Evaluation - Question 4

The target audience for my magazine will be young males and females ranging from 15-23 so this would be secondary school, college and university students. I am not aiming to target any specific sex, religion or ethnic group; it is just for people who enjoy music.

As I have not targeted a specific audience, the magazine will be read by a mainstream audience and not a niche audience. The cover star on this issue also helps to portray the laid back approach the magazine has, as it doesn’t just have one type of music shown on the front cover, but a wide range of music, which will help it sell better, as the audience research showed young people have various different types of music they like, and they couldn’t chose which kind of magazine they would specifically like. This is important, as I have shown this through my final product as I have included a wide range of artists, ranging from Indie to Pop.

Although the model on the cover is female, it will also attract males as it is a semi clothed women. The issue that was predominant was trying to entice both male and female audiences, the easiest way to do this, was for the males have a semi clothes female on the front. However this will not always be used, it just merely decides on the artist’s style.

The model is wearing a festival wrist band which has en encoded meaning that the magazine appeals to 16-23 year olds because they are the majority of people who attend festivals. The use of these help the star to not only be on the magazine , but be part of it; with the main headline being about festivals and the puff , showing the festival themed prizes, it was inevitable that the wrist bands had to be used.

The lack of clothes the model is wearing connotes a non conforming attitude; the model is not smiling in the image and instead looks moody. Which is a stereotype associated with teenagers. This will attract my audience as it shows that not all superstars have to have a fake ‘celebrity mode’ when they are working. Instead this shows that she is real and will appeal more to my target audience, as it shows you don’t have to be something you not to become successful.

The use of fonts and encode meanings also attracts the audience. The font is a sans serif; this connotes the bubbly and youthful feel to the magazine as there are no ‘sharp’ edges on the writing which portrays a sombre approach. Instead the writing is fun and youthful and adds even more youth to the magazine aimed at teenagers. In the puff there is a prize of a ‘luxury tent’ to be won. The idea of using this as a prize is because when teenagers attend festivals, before they have got their ticket, they worry about where they are going to sleep and the idea of having a tent as a prize makes the competition more liable to have more competitors and is not only a boring poster or CD to be won. This will entice my audience more so as they will be excited to see what the completion will be next week, as this week is not only a tent but a big sum of money to be won.

The anchorage also demonstrates the youthful presence throughout the magazine. Not so much on the front page, more so in the double page spread, where there is more syntax, the anchorage is youthful. I have used Standard English as ‘street slang’ varies from different areas, so the use of using Standard English as well as colloquialisms to convey the youthful tone to the magazine. I have also used regional dialect as the artist is from London. Here is an image which shows the difference in the anchorage. The image on the left shows the anchorage, which connotes a more 'adult' and more formal style of magazine.

The magazine will be highly anticipated by those who are keen festival goers and those who download music frequently. There are various different artists throughout the magazine in which there is ‘something there for everyone’.

The layout of the magazine, resembles a cross between a gossip magazine and a music magazine, I have used this, as from my audience research, hardly anyone had read a music magazine. I have used this layout so people will want to read it as it is something they are familiar with.

The language used through out my magazine, mainly in the double page spread appeals to my target audience. I have used some colloquialism, to represent youth. However as I interviewed the star, I did not want to change, or play with her words as it would not be her own words.