My target audience profile

Andy, aged 19, has a girlfriend, but is not yet married, who is very similar to him with the same interests such as music. Andy is your typical rock music fan. It portrays his image, style, social group, hobbies and language. He is engaging with music 24/7 whether is listening, reading or at a gig. Andy spends half of his spare time at gigs or rock based festival, often with his girlfriend, as he loves the atmosphere and he can relate to the typical type of people there.

His goal in live is to become one of the lead singers of one of his favourite bands who he never missed a tour of. He dreams of having his own dedicated fans, as he is now, enjoying his vocals and guitar skills.

Andy has a well paid, but simple job, so he can afford the concerts and festivals that he passionately lives for. He is not the most active person, spending most of his time socialising. He spends a lot of his time on social media catching up with the latest news on bands he loves.

Lesson on target audiences

Audience Profiles

In today's lesson we looked at typical profiles of our target audience for magazines, focussing on demographic and psychographic profiles. Demographic profiles are quantifiable statistics of the population such as age, gender, job, location, status, education level and income. Psychographic profiles reflect the usual interests, opinions, activities, attitudes and values.

Looking at national readership serveys we learnt about the following social groups:
A- Upper middle class
B- Middle class
C1- Lower middle class
C2- Skilled working class
D- Working class
E- Lowest level class

We did comparisons of two magazines aimed at different audiences particularly on colour and language. I found teen magazines tend to use bright colours and casual language where as a magazine for older women use pale colours and better vocabulary, both being more sophisticated.

Semiotic analysis of three music magazines

In this lesson I did a semiotic analysis of Kerrang magazine because I need to research how the typical conventions of a music magazine are effective.
Kerrang is a magazine based on rock an metal music. They have a very wide audience from young females to old males however, this particular magazine is for males due to the bold reds and blacks.

I chose another magazine which was Rocksound because this is also the same genre as what I plan my magazine to be.

This is another rock magazine I looked as my magazine will be to improve my knowledge.

Analysing

After planning and making my magazine I am pleased with how it came out, however I may change a few things if I did it again. Firstly, after asking the opinions of my target audience (other 6th formers) I found that the font of the mast head was not very clear so this is the first thing I would change. I also found that some of the places I used the light blue font didn't show up very clearly. If I did it again I would need to change the colour such as a darker blue.

My school magazine contents page

The software I used was serif page plus. For my magazine contents page I chose a similar pale blue colour and font as the text on my cover to keep to the same theme. I added a design and pencils to highlight the magazine genre of art to make it more attractive as a contents page is usually plain, simple and boring.

My school magazine final cover

The software I used was serif page plus. I created this school magazine about art careers and tips. I chose this picture of an art student, keeping the background of the artwork, to attract other art students of the same age: in 6th Form.

I used the Blackadder ITC font for my mast head because it is an artistic font that has calligraphy style techniques for those who find it a hobby. I chose for it to be in white to contrast with some of the artwork on the back wall and what the student is wearing. It also stood out more than any other colour.
I chose my text colours to be pale against the colours of the central image. The colours I used are not too vibrant, therefore giving across a more mature, serious message about the magazine contents and who it is aimed at.

I used many conventions of a typical magazine for advertising techniques, such as the pug in the top right corner. My tagline, attached to my mast head, summarises the genre of my magazine and who it might be aimed at.
I have included many cover lines across my cover to tell the reader what is inside and the articles they will find.
Furthermore, I used a puff to draw attention to the magazine. The two secondary images I used link to the text and contents of the magazine. These will help to sell my magazine.

Altering my cover photo

When I took my image, I found the exposure was too low so I used serif photoplus to lighten it. I did this because it was too dark for a magazine cover, also any dark writing I plan to use would not stand out.
This was my original image:

This is my new image that I have lightened:

Planning my school magazine photoshoot

My school magazine will be based or art and photography and aimed at 6th formers. It will inform them about future careers, tips and ideas. The central image is important because it will need to attract art students. I plan the central image to be a mid-shot of a 6th from working on their artwork. In the background of the photo, behind the student will be the wall of the art room. This is because it has the artwork of other 6th form students, this will engage an interest towards my target market.
They will be wearing their own clothes as 6th formers do and holding a pencil or paintbrush while working on their work at a school desk.
I will include some secondary images such as artist equipment, for example: paints, paintbrushes and pencils. The purpose of these images is to promote what features inside the magazine. The images I use will link to what is inside because I will include tips with this equipment.
I will use either my phone camera or my Nikon camera