Critical approaches

Different Magazines target different audiences and use different methods to attract their audiences. I have chosen two different magazines to analyse and find what they have done to appeal to their audiences and become successful.

Rolling Stone
The first magazine I have looked at is the very successful, Rolling Stone. This magazine covers all the latest news in popular culture such as music and films. As it focuses on the popular things it is mainly aimed to please a younger audience. The magazine aims at 18- 35 year old's. The magazine's target audience begins at 18 because it contains some content that is quite mature and would not interest a younger reader or be suitable. At 18, viewers will start to appreciate the stories and other content in the magazine and are more likely to subscribe to it to keep up to date with what is going on. Younger viewers might not actually be interested in the stories and only purchase this magazine because they like the person on the cover. This will generally result in them not subscribing. The Rolling Stone also covers popular culture from different eras and a younger audience might not appreciate these particular articles as they are not educated on it or they have not lived through it. Someone as old 35 will have lived through 3 decades and witnessed many different forms of music meaning they would appreciate these articles.

This image shows an example of the articles in Rolling Stone. As seen on the cover there is a main article on Jimi Hendrix who was at his prime in the 60's/70's. This is not an issue from the 60's as at the top it advertises an article on Eminem who has been out from 2000 onward. A younger audience would most likely see this and not realise who this is which is why the target audience starts at 18.

This Image shows the demographic report of the rolling stones magazines. They have researched in to it and the research shows that the biggest audience come from 18-24 year old's and 25-34 year old's. I believe that the ratings start to drop after these age groups because people older than this start to lose interest in popular culture and prefer to stick to what they know and like which is usually what was popular when they were young.

The images used by Rolling Stone are important for grabbing the attention of the target audience. On each issue, the front cover is taken up by an image of a popular celebrity that there is a main article on in the magazine. This an effective use of a front cover because people who like that celebrity will be instantly attracted to the magazine. They always use an image that represents the celebrity in a way most viewers will approve of. For example they would use an attractive image of Leonardo Di Caprio however they have used a silly cartoon when showing Donald Trump and other politicians as a lot of people do not like him and will be attracted to this magazine as it makes him look inferior.

This is one cover of the Rolling Stone. The image used here is of Eddie Murphy covering his mouth. This image has been used effectively because underneath there is a headline that states 'Eddie Murphy Speaks'. The headline immediately makes viewers curious as to what he is speaking about however the picture is particularly effective because the fact he is covering his mouth implies that he is speaking about something he shouldn't which will attract viewers as it is interesting to read his true opinions.

One of the codes and conventions seen in this magazine cover is the style. The colours used in the Rolling Stone magazines are very simple. Most issues use a very basic black and white style such as the one above. This is still effective as it does not take any attention away from the image and the titles. The main title has become a recognisable logo for the Rolling Stone magazine as it has been very popular for many years. For that reason the producer can afford to put the headline behind the main image and people will still know which magazine they are looking at. This helps to keep focus on the image which is handy for the issue above as the image is important for grabbing the attention of the audience.



Nature & Health
The other magazine I researched was of a completely different genre. This magazine was Nature And Health. This magazine is aimed at a more specific audience. It focuses on females aged around 30+. The content in this magazine is all about how women can keep healthy and be happy. I believe it is aimed more at 30+ women because the content includes things based on children and marriage. Things that younger women would not be considering. Women at this age who have settled down will look to this magazine as a time consumer. It gives information on things women can do to keep healthy which is a popular subject amongst most girls who feel their image is important. Younger girls will not have to worry as much about their health as they are young and have a lot of their life ahead to worry about things such as that. They also will not have to concern themselves with keeping a good marriage if they are not even close to getting married.

This is a magazine cover of nature and health. One of the articles is Expert anti-ageing tips. This shows that this magazine covers more older women than young because young women will not have to worry about ageing for a while and would therefore not take interest in the article whereas someone older who is concerned about the effects of ageing will be interested in the articles information.

This is a different issue of nature and health. One of the features shown in this issue is the banner across the top. This banner is advertising a specific article in the magazine. There are other articles advertised across the left side of the magazine however this one has it's own banner. The producer will have purposely done this because they believe this article is more likely to attract viewers who come to look at the magazine. The banner is overlapping the title and the title is the first thing that people will look at if they are viewing the magazine for the first time. When reading the title they will look at this article first and this should then grab the viewer and persuade them in to reading the magazine. This specific article is 'Are Chemicals Making You Fat?'. This is an effective article because it asks a question and when the viewer is reading this they immediately become curious and ask the question themselves. Also, weight loss is a popular subject within the target audience and if they see something that gives the impression that they could learn how to lose weight then they will most likely be interested. The banner also indicates which page the viewer can go to so they can find out more. The fact that the viewer can eliminate a few seconds by knowing which page to turn to will help in attracting them to purchase the product. This is because they will be tempted to read the article more if they are told where to find it and if it is an interesting article then they will probably want to buy this issue or subscribe.

One of the codes and conventions used in this issue is the colours. The main colour that is taken from this cover is pink which is a stereotypical feminine colour. This is a good way of getting the target audience's attention. If the target audience are looking for a magazine that covers the topics that this one does then they can immediately tell that this magazine will suit them. The magazine covers stereotypical girly things and so if they boldly advertise a stereotypical girly colour than the audience will be able to tell what is in the magazine without actually reading it.


Audience Feedback

Magazine producers use audience feedback to improve their product. There are multiple different methods to collect audience feedback. One form is a focus group. A focus group is where a group of people gather together to discuss their thoughts on a product before it is released. In this case the product would be the magazine. This is an effective method to use before the initial release of a magazine. This is because you can get a variety of people’s thoughts on the content and find out if they would want to continue reading each issue. The use of putting all the people in a group is effective because they can openly give their opinions to each other and discuss in detail why they liked what they liked or didn’t like. The producer would be a part of the focus group and would note down all the feedback given. As this is done before the product is released, the producer could then make changes to the magazine or make the decision whether they even want to release the magazine at all.

Trialling and testing can also be done by producers to gain feedback. Trialling and testing is as simple as it sounds. The producer will basically release the magazine to a selected group or area to see how successful it is. They will be monitoring it over a short time period which is the trial period. They will be monitoring it to see how well it sells and maybe get some opinions on the way. If the magazine didn't sell many at all then it may be worth changing the magazine or stopping the production. The choice can all depend on how much money went in to making the magazine. If there is no profit being made during the trial period then the magazine is an unsuccessful one. 

Reviews and complaints are some of the more common ways that producers get feedback. A review is an easy way to get feedback because it can be done in many forms: online, on paper and in person. Some producers might add a small review sheet at the end of a magazine that people can send off however the more common method for reviews is online on their website. Viewers can easily visit the website if there is something they feel they should share to everyone. This is also how most viewers will complain. Complaints can have a negative effect on the magazine as it can put other people off purchasing it however it is still an effective way of getting feedback. Complaints blatantly point out the bad things in your magazine which makes it easy for a producer to get rid of the things people don't like in the magazine. If the complaints are taken on board straight away then there should be more of a positive effect in the end to overcome the negativity caused by the original complaint.