Research

1. Research
Ayrton Starkey

2. Existing Product -
Front Cover
The masthead of this magazine
uses a font which is Sans Serif and
has a bigger font size than
anything else on the page. The
white colour grabs attention over
the dimmer and more colourful
image of which it is behind.
The main image of this magazine
shows a selection of celebrities
which are all in the film that this
magazine is focusing on. The star
power of this may be enough to
make somebody purchase the
magazine due to it. Most of the
actors are looking away from the
camera. This doesn’t create the
effect of making the reader feel
connected like they would do if
they were all looking directly
towards the camera. The image
also has a lot of colour in it which
makes it look more aesthetically
pleasing to the reader.
The header of this magazine seems to
get bigger by each line of text
eventually leading to the masthead
which is much larger. The colours also
alternate between red and white for
each different thing that is mentioned.
This header is used to give some
insight in to what is inside that
magazine and what it covers.
The layout of the magazine is very
colourful due to the main image yet
the writing is in bold colours which
cut through the image so that it
catches your eye. This makes the
magazine look professional and
appealing to the consumer. The
layout is also not very busy and has
limited captions and text. This makes
the magazine feel as though it is of
better quality and less cheap.
There is no barcode on this
magazine. This is due to it either
being on the back or due to it being
sold online. Since there is no barcode
it makes the magazine look better as
it is not standing out and pulling the
attention of the reader.
The text at the bottom of this
magazine also follows the same
theme as the text in the header.
This text also tells you what to
expect in the magazine but
since it is at the bottom it is less
important than what is
mentioned at the top in the
header.

3. The main image of this magazine is
only of one character yet it takes up a
majority of the space on the page.
This character is the main focus of the
front cover and it can attract more
people to buy it as they know the
character and wish to read the
magazine. They are also looking at the
camera which can be used as a form
of interaction to connect with the
consumer and convince them to
purchase the magazine.
The masthead of this magazine uses a
font which is informal yet seems to fit
well with the theme of the magazine.
The colours of this masthead match
the colours portrayed by the main
image as the character is wearing blue
and orange fighting robes. Like most
other magazines, the masthead is
behind the main image yet still visible.
There are several sub images on this
front cover. These sub images are
being used to show what topics and
shows are going to be talked about in
the magazine. These images can drive
more people to buy the magazine as a
consumer can walk past and notice
that one of their favourite shows is in
one of the images and they might buy
the magazine due to it.
The layout of this front cover is very
colourful yet the colours in the
background don’t draw attention
from the main image and the
masthead. The layout has also made
it easier for the reader to find out
what will be included in the
magazine due to the small images.
There are a few pieces of text that
are placed around the page. These
pieces of text are placed well to
make them stand out as they have
their own font and colour scheme.
There is also a piece of text at the
bottom of the page where the
magazine is being promoted in a
bright yellow font with a small
white background. This is to make
the text more dominant on the
page.
The barcode on the magazine cover
is not discreet and takes up quite a
bit of space in the bottom left.
Although it has two colours
conflicting, it blends in with the
magazine well due to it being out of
the way of most things on the page.
Existing Product -
Front Cover

4. Existing Product -
Double Page Spread
There is a very clear
main image that takes
up a majority of the
screen. This image
seems to be a snapshot
of the film that is being
discussed throughout
this double page
spread. There are also a
selection of other
images scattered
around the page. This
may encourage the
reader to continue
reading due to the
visually appealing
aspect of the page. The
amount of images on
the page and the size of
them compared to the
text is a big difference
with the images taking
up mot of the space on
the page.
There is a column to the
right of the page which
highlight new and
upcoming films that the
reader might be
interested in. This
column mainly focuses
on comedies that would
be approaching their
release dates at the
time of this magazine
being created. This is a
contrast in the genre of
film that was being
discussed as Skyfall is a
thriller/action movie
compared to light
hearted comedies
which are being
mentioned next to the
article. All of these films
that have been
highlighted in the
column also have an
image next to them
which may interest the
viewer enough for them
to read about it.
There is a section in this double page spread where an interview has been placed in between the main
article on the page. This interview catches the eye of the reader as it is in the middle of the page and
could seem as though it is out of place since it obstructs the rest of the article from possible joining
together. This box also stands out due to is colour scheme of the page being the opposite of the colours
scheme in the box. Since the box has a black background, it stands out from the white background that
it has been placed on even more.

5. The masthead of this magazine is
informal due to its usage of lower case
yet it also takes dominance on the page
as it is above the main image. The colour
scheme of the masthead works well with
the main image as they share colours.
The masthead is also quite dim which fits
with the colours and also helps make the
bigger text on the page stand out more.
The text on the left and right of the
front page manage to balance out the
page so there is not too much
information or content on one side of
the cover. This text also goes bold
whenever a game is mentioned. This
could help with convincing a customer
to buy the magazine as they might be
interested in one of the games which is
in bold.
The sub heading of this magazine front
cover has the same if not larger font
size as the masthead. This is probably
so that they can use a known franchise
to catch the attention of a customer
rather than their magazine name and
therefore attracting a bigger audience.
The colours of the text also match the
colours of the rest of the magazine and
also of the picture.
The colours scheme of this front cover
follows the same two colours. The front
cover sticks to using red and white but also
incorporates a bit of yellow too so that it
can stand out. The page sticks to this colour
scheme because of the game that it is
focusing on and the appearance of the main
character in that game as he is red and
white.
There is a plug on the front page which
is advertising a signed game soundtrack
that you can win inside. This advert is
yellow which makes it stand out quite a
bit as the background of the cover is
darker than the advert. This can draw
more people to buy the magazine as
they may want to have a chance at
winning this prize.
This front cover includes text at the bottom
where it tells you some of the topics that
are included and that will be covered in this
issue of the magazine. This also follows the
colour scheme of red and white so that it
does not stand out too much from the rest
of the magazine. This section could
convince people to buy the magazine as
they could see a game that they are looking
forward to or one that they enjoy is being
talked about in the magazine.
The main image of this front cover is behind all
text and in the background. This is is different
to what a lot of magazines do as they usually
put the main image in front a most of the text
– mainly the masthead. The main image is still
important despite this as the colour scheme
originates from the colours of the main image
as the character consists of those colours. The
main image is also very important as it can be
the deciding factor for someone to buy the
magazine. The main image also gains a
customers attention as it could be something
they recognize.
Existing Product -
Front Cover

6. Existing Product -
Poster
The layout of this poster has a vibrant
colour scheme which would be able to
grab the attention of someone walking
past it. The colours of the poster are
saturated which helps colours stand out
more and also makes the whole poster
look more aesthetically appealing as
the light is softer and all the bright
colours work well with the softer
background.
This poster is illustrated which helps get
the saturated colours and also helps
add more detail. It is also quite rare to
see an illustrated poster for movies
now so some people may be interested
in that poster due to it being illustrated.
This may help the person make their
mind up about going to see the film. A
person could see that the poster is
illustrated and remember their
favourite film from a long time ago
having an illustrated poster. This may
trigger nostalgia within them, making
them more prone to see the film.
Everybody in the poster is wearing a
different colour which helps the viewer
distinguish which character is which
and what they are wearing so that they
can get a basic idea on what the person
may be like.
The text on this poster is also saturated
along with the rest of the poster. This
makes it so that the text doesn’t stick out
for the wrong reasons like not looking as
though the text should be on the poster
or it just not blending in with the rest of
the poster and making it look awful. The
text with all the actors names is well
placed on the top right of the poster as
there was nothing but sky there in the
background and it also helps with
balancing the page so that one side is not
heavy with content whilst the other is
lacking.
The main title of the poster is in a big and
bold font so that people are able to
recognise that this is a poster for the film
Baby Driver. It also makes it stick out so
that if the colours of the poster don’t
grab the attention of a passer by then the
text might. The colour of the main title is
also bright compared to the dark road
which it has been placed on top of.
The rest of the small text at the bottom of
the page is small and dark which makes it
blend in with the road which the main
titles was standing out from. This will be
because all he text and logo’s would not
fit in with the poster and would make it
look less appealing to a consumer.

7. Existing Product -
Poster
This poster has a very colourful an
bright colour scheme. Due to the
amount of bright colours, it might
attract people to look at it as they
with to know what those colours are
which are in their peripheral vision.
Due to the dark background, these
bright colours stand out a lot more
than they would if there was a
brighter background.
The bright lights that are on the
poster provide a lens flare that seems
to be making the characters lighter
and easier to see. This helps the
characters stand out so that people
can see who is in the film and possibly
make more people wish to go see the
film as their favourite actor or
character is in it.
Since the background is a dark,
galactic area with planets, the lights
enhance on the galactic feeling as
they seem as though they could
belong there in space. It also seems
as though the characters are colour
coded for their abilities and the
colour either their abilities or their
clothes are.
There is a large ”A” in the middle of the
poster which is the logo for the people in
the film. This logo seems to be in front
and behind people in the middle which
could either show that the people in
front of the ”A” are more important or it
could also mean that because they are all
surrounding this logo, they are all a part
of one group.
There are also characters which are
larger than others. This could also signify
that some character are more important
which is why they are bigger than the
less significant characters. By making
more important characters bigger, more
people could see a very well known actor
which could make them want to see the
film due to it. Some more people may
also want to see the film because their
favourite character is very large on the
poster making it easy to see them.
The title for this film is at the bottom of
the poster. This title does not take up
much room and also doesn’t stand out as
well as the image to a passerby. This is
due to it being a rather small title and
also due to the colours in the image
overpowering the colour used for the
title as it is a darker colour compared to
the bright and vibrant colours
throughout the main image.

8. Research Analysis
• What common features do the researched products
have?
– The front covers tend to have a main image which is usually in front of most text and other images
on the page.
– I have noticed that there tends to be a group of people on film posters. This would mainly include
the actors.
– I have noticed that on both front covers and double page spreads, they like to rely on the use of
images to engage the reader.
– I have noticed that most front covers have rather large mastheads which have a bigger font size than
the rest of the text on the page.
– Some of the front covers that I have looked at have pieces of text scattered around the page which
offer more information about the magazine and what to expect inside.
• What aspects of the research will you include within
your own production work?
• I will use a good amount of colour in my front cover.
• I will use a large main image of a character or person.
• For my poster I will include a handful of characters like in the ones I analysed.
• I will make sure that I make my masthead stand out on my front cover.
• The colours I use in my front cover will work well together.

9. Questionnaire Analysis

10. Audience research
• Observation: There are more than double the amount of males than females.
• What this says about my audience: This means that I should cater for a
predominantly male audience.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: I can make my
product appeal to my audience by including things about films which are generally considered to be
preferred by males.

11. Audience research
• Observation: All of the people who answered my survey are between 16 and 18 years old.
• What this says about my audience: This says that my audience consists of
young people.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: My product
will be a more informal magazine than I wanted it to be so that it caters to this new audience.

12. Audience research
• Observation: Most people don’t usually read magazines while only a few do read them.
• What this says about my audience: This says that most of my audience are not really
interested in reading magazines.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: I don’t really know how I could
make my product appeal to an audience which doesn't read magazines but what I could do is try to appeal
by making the front cover look appealing to someone who is passing by.

13. Audience research
• Observation: Most of the answers say that they find the information on the internet.
• What this says about my audience: This says that my audience is not interested in a
magazine that you have to pay for when they can find all the information on the internet for free.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: I could make a website for my
magazine but I am not sure if I want to make one as the last on that I made was not very good.

14. Audience research
• Observation: My audience is very diverse on what they would read in a magazine.
• What this says about my audience: My audience would mainly read
magazines which revolve around TV, Film and Anime over games and music.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: Since most of
my audience would prefer a magazine about TV/Film/Anime, I will make that as I wanted to
do that anyway.

15. Audience research
• Observation: The price that they would pay varies quite a lot.
• What this says about my audience: This says that my audience varies on
the amount of money that they would spend on a magazine.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: I will make
the price on the magazine be £2-3 as that is in between what the audience wishes and is also
the price range that was chosen the most.

16. Audience research
• Observation: Most of the people want to see news and such about entertainment.
• What this says about my audience: This says that most of my audience want
news about new films and TV shows as well as information about the same things.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: I will make this
appeal to my audience by doing what the audience want as that was what I wanted to do
before the survey.

17. Audience research
• Observation: My audience would all buy a magazine that I want to make.
• What this says about my audience: This says that my audience would all
buy a magazine which revolves around the topics that I wish to make my magazine on.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: I will make a
magazine which covers these topics but I may change the topics that I use to only TV and film
and maybe also anime.

18. Audience research
• Observation: There was nobody that said no.
• What this says about my audience: This still says that my audience
would buy the magazine that I want to create.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: I am still
going to make the magazine that I wished to create in the first place as my audience seems to
want the topics in a magazine that I wish to include in mine.

19. Interviews

20. Interview 1
• What is your age?
• I am 17 years old.
• How often do you read magazines?
• I have never actually bought a magazine in my life, the main reason I have never done
this is because they just don’t interest me in any way at all really.
• What would you expect to see in an entertainment magazine?
• In my opinion the main topics you should see in entertainment magazines is a mixture
of games, music and films, I just don’t think other magazines will sell very well.
• What topic would you want an entertainment magazine to focus on? (If you think they
should focus on a certain topic)
• My favourite topic to talk about is gaming magazines these are the ones that I would
feel most interested in to buy.
• How much would you be willing to spend on a magazine?
• £4.25, I would not go any higher than this.
• What do you think is the most important aspect of a front cover?
• The image because it is the main focus of a magazine to draw the audience in and it
should be large and central, maybe even colourful to be easily focused on.

21. Interview 1
• Observation: This person has never bought a magazine before and
would prefer the magazine to be focused on gaming.
• What this says about my audience: This shows that my
audience doesn’t usually buy magazines so I will have to try hard to make the magazine
appeal to these people. It also says that my audience may want the magazine to be more
oriented towards gaming.
• How will your product appeal to this
audience:I will make sure to include a section or two for gaming when I
create my double page spreads as this is what my audience would want. I may also
make a gaming poster with the magazine.

22. Interview 2
• What is your age? I am 18 years of age.
• How often do you read magazines? I read magazines on a fairly regular basis considering I work
at WHSmith.
• What would you expect to see in an entertainment magazine? I would expect to see many
things including reviews, release dates and articles about movies, tv shows and games.
• What topic would you want an entertainment magazine to focus on? (If you think
they should focus on a certain topic) I think a good topic for an entertainment magazine would be
movies as I’m always interested in articles and reviews for movies.
• How much would you be willing to spend on a magazine? I would spend of maximum £6.
• What do you think is the most important aspect of a front cover? I think the most
important aspect of a front cover would be the feature article image and logo.

23. Interview 2
• Observation: This person reads magazines on a regular basis and they expect to
see most of the things that I wish to put in my magazine anyway.
• What this says about my audience: This says that my
audience want things in my magazine that I also want to put in my magazine and wanted to
when I was coming up with the ideas for the magazine.
• How will your product appeal to this
audience: My product will appeal to my audience by including the things that they
want and by also making the magazine look interesting and eye-catching.

24. Interview 3
• What is your age? 17
• How often do you read magazines? I don’t read magazines very often.
• What would you expect to see in an entertainment magazine? I would expect to
see news about new films and television programs. I would also expect to see
information about the new films and older films too. Another thing I would expect
to see are a lot of pictures.
• What topic would you want an entertainment magazine to focus on? (If you think
they should focus on a certain topic) I would want an entertainment magazine to
focus mainly on film and television as having too many topics could make the
magazine less interesting.
• How much would you be willing to spend on a magazine? £3-5
• What do you think is the most important aspect of a front cover? Probably the
main image and header as they both make you notice the magazine.

25. Interview 3
• Observation: This person would want the magazine to focus mainly on film
and television as they think by having too many topics it can make the magazine less
interesting. They would also like to too see a variety of pictures and also news about
new films and television series.
• What this says about my audience: This says that my
audience want to see the things that I wished to put in my magazine when I was
thinking about making it but without the rest of the topics. It also says that my
audience will spend a moderate amount of money on a magazine if they were to buy
one.
• How will your product appeal to this
audience: I will make my magazine a film and television magazine to fit with
what my audience wants as I am now convinced that by having too many topics in a
magazine it can make it less interesting.

26. Bibliography

27. Bibliography
1. Starkey, Ayrton. (2018) Target Audience Research Survey (conducted on
13th April 2018)
2. Birkin, Jay. (2018) Target Audience Interviews (conducted on 13th April
2018)
3. Sullivan-Cree, Alexander. (2018) Target Audience Interviews (conducted
on 13th April 2018)
4. Knapton, Jeff. (2018) Target Audience Interviews (conducted on 13th April
2018)