How does the magazine construct and reflect its intended audience?

As soon as you look at the magazine you know straight away that it is a school magazine, because firstly, you see the Plumstead Manor logo and that all the articles and pictures are based on school children and their activities. So from there you know the magazine’s target audience is for school children and could also be for their parents as well.

The main title ‘Plumline’ is big and bold in a white font and is in front of a red background, so it stands out, which draws the target audience in and makes you want to read it. They use headings on the articles that are mysterious and evasive, so it makes you want to read on, for example ‘so good we did it again’, which makes you wonder what it is about.

Through out the magazine, we see a number of pictures of the students that are spoken about in the different articles, which gives it a connection to the audience and makes it seem more interesting, because not only are we reading the articles, but we also get to see examples of it.

Photos reflect its intended audience, because the intended audience are children and the magazine is about school children, so the readers can relate with the people in the magazine.

Also each article has been written by students of all ages at the school, which also reflects on the audience, because its not teachers or adults talking to students, it is student reaching out to students, so they have a connection and can easily relate to the audience.

Analysing an image

This advertisement is intended for women as it is a product that only a woman can buy. They use an eyelevel shot, which makes it seen like the model has a connection with the audience and makes the audience feel that they can also achieve joy and beauty if they buy this perfume. They use a close up, which shows her feelings and emotions. As she is gazing at us, it feels very seductive and hypnotising, like she is trying to lure us in to the picture. The perfume bottle is green, which could represent envy, in that everyone is going to want this product. No products are used in this photo except the product itself, they do this so that the perfume stands out and that it is the only thing the audience is interested in when they look at the advertisement. They use a white font, so that it stands out from the background and they make the text fairly small, so that the name ‘Giorgio Armani’ stands out more.

Analysing Magazine Front Cover.

 

From looking at the front cover, I think the intended audience would be women between the ages of 20-30 years. I believe this because firstly, the font they have used is pink, which makes it more of a girly magazine. They have also added clothes and shoes onto the cover, showing that they will also be in the magazine, which would attract more female readers. You can tell that the main story of the cover is the Cheryl Cole story, as her close up picture takes up most of the page. They have also made her name much larger and bolder than the rest of the font, and also made it pink, so that it shows its importance and it also lets the audience know that she is the main focus. They have used an eyelevel shot, which makes the audience feel like they have a connection to her and makes them want to buy the magazine.

They have used a large bold font for her storyline, so that it attracts the reader’s eye and have also used capital letters to make everything seem more drastic. For example, ‘LAST MINUTE DECISION THAT WILL CHANGE HER LIFE!’ They do this, because it creates suspense and would attract the intended audience.

This cover also includes other stories, which will be included in the magazine. They do this so that the audience know more about what is in it. In this story they use words like ‘late-night’ and ‘hook-up’, which is very secretive and seductive and would make the readers want to purchase it.

Mizz contents page

This contents page I chose was from 'Mizz' music magazine, which is known of as a pop magazine, my magazine too will be from this genre. The contents has a lot of colour, which makes it eye catching and fun, which would help attract the readers. They have used a white background, so that all the words stand out, which once again attract the target audience of 'Mizz' magazine. In this magazine, for the contents page they have included all the pages in the magazine, so that the readers know what the magazine contains. The contents page also shows that 'Mizz' magazine not only talks about the latest songs and celebrities, but also include games and quizzes, which show that this magazines target audience would probably be children/teenagers. They also included pictures in the contents page, instead of just writing all the pages, which makes the magazine seem more interesting and attractable.

Vibe contents page

I chose this contents page from the magazine 'Vibe', which is known as an R&B magazine. Just by the picture you can tell that it would be an R&B magazine by the way the women are standing, they seem very confident and tough. They are also wearing skimpy dresses and are wearing very little, which represents it being sexual. On the contents page you dont see a lot of pages, so you assume the ones they do show are the most important in the magazine and that the main focus of the page is the models, who take up most of the page. They have used a darker font over the white background so that the words stand out and have also made certain words bold, like the artists name, so that they can attract their target audience.

Reader profile for 'Candy' music magazine.

Candy is mostly read by females, between the ages of 14-25, we have much wider range, which shows it is not just for teenagers but for adults aswell! Their average weekly expendable income is between £21-£40 and love to shop in mostly clothes shops, such as river island, newlook and h&m!


The artists Candy readers prefer listening is to are artists like Katy Perry and The Saturdays and prefer to read about interviews and pictures and also taking part in competitions and quizzies that they may find.


Usually they attend about 1-3 gigs a year, and are always on their laptops listening to the latest realeases, looking at the lastest fashions or playing video games on their xbox or wii!

Magazine Questionnaire

1) What gender are you?
     male ( ) female ( )


2) How old are you?
    14-18 ( ) 19-25 ( ) 26-29 ( ) 30+ ( )


3) What is your average weekly expendable income?
    £10-20 ( ) £21-30 ( ) £31-40 ( ) £41-50 ( ) £50+ ( )


4) How often do you use the internet?
    Never ( ) Sometimes ( ) Often ( ) Always ( )


5) What do you listen to music mostly on?
     Radio ( ) TV ( ) Internet ( ) Ipod/Mp3 ( ) Other _______________


6) List your 5 favourite shops?
_______________________
_______________________
_______________________
_______________________
_______________________


7) Do you buy or download your music?
    Download ( ) Buy ( )


8) What are your hobbies: (list 3)
1)______________________
2)______________________
3)______________________


9) What do you consider yourself?
Working class ( ) Middle class ( ) Upper class ( )


10) How often a year do you go to a gig/concert?
     0 ( ) 1-3 ( ) 4-6 ( ) 7-10 ( ) 11+ ( )


11) On average how much do you spend on clothes a year?
      £0-50 ( ) £51-100 ( ) £101-150 ( ) £151+ ( )


12) What do you look for in a magazine?
       Advertising ( ) Interviews ( ) Pictures ( ) Reviews ( ) Quizzes/Games ( )


13) List your favourite artists? (list 3)
________________________
________________________
________________________


14) What type of films do you prefer?
       comedy ( ) Horror ( ) Action ( ) Romance ( )

For my R&B magazine, I chose this image as it is classed as being stereotypical to that genre. The image is quite sexual by the way that she is gazing into the audiences eyes, making them feel drawn to the picture. As it is a black and white picture, i decided to use a white font so that the words are easy to read, I also added pink font, because i believe that it will draw more female readers to it, who are the target audience of this magazine. The picture covers the entire space, which tells the audience that she is the main headline of the magazine. I have also included a smaller picture of Nelly Furtado, so that the readers know who else will be starring in the magazine and have included other popular artists name in bold, so that it attracts more readers. I think adding another picture makes the magazine more effective, because it makes it more interesting to look at. I have made the font large and white, so that it stands out from the background. The title is 'HOT', but i only used the words H and T, so that the audience could use their imagination and picture her head being one of the letters.