Audience

My target audience is a culturally sophisticated 16-25 class AB demographic; to gather what they wanted in a fashion magazine and website I gathered a focus group of 20 people to find out their opinions. This group consisted of 15 females and 5 males as mainly I am targeting females, 10 of the females and 3 of the males were white British, 3 of the females and 2 of the males were Black British and 2 of the females were Asian. All of the focus group was within the culturally sophisticated AB demographic with all but one female and one male being ages 16-25 years old. The other male and female we aged in their low 30's, I chose this as although I am targeting 16-25 year olds I wanted to gather a slightly older perspective to see if our magazine and website would also be desirable for an older market.

I contacted them all via email and non of the group had any contact with another, to aid in creation of my magazine and website I asked them some questions to be able to target them better, below you will find their responses.

Do you prefer to see models who are like you or models that are clearly fashion models?

The overwhelming response from all was that they prefer seeing models that look like them rather than models that have no imperfections and no life to them, many added that they liked seeing emotion from models rather than a robotic look like they said many fashion models have today.

What types of clothing would you like to see on a new magazine?

Most of the group responded saying that they like to see clothes that they could buy from a high street shop, this is because then they can aspire to look as good as the models shown. Three of the 16-25's and both of the 30's said they dislike when models are wearing "over revealing" clothing as it sets unattainable aspirations for viewers that negatively affects their body image. (I thought this point was very interesting and will make sure not have my models wearing over revealing clothing).

What types of articles / sell lines would attract you to buy a new fashion magazine?

All of the group had strong feelings towards the importance of showing how to style simple clothing items such as hoodies as that it what many of them wear regularly, many also mentioned they view fitness as a very important aspect in their lives. A few people also mentioned that they are interested in makeup tutorials. Two of the females voiced their interests in gossip related articles interesting them.

Do you use the contents page to help you decide whether to buy the magazine?

The responses were unified in that they didn't have the time to look at the contents page when they bought a fashion magazine, they said a bright front cover was important to make it stand out as it was first impressions that decided if they would buy the magazine or not.

What elements would you like to see on the website for the magazine?

The majority stated that they liked articles taking up most of the room on the front page so they have a varied choice, they also liked some sort of video to watch on the front page as they scrolled. Many also stated they liked to see pictures of some of the models to get an idea of the style of model the fashion company uses. All of the boys and some of the girls also liked being able to interact together and with the creators through the site. (Therefore I will have an area for comments so they can discuss topics).