this is the research

1. Research

2. Existing Product (New)This is an issue of PlayStation: Official
Magazine UK. It was released in February
2015 and features cover lines referencing
games that came out the previous year
(2014).
Masthead: The name of the magazine is
positioned at the top of the cover in large
bold capital lettering which attracts the
customer’s eye. The font of the masthead
looks visually pleasing and could intrigue
the audience. The white text stands out
against the dark colours of the image.
The main focus of the magazine cover is
the 2014 video game Uncharted 4. A
large image of the game takes up the
entire page and this ensures the
customer is fully focused on Uncharted 4
no matter where they look. The right side
of the image is darkened and the left side
is brightened. The producers will have
aimed to achieve a desired effect; to give
the impression of moonlight lighting up
the character within the image.
The large image features the main
character from Uncharted 4. He is an
animated character, analogous to his
own actor. The actor will have been
photographed against a green screen in
a studio and his image will have been
converted via computer into an
animated character.
The main character on the cover (Drake) is
shown in a medium shot (from the waist up).
He is standing in an unknown location outside
and dark clouds surround him. It is shown to
be night time within the image. There is use of
low key lighting within the image, therefore
dark tones and shadows occupy. The right side
of Drake’s face is barely visible as it is covered
by shadow, while the left side of his face is
brightened. The presence of light and shadow
could show good and evil, which suggests the
personality of Drake and raises questions
within the customer e.g. is he good or bad?
This magazine cover will have gone through
a lot of production e.g. designing and
creating the product. Many editing
techniques have been applied to the page
during post-production. The producers have
clearly altered the brightness and contrast of
the image to make Drake stand out. There
has also been lots of colour grading which
makes certain colours stand out. One such
colour is dark blue.
There is use of mise en scene within the
image. Drake has clearly been
positioned in relation to the setting
which is outside at night. The character
is shown to have been fighting and his
expression suggests that he is
consumed by guilt. All graphic elements
within the image have been arranged in
a sophisticated manner.

3. Existing Product (New)
This is an issue of Xbox:
The Official Magazine which was
released in April 2014. This magazine
might be fully focused on exploring
the qualities of the Xbox One and
Xbox 360, or comparing/contrasting
the two consoles.
The colour green is very prominent
across the page. Green is often
strongly associated with stability and
endurance, which could relate to the
pros of the gaming consoles. Green is
a generally positive colour, and this
might be a positive magazine as it
explores the advantages of a gaming
console.
Masthead: The name of the magazine
is positioned near the top of the cover
in large green and white coloured bold
capital letters which clearly stand out
against the black background.
Batman’s head blocks out a section of
the name of the magazine. However, it
is still easy to determine the name of
the magazine: XBOX: The Official
Magazine.
One large image of Batman: Arkham
Knight takes up the whole front cover.
The customer will be focused on this
image. The whole image is black, with
Batman’s black uniform and a black
background covering the front cover of
the magazine. Background effects have
been used, and the customer is unable
to determine where the character is
standing. The graphic elements in the
image connote mystery and darkness
within the character and the game.
There is use of low key lighting which blocks out all
light and leaves large amounts of shadow within
the image. The dark colours on the page make all
areas of green and white text stand out. All
elements across the page have been arranged in a
manner so that everything is detailed and very
easy to read.
Lots of editing techniques have
been applied during post-
production. Colour grading has
been applied so that the most
visible colour is black. Brightness
and contrast have been altered,
making Batman stand out. Other
effects have been added via
Photoshop. Batman is shown to
be wreathed in smoke, possibly
an effect used in Photoshop.
There is use of mise en scene
throughout the cover. Batman is
clearly positioned in relation to
the setting. His uniform is
completely black and this is the
exact same colour as the
background.

4. Existing Product (New)This is a magazine cover for
GamesTM, an issue published in
either 2013 or 2014, evident by the
orange circle which states what the
magazine is a guide to people who
want to purchase next-gen consoles.
The cover lines, headings, masthead,
and other areas of text have been
arranged so the page looks
aesthetically pleasing to the customer
and encourages him/her to buy the
magazine. There isn’t too much text
on the page; it is clean. This could
prevent the customer from becoming
disorientated by too much text
everywhere.
There isn’t a specific location or
studio on the magazine cover. A large
image of one of the monsters from
the video game Evolve is shown on
the cover, taking up a large section of
the page. There is a large empty space
behind the image of the creature. The
producers clearly intended to not
include a background and leave the
page blank.
There is use of mise en scene within the magazine cover.
The arrangement of all graphic elements has an impact on
the customer because it shows the artistic side of the
magazine. Different areas of text are also ordered according
to importance. Some areas are white and some are orange.
It can be assumed that the areas of white text are more
important than text that is coloured orange.
Masthead: The masthead has been
positioned near the top of the page
with the word ‘Games’ in large bold
black lettering and the words ‘TM’ in
orange bold capital letters; the
orange letters are noticeably smaller
than the bold black word. Some of
the spines from the creature on the
cover slightly cover the larger word.
Light seems to have been distributed
within the image, and bright tones
occupy the image. This can clearly be
seen on the left side of the creature
(the face, shoulder, and back) and it
looks just like the sun is shining on it.
In other areas, dark tones occupy the
image, and parts of the creature are
in shadow. The orange areas of text
match with the glow of the creatures
eyes, as well as the fire building up at
the back of its throat. Orange is
associated with heat.
The magazine cover has clearly been
edited during post-production.
Brightness has clearly been altered in
places and there has been colour
grading which makes certain colours
stand out.

5. Existing Product (Old)This is the cover of a classic
magazine, an issue released on
October 25, 1982. Due to lack of
innovative technology in the 1980s,
magazines were likely produced on
different programs to the ones we
have today e.g. Adobe Photoshop.
Therefore, things like lighting,
effects, and camera angles were
rarely seen in magazines.
The magazine cover consists mainly
of patterns such as circles, hats, and
small images of landmarks (most
notably the Capitol Building, the
Washington Monument, the
Pentagon etc.) A large Pac-Man
symbol is positioned close to the
bottom of the page, bigger than all
other shapes across the cover.
The page is quite colourful; with
reds, yellows, blues, greens, and
whites. Dozens of small circles are
arranged in lines down and across
the page on some sections; the Pac-
Man symbol is shown to be closely
following them. These aspects
attempt to show the characteristics
of the Pac-Man game.
The name of the magazine
(TIME) is positioned at the
top of the cover in red
capital letters. The font looks
similar to Times New
Roman. The red lettering is
clearly visible against the
dark blue background.
The heading (The Pac Men:
Turning Cash into Votes) is
positioned near the middle
of the cover in white capital
letters. The lettering is bold
and stands out clearly
against the blue background.
All elements on the cover
have clearly been arranged
in a manner so that it looks
very carefully done and also
aesthetically pleasing to the
audience.
There aren’t any real life
individuals or studios or
locations on this front cover.
It is purely patterns, shapes,
and some areas of text.

6. Existing Product (Old)
This is the front cover of a magazine issue
published in 1982. The title is Electronic
Games.
Because this magazine was produced in
the 1980’s, there is lack of effects and
techniques used in the cover. There were
no images of real individuals taken and no
specific location seems to be on the cover.
There is use of composition within the
cover. There isn’t a lot of text on the page,
making the cover look quite clean. There
are three cover lines which reference
content within the magazine. They are
arranged in a neat manner. The name of
the magazine is positioned at the top in
large lettering with some references to the
contents of the magazine below in yellow
letters.
The image was clearly designed via
computer and it shows something that
depicts an old board game in a high angle
shot. The image could be designed to
appear as if it is taking place in space, just
above Earth.
The image has clearly been edited during
post-production. An editing technique has
been applied to the image: the colour blue
has been darkened and lightened in two
separate areas.
The name of the magazine is in a
font that matches with the theme of
gaming. The silver lettering implies
sci-fi games and the font looks
‘electronic’ (in relation to Electronic
Games which is in the same font).
The main colours on this magazine
cover are red, yellow, white and
blue. The background of the
magazine is orange. Orange is
associated with encouragement and
stimulation, which could in turn
relate to the games featured within
the magazine.
Certain graphic elements appear to
have been ordered in terms of
importance. There are three cover
lines on the page; two of them are
coloured yellow and one white. The
yellow pieces of text are suggested
to be more important than the white
text in between them. Also, the
yellow areas of text are in upper case
letters unlike the white text which is
in lower case lettering. This also
shows the importance of the yellow

7. History of the Product
• This type of product has changed dramatically from old to more recent products. These
are covers for video game magazines; some from the early 1980’s and some from the
present day. Magazine covers from earlier time periods clearly didn’t have a lot of effort
put into them; many front pages included images designed via computer and few areas
of text. Magazine covers today are shown to employ a variety of editing techniques,
colours, text fonts etc. In this way, they look far more visually pleasing to the customer
as opposed to covers from earlier years. This shows that magazine covers for video
games improved over the years.
• In recent times, different types of editing software and digital programs are used
to create magazine covers for films, video games etc. Such examples include
Adobe Photoshop CS6. During the 1980’s, magazine covers were designed using
non-digital design processes due to technology not been as advanced at the time
(digital editing techniques were only just starting to become popular).
• This type of technology has greatly changed over the years, mostly due to
creation of digital editing software and programs and employment of various
techniques which allowed for completely new ways to produce magazines in
recent times.

8. Success
Product Name Box office figures/ circulation/ ratings/ sales
PlayStation: Official
Magazine
• Based in the United States, PlayStation: The Official
Magazine published thirteen issues a month until its
cancellation in summer 2012.
XBOX: The Official Magazine • Official XBOX Magazine publishes 13 issues a year. The
magazine is based in United States, the United Kingdom,
and Canada. In the US, 425,000 copies are sold per month
and in the UK, 66,894 copies are sold per month.
GamesTM • GamesTM is a UK-based, multi-format video games
magazine. A new issue is released monthly. Over 20,000
copies are sold every year.
TIME Magazine • With the first issue published in 1923, TIME Magazine has
the world’s largest circulation rates for a weekly news
magazine, with 3 million copies sold in total by 2013. It
has a readership of 25 million.

9. Questionnaire Analysis
Robbie Hickman

10. Audience research
• Observation:
• 35% of my audience prefer to play
video games 7 hours or more per
week while another 35% prefer
playing games less than an hour per
week. 20% of my audience play
games only 1-3 hours a week and
10% play games 4-6 hours a week.
• What this says about my audience:
• This shows that over half of my
audience (55%) don’t play video
games a lot, whilst the other 45% do
play video games a lot.
• How this will your product appeal to
this audience:
• My gaming magazine will appeal to
everyone in my audience because
the majority of them play video
games at least once a week. This
proves that everyone might be
interested in a gaming magazine if
they like to play games.

11. Audience research
• Observation:
• Just over 56% of my audience like
to play first-person shooter games
and 37% like playing third-person
shooters. 6% like playing
MMORPG’s.
• What this says about my audience:
• This shows that over a half of my
audience prefer games centered on
weapon-based combat through a
first-person perspective rather than
games in which the player
character is visible on-screen.
• How will your product appeal to
this audience:
• My video game magazine will
feature first-person shooters on the
cover and it may review third-
person shooters and MMORPG
games e.g. Battlefield 4 inside, so it
might appeal to all members of my
audience.

12. Audience research
• Observation:
• 47% of my audience like the
Xbox One and 52% of them like
the PlayStation 4.
• What this says about my
audience:
• This shows that the majority of
the audience prefer both next-
gen consoles almost the same,
with PlayStation 4 being slightly
more popular (by over 5%).
• How will your product appeal to
this audience:
• My magazine will appeal to this
audience because both next-gen
consoles will be
discussed/referenced, therefore
attracting those who like Xbox
One and those who prefer
PlayStation 4 at the same time.

13. Audience research
• Observation:
• 38.89% of my audience assume that
Assassin’s Creed is the best
franchise. Another 38.89% think the
Call of Duty series is the best.
22.22% think Battlefield is the best
gaming franchise. No one seems at
all interested in the Crysis and
Gears of War series.
• What this says about my audience:
• The results clearly show that my
audience prefers games that are
popular and gross millions (Call of
Duty, Assassin’s Creed etc.) to
games that aren’t as popular e.g.
Crysis.
• How will your product appeal to
this audience:
• My product will appeal to this
audience because first-person
shooters like COD and Battlefield
will feature on the magazine covers
I produce.

14. Audience research
• Observation:
• 63.16% of my audience prefer
playing online with other people.
36.84% prefer playing through the
single-player story mode of a game.
0.00% prefer other game modes.
• What this says about my audience:
• The results show that more people
prefer playing online rather than by
themselves. They also make it
obvious that people aren’t
interested in other game modes and
focus on campaign and multiplayer.
• How will your product appeal to
this audience:
• My magazine product will appeal to
everyone because it will feature
both campaign and multiplayer on
the cover which will attract those
who prefer each mode at the same
time.

15. Audience research
• Observation:
• 25.00% of my audience would like
video games to change and 10% of
them want games to stay the same.
65% aren’t bothered one way or the
other.
• What this says about my audience:
• My audience appears to be quite
happy with the way games are
nowadays and assume they don’t
need improving. A quarter of my
audience would like to see some
changes, however.
• How this will your product appeal
to this audience:
• My product will appeal to this
audience because it will show video
games from today on the cover, but
nothing about how video games
could improve. This audience clearly
isn’t looking for things like that.

16. Audience research
• Observation:
• 65.00% are male and enjoy playing
video games. 5.00% are males who
don’t like video games. 10.00% of
females like video games and
20.00% of females don’t like
playing video games.
• What this says about my audience:
• The results show that video games
apply to the male members of the
audience rather than the female
members.
• How will your product appeal to
this audience:
• My magazine cover will appeal to
this audience primarily because it
focuses on video games which
attract males.

17. Audience research
• Observation:
• 40.00% of my audience are 15-
16 years of age and 60% are
aged 17-18.
• What this says about my
audience:
• There is an equal balance
between teenagers below 17
years of age and teenagers aged
17 or over.
• How will your product appeal
to this audience:
• My magazine cover will appeal
to this audience because it will
feature games rated PEGI 15 or
18 on the page which are also
aimed at these age groups.

18. Audience research
• Observation:
• 40.00% of my audience are
Aspirers. 20% are Resigned and
10% are Succeeders. Another
10% are Explorers, 15% are
Strugglers and 5% are
Mainstreamers. 0.00% are
Reformers.
• What this says about my
audience:
• My audience is divided due to
their different attitudes and
lifestyles, but lots of them are
Aspirers.
• How will your product appeal to
this audience:
• My product will appeal to this
audience because it is about
video games and will attract
everyone, especially those who
are materialistic and geared
towards image (Aspirers).

19. Audience research
• Observation:
• 30.00% of my audience prefer
shooters and 25% prefer
Action-Adventure games. 20%
like sports games. 10% prefer
massively multiplayer online
games and 5.00% prefer
games based on music. 10%
prefer other types of games.
• What this says about my
audience:
• My audience is interested in
games that offer lots of action
and elements of adventure
more than any other type of
game.
• How will your product appeal
to this audience:
• My magazine will appeal to
this audience because it will
discuss shooters and action
games and feature them on
the cover.

20. Interview 1
• Do you think certain video games nowadays could improve?
How?
A: Make the games more interactive for the audience by adding
more features.
• Are there certain elements of video games that you like?
Explain why.
A: I the adventure elements of video games because it gives the
player a sense of freedom
• What is your favourite video games franchise and why?
A: FIFA because the franchise is getting better and better each
year

21. Interview 1
• Observation:
• This audience would prefer video games to be more interactive and offer a
sense of freedom for the player. plays FIFA is a favourite game due to how
it is getting better with every release. The presence of adventure in video
games is also preferred.
• What this says about my audience:
• This audience likes video games based around sports and hopes for video
games to expand and innovate, especially with every installment of a
franchise.
• How will your product appeal to this audience:
• My gaming magazine cover will appeal to this audience because certain
areas will discuss improvements in video games.

22. Interview 2
• What type of content would you like to see on a
gaming magazine cover? Why?
• Images of games bright and bold, as they look good
and stand out.
• Do you prefer masses of text on a gaming magazine or
not? Why?
• A mixture of both text and images as they both look
good and would connect the two together
• Which video game do you want to appear on the cover
as one large image? Explain why.
• A video game that people would know so they would
look and recognise it on a shelf or online

23. Interview 2
• Observation:
• On a gaming magazine cover, this audience wants to see images that stand
out and would prefer a mixture of text and images on a cover. A large
image of a video game that is easy to recognise is preferred on the cover.
• What this says about my audience:
• The audience clearly hopes to see a magazine cover that looks visually
pleasing and immediately attracts the eye of the customer. Also, the
audience would not want to become confused with too much text on the
front page, thus would prefer an even mixture.
• How will your product appeal to this audience:
• My product will appeal to this audience because the cover will use an
image of a well-known game and will also have bright colours and a
mixture of text and images on the page.

24. Audience Profile
Category Demographic Content to appeal to this audience
Age Range
16-21 years • Video Games rated PEGI 18 e.g. Call of Duty
• Arrangements of text to suggest intelligence
(a characteristic of adults).
Gender
Male • Male video game characters on the cover.
• First-person and third-person shooters .
• Games with action themes which could
attract males.
Psychographic
Aspirer • Images which suggest charisma.
• Images representing personality of
characters.
Social Status
Middle Class • Images that connote prestige.
• Arrangements of graphic elements to give a
professional appearance.