Focus Group

Name: Kamran Rajah

School/College and Year: shsg 12

Studying: Art, Eng Lit, Media, RS

Likes: Playing rugby, listening to music, socializing, going on the computer, BMXing

Dislikes: Opera, selfish people

Media consumed this week: Facebook, Myspace, Hits 40, BBC1

Magazines read regularly: Kerrang

Favourite type of article in a magazine: Latest gossip, latest music, latest fashion

Name:Susannah Baughan

School/College and Year: Palmers College Year12

Studying: maths, psychology, physics, i.c.t

Likes: chocolate, horses, fireworks, Lucia Farrance

Dislikes: two faced people, bad smells, too much homework

Media consumed this week: internet, television, billboards

Magazines read regularly: Heat, Essex Rider

Favourite type of article in a magazine: interview on someone

Name: Daniel Wyatt

School/College and Year: Southend High School for Boys, Year 12

Studying:  English Language & Literature, French, Government and politics, business studies

Likes: women, parties, lie ins, computer

Dislikes: selfish people, caramel, injustice

Media consumed this week: 2 hours worth of television, read a bit of news paper, facebook, nhl.com

channels: ESPN America, Dave,

Magazines read regularly:  a subscription to The Week (which is a political magazine)

Favourite type of article in a magazine: strange stories, general news

Questionnaire

Ludus Consilium

This school magazine is created by the Islamia Girls Secondary School, in London. It was started in 2006 and is published twice a year, at the end of the summer term and the autumn term.

The name of the magazine, Ludus Consilium, it not an overly eye catching, powerful name, but it may mean something to the people of the Islamia Girls School, who are the target audience for the magazine. The front cover does not appear to be very professional, like a publicly sold magazine might, but is still colourful, with a range of attractive fonts used and a big centre image. As the magazine is solely for the students at the IGS School, students will be encouraged to take a copy, no matter what the front cover looks like. This, plus the fact that it is the only magazine issued in the school, means that the magazine has no other competitors so the students that create it do not have to worry too much about people not choosing to look at their magazine. Although the front cover may not appear to be too professional it is a nicely presented front cover and has on it a list of the features that are in that issue of the magazine. This will encourage students to pick up the magazine to see if there is anything in that issue that is of interest to them and if there is, to look through the magazine itself.

The layout and presentation throughout the magazine is simple, like the front cover. However, this is effective as it makes it easier to read, especially as the target audience is the 11-16 year old girls who attend the school and the younger students may not have read a lot of magazines before, so would not appreciate a complicated design. This is probably also the reason for the language and words used in the magazine. There are no difficult words throughout the magazine and some of the articles include words relating to the specific Islamic religion that all the girls follow.

The articles this magazine includes have been specifically chosen, yet again, to suit the target audience. Some articles are religion based, discussing matters associated with Islam. These articles are appropriate due to the school being a solely Islamic school. Other articles are on topics that would appeal to youths of their age, especially girls. Examples of these types of articles include ones about animals, funny jokes, the latest movies and even a games page. Another type of article that this magazine includes is educational. An example of this in this particular issue is one called ‘Exams, exams, exams…’. The article gives advice on revising and being prepared for examinations. This is particularly important for a magazine targeting school pupils who sit yearly exams.

The pictures are each a page from the December 2007 issue of ‘Ludus Consilium’.

EVOLVE

One of the first things you notice about the front cover of this magazine is the title. ‘Evolve’ is an effective name for such a magazine as people would say that within a person’s life they ‘evolve’ most within their schooling years, going from childhood to adulthood in a short period of time. It is also a short and sharp name so will be easily remembered.

The school, George Stephenson High School, publishes this magazine and do so three times a year, at the end of each term. Students at the school are encouraged to get involved with the magazine and submit articles or even just ideas for articles.

The target audience of this magazine is obviously the students who attend George Stephenson High School. However, if someone was to be unaware that this is a school magazine (for example if the sign at the very top of the front cover wasn’t there) then it would still be easy to know who the target audience age group was by the pictures, colours and fonts used on the front cover. The pictures relate to articles issued within the magazine and these are all normally student related. The fonts are big and bold, so are eye-catching and attractive. They are also consistent which shows an air of professionalism, so students will take the magazine seriously. The colours used on the front cover of the magazine are bright and shocking which appeals to the target audience as it evokes a sense of youth.
The magazine’s presentation does look cheap in comparison to high street magazines, but as they are only for the school students and not the general public it is not that much of an issue. The target age group are of an age that they would not care too much about the presentation of magazines, but more of the content inside and if it interests them. 


The three pictures included in this analysis are previous front covers of the Evolve magazine.