Audience research and rationale

I have conducted research into what my target audience like and don't like within a magazine, including things such as price, content, colours and photos. Firstly I made a Facebook group, to ask my target audience some basic questions about what they think makes a good magazine.

This was a closed/private facebook group, and I invited a number of friends who are in the age range and specifics of my target audience so I can gather their opinions.

By doing this I aimed to discover directly  from my target audience what would encourage them to buy a magazine. Within today's society, young people are generally drawn to online media and are becoming more and more less likely to buy a physical copy of a magazine from a store. Because of this, I felt it was important to conduct this level of research into my direct audience as it is more important than ever to understand exactly what it is that would be enough to actually encourage the sale of my magazine.

From this research I learned that my audience would be more likely to buy my magazine if they believed the content was interesting enough to read, and if there was a cover that attracted their attention. I realized the importance of my front cover and the impact it has on my audiences decision to buy.

As well as this, I recorded some interviews with my target audience to find out what they felt made a good magazine.

I used a Canon DSLR camera to record these responses and asked three people who are in my target audience the same questions relating to my magazine. After the initial recordings, I used Sony Vegas Pro 13 to put the responses of my target audience into sections of a video to make analysis easier. 

I learned from this that the responses of my participants, although different, included certain common themes. Two out of three participants said that the image on the front cover is the thing most likely to cause them to buy a magazine. Participants agreed they'd like to see both a mix of stories and interviews within the magazine.

My final audience research took place using a survey I created with survey monkey. I asked five different questions and had people of my typical target audience respond.

Rationale

This feedback has helped me by showing me what young people actually find interesting in magazines, and it ensures that whilst making my own that I have a clear image in my head of what I should be designing as I know who I am designing it for. 

I gained confirmation for my ideas, including that I need a bold cover image and a good color scheme. A lot of people seemed to agree that the content of the magazine is the most important feature, however it is the price that is the second determiner of whether or not someone would buy it, meaning I should keep my price quite low. As quite a few people have said they enjoy seeing bright colors I may rethink the color scheme of my magazine, which is primarily grey, as I believe it would make it more appealing now I know what my target audience are looking for.