Lifestyle Survey

As part of my research to help me design my magazine, I have created a lifestyle survey to understand my target audience and learn the ways to present my magazine. The link for my survey is https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Z8224duGisq3Fmaxyg36ha5SJdB3CuyNrtkdKs7HK_o/viewform

I posted my survey on a social media website asking if people could fill it out with their own information. My results are formatted in a spreadsheet so the the answers are easy to read. The link is https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pxyF7OA1w9V5NAQVb0QLEQ1E57622JE39_vNMHfKSEU/edit?usp=sharing

From my survey I have been able to work out that my target audience is mainly males. This is because the majority who said their favourite gender was rock, were also male. Most of the people who said rock was their favourite genre also said that Kerrang! was their favourite magazine. From this I shall study the colours and techniques used on Kerrang! magazines to help theme my own magazine. My results also show that people who prefer rock music to other genres generally go to more gigs than other people. To act on this result I will add more articles about upcoming gigs to my magazine. My results also show me that my target group is definitely between fifteen and thirty year olds as all the responders that choose rock music are between that age group. Those participants who fitted into my target audience all liked similar themed colours. These colours are grey, red and black. I am aiming to use this colour scheme as much as possible in my magazine because it will attract my target audience.


From my results I have decided that a price of £2.50 will be right for my magazine due to my results on the 'price you would pay for a magazine every week' question. Overall most people were prepared to spend less than £1 on a magazine every week which you can see in the graph below. I am choosing to ignore the overall response and only concentrate on my target audiences responses which is how I have come up with the price of £2.50.

From my results I have been able to identify the most preferable articles to read. Many of the participants stated that they liked reading about gossip. I have chosen to ignore this field due to the fact that people who like gossip do not come under my target audience. Therefore when I design my magazine I will include more articles about the 'New album releases' than 'Gigs' and other topics.

Those who liked pop music generally went for Ed Sheeran. I expected this as he is a huge pop icon. Those who liked rock music, liked bands such as Artic Monkeys and Green Day. I will use this result for variation in the issues of my magazine as Artic Monkeys and Green Day both aim for a different image.

Lucozade Advert analysis

As part of my research, I have analysed a typical magazine advert.

 

Not Finished Mock up magazine - work done in lesson 18/11

Intended Target Audience

Every magazine has its own target audience in which they direct everything they print on the magazine at. The genre of music I have chosen for my magazine is rock.

Demographic:

Gender: Both boys and girls listen to rock music so it must therefore be directed at both genders. When it comes to the style used in rock, males and females are kind of the same so my magazine should be able to appeal to both genders.
Age: My target audience will be of the ages between 15 and 30. My reasoning for this is that these are the most common ages for liking rock music according to my research.
Nationality: Many nationalities such as Finland love rock music but as my magazine is new I will only print it in English as it is the worlds second language. My magazine will be sold in the UK only to begin with as it has a good industry and if it is very successful then it will move on to places like the USA, Australia and the rest of Europe.
Socio-Economic Group: My magazine will be aimed at the groups C1, C2 and D. This is because stereotypically, people in groups A and B are too classy to listen to rock. Also, many of my target audience will not even be old enough to be able to achieve the groups B and A as they are still young.

Typical Reader:

A common reader of my magazine is Alex, Alex is 21 years old and lives on the outskirts of Manchester. Alex is intelligent and sharp, he passed all his exams at school but did not want to go to university. Instead Alex did a two year apprenticeship in vehicle mechanics as he was passionate about the career. After the apprenticeship Alex continued working as a mechanic. Alex has an energetic and open personality. Alex loves rock music and listens to bands such as Metallica and Green Day. Alex has played both the electric guitar and the drums since he was nine years old. Alex has a band called 'Magnet' which is formed of four of his friends. Alex plays the guitar in the band. Alex enjoys reading about his favourite bands in magazines and spends around £3 a week on magazines. Alex goes to rock festivals such as Camden rocks with his friends as often as possible but unlike when he was younger, these days he has other commitments such as work which get in the way of his plans. Alex is also uses Soundcloud daily, sharing his favourite bands, creating playlists and listening to his friends music or bands that he likes music.

Semiotic Analysis

Below I have done a semiotic analysis of the conventions on three music magazines.