Magazine Work

Our Brief

Bauer Media require you to launch a pilot of a brand new magazine aimed specifically at a teenage audience. Although they usually aim at a mainstream audience, Bauer Media are also interested in appealing to niche, specialist teenage audiences. You may choose specialist or mainstream genre.

Notes

Audience Theory 

Audience: "The assembled spectators or listeners at a public event such as a play, film, concert or meeting."

Hypodermic Syringe Model (1930s)
- This model suggests that audiences passively accept the messages the mass media 'inject' into them.
- This model believes there is a DIRECT CORRELATION between what we see in the media and how we behave in real life.

Stuart Hall Reception Theory
- Preferred
- Oppositional
- Negotiated

Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications Model (1974)
Consume media for 4 reasons:
- Diversion: to relax and escape from reality
- Socialisation: using the media to strengthen relationships with others 
- Identification: using the media to find out more about ourselves
- Surveillance: using the media to find out information 

Planning 

Questionnaire 

1. What is your gender 

    - Male

    - Female

    - Prefer not to say

2. How old are you?

3. How often do you buy magazines?

    - Weekly

    - Monthly 

    - Yearly

    - Never 

4. How much would you be willing to pay?

    - £1.99- £2.50

    - £2.50- £4

    - £4- £6

    - £6+

5. How do you like your magazines?

    - Thin

    - Thick

6. What feel do you like your magazines to be?

    - Glossy

    - Matte

7. Who is your favourite current pop artist?

8. Would you be more inclined to buy a magazine if it had a celebrity on the cover?

9. What is your current favourite music magazine?

10. Do you like a magazine to have a monthly theme? 

11. Are you likely to subscribe to a magazine?

12. Do you prefer A5 or A4 magazine size?

13. Do you read magazines online?

14. Who is your favourite mainstream artist from this list?

     - Taylor Swift 

     - Ed Sheeran 

     - Dua Lipa 

     - Harry Styles

     - Camila Cabello 

     - Stormzy

15. Do you like to hear about new and upcoming artists in magazines? 

Questionnaire Results

General readership/target audience:

1. All female
2. Between 16 and 17

Most answered on each question:

3. Never buy magazines (15)
4. Willing to pay for a magazine, 1.99-2.50 (13)
5. People who like their magazines thick (15)
6. People who prefer a gloss cover (12)
7. People’s favourite artist: Ed Sheeran (4)
8. People who would be inclined to buy a magazine if a celeb was on the front cover (17)
9. Favourite music magazine: Rolling stone (5)
10. People who like their magazines to have a monthly theme: don’t mind (13)
11. Likely to subscribe to a magazine: NO (16)
12. A4: (17)
13. People who read magazines online (13)
14. Favourite mainstream artist: Ed Sheeran (9)
15. People who like to hear about upcoming artists in magazines: yes (16)

Our Readership:

• Female
• Heterosexual
• People who are up to date with technology
• Teens
• All Ethnicities 
• Atheist 
• Secondary education – possibly sixth form or college?
• Like to buy Adidas, Nike, Topshop, New Look, Hollister, Urban Outfitters, Primark
• Media Interests: Celebrity stories, Social Media, Popular TV shows (Stranger Things, Teen Wolf etc.)
• B, C1 C2 D class systems 
• Not keen interest in politics or economy, more ‘trivial’ interests 

Front Cover

Feedback

Questions 

1. Do you like having popular artists on the front? If so, what other pop artists would you like to see?

• Yes and rappers e.g. Kendrick, Stormzy
• Yes, Stormzy
• Yes, Due Lipa, Mabel 

2. Do you think our magazine is mainstream or niche? How can you tell?

• Mainstream- Ed Sheeran x3

3. Would you like us to branch out into political/current issues? Why?

• Yes, people aren't always going to be aware, want to be informed.
• Yes, not too many articles based on this though 
• No, prefer just being about music 

4. Who do you think our target audience is? How can you tell?

• Young adults/teenagers, girls- male artist, melody title- feminine 
• Young adults- type of artist
• Young adults/teens- pop artist

5. Would you be happy to pay the price we have chosen? If not, what would you prefer?

• Yes x3

6. Is there anything else we could add to this front cover?

• No x3

Reflection 

1. How successful is your magazine cover in your opinion? What makes it successful? What feedback have you gained? Outline

In my opinion I think our front cover was very successful as we included most aspects from our questionnaire and used the results effectively to influence our design. I think it is successful as we got positive feedback from our target audience and they were able to tell that it was mainstream and who the target audience is. The feedback shows that the target market is happy with the price chosen, we could possibly branch out into political/current issues (would need to do more feedback to check this). However we need to have another look at layout and page design and main image.

2. What genre is your magazine?

Mainstream audience and focuses on pop music.

3. Did you attempt to conform to or subvert conventions? Which ones and why?

We attempted to conform to conventions. We did this by including an eye catching masthead, artist as the main focus(typical of music magazines), cover lines about what is inside, main cover lines (Ed Sheeran), price, colour palette (blue and white), date etc. We conformed to them as it is targeted at a mainstream audience so we want it to appeal to the majority of people. However we also subverted conventions as we included new artists on the front. 

4. Who is your target audience? How have you appealed to your TA?

Our target audience is young female adults, mainstream, between 16 and 17, into pop artists, not got a keen interest in politics or economy, more trivial interests. We have appealed to our TA by including Ed Sheeran who is a popular mainstream artist. they are also interested in upcoming artists so we included information down the left side about new pop artists. Furthermore Ed Sheeran is extremely popular with young adults particularly girls. We have also appealed to the female audience with the title 'Melody' which seems to be quite a feminine title.

5. How did your questionnaire results inform your final product?

Our target market are willing to pay between £1.99-£2.50 so we put our price at £2.20. Most people said their favourite artist was Ed Sheeran without options, as well as their favourite mainstream artist with options. Therefore we put Ed Sheeran in the middle of the magazine and the main focus of the content too. A lot of our questionnaires showed us that people would be more likely to buy a magazine if a celeb was on the front so we put Ed Sheeran right in the middle so he will be the first thing people see. We found that the favourite music magazine was Rolling Stone so we looked at their front covers and used their design, layout, colours to influence our own decisions. The most popular size was A4 so we printed it this size. Furthermore most of them like to hear about upcoming artists so we decided to put stories about some new pop artists down the left-hand side.

6. What groups are represented? Why? How are they represented?

We only have one representation and that is of a white British male celebrity. Ed Sheeran is a significant part of this front cover as we intended for him to appeal to a variety of people in our mainstream audience. He is presented as being quite confident through his body language. The biting of the glasses could have more than one interpretation as it suggests he is cheeky but also he is intelligent as this can be associated with glasses. However the tattoos might suggest he has another side to him: a bad boy. The main reason we chose Ed Sheeran was due to our questionnaire results but also that he was the most appropriate for our audience.