Target Audience.

I have done some research into my chosen genre; in particular the target audience of Pop.

http://www.bbcmagazinesadvertising.com/Magazines/Top_Of_The_Pops.html

I have copied the above table from the 'Top of the Pops' website, it shows us that the majority of the buyers are female and the dominant age range is aproxately 11-15years.

I have also emailed one of my magazines to receive more information about that genre, how they have adapted their magazine to make it more contemporary and also to ask for any old issues that they have that could help me with my studies. They replied:

Dear Emily,
Thanks for your interest in our mag! There’s some info on this site: http://www.bbcmagazinesadvertising.com/Magazines/Top_Of_The_Pops.html
Rather than being just a music magazine, TOTP now has more focus on celebs, beauty, fashion, as well as having plenty of music news, new releases, that kind of thing.
I may have a couple of copies strewn about my desk so if you’d like to send me the address of your school/college, I’ll pop some in the post for you!
Many thanks,
Anna Thompson
BBC Youth & Children’s Magazines

I have looked into another pop magazine 'Smash Hits'

I have also created a quick questionnaire to find out what people look for/ want to see in a pop magazine. I gave out the questionnaire to people in the target age range. I have kept the questionnaire short and concise so that participants are not put off by answering too many questions. These results will help me when choosing: What my main flash and sells will be, what to include on my front cover and contents page, give me a guide on photos, images and colours and also a realistic price for my magazine. For example everyone circled that the wanted to read about Celebrity Interviews, New and upcoming artists, Top 40 charts – best songs this week and Celebrity gossip. They also look for in magazines exclusives such as new song releases etc. along with easy to read and bright colours also being popular choices with the people that did the questionnaire. The mean price that people thought was reasonable, once rounded, was £2.00, so this will be the price of my magazine. This is a PDF version of the questionnare:

Introduction of main task.

My task is to create a music magazine for a particular genre. My magazine will consist of a front page, a contents page and a double page spread. These will all have relevant images, colour schemes and information that is particular to my chosen genre. The genre I have chosen for my main task is Pop; i think that this genre is particularly versatile and I have scope to be creative with my images/ photographs and the aesthetics of my magazine. It also appeals to a huge target audience such as age gender and social status. My double page spread is a interview with a new girl group and i have also included 'EXCLUSIVE' on the front cover to make my magazine more appealing and exciting.

When considering the demographics of the magazine i think it is difficult to classify which Socio-economic group these magazine's belong to as they are all children's Pop magazines and are bought by their parents, or a older figure in their interest, I could however classify who would buy this magazine for their children. The target buyers wouldn't be A high ranking professionals; lawyers, doctors etc

Mock-up contents page

Contents Page.

This is a mock-up of my contents page. I will separate the information in two different triangles, this adds not only to the ascetic look of the page but also makes the information clearer to the reader. I continued with the blue and white theme to add continuity to the magazine. I will put the main article of the magazine in the first triangle, and then the other minor articles, information, and pages in the other. I Will accompany both with relevant and suitable images. Page numbers will also be included by each article making 'easy reading' for the reader.

Preliminary Task Final Front Cover.

This is my final front cover for my Student College Magazine. The Master head is bold in a decorative font make a striking first impression. The name of my magazine I have settled on is SDC - Sussex Downs College, which accompanied with the tag line 'essential for ever student' explains exactly what the magazine is about. The other fonts on the magazine are a plain Arial font which is easy to instantly read and a more detailed font underneath. I have kept to one font for my title and then two different fonts for the text on the page to avoid confusion.

I have also followed the theme of blue and white, which resembles a sailor theme, relating to the main sells. The photo I have used the model is wearing a black t-shirt; on my main task I would consider dressing the model fitting to the theme of my magazine e.g. In a sailors or pirates outfit to really invoke the theme.

I have also included the price, issue number, bar code and date all in the top right corner. Other improvements I would make to my main task by evaluating my preliminary task would be:

More text, images, boxes on the page to make the magazine look full of articles.

• Include large numbers like '50' or '100' would also make the articles look full but would be eye catching.
  
• The background of my magazine should be brighter, more enthusiastic to employ the Pop theme. It would also be targeted at younger children so the brighter the colours the more appealing it would look- appose to a dull grey background.


• Like I have already mentioned, dress the people in my image fitting to the theme of the magazine issue.

To summarise all of the above points - inject more fun, excitement and enthusiasm through more interesting colours and images. And more information on the front page to make the magazine look full of gripping articles.

Front Page Photos.

The first image I took for my front page was a closer shot but I had consequently cut off his head.

The other image allows me to fit text in the spaces around him making the image more striking and this will contribute to the magazine being more eye catching.

I have chosen a white backgound which is going to make the back image stand out as he is dressed in black, but it will also make my text stand out.

Emily Bridgman AS Media Preliminary Task

The following task is to design and create a magasine which would appeal to student who attend Sussex Downs College. My target audience is studnent and the age range of interest would averagely be 16-19.