Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

The main audience for my music magazine is both male and females aged between 16-23, who enjoy listening to music form the rock/alternative genre of music and are interested in reading articles and interviews about artists at a reasonable price. I have addressed this particular target audience in many different ways through the content of my magazine.

Photography

When taking the images for my magazine i kept in mind that my magazine was aimed at a younger audience than the NME magazines i looked at in my product research. Therefore in the within the mise en scene i used young models so that the audience can relate to them and younger audiences tend to enjoy reading about artists of a similar age to them rather than older artists. I also used high key lighting in the photos to create a fun and energetic atmosphere which will appeal to this particular target audience which i found through the responses in my focus group. Also because my magazine is aimed at people who enjoy listening to rock/alternative music, i used stereotypical costumes within the images such as the women are wearing leather jackets and the men have long hair, which is stereotypical of the rock/alternative genre.

House style/ Layout

I stuck to a consistent house style throughout all three pages, i did this because i in my product research i found that it is important to keep things consistent to create a professional look and it also makes the magazine easy recognizable to the audience. In my focus group people commented on the house style stating that by keeping the same colour scheme "black,red,white" throughout all pages makes it look more professional. I also used a consistent simple font throughout the magazine, because i felt that if i used too many fonts it would distract the reader. However in my focus group people did comment stating that if i had used more fonts it would of made the magazine look more interesting, therefore i will keep this in mind next time. I chose the colour scheme specifically because i felt the black, white and red creates a professional and sophisticated look, whilst the vibrant yellow on the front page creates a fun and energetic atmosphere which is commonly associated with a younger audience. I also decided to use a selling line "Leeds festival line up revealed: win VIP tickets" because when conducting my market research i found that people who read magazines such as Kerrang which is what

my magazine is based on enjoy going to festivals, therefore this will encourage the target audience for my magazine to buy this magazine. Also to inform the reader which page was which, i used bold, easy readable masthead.

I Also decided to set the text on the contents page and double page spread in columns because this is an effective way of getting allot of detail on a small page which i felt was important in my magazine because the target audience want a magazine which is fully detailed.I equally balanced the contents page and double page spread so that it isn't too text or image heavy.

Guttenberg Principle

On the front cover like the kerrang magazine i looked at in my product research, the primary optical area and strong fallow area consists of the masthead and selling line, therefore this is what the audience will first be drawn to, the selling line will encourage the target audience to buy the magazine, whilst the masthead will inform the reader what magazine it is, the weak fallow area and terminal area consists of the footer. On the contents page the primary optical area consists of the column "on the cover" this is because these are the most important articles that were on the front cover that encouraged the reader to buy the magazine. In the strong fallow area there is the masthead to inform the reader what page it is and the image of the main artist who is featured in my magazine. The weak fallow area and terminal are consists of the editors note.