Evaluation: Question 5

How did you attract/address your target audience?

I attracted my target audience through my use of fonts, colours, image type and language. I designed and refined these aspects to those which I thought would appeal most to the target audience. My font choices (other than body font) were basic Sans Serif fonts. As my chosen musical sub-genre is very stripped down and purely about the sound rather than the artist themselves, I chose simple, modern fonts. I think this connotes most effectively the idea of simplistic, minimalistic, bare music. 

Colour wise, I green green/turquoise/blue tones. I chose colours which are very similar to eachother in terms of tone and shade as a way of creating a magazine which centres itself on its images. I did not want to include a range of vibrant, strikingly contrasting colours which might take emphasis away from my images. I believe I have chosen an appropriate and effective colour palette as it is not gender specific in terms of connotations. The colours I have chosen connote freshness and simplicity, which relates to the brand identity I wished to create; I wanted to create a magazine that focused primarily on the music rather than a trivial magazine based on artists themselves.

The language formality within my magazine varies from stripped back, formal, informative lexis, to some informal language to create comfortability with the reader. For example, in my contents page I have referred to artist's success as "making it big". This informality suggests that the writer of my magazine is comfortable with using casual lexis - that which my target audience are familiar with. This technique helps in communicating with my target audience by coming across as friendly. I have also referred to the target audience as "we" within my magazine, as to include the reader as well as help them become comfortable with reading my magazine. 

I used a range of models within my magazine. I chose to photograph two males and one female. This diversity helps in addressing the target audience: mixed gender. I chose to photograph Joshua for the front cover of my magazine to help in enticing a female audience. Pairing this with my muted colour scheme made it clear to male audience members that my magazine is not directly aimed at a female audience. Within my contents page, I have included a guitar as a prop. This addition makes it clear to my target audience that there are detailed and specific musical aspects within my magazine. I have featured Georgia as a female model to ensure that my magazine comes across as diverse.

I have ensured that my target audience will be enticed by the clothing I have chosen to dress my models in. For example, I dressed female model Georgia in dark, grunge fashion rather than feminine clothing. By dressing her more casually, I believe that my inclusion of a female model will not be confused with my genre of music being specifically "girly".  A female model also helps in assuring diversity - as well as attracting a male audience.