Audience Research: Focused

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Reader Profile

Market Research: Magazine Deconstruction

This is a deconstructed fashion magazine front cover; I've annotated and analysed its features. I deconstructed this particular magazine due to the fact that it is fairly plain, uses neutral colours and seems naturalistic which fits the criteria of what my readers would purchase as shown through the results of the survey.

Research Rationale

Audience Research & Analysis

For my general audience research, I made a survey on Google Forms. I forwarded it to 17 contacts who fit the age range of my fashion magazines target audience, 14-18. The results of the survey will allow me to construct my magazine with the opinions of my target audience in mind.

For the first question, I asked my target audience which title they would prefer and from the answers, it is clear that 'Kyoko' is the most favourable with 'Icon' and 'Rogue' in second. As the masthead is usually the first thing that catches your eye, this question allows me to understand what my target audience finds most appealing.

In the survey, I asked my target audience to choose one out of five different typography's. The two that received the most attention were Font 1 and Font 4 both of which are serif fonts. This tells me that my audience are mature and prefer a classic and simple look.

The survey also features a question in which the participant can choose one out of four different styles of fashion: Casual, Cute, Classy and Colourful. I asked this question in order to know the type of fashion my target audience lean towards. This would then serve as inspiration for the clothing I would have my model wear. The results show that my audience opt for a more casual and relaxed look rather than the glamorous appearance of most models on fashion magazines. This tells me that my audience prefer subtlety over extravagance.

Another multiple choice question that I embedded into my survey was 'Which cover do you prefer?' Here, I got the participants to choose one of four fashion magazine covers - Teen Vogue, Fashion, Vogue and Bazaar - based on colour scheme, text layout and the placement of the model. Every single one of my participants chose the Bazaar front cover. When thinking about the reasons why, I considered the fact that the Bazaar cover is the most simple. The three other covers are cluttered with coverlines on either side of the pages whereas the Bazaar cover has only four coverlines. The positioning of the model on each cover also differs; Teen Vogue's model appears to be looking down at the audience which may put buyers off, the pose of the Vogue model is quite extravagant and the Fashion model is looking at the camera with mysterious eyes. On the other hand, the Bazaar model is looking straight at the camera with a neutral expression.

From the results of the survey, I can infer that my audience would prefer simplicity and naturalism. With these results, I now know how to cater my magazine to fit the preferences of my target audience.

Here is the link to my survey:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeGKbovQdD_UUYLWW--NRvyogukvC0EHD-jCItxwb8yJe3DVQ/viewform

Fashion Photography

Masthead Moodboard

Here is a collection of mastheads that I liked

Magazine Deconstructions

Prelim Task: Introduction

Hi everyone, my name is Nivea Makinde, I’m fourteen-years-old and I’m currently studying Media Studies GCSE. For this subject, I’ve been tasked with planning and creating the front cover and contents page for a fashion magazine targeted at fourteen to eighteen-year-old's. 

Before planning comes research, which includes reading and analysing different types of fashion magazines and also finding out the interests of my target audience through surveys and focus groups. I’m excited about the creation of this brief as I think it’ll be a fun and interesting experience and I want to be able to look back on it proudly.

During this brief, I’m hoping to learn how to use Adobe Photoshop and develop an understanding of how magazines are constructed. As this is a time-sensitive project, I want to use this brief to encourage productivity and time-management as there will be no time for procrastination. 

When first hearing about the brief, I initially thought about creating a ‘Street Fashion’ magazine and then made a mental checklist for the research I’d need to conduct which included:

•         Fashion Magazine Conventions
•         Teen Fashion
•         Magazine Content Page Conventions

I’m starting to consider the colour scheme I want to use, and I will take inspiration from other fashion magazines in order to decide on a layout for both the contents page and front cover.