Research Findings

Before I began to design my magazine, I conducted research into my target audience to find out what aspects of a magazine are important to the readers and also to find out what they liked and their opinions on music magazines. This research will allow me to design my magazine around the reader and make it more appealing to my target audience.

Of the 14 people I asked, majority said that they prefer rock music. This helps my magazine as it reinforces the idea that if I continue with my idea of a alternative rock magazine, it is appealing to the majority. It is also helpful as it allows me to see how many people will fit in with my primary audience - people who like the main music genre of my magazine - but also allows me to have an insight into my secondary audience who are people that might by my magazine if bands were included that fit more into sub-genres such as pop punk.

 

When asked the question ‘What is that maximum you would spend on a music magazine?’ the majority of people said between £3 and £3.99. This is useful information as I had previously planned to only charge £1.99 for my magazine. By collecting these results, it has allowed me to consider increasing the price of the magazine as many people would pay above my original price.

When I asked if people read music magazines, 57% said yes and 43% said no however when I asked if they would use a website linked to the magazine, 79% said yes, 7% said no and 14% said maybe. This shows that more people are more likely to view the website than the magazine. This gave me the idea to create a website with the magazine and to feature the same content to an extent. I would provide music news and interviews for people to view but it would not have as much as the magazine. I would hope that the viewer would enjoy looking at the magazine and it will increase their likelyness of purchasing the magazine to read the extra content.

The results show that the majority of readers download their music online rather than buying the cd. This is useful as it helps me to decide what articles to feature in my magazine. I would focus on the download charts as this is where most readers get their music but I would sometimes feature the CD charts as well to appeal to the other readers.

From my surveys, I found that in their spare time, the majority of readers enjoy going to gigs and socialising with friends. They also enjoy using the internet, going on social media, photography and watching TV. By knowing their interests, I will be able to construct articles that will interest them and make the reader more likely to buy my magazine.

Many people said that factors that attract them to a magazine cover are:

     Bright colours

      Interesting cover-line

     The main image

      The main sell line

This information will help when I come to the design of my front cover. I will then focus more on these items to ensure they are eye catching and interesting to attract readers.

Most of the people asked said that they would like to see exclusive interviews, album reviews and lots of images. All of these are easily acheivable and I will spend time ensuring that they are included when I make my magazine. Many people said that they read articles in full however, some people said that they usually only skim read them. I will use this information to make sure that the masthead and subheading are interesting and intriguing to increase the chance of people reading the full article.