Researching the target audience.

In order to create a successful magazine, I need to understand just what it is that the target audience are looking for in terms of a student magazine. In order to do this, I need to set up some audience research to find out what kind of magazine would appeal to students.

Questions to ask:

1. What sort of articles would you want to read about in a student magazine?
2. How much money would you be willing to pay for a student magazine?
3. Would you prefer to see brighter colours, or duller colours as the colour scheme?
4. Do you find informal or formal language is better when it comes to magazines?
5. Do you prefer to see artistic photographs in a magazine, or more laid back, ordinary examples from a photoshoot?
6. Would you say magazines are more appealing to you if they are jam-packed with content and arranged in a more cluttered format, or when they are organised and systematic? 

By doing this research with a group of my target audience, I have found out many things that I could apply  to my magazine. I have found that in general, the audience prefer the layout of the magazine to be slightly disorganised, but still remaining appealing to look at. In terms of the colour scheme, the students interviewed said that they would prefer a mix between brighter and dull colours. This indicates to me that I should ideally use colours like reds, greens etc. But they said that if I use colours that are too bright, the magazine would lose appeal. For price, I was told by one student that the maximum they would pay would be £4, since that's the highest price on the market that they have brought. Informal language would be preferred in the magazine.

In terms of content, the students interviewed told me that they would most enjoy reading about:

• Films/television
• Games
• College life and news etc.