The document discusses the target audience for a music magazine, identifying teenagers aged 16-19 as the primary demographic due to the magazine's design elements and content that resonate with this age group. It emphasizes a gender-neutral approach in color schemes and fonts to appeal to both males and females, while acknowledging certain features that might attract a female audience, such as the presence of girl bands. The author compares their magazine to the NME magazine, highlighting similarities in design choices that cater to a youthful audience interested in contemporary music.

1. Who is the audience for my music magazine? Rachael Allen

2. Who is the audience and why? After receiving feedback from a variety of different people. It became clear to me that my magazine is best suited for teenagers aged between 16-19; this being due to the aspects within my magazine that demonstrate characteristics of a teenage audience. These include features such as the colour schemes, language, and the mannerism of the article (interview) that I featured on my double page spread. Also, because of the house style of the magazine; which is sophisticated and modern, but at the same time fun and exciting. It is best suited to this age group because, they demonstrate these aspects and characteristics within their everyday lifestyle, and my magazine provides information that appears most suitable and appropriate to them. This information includes concerts and latest album releases. As I have said in earlier posts, I feel that my magazine is best suited for both genders, however some aspects of my magazine do portray much more feminine aspects and therefore portray a much more girly and feminine mannerism. These aspects include the girl band, and language used in my article. Nevertheless, some of the male feedback I acquired indicated that my magazine would still appeal to the male audience due to some of the features that were mentioned within my magazine acted as some interest to them. This was also made clear because, some of my male feedback stated that my magazine appealed to them because of the colour scheme; as it wasn’t too girly and suggested a very neutral appearance. I feel that this information is accurate as when designing my magazine I ensured that the colour scheme and features inside of the magazine where fairly neutral making it appropriate for both genders.

3. Slide two continued... Personally, I still feel that my magazine is best suited to both genders because, the majority of my features within my magazine do not suggest one gender rather than the other, and also because, it challenges the stereotypical view that girl bands are best suited for girls as it reveals the band to be of interest to both gender, meaning that it makes it accessible and likeable by both genders. I feel that I made the band appealing to both genders by ensuring that the article written on them did not sound too feminine and I ensured that the text and fonts was neutral in that respect. I have previously mentioned that the other aspects and details of my magazine appealed to both gender, and I feel this due to the fact that the genre of my music doesn’t represent or demonstrate characteristics appealing to one gender rather than the other, meaning it is engaged by both genders equally. I also feel that it is because of the social integration that my music genre reveals.

4. H ow did I attract, and ensure my magazine appealed to my target audience? When carrying out research, I made sure that I took note of how other magazines used certain aspects to reveal a style that would be best suited for their specific audience, this being through the different colours, fonts, images and languages that they included within their designs. This therefore meant that when designing my magazine I had to bear in mind that my target audience would be of those aged between 16-18, meaning that any colours etc… that I used had to be best suited for this audience. I have gone into detail of this below: When considering the colours that I used, I wanted to make sure that I repeated and used the smallest variety of colours as possible to help create a colour scheme, so that it didn’t appear too childish. I also wanted to ensure that, because my audience was targeted at both gender, that I used colours that didn’t appeal to one gender more than the other; this therefore meant that within my design I decided to use quite neutral and basic colours that didn’t suggest one gender characteristics more than the other. The colours I chose provided enough vibrancy and energy to be suited towards a teenage audience without providing too many child like and tacky characteristics. I also felt that by using a colour scheme it helped create a very sophisticated and grown up approach, which many teenagers appear to demonstrate in their every day lives. I feel my colour scheme suggests individuality and professionalism, meaning that it is attractive and appealing to my audience.

5. Slide four continued... In terms of the fonts that I used, my magazine appealed to my target audience because, I had used a variety of modern and sophisticated font styles that suggested a young and classy appearance. I wanted to make sure that my fonts didn’t appear too masculine or feminine, so that my magazine wasn’t primarily focused upon one gender rather than the other; to do this I had to ensure that there was a balance between the fonts so that my magazine didn’t sway to one gender rather than the other. An example of fonts that I used included Maximus BT (this is fairly neutral, but portrays more manly features than other fonts, as it is very bold and structured) and Lucida Handwriting (which is fairly feminine, as it is very elegant and petite). I feel the fonts that I used portrayed a very elaborate and mature appearance, meaning that my target audience would be impressed and fascinated, resulting in attraction. I also feel that they would be attracted to the variety of different shapes and curves that my font styles reveal, as they all reveal such strong and dominant characteristics, meaning that my magazine creates a very energetic and interesting style that immediately catches your eye and attention for further pursue.

6. Slide five continued... The photographs that I have used appeal more to my female audience rather than the male, this being because the feature is of a girl band meaning that girls would be more attracted to my magazine due to this point, however to ensure that my magazine still appealed to the male audience, I included posters and text that would still be of some interest to them. I also feel that the photographs used appeal more to the female audience because, many teenage girls aspire to be like celebrities and role models so therefore by portraying females that they can relate to would appeal to them much more.

7. Comparison : (I am now going to compare my media product to a real magazine to show how certain aspects used help demonstrate a certain target audience.) As you can see, I have included a cover of the music magazine NME. I feel this particular issue is targeted at a similar audience to my own because, firstly the photograph used is of a young and modern woman; meaning that immediately a female audience would be attracted. You can see that the woman is young and modern by the fashionable clothing and sunglasses that she is shown to be wearing. (mise-en-scene) By using a young artist on the front, it suggests to the audience that the magazine issue is targeted at people who would be interested in young and update music, (therefore younger people)I have conformed to this idea by using a young girl band on my front cover to help suggest stylish and contemporary appearances so that they look interesting (so that my audience will want to look further into the magazine) However, because of the variety of artists that feature within this magazine, I feel the issue is targeted at the male gender also, like my own, because it allows these features to become of interest and appeal to the male gender. I used a variety of artists within my work, to enhance the appeal of my magazine to the male gender; I feel it contributes to the attraction of my magazine as it demonstrates to the male audience that other aspects of my magazine are not all primarily focused upon the girl band or girl artist. Also, by including gigs and concerts into my work, it demonstrates teenage aspects as it is commonly teenagers who go to gigs and concerts, because of the current and up to date music that they provide. These extra promotional features I have included in my work, ensure that my magazine is targeted at both gender, as it is all teenagers who visit and are interested in these features; making it most appropriate to them As I have previously mentioned, I feel that my colour scheme demonstrates appeal to both gender, in terms of the NME cover the use of the reds, whites and yellows suggest this also ; as they don’t reveal any favouritism or more gender orientated characteristics.

8. Slide seven continued... Again, the NME cover has chosen to stick with relatively simple colours. I feel this shows that my magazine is of a similar target audience as I have applied this idea into my pieces of work. I feel that by implementing these ideas, it has allowed my work to demonstrate a sophisticated and classy appearance, that is very vibrant and not too formal. These colours would appeal to my target audience, as they demonstrate very energetic and vibrant characteristics that my audience do also, making my magazine fit in along side their everyday lifestyles. I have also noticed that the NME magazine, also uses a very bold and bright title, that is extremely eye catching and remember able. I feel that by using this aspect in my own work relates to my target audience because, teenagers very often use slang and abbreviate words to create their own language; this therefore means that the use of my title R.E.A would fit in well with their lifestyles as it is an abbreviated word (Rachael Elizabeth Allen), meaning that it would be appropriate and wouldn’t appear too formal and boring; as the audience would want to know the meaning behind the letters, resulting in it become more appealing. Also, the use of the bold and brightness of my title, would appeal to my audience as it is very eye catching and reveals a vibrant amount of energy, which again is characteristics of young teenage individuals. This issue of NME is also targeted at a similar genre style of music as my own, this being R&B/Pop. This genre is shown through the artists demonstrated and also by the headings on the top (‘ANTHEMS’). I have also shown my genre of music through the artists that I feature, and headings such as ‘100 greatest R&B songs of 2010’ NME has also conformed to the idea of using shapes within their magazine, I feel this appeals to a similar target audience of my own, because they are pleasing and interesting to the eye. In terms of my work, I have introduced stars and circles, I feel this helps target the right audience, as they create personality, fun and life to my magazine. These aspects all contribute to characteristics of teenagers. Finally, both NME and my own work have used a variety of different fonts, I feel that by using different fonts it allows the perception of my magazine to appear not too formal and dull, as the personalities demonstrated by the fonts bring energy and fun to my magazine. I also feel that by making sure I didn’t use too many fonts, it allowed my magazine to appear energetic and vigorous without appearing child like and tacky. My fonts also appeal to my audience because, they create a vivacious appearance making them appear less conventional and boring.