Audience Research - Questionnaire

In order to really understand what my target audience, 10-15 year old girls, want from a music magazine I need to ask them some questions about what they like and don't like. Therefore I have put together a questionnaire, the questions are all aimed at helping me understand the type of magazine I should be making. The information I have gathered through doing this will help me to create a magazine that appeals to my target audience. For this questionnaire I asked 25 girls aged between 10 and 15 as this is my target audience and so offers me an insight into what appeals to them. For this questionnaire I asked 25 girls aged between 10 and 15 as this is my target audience and so offers me an insight into what appeals to them.

Question One: Who are your top three favourite music artists and why?

A wide range of artists were given for this question, the most popular of the answers are below in the table.

Interestingly there is a diverse mix of artists. The most popular artist was a solo female however boy bands were also very popular in this poll. This has shown me that I will need a good mixture of bands and solo artists and all genders.

Question Two: Which colour scheme do you like best?  

A range of the colour schemes that I suggested were well liked by my target audience, the most popular being: pink, gold and black, pink, purple and blue and pink, blue and gold. The one colour they all had in common was pink; this means I will definitely be using it in some form throughout my magazine. Now that I know what the three most popular colour schemes are, I will play around with these on my first draft and then show some alternative colours for each of my pages to my target audience and see what they think works best.

Question Three: What style of writing do you prefer?  

92% of people prefer an interview style of article. This is a very high percentage and so I will definitely be using this for my double page spread. I think that this appeals to young people as it allows the reader to become involved in the world of the artist.   

Question Four: What makes you buy a music magazine?

I wanted to know what it was that drew people towards magazines, so that I can somehow replicate this and make my magazine as eye-catching and desirable as possible. The most common topic to come up was artists. Most people said that if their favourite artist was somewhere on the cover then they would buy the magazine. Taking this into consideration I think I will have quite a few artists on my cover, this way there is a greater chance of someone seeing an artist and wanting to buy the magazine.  Another thing that came up was the main image. Several people said that they liked fun, exciting images as this really caught their attention. Again I will try to do this with my magazine. Another popular feature was the colour scheme; many of the people I asked claimed that bright colours are what draw them towards a magazine. Out of all my pages I think that my cover should be the brightest as this is the first thing readers would see. As these were the things that my target audience pointed out, I feel that its very important to get these things correct and as attention grabbing as possible.

Question Five: Do you prefer a band or a solo artist?  

60% of the people I asked said that they would prefer to read about a band than a solo artist. Taking this into consideration I will definitely design my double page spread around a band as this seems to be the most popular decision. However 40% of people still said that they prefer solo artists, this means that I will need a mixture of solo artists and bands. I will aim to have around 6 artists in my magazine, as the existing magazines that I analysed contained many artists on their contents page and cover. Around half of my artists will be male and the other half female, this way there is more of a chance of pleasing all of my audience. 

Question Six: What are your favourite features in magazines?

This question was aimed at helping me decide what kind of pages I should have on my contents page. The ideas suggested were: quiz, cringe page, awards, interviews, free posters, horoscopes and fashion. I liked the range of things suggested by target audience as this will help me to create a very appealing contents page. In particular I like the idea of quizzes, as this is very interactive and engaging for the reader. I might have some sort of a link to this on my cover as well, perhaps a ‘Which member of boy band would be your ideal boyfriend? See page 12’ sort of thing. I think the most important thing with my target audience is involving them in the world of the music artists as they’re very young and I think that having links to these sorts of features would make my coursework more like an existing pop magazine.

Question Seven: Do you prefer male or female artists?

This is one of the closet results that I gathered as there is only one vote separating the two. This is interesting as it shows that I will need an even mix of both male and female artists in my magazine. I will try to use a range of artists such as girl bands, boy bands, male and female solo artists in order to create a very diverse effect. 

Question Eight: How often would you buy a music magazine?

It seems that most people within my target audience would buy a music magazine weekly. This is important as it will help me get the finer details correct such as saying: ‘Inside this week!’ If I didn’t know how often the magazine should be released I would be unable to know these details.

Question Nine: What type of cover photo would you like? A serious, formal photo or a quirky, fun photo?

100% of the people I surveyed said they would prefer a quirky, fun style of photo. This means that I will aim to create a very light hearted effect in my magazine. I have a few ideas for slightly quirky photos, such as one member of a band giving another a piggy back. I hop to make my magazine appear very young and care free.

I think the information that I gathered from this questionnaire will be very useful to me in this project. I will be working closely with my target audience throughout the entire process of making my magazine as this will help me to keep the magazine as audience specific as possble.