Target Audience - Main Task

I am making my magazine quite similar to the current magazine 'Q' and therefore both magazines will have similar target audiences. the target audience for 'Q' magazine is:

M/F: 70/30
ABC1:74%
Median age:28
Under 35:70%

I obtained this information by emailing the advertising director at 'Q' magazine who then posted me lots of information about the magazine. (shown above).
From the NRS website i found out that:
444,000 people who read Q are in the ABC1 category which is much bigger than the 222,000 people that are in the C2DE category and that there are 478000 more people that are aged 15-44 that read Q than people that are 45 and over.

All of these statistics helped me to decide what my target audience is going to be:

M/F: 60/40
ABC1: 75%

Median age: 22

Under 35: 85%

This means I will be trying to aim at the student category mainly which could mean having to feature lots of up and coming artists rather than artists that have been around for a long time aimed at the older generation. However I will try and make my magazine appeal to more of a female audience by including gossip sections on well known artists, e.g Beyonce, Lilly Allen etc.

I think that by getting the balance right between well known artists and up and coming artists I can appeal to my target audience more.

I have said the socio economic audience I am aiming for but for the Psychographics I would like more of a mix between Individualists and Aspirers as the magazine would feature new and different artists as well as well known artist that could be considered idols fore some people.

Introduction - Main coursework

I have been given the task of creating a front cover, contents page and double page spread of a music magazine. The task is a development of the skills I learnt when doing the preliminary task as I will be using the same software. http://sdcmediaashannahlivings.blogspot.com/
The genre of magazine I have chosen is similar to the magazine 'Q' as it will be a mixture of artisits from people like Beyonce to the Kings of Leon, that is mainly rock.

scan of flat plan cover

scan of flat plan contents

Evaluation of contents mock up contents page

The main thing i like about my contents page is the layout as i think it has the right balance of images and text to make it more attractive for the reader.
The thing i would like to improve is the fact that it just has a plain white background which i had to fill with some stars as it looked quite boring, however i think the stars make it look childish.

Evaluation of cover

I think overall my front cover met the requirements it needed to. The things i like about my cover are: - I kept to the same colour scheme with text of just using blues and black. - The main sells are appropriate for the target audience and that i included information such as the date and the issue number.
The things I would like to improve about my cover are: - The main image, as i don't think the mise en scene was very good as the lighting was quite dark and the background clashed with her clothing. - I would also add another main sell on the front to give the reader more information about whats inside, this was difficult as i couldn't place it over the poster in the background as it would ahve been too difficult to read.

good image

This was the most appropriate picture i took to go on the front cover of the magazine. this is because the subject has eye contact with the readers, therefore making a connection and drawing them in. it has a simple background relating to some of the articles, which is easy to place text over clearly. It is also the right size, medium close up.

bad image

This was one of the images I didn't choose for my front cover.
i didn't choose this because the subject is not looking directly at the camera and therefore doesn't have eye contact with the reader. The background is also very busy which would make it difficult to see the text on top of it. The good point about this picture is that it is the right type of shot which is a medium close up.

I have been asked to create a front cover of a college magazine and a mock up of a contents page. My target audience are the students of Lewes college so the magazine must be appropriate for them.