TA Research - Profiling

This magazine is a Billboard Spring edition which features Katy Perry wearing a black floral dress as she is ambushed by Gerbera flowers. Not only does the season of the magazine determine the colours and clothing used on this cover but it also indicates the target audience for this particular magazine. Due to the predominant colour being pink not as many "rugged traditionalist" men will purchase it. This is all due to how people choose to present themselves, for example, although some of the men might enjoy the contents of this magazine like what's in the features and photographs, they wouldn't want to be seen purchasing it since it wouldn't adhere to their image. On the other hand teenage girls from the ages 15+ would instantly be drawn to this cover since it is almost entirely pastel pink. It looks very fun with the use of the transparent, circular puff which makes it appear ultra modern and bubbly. The masthead of Billboard Magazine shows off more of the pop side of the music industry as it is in a serif font and the 'b' 'a' and 'd' are all filled in with the primary colours. In my opinion, the cover story is also aimed at the female half of the population as it offers an insight into "The Court Of The New Queen Of Pop". By using the word "Queen" it triggers people to think about female superiority (a topic which most women would be proud of and therefor want to read). Everything on the page is neat and in place in terms of feature stories and puffs which is stereotypically what the traditional woman prefers.

In contrast men would probably be more swayed to buying this magazine (as well as women) because Lily Allen is shirtless. As far as demographics goes this magazine would not be put up for sale in eastern counties like Dubai as it isn't the image they ideally want to portray to their public (due to different ideologies). So by making it a westernized magazine it decreases the target audience. Blumler and Katz expanded the "uses and gratification" theory which explains why certain people read or choose to use media in a certain way. In my opinion, the people who buy this magazine have the sole purpose of reading it for developing "personal relationships", so when they read it they would use the medium for emotional and other interaction. This is because a lot of the feature stories are biographies with interviews telling the reader about their lives and music careers. They could also just be reading it to diverge from their everyday life/routine I think I will do a survey about what type of magazine my TA would like to read out of Surveillance, Personal Identity, Personal Relationships and Diversion. The use of the panthers is a sign which represents strength and fearlessness, something which the stereotypical man would appreciate and be interested in. The whole cover is full of words symbolising wild cats and felines.

The words used are quite lustful which draws in people who read magazines for entertainment. The colours used are also classed as being quite masculine which further lures in the male TA.
You can quite clearly see the contrast between this cover and Billboards Katy perry Spring Edition.

It seems that BBC's Music magazine is trying to attract an older audience by they way its page is laid out and by the images they used. Usually the model they use on the front cover is a huge indication of the age,  class and sometimes gender of its TA. The cover is the main selling point as it is the first thing consumers see on the shelf in a shop. By having the famous pianist's name "HOROWITZ" in bold it helps the people notice it much faster and will probably be the first thing they will read. As this front cover features Vladamir Horowitz, an deceased piano "genius", people who know his music or who have grown up listening to his classical pieces are more likely to be persuaded into buying it. He must have quite an old TA as he died in the 80's, which will therefore affect the magazine sales. Horowitz is also very famous for composing for different moves so students who play piano or appreciate the arts might also find this magazine interesting to read. 

There is also a small symbol on both sides of the title which makes the magazine appear that a lot of time and preparation was spent producing this magazine which people who look for quality in a magazine would appreciate.

It also seems like quite a high class magazine as well since the mast head is in a serif font which is normally a sign of being classy and high quality. They use a variety of different fonts with a range of sizes to make it easier for its audience to pin point a story that they might be interested in reading. The buzz words in this text box located tin the middle of the page are in a bright red colour which contrasts to any other colour on the page. Elderly people stereotypically like cheaper things and are constantly on the look out for a bargain so this really helps sway the consumer to buy this product. Not only are the words "PLUS" and "FREE" in red but they are also in capitals and use an exclamation point to let people know that this is important.

The colour scheme is also very different to the two previous magazines on this post as it is mainly brown. Older people appreciate simplicity and studies show that they prefer more natural and pastel colours so they will instantly be attracted to this warm front cover.

I've found out that most magazines (no matter what age, gender or class) incorporate many sizes, colours and fonts in the writing on their front covers. No matter who the target audience is, the institutions still need their magazines to stand out in order for them to be sold and using these techniques will increase the change of the magazine being noticed in a shop. thus increasing their sales. Some of the features that the TA influences is the specifics like the pose of the model, the types of fonts used, the key words used, and the positioning of the texts.

A webpage I found on what colours different age groups prefer.