5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

My magazine had to be unique in its own way and be able to attract and address my audience appropriately. This is important within my magazine because my magazine had to draw and talk to my audience otherwise it would not be appealing. I decided to use different theories such as The Male Gaze, as well as different conventions which would do this. I used these because I wanted have my magazine be the ‘Dreams and Aspirations’ of my audience, I wanted the images and stories attract and address the attention of my audience so my magazine would follow the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory by Abraham Maslow. My magazine needed a way of advertisement, so I decided to have a brand website of the company and have the magazine too. This created synergy between the two because the website would attract people to read my magazine and my magazine would address the people with information and if they wanted to find out more gossip, images or interesting stories they would go on to the website.

First I had to create a front page; this is the core page which would attract and address my audience. I had to make sure my front page would be what my audience wanted to see and what would attract them as a whole, so I had to make my front cover eye-catching. The first feature I had to add to this page was the way I used verbal communication, this is the typography on my magazine, to attract and address them. The first way of language was through ‘Buzzwords’ these are words which are about the stories that would be bigger and in different colours and style to the words around them, they would be the first words which the audience would see before seeing the actual story this was because they are attracted to the bigger and different style texts first before the smaller text around. These words included ‘Exclusive’ ‘New’ and ‘Exposes’ these are words which address the audience because these words are words which teenagers are drawn to. The words I used generated excitement and suggest the content of the magazine is entertaining.  Another way I have used language to address and attract my audience was through colloquial language. This is a sort of slang which only a certain demographic would understand, this addressed to my audience because I wanted the text on my front cover to just talk to my audience so that they know I have a full understanding of what sort of information they like to see, from this I included words such as ‘Sexy’ And ‘Hottest’. With these words I knew that they would be more attractive to an audience of females as they like to observe and are interested in males being sexy and hot in magazines.

A different way I used my front cover to attract my audience was with my main image. This was because I provided a woman who looks sexy and outgoing. I did this after researching a little about other magazines which are aged for this demographic I found most images of women at the front were of attractive females who the demographic look up too. I choose to make my magazine more appealing and attractive because the audience would prefer to look at a model that looks good on the front page which is a good way of mode of address. This is the use of the male gaze theory because I wanted to represent the female on my front cover as vulnerable and submissive to the audience, I did this to attract my audience because I found that females want to be like the women they see in the picture because they feel they are successful and have power of the gaze. I knew that the male gaze relates to the camera represented women for men as they feel they have control over them and the women are passive however women allow themselves to be objectified in this way. But within my magazine as it was aimed at females I also found they aspire to be like these representations.

I needed another way of addressing my audience through my front page, so I decided to do this through the use of colour. I did this by choosing a three colour scheme which I knew would attract my audience. I choose a light pink, grey and black, the reasons for choosing these colours is because I knew girls find pink a compassionate and feminine colour which attracts them and I choose some black and grey on the page to make it stand out and give the page some power this is connotations. Showing the females in my magazine are not represented as weak and sensitive but have power and rights in my magazine. This was a good way of addressing my audience because it showed the understanding of their needs in a magazine and actually colours which can relate to them.

The next way I attracted and addressed my audience was by adding in a free additional incentive. This is a free ‘prize’ the audience receives when they purchase my magazine. I choose to add this into my magazine from ‘free vouchers in shops they like’ I did this by using the iconography of the speaker the readers scan it and receive the vouchers.  I did this to attract them into reading my magazine it was a way to draw attention of the readers by having something ‘free’ which they would love to have. This addressed my audience because I choose to give out vouchers to shops that my demographic are interested in, this was because I knew they only related to this certain demographic and it was good way of getting their intention to my magazine. From doing this I created entertainment by giving my readers interest of actually receiving vouchers from reading my magazine this is a good way of using the uses and gratification theory in my magazine.

I also had to address and attract the audience in my content page; I did this by adding the numbers and page information for the pages and the uses of images. This page had to attract the audience because it was a guide of my magazine; it was the page which tells my audience what’s on what page and where to go to. I had to make sure the way I laid out the information on this page interested them into reading the rest of the magazine. I did this by using the use’s and gratification theory this is a theory which is says audience use the media to fulfil specific gratifications and why they use the media, there are four sections this information, entertainment, social interaction and personal identification. I used it by proving a lot of information about different pages and feature stories. I used this theory because I knew that the audience we’ll be attracted to finding more stories and the page will have interest because they can find any page they may like. I have used social interaction from these pages too because I have added a website for them to go to because I know that the magazine purchase rate has dropped and a lot of people now read magazine online and social media websites which they can go and find out more about the magazine, this was a good way to address my audience because I found this age group in mainly socially interacted as I found this out from my research results. This makes them more attracted as they can do things they like such as go on FaceBook and twitter and keep more socially active at the same time and enjoying the magazine. This is synergy because the magazine prompts social media websites and the magazine website and the websites prompt the magazine this is good because of the fragmented audiences.

The images on my pages had to attract my audience so they feel this is a high-quality magazine. I had to make sure my images also address my audience. To make my images attractive I used Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs this is a theory which suggest that a person’s dreams and aspirations comes before their physical need such as food and shelter. I tried to make images represent the audience’s dreams and aspirations.

 My audience want to be like the people they see in the media, so by following this theory I had to make sure my images looked glamorous and appealing to the audience. I had to make sure the image would draw the attention and make them have that attraction because, otherwise, the page would not be appealing so the reader would not be interested in reading the rest of the magazine.  I had to construct the images to appeal to my audience so it would grow the relationship of my magazine just relating to this certain demographic. I had to do this by represent my pictures inline with the Male Gaze and Hyperreality theories. This is because these theories are what my demographic wish to follow as they enjoy thinking that women should look like this and people should look more real. I chose to use the male gaze theory to address my audience because I think my audience have the message from famous people that they should be like these women as they are seen to be successful. I did this by taking out bits of the their bodies and making them look directly at the camera this is a picture which is on the magazine, I have taken out the sides of her to give the curve of an hourglass shape and I have made her look directly into the camera

. However they may feel in control of the gaze but to an extent the men are still in control and the women are shown as passive. The male gaze theory is the way a camera represents females into look weak and submissive to the audience who are males.  But this attracts them as they feel these women look good and aspiring. All the photos in my magazine address the audience because they are all hyperreal this is the theory which makes pictures look Superreal because they are edited to replace reality and make the females look better than they are, they have all been editing just to meet the needs and wants of my audience, and just to make my audience be attracted to them. But this Male gaze theory has actually made the women in the magazine weak and submissive but people are still attracted as the men feel they have control over them and the teenage demographic of mine feel they have to aspire to them. I addressed them because I showed images of people that they want to be like. I did this by using Photoshop to edit these pictures for my audience; it attracted and addressed them as this is what they desire.

Another way I attracted my audience from my magazine was the story and the layout of my double page spread. I wrote a story that would be was my demographic would enjoy to read about and what would be addressed just for them as no young children would be interested. I used an image to be the centre of attention as I made it the biggest on the page and standout on the banner and over the title, this was because I knew the image had a ‘sexy’ and ‘hot’ look to it which they would making they want to read the story. I also address the title from a name of a song as it is a catchy title the audience will be pulled into finding out more and what’s going on. I also found a way to address my audience in my double page spread, this was done my adding a information box which had information about the star, but instead of having them as bullet points I used heels which relate to my audience as they like accessories such as heels. This was a good way to address them because it was an interest they like to see and they know it is addressed just to their demographic.

Overall I feel without researching and finding out my about audience I would of found it difficult to attract and address my audience. But throughout my magazine I feel I have attracted and addressed my audience well because everything they see is just aimed at their specific demographic. With out researching about my audience and learning about different magazines my magazine would not been able to attract and address a audience, this has allowed be to do my best at reaching the needs of my audience.