draft evaluation question 5

I have tried to attract my specific audience to my magazine in many ways. The first of which is to do with my colour scheme. Many large magazines that are suited to this genre use a three colour pallet; this usually consists of two base colours of black and white. They then all have a brighter colour which helps it stand out and makes the larger and more significant articles catch the reader’s eye and brings them in to purchasing the magazine. I however wanted the feeling of a new, fresh and unique magazine to shine out even when the magazine is just on a magazine stand. Therefore I decided to stick with the base of white and black to give the reader a feeling of familiarity when they engage with my magazine. But then I chose a very bright green to be my third colour. I chose green because it is very vibrant and youthful and fun and could also represent the huge variety that this genre of music has to offer. Plus, green is a very under used colour in the music magazine market, therefore my magazine will instantly stand out to the reader and hopefully with the use of a unique colour the reader would then make a direct link to the colour green and my magazine.

Another way I tried to attract my audience is the informal language used throughout my work. Because my target audience is of the student years it was important I got the language level right so that it wasn’t too formal or too playful and childish. However I believe I have a very informal yet addressing use of language which brings the reader in to a friendly to read magazine. I know this will attract my audience because when doing analysis of similar magazines this is the same language that they used throughout magazines such as NME and Q. Plus my research told me that loyal fans of rivalling magazines bought those magazines every issue because of the huge amount of information on each artist inside. They liked the use of in depth interviews of big bands and new and up and coming ones. I therefore thought I must do an interview for my double page spread article, I also decided to do it on a new and rising band so that it gave the reader a feel for the new music to be hitting their favourite genre.

Finally I have tried to attract my reader with the choice of artists on the front cover and on my contents page. My target audience is of a male majority, this meant that I had to feature plenty of male artists throughout my magazine. You can easily see I have done this on my contents page with bands such as Coldplay and Noel Gallagher and the high flying birds.

Through analysis and research I have managed to make a few assumptions about my target audience and their interests. I know that fans of this genre are music mad, they don’t go anywhere without an mp3 or a radio. They like to keep track of the big hitters of the genre and their new singles but also to know the smaller and maybe up and coming bands. They enjoy nothing more than to go to a gig with mates to enjoy the real live experience, whether these are at a small bar watching a small newly formed band or at Glastonbury where the huge variety of alternative rock can be found each and every year. However I cannot make any judgements of clothing or attitudes because the genre of music is so large and ever changing. They could be loud, energetic and colourful like bands such as MUSE and Coldplay, but they could just as well be smarter, more casual and easy going and into more classic alternative rock with a down to earth feel about it from bands such as Elbow.