Research for Main task- Feature page Layout ideas

For my feature page, I decided to chose a boy to focus my feature on because my target audience is teenage girls, and I thought that although they might like to see a Girl on the feature page, at this age their emotions run high, so in order to capture my target audience and get them interested a Boy would be a good idea.

Another decision I chose to make was to base the article around his fan base, and his success as an artist because following my survey on what exactly my target audience would like to see, over 50% said that a male figure who was very successful.

The feature page I have chosen to do is going to be based only on the artist himself, so on one page there will be photo's of him, possibly playing the guitar- his main instrument, playing the keyboard, and genuinely just posing. I decided not to go with a spontaneous photograph, I thought that staged photos would work better for the article this is because the article was introducing him as a person as well as his music and not just his music- and on the other page there will be an article written about him including information like; his popular fan base, his new album, what songs are featured, possible collaborations with other famous artists. This interests my target audience because, they read about celebrities to get an insight into their lives and what their future plans are. So because my article tells them exactly what the artist plans to do and how he is living, the target audience are getting what they want.

I have decided to take pictures of him playing his main instrument to let the audience know what exactly his music entails but also I have taken pictures of him that show what sort of a person he is.

My inspiration for the layout of my feature pages was Q magazine, this is because they write about whatever is big at the time. Which is what I wanted for my magazine, I do not want the magazine to be on a specific genre of music because then it's audience is a niche audience. The magazine would sell better if it had a broader audience.

I looked at a recent feature page in Q magazine to get ideas for my feature page- as shown below;

Survey Monkey Response

This is the response for my survey, created on SurveyMonkey. In this questionnaire, I tried to target specifically those who I wanted to include in my target audience; teenage girls. I tried to include questions which I had not had answered in my previous questionnaire. I have analysed the questions below. As my target audience is teenage girls, I have deliberately asked questions that only girls would have an answer to.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/MySurvey_Responses.aspx?sm=2YO3YLIiv5766TbbNBvMZQEiww7n9KSjzPJlQp8eToI%3d

1. 83% of my target audience have a job, showing that they earn their own money regularly. This is important to me, especially considering a price for my music magazine and ensuring that customers get their value for money.


2. Half of my target audience get paid monthly, the other half gets paid weekly and one person gets paid every fortnight.This shows that I will need to be careful when pricing my music magazine, and once again will ensure I consider value for money.


3.66.7% of the girls answering my survey stated that their favourite genre of film was Romantic comedy,33.3% chose horror and 50% chose comedy. This shows that most girls watch films that are light-hearted or sad; more feminine films such as 'The Notebook' and 'The Ugly Truth'.

4. 16.7% answered my survey question " where do you usually shop for clothes" as River Island, 50% said that they shop for clothes in Topshop, 16.7% said that they use Miss Selfridge for retail shopping and another 50 % said they shop in New Look. One person said that they shopped using the internet.
From my understanding, TopShop is a very expensive clothes shop which may indicate that my target audience are willing to spend money on things they really enjoy or want.

5. This question asked the audience to specifically name what they would like to see in a music magazine. The answers are shown below;

1. pictures of fit boys :)
2. backstage interviews and giveaways
3. all different genres
4. pictures and interviews with famous people
5. Reviews, interviews

This shows that my audience would like to see exclusive interviews with popular artists but also photos of them. This is important as it shows what kind of feature will attract them to a music magazine. Obviously I will not be able to include an original photograph of a famous man in my magazine, but this has helped me to decide that a man should be included in order to appeal the most to my target audience.


6. This question was specifically asking what it is teenage girls spend their money on, a vast majority chose clothes and spend up to £90 a month.This could show that they buy a new outfit weekly, and so fashion is important to them.


7. I needed an idea for what house colours i could use for my main task - a music magazine, so i decided to ask what favourite colours my target audience had.

1. purple, black, green

2. dark red, yellow and purple
3. green, purple, grey
4. GREEEN, purple, and red
5. orange, pink, blue
6. black red pink

As you can see, Purple was a very popular colour. From testing out the various colours given in this survey i have come to the conclusion that Black goes very well with purple so therefore i shall be using those as house colours for my magazine.

8. The next question was inquiring on how much people spend on music, This shows again that I will need to carefully consider price and value for money, in order to cater for all of my target audience because the answers were that they do not spend hardly any money on music, the most they spend is 10 - 15 pound a month.

9. 16.7% of my target audience stated that they would be most attracted to a magazine with a man on the front cover, and 83.3% said that they would like to see both men and women on the cover. This has been very useful to me, as it has helped me to decide that a female will be on the cover of my own magazine in order to provide maximum appeal to the audience.

10. Favourite male and female artist?


1. ellie goulding, travis mccoy.
2. jamie t and ellie goulding
3. CHERYL COLE
4. katy perry and olly murs
5. depends on if they are good or the genre of music they listen to

I asked what favourite male and female artists my audience had to get a feel of what sort of genre of music people were listening to. This will help me to establish what music my magazine promotes.

Reader profile research- Target Audience

Target Audiences explore ; Adults, Teens, Children, Mid Teens and Pre-schoolers. When looking at a target audience I need to think about my specific target audience. In additional research for my AS media- creating a music magazine- I have looked at two reader profiles which have a similiar target audience to the one I am aiming for my AS task, Uncut and NME using ipcadvertising. The links for these two reader profiles can be seen below;

http://www.ipcadvertising.com/resource/ie8ggqzju8kgqdditq67k9hj.pdf - Uncut

http://www.ipcadvertising.com/resource/hvcjivb3x8p8oqk9bw285ffu.pdf - NME


 In doing so I have learnt how to establish my target audience, I understand that when creating a reader profile they need to think about what their audience would like to see. For example, on the reader profile of Uncut I have seen statistics identifying how popular the magazine is and how much it costs to make the magazine. The statistics include; The gender of the majority of readers, their average income, relationship status, median age and whether or not they are a student or an adult.
The reader profiles have helped me to understand the way in which the magazine companies establish their target audience and therefore to include features that their target audience would like to see within the magazine.

In order to establish my target audience I have analysed the two reader profiles previously discussed and created my own reader profile as seen below;

My magazine's target audience is a teenage girl, and therefore I have included a lot of feminine things on my profile, such as makeup and jewellery. I have also included a film that are popular among teenage girls, such as the third Twilight book, Eclipse. As well as considering popular figures such as Audrey Hepburn and Jensen Ackles who also interest teenagers.

Feature Page analysis 2

As part of our research for our main task we had to annotate two features pages from music magazines. In our annotation we should be able to identify the key features of each page by analysing so that we could understand and explain how the editors of  the magazine aim to appeal to the target audience.

Images  There is one single image on this page, this is of the featured band Muse. They are all wearing the same suit to emphasise that they are in a band together; and within them lie individuals. All the images on this feature page are posed images. It gives the impression that "Q" magazine is very professional and formal, The audience then remebers that they are reading a magazine rather than it appearing more like a diary or a scrapbook. We can see from the background that this picture is not taken when the band is performing - it is taken from an additional photo shoot possibly back stage. Each photo is posed which doesn't give the reader a chance to understand the band members as normal people rather than celebrities because it is almost as if they are playing a character in the photo. Two of the band members are looking into the camera which is direct address to the audience, this familiarises them with the reader. The image is at the top of the page which directly draws your eyeline to it, this is because the rest of the page is all text.

Features page analysis

As a research process for the creation of my music magazine, I looked at other features pages and looked at the conventions used, as well as the mode of address. This particular magazine is Kerrang!, specialising in rock and metal music. My annotations can be seen below.

The images are spontaneous, and mainly performcance shots. This is because the readers of the magazine are interested in the fundamental foundations of the artists - music- and wish to see them in their 'natural' environments. In addition to this the images are often low angled shots, and this gives the artists a sense of superiority, authority and general importance, idolising them to it's target audience. They also aim to create the atmosphere of the scene. There is a shot of the crowd, displaying the chaos of the venue and therefore reliving the event. The shot of the audience also shows how important fan support is, not only to the band, but also to the magazine.They're randomly scattered around the page, showing the chaos of the gig as well as the kind of music the band makes. This brings the audience into the scene itself, making them feel like they were there. Usually in Kerrang they have a white border, looking almost like a polaroid picture, again bringing a very natural and spontaneous feel, as well as creating an almost nostalgic atmosphere, however in this specific feature page they have decided not to show the border to merge the pictures together. 

The photos do not generally show people looking into the camera and therefore portray the band in their natural environment. The heading of the article is the name of the band featured, therefore clearly showing the reader what to expect from it and who it is they are reading about. The singer in the main image is depicting not only the sort of music that the band create, but also the genre of music that the magazine and the music represents. He has a cropped haircut and heavy tattoos, possibly implying aggression and authority.
The main article is much more ordered than the rest of the page, it is arranged in columns which shows that the magazine, when informing it's readers about music, and the band takes on a more professional outlook. The sans-serif font shows masculinity and again being professional yet also depicting the kind of music featured.

Flat Plans - Music magazine

For our main task in AS Media - a music magazine front cover and double page spread - it is important to consider the basic layout and organisation of original ideas. Therefore, I have used Microsoft Word to create two flat plans showing my first ideas about the layout of my front cover and double page spread in my music magazine, and these are shown below.

Results of The Music Questionnaire

After completing and having 15 people including myself answer my questionnaire on music magazines, I then had to look at my results to see what sort of things i would need to achieve my target audience. This is part of the process which enables me to create relevant material in a music magazine for my target audience. I have analysed my results question-by-question, which is displayed below. Some people answered more than once on some questions, explaining why not all of the votes add up to 15.


Circle the answer that most applies to you


1) How often do you listen to music?

a. everyday                                 15 votes
b. at the weekends
c. sometimes
d. never

This shows that everyone listens to music everyday, in addition to this it shows that music is very popular within the people i asked to complete the questionnaire.


2) When do you listen to music?

a. whenever                  14 votes
b. when i'm happy
c. when i'm sad             1 vote

The most popular answer to this was whenever, which shows that you don't have to be in a certain mood to listen to music. some people listen to music when they are sad because it builds there spirits up. Music may make people happy
3) How do you usually purchase music?

a. iTunes                       3 votes

b. CD                          3 votes
c. Illegal download      14 votes
e. File share                 1 vote

f. Other                       1 vote

The most popular answer in this section was 'Illegal download', closely followed by 'iTunes'. These answers both show that the age of 'hard copies' of music is long gone, and the digital download is now the most common way to listen to and purchase music. The fact that most people in my survey selected 'Illegal download' as their answer shows what is happening in the music industry today; artists are not making much money from their music as people are, in effect, stealing their music by using file sharing and illegal downloading in order to purchase music.




4) How often do you buy music magazines?

a. Never       12 votes
b. 1-3 times a month    3 votes
c. 4-6 times a month
d. every issue possible
e. Other

The answers to this question indicate that very few people actually purchase music magazines, let alone on a regular basis. This could be because few people are interested in music to the point that they would spend money reading about certain bands and artists, or because there are no music magazines that cater for their interests.



5) What's your favourite genre of music?

a. R 'n' B      8 votes
b. Drum and Bass
c. Rock       1 vote
d. Funky house     3 votes
e. Dance   4 votes
f. Other    7 votes

The most popular answer to this question was 'R n B` closely followed by Other. At the moment some of the most listened to `R n B` artists include Kanye West, Rihanna. This shows that, although some more rock-y bands such as Kings of Leon are becoming more and more popular and successful in the mainstream market, R n B is still the genre of music that most people listen to. The types of music specified in the 'Other' category included acoustic and dubstep, an increasingly popular genre descending from garage, and concentrating on syncopated rhythms and emphasis on the bassline.




6) How do you listen to music?

a. Ipod/ Mp3              6 votes
b. Computer/Laptop  4 Votes
c. Phone                   2  votes
d. Radio                   1 votes
e. All of the above    5 votes
f. Other

The most popular answer to this question was iPod/MP3 player, by a majority. This shows the increasing amount of people owning personal music players, presumably due to their convenience. This survey has shown me that very few people purchase music on CDs any more, most people use downloads in order to listen to music.




7) The last song you downloaded was....?

There were no repeated songs answered in this part of the questionnaire, therefore it is difficult to make a comment, especially seeing as the songs featured were very varied in terms of genre and artist.



8) Favourite Band, Solo Artist, Duo?

The most commmon answers to this question were , Rihanna and Beyonce. Rihanna is a R n B artist, and is very popular particularly amongst girls as she is seen as a role model; she also recently released a new album and so is very current.  In addition to this beyonce is very successful and also seen as a role model. She has been in a few films within the last two years which shows that she cannot only sing, but act too.
9) Do you attend concerts regularly?

a. Yes  2 votes
b. No  13 votes

The most common answer was "NO" simply because most of the recent and popular artists are american so it is difficult to aprehend when they are to put concerts on that do not cost hundreds of pounds.



10) Top Three things you would like to see in a new music magazine?

  he majority of people thought that the most important feature in a music magazine is exclusive interviews with bands/artists. This, therefore, will be featured in my music magazine, as it shows that this is what my target audience want to see in a music magazine. Another of the features that people voted as important was support for unsigned bands; therefore I will combine these features by creating an interview with an unsigned band, in order to appeal to my target audience.