Research Summary

Summary of Research

All of the research that i have done has been very useful to me in finding out what i will need to include in my sixth form magazine to appeal to the students in the 16-18 year old age group. By analysing magazines aimed at schools and magazines aimed just at sixth form i have found the typical conventions used to appeal to the target audience as well as why some styles, colours, vocabulary and photographs are used. I have also learnt how connotations are important on a magazine and how what mastheads connote is important for the magazines because the title is usually the main and most eye catching part of the cover.
Also from my research i have found what makes the main photo on the cover interesting and how i can take the photo to make it appealing and look less studious so that it is non-conforming for the students.
I made questionnaires for 10 students and then selected 3 students for my focus group so that i could gain a better insight from 3 typical students at Southend High School for Girls; i chose 2 girls and 1 boy for my focus group so that i could get mixed opinions, ideas and interests. From doing this i have gained a better insight into what features will be most popular to include in my magazine and what names the target audience would prefer.
In conclusion, i feel that by doing research on existing school/sixth form magazines as well as my own research into what makes a good magazine by making questionnaires and focus groups i have gained a better insight and look into what is needed to make my sixth form magazine appealing to my audience. I will use the research i found to create the magazine so that it is as appealing as possible.

Focus Group Questionnaire Results

I have collated the results from my Focus Group questionnaires and from these i will be able to make my magazine for Sixth form students as appealing as possible. By asking my focus group specific questions i can develop a better understanding on what particular and average students would want from a sixth form magazine.

From Question 1 asking about the magazine title i received 2 answers for the name 'Insight' and 1 answer for the name 'Idea'. I feel that 'Insight' will be a good name for my magazine as it is the connotation of having an insight into school, work and social events.

Tom said 'I prefer the name 'Insight' for the sixth form magazine as it is represents school and social events, not just school and is therefore more laid back and appealing rather than the name 'Knowledge' as it gives off a more studious feel and would therefore not be as appealing.'

Therefore, i will use the name 'Insight' for my sixth form magazine as it had the most positive response and also portrays not only school aspects but also social aspects as well.

Another question that i asked my focus group was what colours they would want used for the magazine if it was aimed at both males and females. The colour most popular for this was blue/turquoise. Other colours suggested were green, purple, yellow and orange.

Daisy said: 'I think that Blue and purple should be used as they are colours that could be aimed at both males and females. Blue and purple are also cool, calming and relaxing and therefore could be appealing to students as they may be stressed from work and these colours used could be relaxing'.

All of my focus group like to read and would be interested in reading about school achievements. Therefore i will include achievements from within the school into my sixth form magazine.

I will also include music articles about inside music events as well as outside of school music events and releases. There were positive reactions to this from my focus group and therefore this will be an appealing aspect to use in my magazine.

Information on School events in the sixth form magazine will also be appealing as 16-18 year olds like to go out and therefore by adding in events and dates, it will attract more people to read the magazine.

I also asked what magazines my focus group read to find out what magazines are most popular so that i can see what techniques and styles they use to attract to the audience of 16-18 year olds. Some of the magazines that came up from my focus group are 'heat', 'Sugar', 'Bliss', 'NME', 'OK', 'Cosmo' and 'Elle'.

Therefore i can look at the styles and features used in these particular magazines to see what makes them so appealing to this audience.

Focus Group Questionnaire

Name:_______

1. Which name do you prefer for the magazine?

Insight/In the Know/Idea/Knowledge

2. What other magazines do you read?

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

3. Why do you read these magazines?

________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

4. What colours would you want used for the sixth form magazine if it were aimed at males and females?

____________________________________________

5.Do you like to read?

Yes/No

6. Do you enjoy reading celebrity gossip?

Yes/No

7. Would you like to read about School Gossip?

Yes/No

8. Would you want to read music articles?

Yes/No

9. Would you like to read about achievements within the school?

Yes/No

Focus Group for Sixth form magazine

Focus Group

I am going to have a focus group of 3 students at Southend High School for Girls, currently in Year 12, taking their A-Levels. By having a focus group, i can ask for advice from my group on features that they would want to read about and can also ask for advice on what titles, colours and photos they feel should be used on the magazine cover. This will be useful to me as i will therefore include what people in year 12 would most like from the sixth form magazine into my own. I will use 3 students, 2 females and 1 male, from year 12 at Southend High School for Girls.

1: Raechelle Jackson, 17, Southend on Sea

Raechelle is a 17 year old student who is currently attending Southend High School for Girls. Raechelle has attended this school since year 7. Raechelle is currently taking her A-Levels and for these, she is taking English language, Psychology, Geography and maths. Raechelle enjoys going out with her friends, singing, acting and listening to music. She also enjoys going to London and going to see new films. However, Raechelle does not like butterflies and spiders. Raechelle's ambition is to be a teacher and to be in a job in which she can help others. She wants to live in London when she is older.By using Raechelle in my focus group i can get an insight into what a female 17 year old wants from a sixth form magazine. Raechelle is also up to date with general knowledge and also social aspects of this particular age and therefore i can use this to make my magazine more appealing.

Raechelle often uses social networking websites such as myspace as well as reading magazines and texting. Raechelle uses both the internet and texting to contact her friends and for latest news and 'gossip'. Raechelle also regularly uses her ipod to listen to pop music as well as r'n'b releases.

2. Thomas Love, 16, Leigh on Sea

Thomas, also known as Tom, is a 16 year old student currently attending Southend High School for Girls. Tom started at Southend High School for Girls in year 12, when he began his A Levels. Before this, he attended Southend High School for Boys, from year 7 to 11. For A Level, Tom is taking Maths, Art, ICT and Product Design. Tom is very interested in computing and design and so his views on the design of my sixth form magazine will be very useful.Tom also goes to Scouts and therefore will know what other people of this particular age group enjoy and are interested in and therefore his views about these aspects will also be useful. Tom also enjoys taking part in local events such as Leigh Regatta with his Scouts. Therefore, Tom will be useful when finding out about local events and what is needed to make them appealing to students and teenagers. Tom uses myspace, msn and other social networking sites to talk to friends. Tom does not read magazines regularly but every now and again, he will buy and read magazines. He is interested in science and animals and so reads on these topics. Tom regularly listens to new release music on his ipod.

3. Daisy Deakin, 16, Southend on Sea

Daisy is a 16 year old student at Southend High School for Girls, currently studying Theatre Studies, maths, English Literature and Biology for A Level. Daisy is very interested in theatre and as an interest, attends a drama school as well as doing singing. Daisy also runs a drama group within School for younger students and enjoys mentoring them. Daisy also attends clubs with students of her age and so will know what students of this age will expect from a sixth form magazine. Daisy regularly buys 'Hello', 'Cosmo' and 'Elle' magazines for fashion tips and latest celebrity gossip. Daisy also uses social networking sites such as Myspace and facebook as well as msn to keep in contact with friends and family. Daisy uses her ipod and her mobile phone to listen to songs from musicals and films.

Questionnaire Results

By analysing my questionnaire results i can see what factors and features are most important to include in my sixth form magazine so that it will be appealing to my target age group.

I asked 10 people to complete the questionnaire, 2 males and 8 females. The majority of the sixth form at Southend High School for Girls is made up of females with only a small percentage of males. Therefore i asked the majority of my questionnaires to the girls but i also asked a couple of boys so that i can incorporate both the preferences of males and females into my magazine.

Question 1

From my results of question 1, i can find out that students expect there to msotly be school and general news in a magazine. With 26% expecting a school magazine to include events and competitions.

Out of the 10 people i asked, no one expected to read general sport news in a school magazine.

Question 2

My results from question 2 will help me to know what to include in my magazine. The majority of the people i asked would prefer to read about school gossip and school music. However, some also answered school sport and some 'other'.

For the option of 'other', people answered 'events and dates' and 'extra curricular activities'.Therefore i will also include these features in my magazine to appeal to a wider audience of students.

Question 3

My results from question 3 show that everyone that i asked would prefer the magazine to be in colour. Therefore, i will design and print my magazine in colour so that is appealing to all my target group of students.

Question 4

I asked this particular question to find out more about the people i was asking the questions too. Therefore i can include features and ideas about these hobbies into my magazine. This will therefore make it more appealing and readable for the students. The majority of the people do hobbies that are based around music.
The option of 'other' gave answers such as 'scouts', 'drama' and 'horse riding'.

Question 5

Qustion 5 asked 'what other interests do you have?'. From this question i got the following answers:

• Computing
• mentoring younger years
• seeing friends
• Guitar
• Music
• Horseriding
• Television
• Singing

These results show that the students are also interested in social activities and therefore i will also include relevant features in the magazine with social aspects.

Question 6A and 6B

This result shows that from the people that i asked, 60% would not pay for the sixth form magazine, therefore only 40% said they would.

In conclusion, in order to attract this target group i would have to make the magazine free or less than £1.50.

My results from question 6B, asking 'if yes to question 6A, how much would they pay?', gave me answers between 5op - £2.00.

Question 7

This shows that the majority of the people of this age that i asked would want the magazine monthly, with a small percentage weekly, and no one choosing the option of annually.

Therefore, i would print and release the magazine monthly to attract my audience as this is what the most popular option with 90%.

Question 8

I asked this particular question to find out who reads the magazine so that i know whether to also make the magazine appealing to younger/older siblings and parents. The majority said that they read the magazine along with their parents with a small percentage of the people i asked saying that their siblings would read the magazine.

Therefore, i would need to make it appealing and aesthetically pleasing for parents and siblings as well as the student.

Question 9

These results show that 90% would want competitions included in the magazine, therefore only a small percentage of 10% saying no.

As the 90% of yes is the largest proportion i will therefore include some competitions into my magazine.

In conclusion, by analysing my results i can see what is most popular from 10 students to appear and feature in and on the magazine. I will use the options with the largest proportion on my magazine as therefore, it will appeal to the widest and largest student audience possible at Southend High School for Girls.

2 filled in questionnaires

These are scans of 2 of my completed questionnaires. One has been completed by a 16 year old male and the other by a 16 year old female. The results from these 2 questionnaires show how preferences and interests between males and females of the same age differ.

Audience Profile

Audience Profile for preliminary Task

My Audience profile for the School magazine in the preliminary task is a target group of 16-18 year olds.
My target audience will be a mixed gender of both males and females of this particular age.
My target group will be the students attending Southend High School for Girls in both Year 12 and Year 13. The current sixth form at Southend High School for Girls is a mixed gender sixth form and therefore, i will make sure that my magazine will be appealing to both males and females.
The magazines and other items that teenagers buy at present represent their personalities, interests and even education. Therefore, i will look into my audiences needs and wants and incorporate these ideas in to my sixth form magazine.
Young teenage girls are usually interested in fashion and music, whereas young teenage boys are interested in computers, sport and music. However, even though there are differences in the interests, there are similiarities and therefore i can include these into the magazine.

Many social activies and hobbies that are taken up by this particular age group include sporting events, music/concerts, theatres and meeting up with friends.
There is much more freedom for teenagers nowadays and therefore social activities have changed over the years.

Research about Teenager statistics that are useful when making my magazine:

• ''Some 75% of boys aged up to 16 frequently play a team game, compared with only 42% of girls. ''
• ''Teenagers spend an average of 12 hours watching television each week, while only five or six hours are spent with family or doing school work.''
• ''two-thirds of boys and three-quarters of girls over the age of 16 are staying in full-time education. ''

Preliminary Task: Mood Board

School magazine Mood Board

This is my mood board for the preliminary task. I have included interests of both males and females on my mood board as my magazine will be aimed at genders of the 16-18 year old range.

I have also included general school pcitures such as a school bus and the schools emblem.

I will use the colours light green and light blue on my cover as they are suitable colours for both males and females. They are neutral colours and will also give a fresh appearance to the magazine.

The photos i have included in my mood board also link to the social aspects of school and between groups of teenagers such as music, fashion, gossip, texting, concerts and social networking sites such as myspace.

Inconclusion, my school magazine mood board represents what the teenagers will want from my magazine and represents education and social aspects.

Sixth Form magazine: Questionnaire

Sixth Form magazine Questionnaire

1. What do you expect to read in a School magazine? Tick all that apply

     School News:

     General news:

     Sport News:

     Events & Competitions: 

2. Which would you prefer to read about? Tick all that apply

     School gossip:

     School Sport:

     School Music:

     Other (please State): ______

3. Which style would you prefer for the magazine?

     Colour:

     Black and White:

4. What Hobbies do you do outside of School? Tick all that apply

     Music:

     Sport:

     Dancing:

     Academic:

     Other (please state): ______

5. What other interests do you have?

     ________________________________________________

6. What would you want on a front cover? Tick all that apply

     1 main photo:

     Lots of small photos (montage):

     No photos:

     Coloured Background:

     Other (please State):______

7. Would you pay for a School magazine?         

     Yes:

     No:

8. If yes, how much would you pay?

     _________

9. How often would you want the magazine?

     Weekly:

     Monthly:

     Annually:

10. Who would read the magazine? Tick all that apply

     You:

     Parents:

     Siblings:

11. Would you want competitions included in the magazine?

        Yes:

        No: