The Importance of Audience Research

Audience research is what helps you determine everything you need to be including in your magazine. This includes everything from colour schemes to feature articles, USP’s and models. It is important for any magazine to appeal to their target so that they can make the maximum profit possible. It also helps magazines in the way that a lot of their profits come from adverts being placed in them, and the audience research helps with the decision of what types of advertisements would suit this magazine.

Style Research & Ideas

Since my research I have created 3 styles that my target audience would find very familiar and also would be able to afford themselves. This is so that the model on my front cover would seem like the type of person the readers can relate to and therefore interest a lot more people within the target audience.

Colour Scheme Research & Ideas

Colour Schemes for pop magazines a generally very bright and also quite feminine. This is because the target audience for pop magazines tend to be young teenage girls and boys (mostly girls) and so these colours appeal to this group of people more than others. For example, a pop magazine would be filled with pinks, blues and purples rather than browns, blacks and occasionally reds too.

On a magazine, the colour scheme is usually a combination of no more than 3 colours - this is so that the magazine doesn't look too cluttered and also so that the magazine can create a "house style".

I think that this colour scheme would work really well on a pop magazine as it is not gender specific and it also includes primary colours which keeps the magazine very simple for younger audiences.

I also like this colour scheme, it is very feminine and so would probably not appeal to many male readers - which, for this genre, would not be much of a problem. They are different shades of pinks which means that they would work well together on a printed page and follows the conventions of a pop magazine house style.

This colour scheme is one of my favourites, it is a lot more than the recommended three but all colours work really well together and there are a lot of contrasts in this aswell which means that there will be no clashes and also means that the content on the page will stand out a lot more.

The colours are pastel colours which would make the page seem very simple and basic, this is so that even though there are a few more colours it will not look cluttered or "scruffy".

Possible Names for My Magazine

Existing Magazine's Name Research

Originally it was to be called Cue as in the sense of cueing a record, ready to play, but the name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine. Another reason, cited in Q's 200th edition, is in that a single-letter title would be more prominent on news stands.

Named after the onomatopoeic word that derives from the sound made when playing a power chord on a distorted electric guitar, Kerrang!

Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title that would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music. MOJO was first published on 15 October 1993; in keeping with its classic rock aesthetic, the first issue had Bob Dylan and John Lennon as its first cover stars.

This magazine is a simple initialism of the phrase "New Musical Express".

Front Cover Mock Ups

Mood Board