Evaluation Question two

Everything in the media is mediated and created to target a key demographic. This is a certain audience, a specific target audience and therefore it is selected and chosen when a magazine is first designed. After choosing a certain target audience the producers will then create a magazine which appeals to that audience. For Example the magazine ‘Top of the Pops’ identified that their target audience was that of girls ages 10-15 years old who love music of a pop genre. As a result of this the producers can then make their magazine appeal to the target audience as they know that stereotypical young girls who like pop music would find certain things appealing in a magazine for example they would like posters of their favourite artists and they would like to know all the latest celebrity gossip. By involving all of these elements and aspects the producers of a magazine can ensure that readership of their magazine is high and therefore profit from the magazines success.

There are many different theories about how the media affects us but the most relevant to magazines is probably the theory created by Dyer in 1985. This was that an audiences response can be changed by the different way in which things are represented for example a happy smiling artist on the front of a magazine would indicate the music was pop music as heavy rock music is not usually associated with happiness.

Stereotypes are a large part of the society in which we live in and magazine producers use this to their advantage as they are aware that their audience will automatically believe that if they see a magazine with a man wearing all black on the front cover that the magazine is a rock magazine. This is simply because black is the conventional colour which is associated with that specific type of music, just like pastel or bright colours are associated with pop music.


My magazine ‘Unique’ has one large image on the front cover. Firstly the picture is in black and white. As this is not in black and white the targets audience’s would believe, due to the stereotypical images they are familiar with, that this is not a pop magazine as there is not a lot of bright colour used in the picture. Secondly the facial expressions on the artists are serious. They do not look angry, which would be associated with heavy rock, and they do not look smiley, which would be associated with pop. The preferred reading from this is that the article is serious and in depth just as they appear to be.

Using a bold title which contrasts between the black background and the white text gives the impression of power however the writing has a slight curved edge to them which gives the impression of smooth-ness and relaxation. This does not create a great feeling of masculinity but does not reinforce the stereotypical idea of females either. It therefore does not appeal to either sex but it simply appeals to both as it appear to be ‘cool’ and they would therefore perceive ‘cool’ artists to be in the magazine who they consider their ideal self or ideal partner.
‘Unique’s content also helps to appeal to the target the audience as it’s main article is about a romance which stereotypically is considered to be very appealing to girls from 12 years old onwards. However as the target audience for my magazine is girls who are 12 years old and on wards but who also like Indie music this main article would appeal to them even more as the anchorage which is on the front cover shows who they are and as they are an ‘Indie’ genre band they would be more interested in the article. The word ‘confess’ has an encoded meaning that they are holding a secret and in this magazine article it is revealed and therefore the idea that teenage girls love gossip this would appeal to them.

The artist’s I chose to use on my front cover where meant to represent two things: Ideal self and Ideal Partner. Firstly Tess, the girl, would represent ‘Ideal Self’ for my target audience as she is a thin, beautiful, successful, talented artist who is in a happy relationship and this is what my target audience of girls would crave to be like themselves. Then James, the guy, would represent ’Ideal Partner’ as they see that he is handsome, a talented artist and is good as a partner.

The musical genre (Indie) was quite hard to portray however through the use of iconography which was associated with this music it became easier. For example I ensured that the outfits which the two artists were wearing would be identifiably as the type of clothes worn by artists in that genre. I ensured that Tess wore skinny jeans and black and white top and cardigan as I was aware that this is a popular look in the Indie fashion I also made James wear a polo shirt as these are representative of the Indie genre.