HOW MY MAGAZINE APPEALS TO THE TARGET AUDIENCE.

By Joshua Davey

Colours Colours on front cover-The colours used on the front cover are red, black, grey, white and yellow. The reason for choosing these colours are because they are all very conventional of the rock genre, and will therefore appeal to the target audience. Also I found out through my research of the genre and in my surveys of the target audience that these colours are most appealing.

The reason for using red, black and grey are because they connote violence, aggression and danger which is closely linked to the rock genres connotations. So they will appeal to the audience.

I used the other colours (yellow and white) because are typically used on rock magazines to make the other colours stand out because they contrast with each other, therefore making it easier to read for the reader.

Colours on contents page-The colours used on the contents page are red, black, yellow and white, the same as on the front cover. I did this to create a house style for the magazine, so that it’s recognisable to regular buyers and members of the target audience.

I ensured I either used light colours for the text and dark colours for the background, or vice versa. As you can see I have demonstrated both ways, which make all the text stand out to the reader, therefore making it easier for them to read.

The use of these colours allow my magazine to create the feel of a rock magazine, because of their aggressive and violent connotations.

Colours on double page spread-I have used exactly the same colours on this page as I have done on the contents page and front cover, to keep with the same house style and create recognisability.

The use of having the body copy in white and the background in black is to make the it stand out to the eye, with appeals to the reader greatly.

I’ve also stuck with the use of red and black to enforce my point to the reader of what genre the magazine is, because by using these colours you can easily tell what magazine genre it is, just by seeing this page.

FontsFonts on front cover-Overall I have used 4 fonts for my front cover, with 3 being in sans serif which appeals greatly to the target audience as they’re younger and it’s conventional of the genre, which I found out through my research.The other font is in serif, but is used for the masthead, as although serif fonts aren’t strictly conventional, this one gives off a conventional rock feel, and you can easily distinguish the genre just by the masthead alone as they’re typical rock fonts.

Overall my fonts used are all conventional of the genre because they’re sans serif or serif with the rock feel, they’re all bold and stand out, and draw the reader in because of the boldness. So overall they appeal to the target audience.

Fonts on contents page-For the contents page I have used on this page are exactly the same as the ones used on the front cover, mainly to create recognisability within the magazine as I did with the colours.

These fonts used all stand out the reader because they’re large and bold, which is conventional of rock magazines and also appeal to the target audience because the style is related to the genre, as well as it allows them to read the page better.

I’ve also made use of boldness in my contents page by making the headings larger and bolder so they stand out because they’re eye catching, and then they’d read the actual contents which is also in a bold font.

Fonts on double page spread-The fonts used on the double page spread are less varied because I wanted to keep the body copy all in the same font. All the fonts included on the double page spread are some of the ones I’ve previously used on the front cover and contents page, which adds to the house style of the overall magazine. The fonts used are all sans serif which is conventional of the genre, and appeals to the target audience. I’ve included various font sizes and boldness the further into the page you get, for example the headline is the largest piece of text on the page, then the standfirst, then the pull quote, then the body copy. This is to draw attention to the main part of the page; so the headline and stand first catch the readers attention then the body copy does, and to keep appealing to the target audience I included a pull quote to break up the text, which is bolder than the body copy so it catches their attention.

Content of magazine and articlesContent of front cover-As this is a rock music magazine, the target audience will be interested in rock music information, so the main content on the front cover is information about what is inside the rock magazine. I’ve included a pull quote on the cover to attract attention with the audience, as it leaves them wondering about the full story as it says “I’m lucky to be alive”, therefore it draws them in. I’ve also included featured bands along the bottom strip to attract them, as it would interest them to see if their favourite bands are featured inside. Also the use of free posters would attract the young target audience, as in my questionnaire the majority said it’s a major appealing factor of a music magazine.I’ve included coverlines to have the same purpose as the pull quote, to attract them into wanting to find out more about the situation, for example “Break out split!” would get them questioning what happened? And why?So overall the content of the front cover does the job of enticing the audience into reading on.

Content of contents page-The contents of this page is conventional as it includes all of the typical elements of a contents page, being the actual contents, a large image, and additional eye catching features, so this all makes it appeal to the target audience. The image is used on this page to attract the readers attention, as it’s conventional, and will therefore draw them into reading the other content.

The two main features that appeal to the target audience are the competition with the social networking reference, and the subscription offer as these are what the target audience told me that appeals to them the most out of the additional features available to answer, in my questionnaire. Overall these items will appeal to them because of the short and snappy references, like “WIN!”, “SUBSCRIBE!” and the twitter logo.Also the language used in the competition text is appealing as it uses slang and informal language, such as ‘check out our twitter page” and “ the amazing Feared Fangs”.

The article is appealing because the language used is informal and includes swear words and slang, which is appealing because it is regular language for the target audience, which they would use regularly. Examples include “Feared Fangs have been working fucking hard as hell” and “12 epic albums”.

Content of double page spread and article-The content of my double page spread appeals to the target audience because it includes conventional items such as one large image, scattered smaller images, main body copy, boxed out information, page numbers, a standfirst and a pull quote. They find it appealing because the large image draws in the reader the kicker catches their attention and makes them want to read the article, and then the information is broken up by a pull quote and other images which makes it less boring to look at, and breaks up the text into smaller segments which is appealing because it’s aiming at a young, and immature audience.

ImagesImages on front cover-The images used on the front cover are all conventional of the rock genre, as they include conventional mise-en-scene, facial expressions and shot types; this therefore appeals to the target audience and attracts them to the magazine.

The mise-en-scene of all of these photos are conventional because they include musical instruments related to the genre, they’re in locations such as at a gig, in abandoned run down areas, and in the studio. The lighting is conventional because the large image, set outside their gig venue is mildly bright which shows that what they have to come is something amazing. The abandoned area lighting is in low key lighting which represents the area, and the other two shots are in high key lighting.The shot types used are all low angle shots, and mid-shots which are conventional of the genre, which appeals to the target audience.

Images on contents page-Only one image has been used on the contents page. This image appeals to the target audience because it’s in a setting that’s conventional of the genre, it includes conventional mise-en-scene, of instruments and low key lighting, it includes depressed facial expressions, which are conventional, and it is also a conventional shot type being a low angle shot.All of these features of the image appeal to the target audience because it’s conventional and therefore draws them into the magazine; also the fact that it sets off a depressive tone.

Images on double page spread-The images on this page are all appealing to the audience as they are directly related to the article featured, which also expand on the information, and give them more of an incite into the article before they read it. The main image is conventional and draws in the reader because of it being a low angle shot and its use of props and dark clothing. The other images appeal to the target audience because they’re action shots of two members and they also break up the article making it easier to read for them, which appeals to them.

Mode of address

Mode of address on front cover-The mode of address on my front cover is aggressive, but it also puts across the tone of excitement. The fonts and colours all put across the tone of aggressive (for example the masthead) as do the image facial expressions and some of the small image stances. But the main image stances shows the excitement, which links in with the featured headline “Feared fangs are back!”, so it shows their excitement to be back.This therefore appeals to the target audience because of the conventions being used.

Mode of address on contents page-The mode of address used on this page is a mixture of depressive and aggressive, which are both tones that are conventional to the genre and will therefore appeal to the audience.

The fonts and colours used set off the bold aggressive tone with the use of contrasting colours and large bold fonts. The main image sets off the depressive tone mainly with the facial expression, but also with the laid back, slouching stance and the desolate area in which the photo has been taken in.

Mode of address on double page spread-The mode of address on the double page spread is the same as on the front cover, as this is the article that is relating to the front cover, so I thought I would keep it the same to keep the same house style, as it would appeal more to the target audience. The tone set by the main image is the same as the main image on the front cover, excitement, but then the some of the facial expressions show other tones that are conventional of the genre, for example depressive and in the smaller pictures aggression.Also the fonts and colours used all connote aggression as they bold, large and stand out the audience, therefore making this appealing to the target audience.

Layout

The layouts used on my magazine are all conventional and appeal to the target audience, because they’re all cluttered.Also because they use the route of the eye, for example on the double page spread the large conventional image is the first item the reader would see, therefore would draw them in.