Questionnaire Results

I managed to get roughly fifty people to answer my questionnaire about magazine related questions. The data was collect via a poll which I created on my blog, this went down the right hand side of the page in the form of a column.

The questions:

1) "What gender are you?" 53 members of the public answered this question.

- Male 34 votes 64 %

- Female 19 votes 35 %

This result showed me that music magazines are predominantly read by men, but still a large amount are women. Therefore I decided that I should include an image on the front cover that will appeal to men, but also take into account something that will interest women. This helped me come to a conclusion on deciding that I should have an image of a good looking woman on the front cover. This will attract men because of the attractive looks, as well as attracting women because they enjoy looking at features, make-up and hair styles. With this decision I am presenting my magazine out to both genders effectively.

2) "How old are you?" 53 members of the public answered this question.

- 11 - 15 10 votes 18 %

- 16 - 20 40 votes 75 %

- 21 - 25 1 vote 1 %

- 26 - 30 0 votes 0 %

- 31+ 2 votes 3 %

This result showed me that music magazines are predominately read by teenagers to people in their twenties. The biggest category being 16 - 20 year olds, receiving 40 votes, with 11 - 15 year olds coming in second with 10 votes. This will be the age range I will be aiming at for my magazine. Therefore I have to design it in a way that will attract this audience to my brand, as well as standing out from other established ones. This includes bright and noticeable colour schemes, attractive models and a catchy, yet memorable brand name. If all of this is done correctly, my magazine should greatly appeal to the audience I am aiming at.

3) "How often do you read magazines?" 51 members of the public answered this question.

- Daily 3 votes 5 %

- Weekly 15 votes 29 %

- Monthly 25 votes 49 %

- Yearly 8 votes 15 %

This result showed me that the majority of the public read magazines monthly, probably due to their price and finding enough spare time. Therefore for my magazine I decided to do an issue for every month of the year. This means that there is more preparation time to construct the designs and layouts for the magazine.

4) "How much money are you willing to spend on a magazine?" 51 members of the public answered this question.

- £0 - £0.99 3 votes 5 %

- £1 - £1.99 13 votes 25 %

- £2 - £2.99 18 votes 35 %

- £3 - £3.99 13 votes 25 %

- £4 + 4 votes 7 %

This result showed me that the majority of the public prefer a magazine that has a mid price range, around the £2.50/£3 mark. If the magazine is priced to cheaply, the company will make a loss due to the costs outweighing the income from the actual product. If the magazine is priced too expensively the audience will not want to buy it. As high priced items turn audiences away if they are unwilling to spend a large sum of their money on a magazine. Therefore I have come to the conclusion that I will price my magazine at £2.99, because it is within the range of which the audience decided would be their total amount that they would spend on a magazine. This also has a psychological factor involved, when the reader sees "£2.99", they assume the magazine is cheaper because it has a lower digit at the start. Whereas if they saw, "£3.00" it would slightly turn them off because there is a higher digit at the start of the price. This can determine whether people buy a magazine or not, even though there is only a 1p difference between the two.

5) "Which brand name do you prefer?" 49 members of the public answered this question.

- Riff 8 votes 16 %

- Journey 8 votes 16 %

- Alternative 5 votes 10 %

- The Record 6 votes 12 %

- FTR (For The Record) 22 votes 44 %

This result showed me that the public who voted in my questionnaire thought "FTR" was the best brand name for my magazine. This may have been because it is a small name to remember, so it stays in the mind for longer, like "NME" or "Q" magazines. Which are all memorable magazine names. Secondly it appeals to the younger audiences because it sounds like the abbreviation 'ftw', which stands for 'For The Win' meaning something's good or great. Therefore I came to the conclusion that I will use this name for my magazine, as it will appeal to a much wider audience.

6) "Which colour scheme do you prefer?" 51 members of the public answered this question.

- Red / Black / White 27 votes 52 %

- Greyscale 4 votes 7 %

- Sepia 4 votes 7 %

- Blue / Black / White 8 votes 15 %

- Green / Black / White 8 votes 15 %

This result showed me that the majority of the audience liked red, black and white as a magazine colour scheme, rather than any of the other possible selections. This led me to believe I should incorporate or use these colours on my magazine front cover, and carry it on as the magazine's theme. By choosing the colours that people like the most will increase the likelihood of them actually purchasing the magazine when the see it in the shops. Also, red, black and white all contrast with each other making the magazine stand out from others when on the shelt. As well as being easy on the eye to look at.

7) "What sort of image do you prefer on the front cover?" 50 members of the public answered this question.

- One main band/artist 36 votes 72 %

- Multiple bands/artists 6 votes 12%

- Big collage of bands/artists 8 votes 16 %

This result showed me that having one main focal image of a band or artist on the front cover greatly appealed to the audience, instead of having lots of images of bands or artists. This is probably because with one image you can focus directly on that artist and know that they are one of the big features in the magazine, as well as being able to see it easier from a distance. Where as when you have smaller images of lots of artists it tends to be harder to focus in on one specific image. Many images can also make the page look cluttered if they aren't in the correct layout. Therefore, because of this result, I am going to use one large image of a band or artist on my front cover.

8) "What is your favourite music genre?" 51 members of the public answered this question.

- Pop 7 votes 13 %

- Electronica & Dance 4 votes 7 %

- R&B 8 votes 15 %

- Rock 13 votes 25 %

- Heavy Metal 4 votes 7 %

- Indie 7 votes 13 %

- Alternative & Punk 6 votes 11 %

- Classical 2 votes 3 %

This result showed me that people's music tastes are very varied and often conform with different genres of music. My original magazine genre was Punk Rock, which proved popular in the questionnaire. With Rock receiving 13 votes and Punk receiving 6 votes, the combined scores show that it will be a popular genre. However, although my magazine has a punk rock feel to it, it will merge into similar genres once inside the covers. This is because it will appeal to a much wider audience, like "NME" magazine does.