Tuesday, September 15, 2020
10 WEBSITE
Monday, September 14, 2020
05 AUDIENCE PRODUCTION
I will be conducting audience research in order to make more accurate decisions during the course of my planning, in relation to how my target audience will react and respond to my magazines. I have contacted a sample of 10 people to act as representatives of my target age range (including 5 Males ages 16, 17, 20, 22 and 24, as well as 5 Females ages 18, 18, 21, 22 and 25). My sample is also racially diverse and represents a range of different sexualities. They have agreed to email me with comments and feedback on my questions in relation to my planning and production which I will use during this process.
Focus group meeting 1: front cover
I asked my focus group to look at a range of front covers I had found during my research and asked them to comment
7 respondents though the covers were too busy with images and stories. They suggested few key stories with strong but simple images to support them in order to have my audience respond more positively. They also suggested some stories would work without an image at all and have some articles just be a block of text and have the language be short and simple to match the simple look of the coloured box it would be in. A younger audience would be more likely to respond to this, considering the popularity of social media apps like Instagram, Snapchat where people post large images with a caption to go with it or Twitter where people post short, simple comments.
All respondents felt that it would be a good idea to keep a model on the cover, in keeping with the research I presented them: a smiling face and the direct mode of address made the cover seem more welcoming and friendly, encouraging readers to look at the magazine. However, they felt this would work better with varied sexes used on the cover in order to be more inclusive and representative. For this same reason they suggested I used ordinary people rather than models. They also felt I should have them dressed in a more business-like way as this would be familiar with my target audience, most of whom would still be in school (at the bottom of my age range) or beginning white collar jobs (at the top of the age range)
02 STATEMENT OF INTENT
My brief is to produce a real-life story magazine for 16-25 year olds. My magazine does fit into Bauer's portfolio which I believe is beneficial as it will open them up to new audiences (younger) who like their style. I recognise that my audience would engage more with models their age and a mixed representation of social groups, which I will include, though the models won't be the main aspects. These social groups will also be quite stereotypical so my audience can identify better with them. Because this is a 'gossip' magazine, the main focus of the front covers will be the text (headlines) which will dominate the page, in large, bold fonts to catch readers' attention. The text will be colloquial to form a friend-like relationship with the reader. Although I found, when researching, that these magazines generally use bright and loud colours, I think my target audience would see this as more 'childish' and not respond well to it, so I will tone down the colours to make them warmer or pastel so it doesn’t look childish. My contents pages include 'win' and normal advertisements that my audiences would be interested in e.g. festivals and fashion. I also featured our merchandise as my focus groups expressed their interest in this. Issue 1 and 2 will be set out similarly (both contents and covers) because this is a new magazine so this will help my new readers 'get to know' the magazine. My focus group (see blog) suggested a more text heavy approach to the cover but to include familiar representations of teenagers and young adults that also offered a business-like but welcoming look to the reader. This would include well-dressed models on the cover, and similar images of the editors and magazine writing staff. This would help develop a personal relationship between the reader and the magazine.
To encourage
my audience to refer to my magazines website after reading the
magazine, I will have competitions advertised on the magazine to enter
via the website (which they also have to subscribe to the
magazine to
enter to increase this convergence), 'tell us your story' advertised on the contents
page, to encourage my audience to visit the website. The subscription
needed to enter competitions will offer magazines delivered
to your door weekly and other treats (more incentive, especially as these
treats aren't specified and therefore are a surprise), again advertised
on the magazine but to sign up on the website (which can be accessed
via a QR code on my contents to make this easier, also increasing existing
media convergence). The same ads will be used on my contents and website to
increase convergence. My website and contents pages both feature my team so it
feels like they know them and to increase convergence
(155)
01 COURSEWORK BRIEF
Produce one
front cover and the contents pages of the first two editions of
a real-life magazine, launched by Bauer
Must include: 4
different original main images, editing of magazine covers and
contents pages, masthead, main coverline, sell lines, headlines,
layout, barcode, edition, price, different mise en scene for each cover,
representation of at least two different social groups, a call to action
pointing readers to website
Must include: original
audio/audio visual content appropriate to website,
two original images, appropriate conventions of website design,
working links, a range of appropriate media language techniques
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Produce one front cover and the contents pages of the first two editions of a real-life magazine, launched by Bauer Must include: 4...
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I will be conducting audience research in order to make more accurate decisions during the course of my planning, in relation to how my tar...
