Focus Group

Name: Serena Willmore
Age: 16
Currently doing: A Levels at SHSG (Chemistry, Biology, Geography, French)
Likes: The Killers, Muse, her BlackBerry
Dislikes: Spiders, Big Brother
Media Consumption: I go on FaceBook and Twitter most days either on my Apple Mac or my phone. At the weekends, I watch films but during the week I watch comedy programmes mainly; I really like Mock the Week. I do a lot of online shopping and always have my iPod playing through my speakers. I'll read newspapers too if we have them.

Name: Krissie Ferris
Age: 16
Currently doing: A Levels at SHSG (Chemistry, Biology, Psychology, English Lit)
Likes: Weekends, Food, PJ days, Dressing up for a night out
Dislikes: Anyone skinnier than her
Media Consumption: I buy a magazine every week. I usually get different ones but you can't go wrong with Cosmopolitan. On Sunday nights, when I'm not going out I'll watch a film, a chick flick or an action film. I'm constantly on my laptop. I camped at V this year and I'm going to a theatre in London in a couple of weeks time to see Mamma Mia.

Name: Poppy Adams
Age: 17
Currently doing: A Levels at SHSG (English Lit, Media, Psychology, Art)
Likes: Music festivals
Dislikes: Lady Gaga
Media Consumption: I'll usually watch about 20 hours of TV a week. I go on FaceBook and Twitter quite a lot on my computer or my BlackBerry and I listen to music through my iTunes as well. The magazines I buy are Look and More.

Name: Olivia Butler

Age: 16

Currently doing: A Levels at SHSB (Chemistry, Physics, Maths, History)

Name: Olivia Butler Age: 16 Currently doing: A Levels at SHSB (Chemistry, Physics, Maths, History)
Likes: Florence and the Machine
Dislikes: Moths
Media Consumption: I don't really watch much television, however I will watch the occasional film. I'm on FaceBook everyday for a few hours, and whilst I'm on the Internet I'll also browse through clothing websties too (Miss Selfridge, Topshop). I'm constanly listening to music and love going to concerts. I buy Look (a fashion magazine) weekly as well.

Questionnaire

As part of the audience research, a questionnaire would prove to be very helpful. The views of the student body are crucial as they will be the main demographic. By asking them questions, it not only gives an insight to their opinions but also will guide towards creating a magazine that is right for all. Below are the questions I asked and the reasonings behind each of them.

1. How old are you? What year are you in?

I asked these two questions as different ages will have different interests, and both will have to be addressed when I make my school magazine.

2. Are you at a mixed school or a same sex school? (Please state your school)

Similarly to age, both genders will have to be addressed in a same sex school; this could prove difficult if there is limited space. However same sex schools will only be targeted to a particular gender and there will be no issue of limited space.

3. Do you currently buy/read any magazines? If so, which ones?

I have asked this question because it enables me to see what the demographic is drawn to. This helps me as I can use the common conventions of favourite magazines when I am creating the student magazine.

4. What are your main interests in and out of school? Music, Films, Sports, Other (please specify if your interests are listed above)

This will help in the decision making process of what features and stories to include in the magazine. By offering some options of main interests, it generates ideas for the person answering the questions rather than them having to think of interests on their own. However I have not limited them to only three options as I have put 'Other' as well and I have also asked them to be specific as to what genre of music/film/sport they enjoy.

5. Would you prefer the magazine to be organised and created by the teachers or by fellow students?

Teachers and students will both have a different outlook on school life. It would be interesting to see whether the students would like a mature and uniform approach to the magazine from teachers or a fun approach from the students.

6. What would you most like to see featured in a school magazine?

Similar to asking about their interests, by finding out what they would like to see in the magazine helps in the planning process of what to include in the magazine.

7. How often would you like a school magazine to be published and distributed? Weekly, Fortnightly, Monthly, Every term

This will show what is the favourite distribution period. If the magazine were to be issued weekly, it may be too similar to a school's weekly gazette or bulletin notices. The magazine may be limited to what it can produce in that amount of time, each term may mean important issues are not covered quickly enough. By asking students this question, we can see what time period is more popular.

8. If a school magazine was to be created, would you read the magazine?

The results for this question will be one of the most important. If there is no demand for a school magazine, it would be entirely pointless as no-one would be willing to read it. However if every student was to want a magazine then the budget for publishing would have to be deeply considered.

9. Would you like the magazine to distributed to everyone in every form or would you rather subscribe?

We would need to think about arranging a place where people are able to subscribe and where to keep their relevant information. We would also have to consider whether the subscription would last a year or a term.

Thank you for taking the time to answer this questionnaire. If you have any other thoughts about a school magazine, please list them below.

You would need to thank them for answering the questionnaire as they are helping you throughout your decision making process. By asking about more thoughts on a school magazine, the students may be able to include something else that wasn't already thought of or make their opinions more clearly.

Student Magazine Analysis - High Profile

LIAR Structure for a Student Magazine

The magazine is from King Edward High School for Girls and is named High Profile. A title such as High Profile connotes a sense of importance and status; it also creates an interest the parents and teachers are encouraging the students to have in current events at the school. The word ‘profile’ has been put in a bold font; this is to put more emphasis on the word as well as the title. The front cover’s main headline is ‘Boat Challenge in Borneo’, the feature is about the most recent trip organised in the school by the World Challenge Company.

The magazine is distributed amongst the students at the school. Although there is no direct fee for the magazine, the school will have to use the funds received from the parents and government to finance the publication. The magazine is published each term; this particular issue is the Autumn/Winter 2007 issue. The magazine’s circulation is directly the students; however the school also intends for the magazine to then be passed along to parents. The main demographic is students though.

It seems unnecessary for the magazine to have to have their own website as the school does and any information from the magazine can be easily posted there. The students are supposed to interact with the magazine by experiencing what has been published in the magazine or because they have written some of the features themselves; the parents are supposed to interact with the magazine by finding out what has being going on in the school over the term.

There is one focal image on the front cover of the magazine of girls (most likely the students) on a boat in Borneo. The photograph links with the main story on the front cover: ‘Boat Challenge in Borneo’; this is a usual conventions in the printing world (most of the main headlines will have a photograph to accompany them). The facial expressions of the girls on the boat is happy, this is because the school will be trying to promote the trip for people to go next year. The photograph has been positioned very precisely so that the title and the main story of the magazine does not cover the photograph but instead covers either trees in the background or the girls’ feet. All of the girls are smiling and seem very open, implying that the girls at the school are all like this. The target audience can relate to the people on the front cover of the magazine as they are at the same school, and are even friends with them.

The front cover also includes a bar positioned at the bottom of the front cover talking about other stories and features the magazine. The stories all use positive words such as ‘award for Miss Evans’ and ‘exam success’. Alliteration has been used in the main headline with the words: ‘boat’ and ‘Borneo’.

Other features in the magazine included summer charity fetes, a New Zealand exchange and a geography competition. The magazine’s presentation looks very professional; the school have clearly dedicated a lot of time to creating this magazine and have been doing so for a long time so have been able to improve over the years.

The girls in the magazine have been represented as happy and intelligent girls. This has been done for two reasons. Firstly, because the magazine is shown to parents and the school wants to convey how their children are at the school; secondly, because the magazine is most likely given to prospective students’ when they visit the school and the girls need to set a good example. Under achievers and troublemakers will be unlikely because they would give a bad impression to the target audience.

The magazine has been published for two particular reasons: to inform and to promote. The students and parents will be informed of what has been achieved at the school and what upcoming events. The school is promoted through the magazine for potential students.