Conducting audience research is crucial as i need to be aware of what my audience want to read about. If i was to create a school magazine based on my own ideas of what school pupils want, then it could all go wrong. The reason for this is my ideas may not be the same as others. After i conduct this piece of research i can be confident that i can create a magazine that students,teachers,staff,governors and the community would enjoy reading.
When speaking to year seven they stressed the idea that the magazine needed to be fun. By this they said that it should contain games and news that they would enjoy reading. They said they would not read if it was boring and contained to much school related information. From speaking to the year seven students i understood that the magazine had to have an informal feel about it but still had to look professional and contain the information in needed. Although speaking to the year sevens taught me that they wanted the magazine to be "fun" i had my own views that the magazine needed to have some serious elements as it is school related. I would have to ask Mr Russell about what extent the magazine could be "fun".
The year eights shared the same idea about it being a magazine that they would read. They explained that it should contain important events, news,games. They liked the idea of some form of agony aunt and thought that it would be a good idea if older students replied to the problems, as they have experienced what they are going through. They thought the magazine would be more appealing if it contained competitions where students can win "good" prizes.
So that I could further my research I asked the year nines about what magazines they currently read. I felt that this would help me to understand their interests and how they like the magazines they read to look. Many of the boys said they read ‘match’ and ‘football focus’. This was not a huge shock to me as I assumed that many boys would read sport-orientated magazines. From this I can conclude that the magazine would need a sport section. I asked one student who plays for a football team out of school , how he would feel about being interviewed and an article being published about his team and achievements, he really liked this idea and said that it would make him feel valued as a student as the school are interested at what he does in his free time. I think this idea would appeal to everyone as it ‘shows off’ our students talents. Many of the girls in year nine said that they read ‘heat’ or magazines such as ‘okay’. Again this was not a surprise as I also enjoy this magazines and I can understand why girls read them. These kinds of magazines are full of celebrity gossip and interviews therefore the school magazine will be different as it would not just focus on celebrity scandal. However I believe it is possible to use some of their ideas that would appeal to our school students. For example in heat magazine they run a column called ‘spotted out this week’ which is a list of famous faces who have been spotted doing normal daily things. We could use this idea and change it to spotting teachers outside of school. I believe it would work as it will be humorous and also students will understand that teachers have normal lives and don’t live in school. The year nine students really liked this idea but they did comment about whether teachers would agree to it. The main thing I learnt from speaking to the year nine students was that they wanted student achievements to be praised and that it can have a funny side as well as being something that the school can show off.
When speaking to year seven they stressed the idea that the magazine needed to be fun. By this they said that it should contain games and news that they would enjoy reading. They said they would not read if it was boring and contained to much school related information. From speaking to the year seven students i understood that the magazine had to have an informal feel about it but still had to look professional and contain the information in needed. Although speaking to the year sevens taught me that they wanted the magazine to be "fun" i had my own views that the magazine needed to have some serious elements as it is school related. I would have to ask Mr Russell about what extent the magazine could be "fun".
The year eights shared the same idea about it being a magazine that they would read. They explained that it should contain important events, news,games. They liked the idea of some form of agony aunt and thought that it would be a good idea if older students replied to the problems, as they have experienced what they are going through. They thought the magazine would be more appealing if it contained competitions where students can win "good" prizes.
So that I could further my research I asked the year nines about what magazines they currently read. I felt that this would help me to understand their interests and how they like the magazines they read to look. Many of the boys said they read ‘match’ and ‘football focus’. This was not a huge shock to me as I assumed that many boys would read sport-orientated magazines. From this I can conclude that the magazine would need a sport section. I asked one student who plays for a football team out of school , how he would feel about being interviewed and an article being published about his team and achievements, he really liked this idea and said that it would make him feel valued as a student as the school are interested at what he does in his free time. I think this idea would appeal to everyone as it ‘shows off’ our students talents. Many of the girls in year nine said that they read ‘heat’ or magazines such as ‘okay’. Again this was not a surprise as I also enjoy this magazines and I can understand why girls read them. These kinds of magazines are full of celebrity gossip and interviews therefore the school magazine will be different as it would not just focus on celebrity scandal. However I believe it is possible to use some of their ideas that would appeal to our school students. For example in heat magazine they run a column called ‘spotted out this week’ which is a list of famous faces who have been spotted doing normal daily things. We could use this idea and change it to spotting teachers outside of school. I believe it would work as it will be humorous and also students will understand that teachers have normal lives and don’t live in school. The year nine students really liked this idea but they did comment about whether teachers would agree to it. The main thing I learnt from speaking to the year nine students was that they wanted student achievements to be praised and that it can have a funny side as well as being something that the school can show off.
The year ten students agreed with many of the ideas the year nine students had. They believed that the school magazine should not be formal and should be written by the students. They had the idea that the school magazine could publish articles about current affairs outside of school which could help students with their daily lives. The year tens agree that sport should have an impact on the school magazine along with the art , drama and music department. They said that if somebody said to them ‘there is going to be a school newspaper’ that there first thoughts would be ‘boring’ and ‘just another newsletter - but an even longer one’. To prevent the school magazine from being boring they believe that the students should write it and that it should give anyone the opportunity to publish an article of their choice. I can understand this point of view as it would keep the magazine exciting as there could be something different every time. However to contrast this point of view they said that the design on the school magazine should have a continuous theme. They said the name should be catchy and the front cover should always have a set layout so that it looks professional.
The upper school had very similar ideas. Year eleven students also repeated the idea of introducing current affairs into the school magazine. They also really liked the idea of using an agony aunt and a few of the girls said they would enjoy writing that column to help answer younger students problems. A popular idea of a column for all years was the sixty second interview with a teacher many said that the questions should be funny instead of serious. They also liked the idea of having a games page and their being competitions with ‘worth-winning prizes’.
As the students are the majority target audience the interviews helped me understand about how to please them. It also helped me to develop and understanding of what they mean by ‘boring’ and ‘fun’. Before conducting this research I had many ideas about what I think they would like and would not. However I now have the knowledge of what will make them happier.
The next conquest was finding out what would be allowed in the school magazine. I was certain that there were too be comedy boundaries and the one way to find out what they are is by going straight to the top. Mr. Russell. The main feedback from his was that the magazine should in no way ridicule people or discriminate against peoples beliefs or views. He liked the idea of the column choices. However he said that if an article or photograph was being published about a person , you must have their consent and they must be aware of what the purpose for it being printed is. He believed that to make a good magazine it should be published every half term so that there is enough content to make a brilliant magazine. He also believed that it would be an excellent way to show off the schools talent and achievement. He said that it should not be too informal and must contain important news of the school and current events. He shared the student’s view of it looking professional and having a catchy name. From the interview I have learnt that the boundaries are to respect peoples ideas and make sure that the magazine would not upset or cause controversy about the school. As Mr. Russell said ‘be really careful’ but make a great informative magazine that would show people what the school is about.
All five of the senior leadership team agreed that our school would benefit from a magazine. I was beginning to notice a pattern in what people would like to see in a magazine. All of the feedback we had received wanted to highlight what our school is about. The canteen staff said that a school magazine could be use to promote the canteen by printing menus. They also said that the previous school newspaper was not a success as there was a lack of interest. I understand that it is important to keep my audience interested so it would be a good idea to often conduct research. For example by getting students involved as much as possible. Those interested in art could design the magazine logo or perhaps a mascot for the magazine and school..
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