Question 5How did you attract/address your

audience?

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Front Cover

Puffs/Plugs

Colour Scheme

Click a feature

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Puffs/Plugs

I used very particular puffs and plugs on the front cover of my magazine. I chose to use a competition as it appeals to the youth.

Anything for free is good for attracting attention especially to young people.

I decided to use a free poster special as this is often a feature with my genre of magazine.

It is very stereotypical of teenagers to have posters of their favourite stars on their bedroom walls so including this as a feature of my magazine is very good to get the attention of my target audience.

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Colour Scheme

I surveyed a sample of 20 females and 20 males from my target audience and asked them what their favourite colour was. Here are my results:

Colour Female Male

Black 6 10

Red 8 7

Purple 4 0

Blue 1 2

Green 1 1

As you can see the vast majority of my participants said ‘Black’ or ‘Red’. Therefore these are the colours that I chose to use for my colour scheme. A few of the female participants said purple, however none of the male participants said this so it may alienate them.

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Contents PageClick a feature

Section Titles

Enlarged Numbers

Large and small photos

Large and small photos

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Enlarged Numbers

I used an enlarged font size for the page numbers of the features mentioned on my contents page as this makes it easier for readers to see what they want to read and go straight to the page.

This is particularly aimed at my target audience of teenagers as they are known for not wanting to read much.

I also used this technique on top of the photos on my contents page. This means the reader can see the band image and go straight to the page that features them.

This feature is also a common convention of my magazine genre.

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Section Titles

I used section titles for a similar effect as the enlarged number font.

It means that my audience can see straight away the item that they want to go to and can easily find weekly features that they like.

I have included titles such as ‘Live Reviews’ to attract my teen audience as they often go to live music events and tend to only spend their money once they know if the act is good or not.

Using band names under the heading also attracts the attention of my target audience as the band names almost act as brands, once they see the name they want to know more.

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Large and small photosI used one main large image that is a mid-shot of the person featured on my

front cover. This is typical of the indie/rock magazine genre.

This helps show a bit more of the shoot and entice the reader further into reading the article.

I also used 5 smaller images which is also often a technique used in the genre of my magazine.

I used one ‘live’ image as this gives the reader a feel of the performance. This also attracts the teen audience as they are the ones most likely to go to a live gig.

I also used an ‘acoustic’ image. This gives am intimate feel that teens often want to experience with their favourite acts.

The use of an extreme close up of the artist also has a similar effect.

My other images used in my contents page look like you average teen ‘Facebook’ photos. This helps entice them as they like to feel as if stars are the same as them and also ‘hang out with friends’ just as they do. Helping the audience relate to the photo makes them more likely to read on.

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Double Page Spread

Large Image/Small amount of text

Bold Text

‘Star’ Name

Drop Capital

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Bold Text

I used bold text in the heading of my double page spread to emphasise the name of the band featured.

This attracts my target audience as they see that name and want to read on to find out more.

I also used a bold font for the questions featured in my interview. This helps entice the reader when they see the question as it hooks them to want to find out how the artist answered.

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‘Star’ Name

I featured the name ‘Paul McCartney’ in my initial paragraph of my double page spread.

His name is associated with ‘The Beatles’, arguably the most famous pop band in the world.

This automatically connotates quality and knowledge. If he is saying that the band is good then the audience is likely to want to find out more and possibly feel the same.

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Drop Capital

I used a drop capital letter in my initial paragraph of my double page spread feature as this attracts the audience to continue reading.

If they have seen the first letter they often want to find out what the word that follows that letter is.

Once they have seen the word they want to read the whole sentence, then the whole paragraph.

I found this worked well for my target audience as they are stereotypical for being easily distracted.

This letter distracted them so they continued reading.

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Large Image/Small Amount of Text

I used a large image for my double page spread as this is what my target audience seemed to prefer from investigating magazines with a similar target audience as mine.

This feature is common throughout magazines such as ‘Kerrang!’ and ‘Q’.

I also used a minimal amount of text as my audience doesn’t tend to, stereotypically, enjoy reading.

This meant that they would read the small amount of text then be hooked and turn the page to continue reading the article.

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Rachel EllisonAS Media Studies