Attracting & Addressing Your

Audience

Firstly I researched existing magazines after I had determined which genre I

would like my magazine to be. I researched Kerrang!, NME and Rock Sound

to analyse what parts and conventions of the magazines made them popular

with the audience which they wanted to attract and how it appealed to them.

I found that there are many things within the existing magazines that appeal to

the audience and so aimed to replicate some of them for my own magazine.

I found that using a large headline attracted the audience

into the magazine, especially if the band featured was

either well-known or a recently-discovered band,

because from my research I have determined that the

target audience enjoy learning about new bands as I

found this from my target audience survey which I

produced in my research. I similarly set out the headline

over the main image so that it is easily noticed when

looking at the magazine cover.

I examined the font of Kerrang! magazine with it‟s

cracked, distressed look and felt like this appealed to the audience

because of this particular genre of music, as the fans are

stereotypically violent and aggressive and so I replicated this on

my own masthead for ACID by using a font called Northern

Territories with looked equally distressed and so I felt this would

best attract my audience when ACID is displayed in shops as the

genre can be easily identified against other genres such as pop or

R&B. Also, the colour black is often associated with rock

magazines because of the dark, sinister connotations it holds and

so having this colour for my masthead is a convention of the

genre.

Masthead & Headline

Images

For my double page I

created an album cover for

my band because I felt like

this would entice my

audience as they often like

to feel as though they have

exclusive access to content

that they wouldn‟t find

anywhere else. This is a

selling technique as they

would buy the magazine for

this purpose.

Also for my double page I created a

'photoshoot' for my band members and

included this look in the main image as well

as smaller images surrounding it. This is

because from my research I found that the

audience for the rock genre respond better to

large amounts of images than text, so this

draws them in as they are more visual.

I made the subjects in my main cover image appear to look menacing and

„violent‟ as this appeals to the audience more as these words are often

associated with them. The guitar and microphone in the image also help to

sell the magazine because it shows a passion for music and makes the

image more visually pleasing.Similar to:

I dressed the subjects in dark colours to

connote mystery and make them appear

sinister. Some images were formal-looking as

this have a more serious appearance to make

the audience feel the passion they feel for

music but some were candid shots which felt

like the audience were involved in the music

so they felt a connection. By having the

„photoshoot‟ shots they audience feel like this

is something they can aspire to be like.

Colours

The colour scheme for my magazine is red, black, white and yellow. This is because I have found these four colours are often

featured heavily in already-existing rock magazines.

• I used yellow as a highlighting colour to pick out important points for the audience and the things that will entice them the most

(“EXCLUSIVE POSTERS!”)

• Red was used for the banner because it stands out well against the white background and was used throughout the magazine

because of the connotations it holds to the rock genre, such as blood, violence and passion. This helps to sell the magazine and

attract the audience as these things are associated with the fans because they are often very passionate about the music they

enjoy.

Black was used for the masthead because it stood out well

against the white background and so would be easily recognised

on the shelves in the supermarket/stores and so could be

indentified by the target audience easier. Black has dark and

mysterious connotations and so is unlikely to be mistaken for a

different genre such as pop which would feature brighter colours.

I also included a black

and white photo on my

contents page as these

colours fit into the colour

scheme well and help to

enhance the image by

darkening a lot of the

image and giving it mood

and a certain mysterious

tone/atmosphere. Also,

the pose is relaxed/action

and so this appeals

because the audience

feel as though they are

involved in the music.

The sepia tone on this image from

Kerrang! magazine enhances the image

and helps to draw attention to the main

title of the page, as well as making the

highlights of the image stand out. This

is what I aimed to achieve in my own

magazine.

Posters, Cover Lines & PricePosters: These bands are well-known and would be liked by every young rock enthusiast (who are the target

audience of the magazine) and so they appeal because the audience would often feel like they can idolize

these bands so would buy the magazine to own their images.

These covers lines would entice the audience because they are

snappy and quick to read, while also being quite humorous, and this

appeals because fans of rock aren't often as serious and so would

appreciate humour as this would make them want to read more.

The play on words used for Nine Inch Nails – “Trent Reznor

hammers in 50 quick facts” is directed towards the male audience as

this is more stereotypically likely to entice men because of the

reference to hand tools.

The use of rhyme draws the audience in as this makes the magazine

seem more entertaining with the prospect of an innuendo on the front

cover as fans of rock are more likely to enjoy sex-related humour

because of “ sex, drugs and roll „n‟ roll”.

The price is important for a magazine, especially a rock magazine

which is usually only issued once a month. I chose £4.99 as a

reasonable price for ACID because it is only published 12 times a

year and many magazines are around this price range as it is

reasonable for the audience as they are not considered wealthy

(the TA is young males).

Writing StyleI spoke to my audience in a fairly informal way in most parts as this better suits my target audience as they

are more used to informal language and profanities. I have shown this often in my article and also the

cover lines of my magazine.

The use of asterix covers up

the profanity but still packs a

punch to the audience as this

will be the kind of language that they are used to, and so makes them feel more comfortable reading

material in which welcomes improper language, because then it feels more edgy which the audience enjoy

as they don‟t like to feel as though they are conforming to the social norm, as it is usually considered bad

etiquette to use profanities in public.

“passion”, “rush”, “vibe”, “mosh pits” and “wild at

gigs” are all specialist words and phrases that

are associated with the rock genre of music, as

they wouldn‟t work in any other context,

especially “mosh pits” as fans of pop wouldn‟t

understand this terminology which only apples to

rock concerts as these fans are more

enthusiastic and passionate.

the word “brutal” is heavily associated with the

rock genre s fans are often found stereotypically

to be more violent and aggressive than fans of

pop, as “brutal” has extended connotations past

what the band member meant and this attracts

the audience as they want to hear the story how

it is without it being censored.