Evaluation: Q5

5.How did you attract/address your audience?

I used my audience research as my guideline to find ways that I could attract my target audience in many different forms. One way I attracted my target audience is through my front cover, which is an important part of my magazine overall, which will determine if my target audience will read or buy my music magazine. One way that I felt that attracted my target audience from my front cover is my model, by choosing a model around the same age of my target audience is a big advantage because my target audience will be able to relate themselves to my model. Also by having an attractive female model, which is another advantage, which will help attract my target audience more. The clothes that the model is wearing represent a popular style, which some R&B celebrities’ wear, which is simple with no brand.

The other way I attracted my target audience is by focusing mainly on popular R&B/Hip Hop/Rap music artist; because this is what my target audience liked and would like to hear about in music magazines. This was done through my cover lines. The well known names that I used in my magazine attract my target audience, because these were the people that they said they liked, when I was researching about my target audience. I also spoke about issues, that could appeal to the both the male and female audience, for example “HOT NEW TRENDS, FOR THE WINTER SEASON”, I chose to write this cover line, because I knew that fashion is a big part in teenagers lives, as styles come and go, from season to season, I felt that mentioning something about fashion will attract them more. Another cover line, which I thought was a good way to attract my target audience, was “TOP 20 PLAYLIST OF 2011”. I decided this because its way of keeping my audience up to date with the latest songs of the year, knowing that they are not missing out on anything, which keeps my audience reassured.

Mainly through my magazine I used a variety of san serif fonts, which gave my magazine a modern and stylish look. The idea of using san serif fonts would attract my target audience, because when researching other music magazines of the genre of music I liked, they mostly used san serif font throughout. I downloaded a san serif font from dafont.com, which was called American Purpose, which I used for my masthead and contents page title. This will make my magazine unique and more recognisable for my target audience, which I wanted my magazine to be. Also the name of my magazine was another way to attract my audience, because it is different from others. It doesn’t clearly state that it is a music magazine, but my magazine name portrays my magazine to be about entertainment, e.g. music, movies, everything that the media portrays as entertainment and how it is seen.

I attracted and addressed my target audience by the language I used. I mainly used Standard English and not many slang, which is popular with the teenagers. I chose to use Standard English instead of slang because I wanted my magazine to attract not just the younger audience but also the older audience, like the young adults. I wanted the older readers to feel that they can read my magazine without feeling confused about what some words mean. So Standard English was a way to can relate to both the younger audience and older audience.  

My contents page is set out in a neat, organised and simple structure, so my target audience doesn’t feel lost or confused when reading and trying to find certain pages. I set my writing in a vertical way, so as my target audience is reading, they can continue with reading in the same direction, when reading about something new, this way will keep them focused and in line.

On my double page spread, I attracted my target audience by adding a variety of more images of the model on my front page, because she was the main article, which I was going to feature in my double page spread.  The images will attract my target audience, because it is different from what they would see on my front cover. It would keep them interested in the model I am talking about, and they get to see her in a different form, for example clothing, she wears something different on my double page spread than on my front cover. I set out my double page spread article in a form of an interview. I chose to write an interview for my article is because I wanted my target audience to know a bit more about the model on my front cover, which I could see from my target audience research, they liked reading about their favorite artist and other artists lifestyle and biography.

I decided to make one of my cover lines in colour, which clearly shows that it is the main cover line, because it needed to stand out from the rest, giving a message to my target audience that it is my main cover line.  By adding colour, it’s eye-catching and attractive for my audience, which will make it noticeable for my audience.