evaluation - appeal to target audience

How did you attract/address your audience?

My target audience, was 16-20 year olds of both genders, who were interested in hiphop/grime/r&b music. I appealed to them in my magazine through layout, images, fonts, colours and articles in the magazine.

Front Cover:

My front cover must be appealing to my target audience, because this will be the first thing they see, therefore contributes greatly as to whether they buy the magazine or not. On the cover, i tried to use all conventions and make the layout as appealing as possible and also using images that i believe would appeal to my target audience.

The first thing you see when looking at the magazine, is the title, because this is in the route of the eye, therefore i made it bold to stand out, i used a font that would make it appealing to both genders. Its important to make the mast head appeal to the target audience, because if the name or font isn't appealing then it may contribute to people not buying the magazine.  I made the title black, because it stands out against the white/grey background and it is also appealing to both genders. The next thing you see is the face of the artist on the cover, this has been positioned like this in the route of the eye, because after the title, this is the second most important thing that i want the target audience to see. I have positioned the picture so that there is room for cover lines to be placed neatly around it, therefore making the magazine look ordered and professional.  The next thing you go on to see on the cover of my magazine is the bar across the bottom with a variety of artists names in it. This will be appealing to my target audience because they are names of artists that the target audience will relate to and like, therefore it will be more likely that they will purchase the magazine. All the important features of my front cover are placed along the route of the eye, this is because the audience will notice these first when looking at the magazine, and even with a quick glance are likely to be attracted to it. I chose to keep the cover lines to a minimum, so the target audience can focus on the important things such as the artist on the front, and the cover lines that are there. I also believe an ordered layout is more appealing to my target audience because it will attrract older people, which is what i am aiming for. I chose a colour scheme that i thought would be appealing to both genders - blue. Although people often associate blue with boys, i feel i was able to make it a unisex colour by using and combining different shades to give it a more girly feel. I kept my font use to a minimal on my front cover in order to keep the grown up, sophisticated look. The mast head was quite a simple font that i found on dafont.com, as was the 'festivals' cover line. The rest of the fonts i used were default ones that i found on publisher, which are simple and appealing to the target audience.

The image i used on the front cover was taken against a plain background, following conventions. This makes the image stand out against the background, and also makes it easy to read the cover lines as they stand out.  I chose to put the artist in normal clothing so that the audience could easily relate to her. I chose to use a mid-shot, so you are able to clearly see the artists face and clothes. This is all the target audience need to see for it to appeal to them. Through composition, the artist was placed to the right hand side of the shot, this was so the mast head and cover lines didn't overlap the image, so they stood out and looked neat. The pose that the artist is doing shows her to be girly but shy, making her easy to relate to, and the target audienvce will not feel intimidated by her. I used smalled images on the left hand side to go with the cover lines, they are of artists that the target audience will recognise and relate to and this will contribute in the magazine appealing to them. The cover lines that i used were also appealing to the target audience, because they mention artists/events that they would be interested in reading about


Contents Page:

My contents page is the second page that my target audience will see, therefore again, it is important that it is appealing to them, with cover lines that will interest them, and a suitable layout.
As you can see with the principle of thirds, the three columns fit exactly in them, making the layout look neat and ordered, while also being appealing to the target audience. Again, i have placed important information along the route of the eye, so that the target audience will see it first, drawing them in. The first thing they see is the title 'contents' this is so they know what the page is, and also so they know they are able to see what the magazine has in it. The next thing along the route of the eye is the date - so they know its the latest issue, and also the list of contents, which is essntial for attracting the target audience. The articles need to be appealing to the target audience, so when they scan over them, they are immediatly inteterested, which will make them more likely to purchase the magazine. The next thing which you are able to see along the route of the eye, is the twitter address, when people see this they are likely to go and check it out, and on the twitter website they will tweet about things that will interest the target audience, therefore they are likely to see that the magazine will contain similiar stuff, and make them want to read it. The final thing you are able to see along the route of the eye is the image of the artist that was on the cover, this is again someone they will relate to and make them want to read about her.
I carried on the colour scheme from the front cover, using blues. I used a bright blue strip along the left hand side, this makes it stand out and appeals to the target audience. On the strip of blue, i used a darker blue for the shoutout box containing the twitter address, this compliments the blue its against, but also stands out. I kept to the plain background with black text to make the writing stand out. By keeping the colour scheme and background plain, i am appealing to the target audience because it is conventional, and also neat and ordered, which they prefer. I used the same fonts on the contents page as i did on the front cover, this is so i kept the theme flowing and made it look professional and neat. The fonts i used as subheadings were kept in black so they were legible and stood out against the blue box they are placed in. The signature from the letter to the editor was done in a swirly font to make it look like it was handwritten making the audience able to relate to her, and feel as if they are actually listening to what the editor has to say. I only used 3 images on the contents page, to keep the layout simple and neat. The first image was of the front cover, this was to that the target audience are able to be reminded of what the cover looks like, and it is appealing to them. The second image is of the editor, this is used so that the readers are able to see the person behind the magazine, and it creates a sense of friendliness in the magazine. The final image i used, was of the artist that was on the cover, and as it is someone that the audience will recognise and relate to, it is more likely to appeal to them.


Double Page Spread:

The double page spread is also important in my magazine, because it is the main article, and one that readers are going to want to read the most in the magazine. For my double page spread i decided to take up one of the pages with an image and the name of the artist, this was to break up the text and make it more appealing to the target audience. This will appeal to the target audience of 16-20 years old, because an article full of text could intimidate a younger audience. The route of the eye goes from the title of the double page spread, through the introduction and article, then through the artist, and finally through the second image of the artist.  I have chosen to lay the magazine out like this, so that all the important information is placed along the route of the eye and the target audience will see it at first glance. The layout of the text is ordered very neatly, to appeal to target audience again, and to follow magazine conventions. The image and the info box are used so that there isn't too much text for the reader, and to make it look nicer. I have flowed on the colour scheme from the front cover and contents pages, making it all fit together nicely. I used a simple white background for the article, which is conventional, and i also used a plain white background for the photo on the left hand page.  The artist is wearing normal, every day clothing so that the audience could relate to her and not be intimidated. I used some of the fonts that were on the cover and contents page, but then for the article, i used a new, simple font.  I used two long shots on the double page spread, to vary from the other shots used in magazine, and also so you can fully see what the artist is wearing etc.