The document discusses various audience theories that can help identify the target audience for an album. It analyzes the album's audience according to Graham Burton's socially and media grouped theory, concluding it fits the media grouped category as music lovers appealed to R&B/soul genre. Hartley's theory of grouping audiences by self, family, class, nation and ethnicity is also examined. Blumier and Katz's uses and gratifications theory, which suggests audiences actively choose media to fulfill needs of being informed, identifying with characters, entertainment, social interaction and escape, is identified as most applicable for the album's audience. The document then discusses color theory and symbolism to help determine appropriate colors for the album cover font based on the target

1. Audience Theories
Using a variety of different audience theories, I was able to identify which categories my target
audience applies to. This will help with the planning as I will be able to create features which would
appeal to that certain audience and comfort them at their needs. Graham Burton’s theory splits the
audience into two groups; socially grouped and media grouped. Socially grouped splits the
audience into individual differences such as age and gender. As our artist who is a young male is
going to portray music which is aimed at both genders and all ages, our product does not fit into
this category. However, it does fit into the ‘media grouped’ category which separates the audience
by their relationship with the media. For example, for our album, the audience will be individuals
who are ‘music lovers’ and more importantly appealed to the genre of r’n’b/soul.
Hartley’s theory expands Graham Burton’s by suggesting that the audience is split into more than
just two groupings. These include; self (audiences can be grouped by their aspirations), family
(their place in the family for instance if they are a parent or a child), class (a person’s status in
society- different social classes are seen to have different priorities), nation (the country the group
comes from and its style) and ethnicity (ethnic grouping may play a role in choice of images/role
and message). For the album cover, the grouping of ‘self’ could aspire the audience to make
music or even possibly romantic songs in which our album is based on. For family, our target
audience is most probably the parents who is infatuated or in love with a certain person, relating
themselves with the lyrics of the songs. Our album cover is not specific for class and ethnicity as
different classes may all be appealed to the music.
Fiske also adds five other factors; education, region, political allegiance, religion and urban vs
rural. Our album cover however, wont fit into these factors as they are very specific and our music
applies to an audience in general and not individuals who vary from either very intelligent to not as
intelligent. In the 1970’s, Blumier and Katz suggested that audiences are more active, choosing
how they consume a media text or why. This differs from the hypodermic needle theory which
suggests that audiences are more passive and consume media texts which are given to them.
Blumier and Katz came up with the ‘Users and Gratifications’ theory in which media consumers
choose media texts that fulfil one of these needs;
To be INFORMED or EDUCATED about the world in which they live in.
The need to IDENTIFY personally with the characters and discover a relationship.
The need to be ENTERTAINED by a range and a variety of media texts.
The need to use media for SOCIAL INTERACTION.
The need to ESCAPE from reality and daily situations.
For our album cover, our audience seems to fit into the categories of escapism, being entertained
and possibly identification. The audience may feel the need to escape from reality by listening to
music and songs which reflect upon their situations in the need to be comforted. For example, if
the audience are in a relationship in which they feel infatuated with the other person, they may
choose to listen to the song in the need to relate to it. They could also feel the need to identify
themselves by listening to songs and lyrics which could influence their behaviour or how they react
to certain situations. On the other hand the audience could simply listen to music in the need to
feel entertained.

2. Colour and connotations-
Black is associated with elegance, power, formality and mystery. It is usually used to separate
individual features. Black denotes strength and authority; it is considered to be a very formal, elegant,
and prestigious colour. Black can help other colours stand out. Combined with red or orange – other
very powerful colours – black gives a very aggressive colour scheme. Black is also a dominant
colour in which could be seen to be more masculine, however, it is also seen to be feminine as it
suggests sophistication.
White is associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity. It is considered to be the
colour of perfection. White connotes safety, purity and cleanliness and usually has a positive
connotation. White is also a unisex cover- ideal for our album cover which applies to both genders.
Red is the colour of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power,
determination as well as passion, desire, and love. It is also seen to be an emotionally intense colour
and has high visibility. It can also be used to evoke erotic feelings. As red is closely related to the
theme of romance and passion, it could be seen to have female qualities as women are also
associated with desire and love.
It is often associated with depth and stability. It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence,
intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven. Blue is a masculine colour; according to studies, it is highly
accepted among males. Dark blue is associated with depth, expertise, and stability; it is a preferred
colour for corporate America.
Green is the colour of nature. It symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. Green has
strong emotional correspondence with safety. Dark green is also commonly associated with money.
Green can be seen to appeal to both male and female, therefore green is a unisex colour.
Yellow is the colour of sunshine. It's associated with joy, happiness, intellect, and energy.
It also produces a warming effect, arouses cheerfulness, stimulates mental activity, and generates
muscle energy. Men usually perceive yellow as a very light-hearted, 'childish' colour, so it is not
recommended to use yellow when selling prestigious, expensive products to men.
I have decided to research a range of colours to discuss which audience they may appeal to. This will help to create an
album cover as I can identify which colours I will use for the font of the artist and album title.