Evaluation 4

Who would the audience be for your media product?

From the beginning, I had a very clear idea of who I wanted my target audience to be so I built my magazine around that idea. The genre of my magazine is rock/alternative rock so the target audience would like that type of music and would be aged from mid-teens to early twenties .

Earlier on my blog, I posted a mood board which looked at what sort of bands/artists my audience would listen to and what sort of brands/clothes they would like. A couple of bands I suggested my audience would like are You Me At Six and  Blink 182 because these fit into the genre of my magazine. I am someone who would read this genre of magazine so I looked at my own tastes in music and decided to incorporate these into my own magazine. I found that I was able to use myself a lot when creating this magazine with regard what my target audience would like to see and what they would want from the magazine.
When it came to my target audience, I looked into more than solely the area of music tastes; I began to think about what other things they would like, i.e. shops, TV shows, clothing. A couple of brands that I initially thought of were Vans and Doc Marten. The reason I thought of these brands was because I have seen my target audience in public places and these are common brands I see them wearing. From this, I was able to get an idea of some of the shops they would be likely to visit. One of the ones I though of was Schuh because they stock brands such as Vans and Doc Marten. I also thought of shops such as Doc Black and Scorpio because there are many similarities between what these shops sell and the sort of people who shop there.
It was difficult to think of possible TV shows my target audience would watch because there are so many. I thought about the genre of the magazine and what sort of music would be included in it and it made me think that the target audience may like programmes such as True Blood and The Vampire Diaries because they are a bit dark and link to the idea I have about my audience. My target audience will be a little abstract and not follow the mainstream image and so I had to make sure my magazine followed this and therefore didn't follow every convention of  usual music magazines.

I wanted to reflect the style of my target audience through the images in the magazine. For example, these images here (right) which I have used on my double page spread.The model's hair is like the hair I would expect my male target audience to have; quite casual and cool, slightly over the face. Also, my model is wearing a Vans jacket which links to the sort of brand I would expect my target audience to be interested in and buy; the rest of the clothing links to this also because it is quite dark but also fashionable and links to the whole rock image. The whole body language of the model is that of someone quite relaxed and cool and this is the sort of person who I want to read my magazine. The model also looks quite deep and soulful as he plays the guitar so perhaps my target audience can link to this if they too play an instrument; particularly a guitar as this is often associated with rock music, as I have noticed from my research. I thought out the entire image of this model, and the model on the cover, because I wanted them both to act as a representative of my target audience and allow the audience to relate to them which would encourage them to purchase the magazine.
I think my target audience would buy my magazine because it is different and I tried to include all the conventions that I think would attract them. I used images that I thought linked to their own style and used headlines that I thought would interest them and make them want to read more. I don't think that my magazine is in any way biased towards either gender so I think any person within my target audience would be willing to buy it. I also have set the price at £1.65 which I think is very competitive. That is cheaper than any other magazines of a similar genre and should also attract the audience because I know that young people are often short of money and so they will want an affordable magazine and that is what I am offering. I think the price is good for all socio-economic groups and therefore I think it will appeal to a wide range of people.
Once I finished creating my music magazine, I asked a few people who I think fit into my target audience group for their opinion on my magazine and they all said that all aspects of the magazine were agreeable to them and they would buy the magazine. One person said "The overall image of the magazine is exactly the type of style that attracts me to music magazine - I would definitely buy it". Therefore, I feel that  I have met my objectives and met the needs of my target audience which means my magazine is appealing to them and would hopefully sell.