Your Times Your Life Research

Overview

More pictures and less text to grab the attention of a younger audience

The title is big and red to catch the peoples eye when they walk past

Different colour text to keep people’s eyes on it

Recognisable slogan

As the target audience is young, the footballers on the front are very well known and recognisable so the younger audience can relate

Analysis of a similar product

Choice of pictures is very specific. Not only are they recognisable but also in recent news. At the time Giggs scored a game winning goal and chamberlain won player of the month.

“Free” in bold capitals at the top in bright yellow so people look at it

Offering an exclusive and free gift which is complimented with the yellow text on the turquoise background to make it stand out

The border of the magazine is in the style of barricade tape, its quite alarming and if someone was looking through a rack of magazines this one would stand out

Top trumps a children's game, aimed at children begging their parents to get them the magazine for the cards

Popular game amongst teenage football fans, by putting in their magazine they are appealing to their fan base

Title in bold red taking up a large proportion of the page so people can see the name

Putting lots of pictures on the front page as younger readers will have a tendency to enjoy pictures over text

Lots of colour and cartoonish as its aimed at a younger audience.

Analysis of a similar product

Shoots main audience is 13-16 which is right in the middle of the teenage years when the audience isn’t too old and isn’t too young. This means Shoot can use simple design to attract an audience without having to put lots of games and such to attract younger readers like 10 year olds. Shoots recently shut down so they have no readership figures but when hey were still producing they had an average readership of 30,000. Match on the other hand is aimed at a target audience, still in the teens just younger. This allows Match to plaster their front cover with promotions for free items and competitions along with flashy colours and pictures. The Match readership is around 46,000 which is a 19% drop from the previous years as less people want to read magazines due to things such as the internet.

Analysis of similar product

Sports

Date on the front cover

Front cover will show off different games and quizzes aimed at a younger audience

The majority of the front cover will be taken up with a preview of the main article

Picture and headline will be in the centre of the page. Headline will overlap the picturePicture will be of

three teenagers (16-18) holding a football on a pitch

The article will be on a youth player and how he joined a professional club and how someone would be able to do the same thing

The title will be in red and a playful font

“Free” on front cover to entice the audience

The less important articles will be along the side of the magazine.

The title of the less important articles will be along the right in bold with a small snippet from the article in smaller text underneath

The previews of the less important articles will focus on different sports

As the recurring theme is football I will add other sports to the article previews like tennis and cricket to attract a greater target audience

The slogan will be something catchy and short as its aimed at teens

“Your Times, Your Life”

March, 2014

Large picture of 3 teenager holding a football on a pitch

“Free”

Issue number #271

Smaller picture of teenager playing tennis

“12-18 football tournament”

“Footballs next wonder kid”

Showcasing the quizzes and competitions that are in the mag

Slogan

“Arsenal youth try-outs!”

“Tennis and its resurgence”

“Top 10 youth cricket players in England”

Picture of youth football match on pitch

“Footballs next wonder kid”

“He reminds me of a young Beckham” – Sir Alex

t6tPicture of teenager holding football on a pitch

t6tText

t6tText

Adobe Photoshop CS6: £670I chose Photoshop CS6 as the program I want to edit it on. The reason behind choosing Photoshop CS6 was because I have lots of experience on it due to previous tasks which involved it. CS6 is the version of Photoshop I want to use as I have no experience with other versions. Camera (Fujifilm Finepix S8600): £159.00I want to use this camera as I believe the quality of it is very high and will make my photos crisp and clear. Also the camera comes with a USB connector so I can transfer the pictures onto the computer easily. Price for 5-A-Side pitch: £62.50 I will need to buy a pitch at a local power league to make sure I have all the time I need to take pictures, if I don’t have a pitch then I’ll have to rush them and I might not get the pictures I want Price of bus trip to site: £5

Production costing

I asked 5 friends to participate in a focus group ran by me and asked them questions about what they would like to see in a sports magazine for youth. First of all this focus group was primarily males between the ages 16-17 who are sports fans whether it be playing or watching. This means the focus group is not completely reliable and representative of other age groups and gender.  First thing I asked was if they read magazines and if so how many to see how common they are. Surprisingly only 1 person out of 5 said they regularly read magazines. 4 out of 5 said they hardly ever read magazines and might only ever do it if they are going on a trip like a train or aeroplane. I then followed up with the question and if he read any youth magazines and how many magazines he read a month. He told me he reads 1football magazine monthly and he’s never read a youth magazine. I then asked the whole group what sports they like to play and what sports they like watch. Everyone said they like to watch football and 2 other said they also like to watch tennis. Only 3 of the 5 play sports and those 3 play football. Football stands out as the main sport people want to read about.  I then started asking more questions about what type of design would be better and what sort of articles would interest them. I questioned them on whether they would prefer a sleek looking cover with very little on the cover but still professional looking or lots of standout colours and pictures that will catch the eye. They all answered saying the more sleek cleaner cover would look better as they’re at the higher end of the spectrum when it comes down to the age of the target audience. They are more interested in the articles and don’t need colours and pictures to keep them interested. For the article they said they would like to read about how young sportsmen become professional, also they said articles about getting involved with local sports teams would interest them.

Focus group

“Pitch” to client

Audience

12-18 Year olds Mainly males but also females People who enjoy sports, primarily football As it’s aimed at a younger audience it doesn’t

target a certain socio-economic demographic The cover is more sleek than it is bursting

with images and colour which is aimed less at the younger audience

Audience

The problem with a young target audience is that there needs to be something that will interest them like prizes, games and pictures. The fact that the target audience ranges from 12-18 is troublesome because a 12 year old girl will have very little in common with an 18 year old boy. Things like bright colours, lots of pictures and big text might engage a young audience whereas an older audience may dislike it. The same thing is the same the other way round. An older audience might enjoy less pictures and more text with it based more on articles. The younger audience wont be engaged by this though.

Audience

Because there is a 6 year age gap in the target audience finding a way to engage both ends of the target audience is difficult, the older end of the spectrum may enjoy more article based magazines whereas the younger audience might enjoy more games and pictures. The way to combat this problem is to give the cover a sleek feel to it to appease the older target audience whilst also adding things the younger audience will enjoy like competitions and games.

Project overview

The general theme of my magazine will be sports and youth with a main focus on Football as my survey showed it was the most favoured sport. The magazine will focus on getting involved with local sports teams and how youth players can become professional. The pictures I put on the cover will stand out to get peoples attention, they will be of a youth football match at a local football pitch.

Design

The font will be playful and nothing serious The colours wont be childish with lots of

different colours to catch the eye but they also wont be bland like black and grey.

The language used will be quite childish as 12 year olds wont be able to understand it if the language is too sophisticated.

The general “tone” of the magazine will be playful and fun.

Overall impact

I feel the magazine will be successful because I know for a fact that the articles and general ideas are ones that the majority will enjoy. My survey gave me a lot of direction when planning. One of the problems with magazine is that the target audience is difficult to pinpoint. It’s hard to find something both 18 and 12 year olds will be interested in. This is why I have put in fun games an competitions for the younger side of the audience whilst giving the older side informed articles.