For part of my AS media I had to create a questionnaire based on music magazines to find out as much as I could about what people want to find in magazines and what they know about magazines. I asked 10 people of different sexes and ages to get a varied view.
The first question I asked was very basic, Are you male or female? I asked this so I could compare what people of different sexes thought especially as I am deciding on making my target audience females. The majority of people I asked were females. However I did ask a few males which mean I will be able to compare my results. The reason I chose to ask a few more females is because I am planning on targeting my audience at females so I wanted to know a bit more of what females would want and expect to find in a music magazine.
The second question I asked was, What is your age? The main reason for asking this was to find out whether different age groups prefer certain genres or expect to find different things in magazines. The majority of people I asked were in the age range of 16-19 however a few were either under 15 or over the age of 23. I think it is good I asked a lot of teenagers as their view is most important to me because I am definitely targeting older teenagers.
Thirdly I asked, How often do you buy music magazines? This is to find out whether my magazine would actually sell very well to my target audience. The results showed that nearly everyone I asked never buy music magazines except from one, who fortunately was in the age range of 16-19. However this is a big problem for me as I cannot guarantee my magazine will sell very well, but in the future I could make a website which would be more interactive and modern. Furthermore I could have a radio station or television channel. I also asked, if never why not? Some of the answer were simply they prefer to listen to the radio than read about music and they would rather hear about music. This then backs up my idea of creating a radio station or music channel which could be very successful.
The next question I asked was, What would you want to find in a music magazine? I asked this as I wanted to know a little more about what people want and like to read in magazines because I am sure they do not want to read everything. The choices I gave were interviews, reviews, both and other. The majority of people I asked would like to find both interviews and reviews in a music magazine however some only wanted to find interviews. So if I was to make a whole magazine I would include both interviews and reviews however maybe a few more interviews. I think people would prefer interviews because they feel like the information given is much more reliable as it is what the artist said.
My sixth question I asked was about the colour scheme. I asked, What colour scheme would you like to see on a Pop magazine? A lot of people preferred the more common colours which are on magazines at the moment like black, white and red however I do not want to use these colours as I want my magazine to stand out on the shelf and be different, also I do not want consumers to get confused. The same amount of people I asked liked the colour scheme of black, white and pink. Following on with black, grey and pink; because these two colour schemes are very similar I have decided I will use all the colours for my magazine as I know people will like the colour scheme and it is also different from other popular magazines, such as Kerrang and Top of the Pops.
I then asked a question based on the layout of magazines. It said, Which magazine layout do you prefer? I gave four choices so it was not too hard to choose but I made sure they were all very different so I could compare easily what people prefered. These were the magazine covers I used in my questionnaire:
Two people thought Vibe had the best layout, no one thought NME had the best layout, two people thought smash hits had the best layout and then six people decided Q had the best layout. I also asked their reason for their decision and the people who chose Q and Vibe as their favourite all said it was because they recognised the artist and it was not messy which made it seem of higher quality. The people who chose Smash Hits as their favourite layout said it was because the colours were very appealing and grabbed their attention.
My final question I asked said, If a magazine had a website would you visit it? And why? The results showed an even result as 5 people said yes and 5 said no. I asked this question to find out whether the internet is more popular than actually reading magazines. I think have a website would be much better as it I easier to subscribe for the magazine rather than having to send off any forms and it is also more interactive. The people who said no they would no look at the website of a magazine said that it was because they are more likely to see the magazine in a shop than advertised on the internet. Furthermore, they said it was because again they would rather listen to music than read about it. However the people who said yes said they would look a the magazine on the internet because they find it so much more accessible and it is also free.
In conclusion, I think by doing a questionnaire about my magazine, it has helped me make some big deicisons. I have decided my colour scheme, my target audience, what to include in my magazine and also whether I would like to, in the future, create a website or not. The question which has helped me the most is my seventh question about magazine layouts. I have deicded to create a very neat and simple layout so my consumers do not get confused or feel they are buying a low quality magazine. Furthermore, as I am targeting older teenagers I would like my magazine to be more mature.
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