview) style in your double-

page spread, or would you like a story?• Do prefer several images or one main image?• What colors are you most attracted to?• Would you like these particular colours within your make up? [follow up]• Would you prefer a hard copy of a magazine or would you refer to read it

online?• What sorts of contents and articles would you like to see in the magazine?

TARGET AUDIENCE INTERVIEWS CONT.Within the research of my target audience, I chose to interview two girls of my specific target audience on various aspects of a regional magazine to gather information on what they would like to see within the magazine and what qualities would convince them to buy the magazine etc. I made use of the tools iMovie and YouTube to upload both videos, exercising my skills with various websites/software and also making my blog media rich. I used a two-shot within the videos in order to suit the interviews purpose and to incorporate both interviewer and interviewee. This also allowed facial expression, reaction and movement to be clear to the audience alongside the dialogue. Within the interviews, I chose to interview two girls with a complete difference within their make-up preferences. My first interviewee, Layla, took a neutral and natural approach to her make-up, preferring nudes, whereas Holly, my second interviewee, preferred more dramatic make up. I believe that this was a better idea than using just the one interview. Two individuals allowed me to gain a larger insight into my target audience’s opinions, rather than trusting just one individual’s preferences. It also allowed me to cover the preferences of two people who are on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of their make up style. Within the interviews I found various outcomes. Layla and Holly supplied me with various answers based on price, colour, article style, images and more. These answers directly advised me on what my target audience would prefer in my magazine in more specific aspects.

TARGET AUDIENCE INTERVIEWS CONT.From my target audience feedback I made the following decisions when creating

my magazine:• Priced my magazine at £3.50• Created interesting content involving region based articles, for example, ‘Whats

On,’ ‘IMATS in Newcastle,’ etc.• Created a strong online presence through social media accounts for my

magazine (Facebook and Twitter)• Created a double page spread that balanced text and image• Added both neutrals and a pop of colour to my magazine• Featured a dramatic eye tutorial

Created both a hard copy of a magazine and an online page, available both online and on smartphone/tablet for easy access to my magazine, also option to subscribe  The use of target audience interviews was especially helpful to me as my ability to choose the questions I asked allowed me to be direct and specific about the information I wanted from my interviewees. This, in turn, meant that the results of my interviews helped me with specific decisions surrounding my magazine, for example, colour.

CHARACTER DRAWINGSI decided that through my character drawings, I wanted to create a post that mapped my thought process surround my ideas of my target audience from my previous research. These ideas helped me to shape characters depending on the information I had found about my target audience from my interviews and audience profiles. I used characters of considerably older ranges, as these both still fit into my category, however they have more experience of nightlife within Newcastle, therefore cause me to remember that my magazine may need to direct articles at those particular areas. I decided to use cartoon characters that appeared to look like online icons as this, again, fit in with my exploration and research of social media and its relevance to my target audience. I found that simply using one word or phrases surrounding my characters almost became an area of inspiration for me surrounding what my target audience like and would therefore like to see. This enabled me to tailor some of my articles towards my target audience. For example, my second character drawing uses the word, ‘eyebrows,’ a common interest and highly maintained aspect of the face of someone who takes an interest in make up. Therefore, I created the article ‘Brow Babes,’ evident on both the contents page and the front cover, in order to accommodate to my audience’s interests. Another example is from character drawing one, with the phrase, ‘brown smokes.’ My double page spread focuses majorly on a brown themed smoky eye and therefore creates a guaranteed interest from my target audience and hopefully will increase the success and future interest in my magazine. Within colour scheme, one of my character drawings also included the colour, ‘burgundy,’ as a preference within colour and make up. I therefore welcomed this colour into my house scheme, and also decided to review the ‘Modern Renaissance’ Palette, due to its inclusion of burgundy shades.

PITCH FEEDBACKPitch Feedback was a major factor that I believed would ensure that the planning of my magazine was on the correct route to create a professional and successful magazine. I created my pitch in order to present my initial ideas surrounding my product, however, I felt that it would benefit my planning if I printed several pages of the post and hand it to some examples of target audience members to gain opinions, feedback and improvements. After all, I wanted my magazine to be at the best standard and accommodate fully to my target audience. I allowed my target audience members to read and annotate the pitch print off, and then scanned these documents in and commented on the annotations and what I would do to build upon this. For example, one person questioned how I would cater towards a balanced audience in relation to gender. I built upon this question by discussing how I would use non-gender specific terms and refrain from targeting my magazine at any particular gender. I felt this was important in our current day that people are allowed to express themselves through make up artistry no matter what their gender. Overall, I found pitch feedback ultimately helpful as it gave my ideas a second pair of eyes in order to ensure that my product was on the right track.

READER PROFILEWithin my AS Media Studies Coursework I decided to create a reader profile and found it extremely helpful when making decisions surrounding my blog. I used all of the research that I gathered from my target audience research to create a rounded representation of the audience as a whole. This reader profile appeared like this:

READER PROFILE CONT.I felt that this profile gave added and developed support to my idea of my target audience. It discussed an approximate percentage of male and female readers, the average age of my readers and their current working role (full-time, part-time, unemployed/in education). I gave an approximate view of how many people would read my magazine based on regional magazine’s average readerships. I also gave information on how often they spend online, supporting my decision to create an online platform and social media account for my magazine. It was important to me that I included the average amount of money a reader would spend on make up per month. This helped me decide which make up I would include in my magazine. In my double page spread, I decided to use only MAC Cosmetics products to create a dramatic look. MAC Cosmetics is a company whose products range from around £10-50, giving a good range for those who may want to spend more or less, or multiple items of make up. It was important that I noted how often a reader generally visits Newcastle City Centre, as this supported my decision to create a ‘What’s On,’ and a ‘City Centre Style,’ article for those visiting the city centre regularly. I researched into how much a reader would spend on a magazine through target audience interviews, and found that readers would spend up to £5. This caused me to make my magazine £3.50, a price that I found reasonable for readers and also a price that would support a magazine with a regional based readership of 22,000. Through the make up theme to my magazine issue, I found it interesting that a typical reader wears make up 5-6 days a week. This supported my plan for my contents to be heavily based with make up articles. For example, ‘Brow Babes’, ‘Best Palettes Ever,’ and ‘Make Up at Work.’ Overall, I felt that this reader profile was convenient to look back on when I was creating my magazine as ell as choosing its contents.

SURVEYS

SURVEYS CONT.I made us of various surveys, questionnaires and online chats in order to gain audience feedback on specific areas of my magazine. For example, when I was deciding on a colour scheme, I created a survey for my target audience between the three choices. I used these results to decide on which colour scheme I would use in order to cater for my magazine and ensure that it will be attractive to my audience. Another example of surveying my audience was through the questionnaire that I created in order to form a typical reader profile. This helped me to make decisions based on the stereotypical reader of my magazine. I also created a group chat full of target audience members and pasted an image of potential fonts, asking them to choose the on they deemed most effective and attractive and therefore guaranteeing that my magazine’s masthead font will appeal to my audience. I found this element of surveys and audience feedback extremely effective as it enabled me to make specific details of my magazine effective and attractive to my audience.

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED…I have learned that audience feedback is an ongoing process that is vital in the efforts of making an effective magazine that appeals to your audience. I have also learned that each target audience member can be completely different but still can enjoy similar aspects and can be grouped within the same typical audience. Overall, I’m happy with the research into target audience and the feedback I received throughout this process and felt that it aided me considerably throughout the creative construction of my product, when making vital decisions.