Nearly finished Audience

1. AUDIENCE
Alicja Morawska

2.  My Audience Area
 My project is going to be aimed more towards an alternative group of people, which means advertising events and places that would be more
attractive to them rather than the mainstream of what most people would expect to find inYork. I want to create a type of booklet that
highlights the alternative, typically rock centred things that there are to do in the city.Things such as live music venues with a rock night, rock
based bars, skate shops, alternative and vintage clothing stores, record and music stores, tattoo and piercing studios etc. I know that these
things are in the city but they aren’t as well promoted and are much harder to find, so I want to make this for the people who are already into
these sorts of things but aren’t aware of where that representation is inYork.
 This means researching into the specific demographic within the age range that I’ve been given for this project, creating primary research based
off of people I know will fit into it so I know I’m getting information from the correct people for what I want to create.
 I have made work for this audience area multiple times and believe that I have a good understanding of their expectations and would have an
advantage in finding out what the opinions are as these are also the kinds of people that I surround myself with and experience daily.This will
make gathering information and personal tastes from these people a lot easier.
 This is the audience profile for Kerrang magazine, a popular rock music publication
that I think would represent my target audience very well due to the fact that it’s a
way of them informing and entertaining them through their interests as well as
giving them information about what relevant events are happening that they may
be interested in attending. I decided to use this magazines audience profile
because I know from personal experience that its readers are the kind of people I
want to make my project for.

3.  Age
■ The age range that I’m going to be looking at is between 16 to 25 year olds, putting them in the age starting further education, continuing onto
higher education then moving to employment or potentially a masters degree.The age that I'm looking at means that there is a high possibility
of the consumers being students, especially withYork's large student population so that needs to take into consideration how much time do
these people have, what do they want to use that time on and how much can they spend on this.
■ Another thing that I need to think about going into this is that the age range goes down to 16, meaning that there needs to be a good selection
of events and attractions that don’t run the risk of being asked for an ID that they don’t have. It means looking further to find non- alcohol
related events inYork that would appeal to young people, which is much harder than it should be. Because of the type of people I’m targeting my
work at, there are a lot of events that will take place in bars and live music venues that will sell alcohol, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that
they aren’t accessible to under 18 year olds as long as they follow the law. I want to make the underage members of my audience to know that it
doesn’t stop them from enjoying themselves in a setting that they feel most comfortable in, as well as make sure that they’re aware of other
events.
■ As for the people who have passed the age of 18 I know that there will be a wider range of things that are available to do for them inYork, due to
being of legal drinking age as well as a higher minimum wage, allowing them to have a higher budget.
■ There is also the importance of what kind of things people want to be doing at different ages, for example a younger member of my target
audience that’s only recently turned 18 is more likely to go on a more intense and tiring event, rather than the oldest people in my target
audience who may have begun to prefer a quieter, calmer night out for their weekends.

4. Gender
■ The audience for this product will be predominantly male, based on that things such as skating, rock music and heavy rock live shows have a
more male audience.The expectations that come with this genre and lifestyle is that it’s seen as more aggressive and less of something that
women would stereotypically involve themselves in.
■ Due to the nature of the content, there won’t be a particular gender that I’ll be trying to adhere to.The design style won’t be influenced by the
more male percentage of my target audience but by the connotations of the music genre, the styles and fashions of the the lifestyles that are
associated with the interests likeViking metal, skating and rock shows.
■ The way I’m going to represent gender in this product is also something that I don’t want to rely on stereotypes for. I understand that the way
that males are generally shown as is as powerful and that it tends to be even more so in the area that I’m looking at. I can keep to that
representation because it applies to what the target audience would expect but the other side of it is that they wouldn’t expect the women to be
represented as a weak or simply being there for their appearance.The women that are involved in this lifestyle are always shown as equal.You
wouldn’t see women being shown from a higher angle to suggest that the power is in the readers favour, making the model seem weaker, the
images wouldn’t be sexual or suggestive in nature but rather as independent and strong.
■ I don’t want anything to seem like it’s being aimed at a specific gender as I know that the people who I’m trying to make this product for tend not
to respond well to that sort of advertising. InYork there seems to be less of a prejudice with people who lead that lifestyle and everyone is seen
as equal when they first meet, as it tends to be a more open minded group.

5.  Education
■ York has a massive student population and although what I’m going to be making isn’t aimed specifically at the students in the city, they will
make up a large percentage of my target audience.This will influence what the content I will be focusing on as I want to make sure that it’s
appropriate and accessible to the consumers.
■ University ofYork (18+) recorded having 18,550 students across all of it’s courses in December of 2018.
■ York St. John University (18+) recorded having 6,250 students across it’s courses in 2017-2018.
■ York College (16+) records averaging at around 8,000 students a year ranging from A-level, vocational, apprentice, adult and higher education.
■ I think that this is relevant because of how these people will use their free time and when that time is most likely to be. Not everyone likes
waiting until the weekend to enjoy their free time and due to the large amount of students and their different timetables, it would make sense to
advertise events during the work week as well, as some students will want to use the evenings when they don’t have to be in lesson the next
morning.
■ I also want to be able to take into consideration some of the student events that go on aroundYork, as it gives the consumers of this product the
ability to find like-minded people not only in the city but also other students that they can see on a more regular basis during their day to day life.

6. PRIMARY
RESEARCH

7.  Interview One
■ I interviewed one of the people from my social circle who falls into the more alternative youth group inYork and asked them about what kind of
things they like to fill their free time with. I had a feeling that the outcome of this wouldn’t be as useful as I would have wanted, because as there
isn’t a lot of alternative culture inYork, it’s very easy to simply run out things to talk about, and everything that they mentioned I had already
considered for the product.
■ How old are you? – 18
■ What kind of music are you listening to? – a mix of rock and some of the more alternative mainstream music but never really been into the
majority of the recent charts.
■ Where are some places that you’d go to spend your evening with a group of friends? - Usually it’s somewhere like Gibson's or Drawing Board
(two alternative rock bars in the city centre) because I’m not a big fan of loud crowded clubs. I prefer to sit at a bar with friends listening to good
music that I know the majority of and can sing along to surrounded by like-minded people.
■ Aside from drinking venues, what else might you be doing with your free time? – Although I don’t skate myself, I know a few people that do so
sometimes I’ll head over to Rowntree skate park just to relax and watch, it’s a good way to meet new people with similar interests.
■ What about shopping? Is there anywhere that you would consider to sell more alternative products? – It’s really hard to find any actual
alternative shops inYork, the only genuine one I can think of is Classix, which is family owned and has limited stock but offers a great piercing
studio at the back. Besides that its only second hand or vintage shops scattered around the city, that also don’t have a great selection because of
what kind of business they are but are generally quite expensive too.
■ What kind of income are you getting to do these things? – Being a college student it’s kind of flipping between unemployment and part time, so
either no income or maybe just above minimum wage.

8. InterviewTwo
■ How old are you? – 20
■ What kind of music are you listening to? – Rap mixed with rock so stuff like Linkin Park, sometimes heavier stuff if I’m in the mood
■ Where are some places that you’d go to spend your evening with a group of friends? – For me it’s stuff like Artful Dodger and some of the quieter
bars around town, I like the atmosphere and that it’s out of the way from the regular crowd.
■ Aside from drinking venues, what else might you be doing with your free time? –When I was a bit younger it was a lot of time spent skating with
friends, finding somewhere open to try and learn new tricks. Now if it’s not going out to a bar it’ll be one of the few live music venues for a show,
either a band that I know the members of personally or bands that I’ve been following and supporting for a long time and want to see how they
improve.
■ What about shopping? Is there anywhere that you would consider to sell more alternative products? – well going back to the skating I used to
spend a lot of my money in AntiGravity ( a shop in the city centre that sells things such as BMX bike parts, scooters, helmets and protective
padding and skateboards). But now I’m usually having to order my clothes online because there just isn’t a lot of places that sell my style inYork
■ What kind of income are you getting to do these things? – I’ve been holding down a bar job for just over a year, it’s a decent steady income and
I'm earning a fair amount over minimum wage for my age. It allows me to pay my part of the rent and make sure that I have everything I need
whilst still leaving me with enough to have a bit of fun.

9. BIBLIOGRAPHY

10. ■ anon. (2019). University ofYork.Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_York. Last accessed 19th Sept 2019.
■ anon. (2019). Equality Data :Students. Available: https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/equality/equality-data/equality-data-students/. Last accessed 19th
Sept 2019.
■ anon. (2019). Labour Market Profile. Available: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/lmp/la/1946157112/report.aspx#tabrespop. Last accessed
19th Sept 2019
■ anon. (2019). Student Statistics. Available: https://www.york.ac.uk/about/student-statistics/. Last accessed 19th Sept 2019.
■ Fox, H. (2012). Kerrang. Available: https://www.slideshare.net/hannahfox1/kerrang-11855498. Last accessed 20th Sept 2019.