Audience Research Questionnaire

Audience Research Questionnaire

1.      Are you Male or Female?     Male

                                                                Female

            2.     Do you read the college magazine?       Yes

                                                                                   No

3.      What are three things that you would like to see in a college magazine?

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4.      Do you think you would benefit from a college magazine?     Yes

                                                                                                              No

5. How often would you like a college magazine to be published?     
Fortnight

Month

Half-Term

Full-Term

                                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                              

         6.       Would you be prepared to pay for a college magazine? If so, how much?

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7.       Would you be prepared to contribute towards a college magazine? If so, what would you want to do?

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8.      What feature articles would you like to see?

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9.      What would appeal to you on a front cover?

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10.  Where in college would you like the magazine to be distributed?

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Questionnaire Analysis

From my questionnaire, 65% of the answers were given by females, and 35% by males. This gives the magazine a gender bias, but considering the target audience for my magazine is young girls, it is appropriate that more girls answered than boys. The general trend shown is that girls were more interested in gossip and fashion items being shown in a college magazine, whereas boys wanted to see more structured information about the college. Taking these answers, I put gossip and fashion into the music magazine that I created, in order to suit the girls. 75% of all answers wanted a monthly magazine, and 60% were prepared to pay for it, which is why my music magazine is published monthly and is quite cheap. 80% of the girls who answered wanted to see boys on the front cover and the feature article, which is why I chose a boy band to appear as the main feature of the magazine. However I also chose a girl star to appear as well, in order to interest and possibly inspire the girls reading. From my results of this questionnaire, there is a general trend towards boy bands, fashion and gossip, which caused me to incorporate all three of these into my music magazine.

College Magazine Cover Analysis

This magazine cover has a Masthead at the top which goes across to show the audience what this magazine is about clearly. It also has the price and barcode in the bottom left corner, typical of a college magazine. The magazine uses 4 different colours and fonts, which is typical, as it doesn’t make it look too plain or too cluttered. The cover also has an advertisement for paintballing in the top right of the page in the pink splat, which draws the reader’s attention away from the yellow, black and white colour scheme. The main image is a male student who has a book 'Law and Society'. This could be to show that students at this college are not only educated, but educated in more complex subjects. The fact that the model for the magazine is a young, black male and is shown in a positive way, goes against how the media traditionally see young, black males. Another story on the cover of the magazine, the 'Make money on campus' story could show that the producers want to show that their students want to achieve and succeed in terms of money, as well as education.

Analysing Feature Article- Q

This is a feature article from ‘Q’ music magazine. It still has the typical structures of a feature article of a music magazine. It is on a double spread, which is usual for a main story in a music magazine. Being on a double spread allows a larger story, or in this case, one page for a picture and one page for the interview. This article is about Liam Gallagher (formally of Oasis) with his new band Beady Eye who are about to release their debut album. This feature article is very structured and contains 3 columns of text, with clear gutters between them so the audience know when one line ends and the next one starts. The first one and a half columns is information on various things such as ‘Oasis’ and ‘Beady Eye’, with the next part being an interview with the band.

The audience would probably first be drawn to the image used on the right page of the interview of Liam Gallagher. He is standing up straight and looks like a typical man, with a strong stance and a long camouflage jacket on. His outfit suggests the genre of music his music is aimed at. The big army jacket suggests that it is iconic to the indie genre.

The pull quote is probably what the audience would see next, as it is in bold red font next to the picture, so it stands out. The pull quotes are on the page to persuade the audience to read the article, and make them think about why the person interviewed said that. This may make them go on and read the whole interview. The only other thing present on the right hand page is the name of the band being interviewed, ‘Beady Eye’. This informs the audience straight away who the magazine is interviewing.

The huge red drop letter ‘T’ is instantly recognisable to the regular readers of ‘Q’ magazine, as it is present in all of the interviews within the magazine. It stands out ahead of the text, which could just be there to draw the attention of the reader. The interview also has a drop letter ‘S’, which again draws the attention of the audience. Finally, there is a quote at the top of the left page about Oasis splitting up. As this was such a huge piece of news, the audience will be very interested in reading about it, and so this quote will persuade them to carry on reading the rest of the article.

Analysing Feature Article- Matt O'Rourke

This is a feature article from a blog, which could mean that it is an AS college student’s magazine coursework. However it still has all of the major structures of a typical music magazine feature article. It is on a double spread, which is usual for a main story in a music magazine. Being on a double spread allows a larger story, or in this case question and answer session. It also allows there to be a large picture of the star being interviewed, while leave enough white space for the double spread to not look too cluttered.

The feature article has a large, sharp-font title, which automatically draws the attention of the audience to the name, and to see if they know who they are. The sharp font gives a quirky, ‘cool’, feel, so we already know what kind of person Matt O’Rourke is. Also, having a white drop shadow allows the title to stand out from the page, and almost look 3D. The blue lightning strike behind his name also helps the title to stand out.

The next thing that the audience should notice is the picture of Matt O’Rourke with his guitar. This tells the audience what will feature in this double page spread, and gives them the decision of staying on the page and reading, or skipping the interview and going to the next page. The audience may see the pull quote next, which is on top of the photo. The pull quotes are on the page to intrigue the audience into reading the article, and make them think about why the person interviewed said that. In this case “It was all a good experience and a hell of a lot of fun” makes the audience wonder what it is that Matt O’Rourke is talking about when he says this. This may make the audience go on and read the whole interview, making the pull quote a very important part of the feature article.

The pictures along the top of the double page spread inform the audience further of what to expect in this interview. They are close and personal photos of the star which could make the audience believe that he is more of a normal person, and that they can relate themselves to him more. There are a few pictures of him, and a few of his recording studio. This also tells the audience what he does in his spare time.

Finally, the audience would probably read the interview itself. The article has a rough set of gutters, which separates different columns from each other, making it easier for the audience to distinguish where one line stops and the next begins. This is typical of any kind of feature article, and is needed to make the page look neater and clearer.

The typography of the text within the interview is also very important, as the makers of the magazine need to ensure that it grabs the attention of the audience, while being easy to read. The size chosen for the font is good, as it is not too big that you don’t get much information on the page, but not too small that the audience has to squint to read it. The small piece of text before the actual interview begins gives the audience a small back story of Matt O’Rourke, and because is not part of the interview, is black with no drop shadow. However, when the interview starts, the text becomes white with a black drop shadow, except the titles, which are the opposite. The text is bolder so it stands out more that the small introduction.