2. I made a survey on a free website called survey monkey. Using survey monkey allowed me to place my
survey on my blog, and share it on Facebook. This meant my survey was viewed and completed by lots of
people.
I used 10 questions in my survey to help me gain an idea about what my audience would like to see
featured in a magazine as well as how often they read and buy magazines as well as how much they will
pay for one. All of these answers will affect how I design my magazine and what articles I feature.
Survey monkey also analysed my results which allows my answers to be ranked in order of popularity by
percentage. This helped me gage what the most important things to include in my magazine were so I
could prioritise them. However all of the answers given are useful to me and will help me make important
decisions about the design of my magazine and will impact on what articles are featured.
3. Q1 - GENDER • This shows that more woman took this test, however I
know that the heavy metal scene is predominantly male
therefore I will need to make sure my magazine appeals
to this male audience. One way in which I can do this is
through the colour scheme, using dark colours such as
red and black will appeal to a male audience. For the
small majority of females who might buy my magazine, I
will not use sexualise women within the magazine so
they feel accepted and appreciated within the magazine
• Unfortunately, due to more woman filling out this survey
it means there will be a female bias in the results given,
this means I will keep these results in mind however I
might take more inspiration and ideas from other heavy
metal magazines which are appropriate for heavy metal
fans. Also to relieve this problem of not many males
taking part in this survey, I conducted my qualitative
data (interviews) using male heavy metal fans.
4. Q2 - AGE
• This shows that over 80% of the people who filled
in my survey were aged 18-24. However, metal is
a very diverse genre interesting people of all
ages. However young adults is the most
dominant age group in heavy metal, therefore
these results will be useful because I can take
into consideration their ideas as the people
answering these questions are my largest
percentage of my target audience.
• One way I can interest a young audience through
my magazine is advertising lots of events and
gigs because young adults like to go out.
Additionally, to interest all ages I would include
interviews from both old heavy metal bands eg,
from the 80s as well as more recent heavy metal
bands.
5. Q3 – FREQUENCY OF BUYING MAGAZINES
• Unfortunately this shows that over 50% of the
people taking part in my survey never buy music
magazines. This is realistic because all magazine
sales have declined due to tabloid magazine
forms becoming more popular and following the
band on Facebook gives you immediate news.
• This means I will have to make my magazine
interesting and unique. This will be done through
providing exclusive interviews and special
competitions as well as freebies. These will
hopefully make my magazine more readable and
popular than social media, radio and TV.
Furthermore, I could also include the use of
social media and have a website where you have
to buy the magazine to unlock more interviews
and song previews.
6. Q4 – READING THE PURCHASED MAGAZINE
• This shows over 50% of the people taking part in
my survey only read certain articles in the
magazine therefore I need to make sure my
magazine has enough interesting and appealing
articles in that even if my audience only read a
few articles, the magazine is still worth the
money.
• However, by including exclusive interviews and
brand new information, this will encourage my
audience to read my magazine fully.
7. Q5 – KEEPING THE MAGAZINE
• This shows that the majority of my audience do
keep their magazines for future referral. This
means it would be useful to contain articles which
would help musicians develop like ‘how to’s’ that
as they will be kept and use as a helpful guide in
the future.
• For example, I could include ‘how to’s’ about
tuning guitars or basses, using distortion pedals.
• Then for non musicians I could include articles
like what to pack when going to a metal festival or
gig, and how to make the most effective battle
jacket.
8. Q6 – PREFERED ARTICLES
• This shows the most popular part of a magazine is
interviews therefore I will make sure the main
articles in my magazine are interviews. Then with
reviews the second favourite I will also include a
review section this can be reviewing a variety of
on things such as; live tours, albums, guitars and
pedals.
• Furthermore, to make the magazine more
appealing to my audience, I could get the products
to be reviewed by unbiased members of the heavy
metal community instead of having the reviews
conducted by biased journalists.
• Because interviews were found as the most
popular article, I chose to design and plan an
interview for my double page spread to make my
magazine more realistic.
9. Q7 - INTERVIEWS
• This question revealed what type of interviews my
audience like to see featured in a magazine. The
most popular type of interview are ones which are
not in depth however there are a lot of them. This
is perhaps so my audience feel more connected
to a variety of bands and have a wide knowledge
of bands through the interviews, rather than
knowing about a few bands in detail.
• However, there is only 10% in between the
answers therefore to accommodate both I will
have a variety of interview lengths in my
magazine. This will be done through in-depth
interviews, quick fire interviews, also the use of
fact files. This way if I include a variety of
interviews, all of my audience has been
considered and catered for.
10. Q8 – MAGAZINE LAYOUT
• This question demonstrates that my audience
appreciates a magazine layout which includes
lots of images and minimalist text. This could be
due to the young demographic which is
participating in my survey.
• Taking on board these results when planning my
magazine I will keep a consistent layout of using
lots of images however to accommodate the
range of ages which listen to heavy metal some
articles will be heavily texted and some will be
minimalist because this means my magazine will
be appealing to all the ages interested in heavy
metal.
• This can be seen in my finished magazine
product because my contents page is minimalist
with little text but a few photos however my
double page spread was heavily texted along
with lots a images.
11. Q9 – COST OF MAGAZINE
• Looking at the results from this question, there
were two choices which had the same amount of
votes, these were people who would pay £1-£2.50
and £3.60-£5 this tells me some people will pay a
lot for a magazine and some will not therefore I
have chosen to advertise my magazine at a
middle price of £3.50 because this allows me to
include valuable and interesting freebies and offer
brilliant competitions. Also if I go for a lower price
when it is a monthly magazine, my magazine will
be the better finance option compared to other
magazines like Metal Hammer which is £4.25.
12. Q10 – DISCOUNTS AND FREEBIES
• This demonstrates that 90% of the people who took part in
my survey want a magazine which provides vouchers for
certain stores and gig tickets therefore I will include these
features to create an excitement about my magazine.
• This will also help my magazine appeal to my young
demographic of 18-24 year olds because these are likely
to be students, therefore money is tight however by giving
out gig discounts and other freebies it will help my
audience enjoy their music without it costing too much
leading to my magazine being the favourite amongst
young adults.
13. From my audience research I now have a clear idea of what my magazine will be like through the answers the public
have given. By following the results of my audience research I hope this will make my magazine more popular
because it will be appealing to a variety of different people within the metal genre.
