Research findings and magazine information

For my research, I conducted a survey, in which a group of twenty six year 7 students took part in. They answered five questions, four of which had 10 choices. The artists varied from mainly UK and US origins.
Target Audience - 11-18 year olds (Pre teen-late teen) Boys & girls.

My first question asked them who their favourite artists was out of the 10 options. There was a variety of different artists from the Uk and US, consisting of different genres. The most popular artist was from the UK and the main genre of his music is a mix of grime/rap/dance. This artist was Tinie Tempah and he gained 43% of the votes as their favourite artist on the list. The second most popular was Jason Derulo (US) with 15% of the votes as their favourite artist. I can apply the findings and statistics to this question to my magazine as the preffered type of music, enabling me to make it as successful as possible. Also, I can relate this as the students I surveyed are at the bottom end of my target audience. My idea is to put a variety of the popular music at the particular time into the magazine, so therefore, keeping an eye on the top music and artists in the charts each week to put into my magazine will be essential. As well as this, I will try and get information about the latest and pre-releases.

The next question on the survey was vital to the research of the magazine. It read 'Who would you most like to interview?' This would give me an insight into who my target audience like to read about and therefore, who to include reguarly in my magazine. The artist who topped this question was inevitably, Lady Gaga. This pop queen with the most extravagent and interesting fashion demonstrations, led the polls to take the crown.

Researching Magazine Images - NME & Q

Judging by the front cover, I would say that this magazine is directed mainly at people who enjoy rock music and more specifically, Brit-rock. Therefore, I would predict teenagers and maybe some young adults would be the target audience of this particular magazine. The genre of this music is Indie rock ad just general rock. The instruments used in this genre are usually electric guitars, base guitars, drums etc. This issue features The XX’, named as Britain’s new favourite band. Other bands included in the issue are, The Klaxons, Muse, Arctic Monkeys and Biffy. All of these bands would support my idea on who I believe to be the target audience.

On this issue, you have a large image based centrally on the cover of ‘The XX’. They are standing/posing in an almost menacing way to grab attention to themselves and enable their overall image to stand out more. Around this, the text is either white or purple to again, help it stand out.
Furthermore, the bands are all hightlighted in bold to grab the attention of someone browsing who may possibly be interested in purchasing the magazine. Also, similarily to most magazines the cover has a lot of information to what is inside that issue. This would help advertise the magazine and interest people into reading it. The contrast between white and purple helps make the font stand out, as well as the varying size which enables key words stand out more. The title of the magazine 'NME' is in large, bold and white font which against the blue background can be noticed easily. The layout is of a typical magazine with a large image placed centrally to help enable the magazine to stand out from the crowd. Also very typically, the contents of the magazine are displayed on the cover around the image in a smaller font.

 Q Magazine

I feel that the target audience for this magazine is teenagers aged 15-20. The style of music that features on the magazine is rap/hip-hop and R&B. I would support these views by the images of three artists on the cover, Jay-Z, Lady Gaga and Dave Grohl. These are more 'young peoples' artists. Modern chart music would usually be a more 'up-beat' type genre, often R&B, Rap, Hip-hop or something similar. The sounds created in these are mainly computer generated, and occasionally contain another instrument such as a violin or a guitar. This style of music is the type displayed on the cover of the magazine. Jay-Z is often referred to as the best rapper in the world, and Lady Gaga is known for her bizzare fashion sense and crazy outfits, as well as her very popular music. Also, there is a list of artists at the bottom of the cover, and all of them are modern artists. In addition to this, a quote from the the top of the cover 'The 10 most exciting people in music now', which would definatly suggest that the magazine is directed at the younger generation. 'Exciting people' Is written in a larger font and put against an orange background to allow it to jump out people looking to buy it. 


The artists in the front cover image are represented in a very fashionable way by making them look bigger. This is done by the low angle shot which captures the size of their fame to the size that they look in the image. They are all posing in different ways with Jay-Z going for the 'gangster' look, Lady Gaga in a very dramatic pose and Dave Grohl looking very casual. The white background makes them stand out more which helps capture the attention of someone walking past. The fonts used in the name of the logo 'Q', also stand out a lot against the bright red background and large white font. Furthermore, the names of the artists in the central image are listed down the side, as they are globally recognized for their talents and would boost the sales of the magazine, as people want to read about them. This text is in orange, and against the white background, this too will grab the attention of a passer-by.


The layout of the magazine is similar to many others, with a large central image of a band or artist(s) and with text around it stating what is inside that particular issue. This is a simple design but certainatly very effective in selling the magazine.