Q3: How did I attract my target audience?

How I attracted my target audience

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Q2: Who is my target audience?

My Target Audience

 When researching my target audience, I found that they commonly wore clothing such as skinny jeans and converse shoes. They would not look particularly well-groomed and perhaps have the overall appearance of someone deemed 'scruffy'. 

I decided to try to aim towards pleasing people who fall into the categories 'Strugglers' and 'Explorers' in the psychographic profiling for target audiences. The Strugglers would seek escape from my magazine. People who perhaps feel alienated and distant, and in need of something they can connect with to help them through the struggles of their daily lives such as alcohol issues or troubles with money. The Explorers would make use of the lesser-known, indie bands that would be featured in my magazine. They seek individualism, suggesting they'd be less into mainstream pop bands and more into obscure, rising bands with a small audience. 

Gender wise, my magazine is aimed at both male and female readers. The population of my target audience of indie-kids and edgy teens is made of both genders, with slightly more male members than female. Their interests involve reading, movies, partying with friends, art, bands and band posters, going to gigs, blogging, taking photos and perhaps in interest in tattoos, alcohol and piercings. Many may play their own instrument, and they will also feel a strong connection to music and it most likely plays an important role in their life. Their personality would be expected to be fun, adventurous, creative and artistic with interesting views on the world around them. 

My audience will most likely be students and young people from the ages 14 to 24. As far as demographics are concerned, I don't think that social status affects the target audience for my magazine, however the numbers may drop as the social status gets lower. ABC1 would certainly have people within my target audience, but C2DE can also be found within the group. 

Q1:How does my product use, develop or challenge forms conventions of real magazines?

The Evaluation of my Magazine

Now that I have finished my magazine I can evaluate it. 

How does my product use, develop or challenge forms conventions of real magazines?

My magazine mostly follows conventions to make it realistic, attract its audience and be successful. I believe that unconventional magazines, while more artistic, are less likely to be successful and thrive.

convention

kənˈvɛnʃ(ə)n/

noun

noun: convention; plural noun: conventions

1.

a way in which something is usually done

I looked at my chosen genre and target audience, an Indie rock magazine aimed at students with strong connections to their music, and developed my ideas from there. I came up with the design, the colour scheme and the masthead based off of the style of my genre and I also used a questionnaire to help determine what people would most like to see in my magazine and to make it conventional. 

I took inspiration for my house style from another conventional magazine, NME, and used it to help me work out the most efficient way to lay out my magazine.

 A house style is a consistent design style that is kept throughout the magazine to show that it's all part of the same magazine. For example, keeping the font, colours, image types and layout similar on every page

Cover

My cover features conventions such as having the Masthead in the top left corner, having the band name across the centre and keeping coverlines and additional information (dates, issue no., etc) to the side so that they do not distract from the image, which is also conventional as it uses a common mid shot with the talent in the centre of the page rather than to the side. The colours are also dark, conventional of an indie magazine, and the image itself is dark and grungy to represent the target audience.










Contents Page

The same house style is kept throughout my contents page, sticking to conventions with the heading 'contents' at the top and the list of the magazines contents down the side with images of people featured in the magazine. The page is in black and white which is conventional and makes it easy to read.


I used a contents page from NME magazine to help decide the layout of my own contents page, using the black and white colour scheme but with my own style imbued with it to create a more original looking page.








Double Page Spread

My double page spread features images and  text, following the housestyle by keeping the same font used at the bottom and the top. The colour scheme has changed to fit the mood of the band featured but the overall style of the images and the editing remains the same. This is only a part of what would be a four page section on the made-up band. I chose to use the main singer, the same talent featured on the cover, for the bigger photo and then the two other band members in little framed photos beside it.

Final product

These are my final products (Unless I decide to change something). I have already talked about my cover however I have now added the contents page and double page spread. The contents page is again based off of NME magazine, as I used that as a guideline to place the text and boxes. I kept the same font throughout the page. For the double page spread I focused less on NME and gave my magazine a more original look to its design. I tried to portray the personality of the band and their style whilst keeping in touch with the overall look of Siren magazine. However I am likely to add some changes, mostly with the colour scheme, before I set it as my final product. I have skilfully included a pun on the band's name in the text with the line 'five years of silence', playing on name of the band, 'Ironic Shout'. I am happy with the outcome.

Final cover

This is the final cover for my magazine that I will settle with having received feedback on the previous drafts. I am happy with this cover which includes different features from multiple drafts. I have returned the masthead to the top left corner so that readers do not get confused between the band name and the magazine name. I have kept the features such as the white button-like circle and tagline. I have changed the font of the band name and made it spread across the page. I have compared my magazine cover with NME to try and create a good, realistic magazine cover.

What makes a good magazine?

The Good

A good magazine should have one, big image with one focus. This magazine cover has a brilliant way of attracting an audience. As the artist on the front is not shown, but is instead described with words, it means the reader has to guess or pick up the magazine to find out. The minimal text makes it the main focus, with a simple black background. The only information we receive about the artist is the text on the bag and the fact that she is female from her body shape and shoulders. This magazine creates a successful way of attracting readers through its unclear, enigmatic and mystery talent. Music fans will either be able to guess and then want to check if they're right, or they will want to know and open the magazine to find out.

The Bad
This magazine features many failures. The image on the front, while obviously trying to be 'gangster' fails miserably. Not only is the talent shirtless but he is also overweight and while that wouldn't be a problem in the real world it's not something people want to see on the cover of a magazine. Along with that his jeans are hanging very low with a large amount of his underwear visible. Overall it gives the talent a poor image of looking trashy. The talent takes up most of the cover with very little room for coverlines. The expression on his face is also unattractive, and the magazine is less likely to sell because people don't really want to be seen with a picture like this in their possession.

Final Draft

Final draft


After receiving some feedback from peers I created another draft using some images I had taken. I decided to try placing the masthead in the centre of the magazine with the coverlines surrounding it. I also tried to add some more white boxes and circles. I prefer this draft as it looks more professional and the arrangement of text is better than my previous drafts. The colour scheme works well and I have also changed the background colours, making them red and white striped. This is because the lines in the the background match with the lines on the talents shirt, and the thick black lines going in a vertical direction adds quirkiness and flare, and goes with the suspenders on the outfit. I decided to add colour to the background because the original was plain and white and lacked character and would have been very boring to work with. By changing the wooden planks to make them striped with a light red, it has enabled me to introduce a nice colour scheme whereas before it could have come across as tacky and out of place.