Who would be the audience for your

media product, and how did you

attract/address your audience?

By Amy Johnston

My target Audience The social profile of my target

audience is aimed at people aged 11-16

My magazine is predominantly aimed at a female demographic, however I did some primary research and found that there would also be around 13% male who may be interested in my magazine.

When I decided on my audience I conducted some Primary research to find out what my target audiences interests were.

Target audience’s interestsMedia Grouping:

This is what I found my target audience were most interested in:

Pop Music

Make up

Boys

Fashion

Style

Friendship

Love

I also did some

secondary research

and found some

suitable answers on

yahoo which backed

up my own ideas.

Target audience’s interests I also did some primary research on younger girls TV

programs and what they particularly enjoyed watching. I found that they enjoyed:

Awkward

America’s next top model

ICarly

Friends

Gossip Girl

Zoey 101

Hannah Montana

These programs have a common theme to do with boys, friends and developing relationships which is what I found to then take forward and include in my magazine.

Target Audience’s interests As my magazine is based around pop music I did some

Primary research on different artists that they may like to see featured in the magazine and who was popular right now. These are some of the artists I found:

Cher Lloyd

Taylor Swift

Jessie J

One Direction

Justin Bieber

Little Mix

Appealing to the audience I took into account the primary research that I had

found and then included it into my magazine:

I based the magazine around pop music and also

included other elements which my audience would be

interested in such as boys, relationships and gossip

which the younger target audience would be able to

relate to. I also added in different male and females on

to my front cover of well known artists.

Design features For my magazine I carried out some Primary Research

on my target audience for what they would like and

expect to see in pop Magazine:

Bright colours, specifically pink

Bold writing

A variety of pictures

Posters

Short quick sentences rather than long blocks of information

Friendly mode of address/ use of slang

Applying Design features

As you can see I took on board

the feedback of using pictures

and adding posters as the target

audience prefer to look at the

pictures instead of reading.

I used quick small

phrases instead of long

sentences to make the

magazine more catchy.

An example of this is

‘double trouble’ which I

used in connection with

this picture.

I have used bright, bold

colours as the house

style of the magazine in

response to the

feedback. I have also

based the main colour

around pink as this is the

post popular colour with

the target audience.I have used slang words in my magazine which I

have made up to fit the name of the magazine. I

created the word ‘Glossip’ which is unique to the

magazine itself.

How I encoded my text with

audience gratifications Blumer and Katz has a theory based on uses and gratification which is centered around the

audience. When the audience looks out to the media they look for pleasing of a need. The gratification theory links to the dependency theory.

I encoded my text with audience gratifications. Here are some examples:

For my double page spread I used a story which I felt that the audience would be able to relate to. At there age they are beginning to develop relationships with boys and become more interested in the opposite sex so I felt that this story perfectly tied in with the audiences interests and may help them to feel more involved and feel some support which they can then carry forward to their own life.

For my anchoring image on the front cover I used a glamorous model who I felt that the target audience would look up to and see as a style icon. Image starts to become a part of teenagers lives and they start to worry what they look like so I felt by using a model who was an aspirational figure for the audience would mean they want to read the magazine to find out how to be like her.

For my contents page I made the layout look simple and easy to look through. As it has been said before the target audience prefers pictures to the writing but the magazine has to have some kind of writing in it so I tried to make the layout as clear as possible and make it look more exciting by highlighting certain important words in a bright yellow colour.

How I encoded my text with

audience gratifications I used a screenshot of the front cover and placed it onto the

contents page with arrows and numbers pointing to certain sections. The reason for this was so that if the audience had seen something they particularly liked on the front cover then they could easily be able to find the link to the actual page in the magazine.

I based the whole magazine around the colour pink as this is a preferred colour of teenage girls and so I wanted to fulfill the audiences needs and make it stand out to them.

I chose the name ‘Gloss’ as my magazine masthead because I felt the word sounds stylish, catchy and professional. It doesn't have a really young sounding name so it makes the audience feel more grown up. It also doesn’t directly link the title in with music even though it’s a pop magazine as it states that this magazine is not only about music but has the other interests of a teenage girls also included.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs is a theory which

suggests there are 5 stages people go through in life. The theory says that at each stage we have different motivations that drive us. If we apply these stages to media then we can use them to try to understand the motivations behind our target audiences as well as another piece of evidence to support our arguments.

I think that my magazine applies to the belonging stage of the theory as there is parts of my magazine which the target audience can connect too and feel involved with.

Audience Feedback I decided to ask people about my magazine. I got a group of 10 girls ranging from the age of 11-16 which is my target audience to give

me some feedback and this is what I received:

Izzy (16): “I really like the front cover main image as I feel that the girl looks stylish and it advertises the magazine well from the beginning”

Sophie (13): “I love the colour of the magazine! The pink is such a pretty colour and my favourite colour too”

Jess (15): “I’m not a great fan of reading but I found the article on the double page spread was actually really interesting as I feel I could relate in a way”

Emma (11): “I really like the title of the magazine, it’s a catchy name for a magazine!”

Chloe (12): “I love when magazines include posters in the magazine, this is the reason I chose it”

Charlotte (14) : “ I found the layout of the magazine really easy to read and it made it very useful having the front cover image in the contents page”

Rosie (11): “The colours are perfect, I like every colour that has been used”

Emily (13): “I really like the main image as she looks really pretty and I wish I looked like that!”

Samantha (16): “I like the way that there are facebook and twitter logo’s on the magazine so I can connect with the magazine on social media which I spend a lot of time on!”

Becky (12): “The posters are definitely my favourite part of the magazine and I really like the images”