Primary research -
New investigations into something e.g. questionnaires
Secondary research -
Investigations made by others that you refer to e.g. using a magazine media pack
In order to research my chosen genre I have looked at my target market audience. I pictured a person who I think would buy the magazine I am producing. Using this image I took inspiration on adverts I could use. I also used this to think about colour schemes and maybe themes throughout the magazine that fit in with my genre. I also created a moodboard on my chosen genre, this helped me get an idea of what people in my chosen genre would like. This also gave me an idea on what adverts I could include in my magazine. It also gave me a broader idea on the genre I have chosen.
To also analyse my genre I looked at existing hip-hop genre based magazines. This gave me an insight on what sort of content is included in a magazine of my chosen genre. I looked at things such as the layout of the front cover. From this I got ideas on the title and how the images are layed out on the page within my chosen genre. In XXL I also looked at what type of content is inside the magazine, I looked at the different articles and noticed that the magazine focused mostly of biographical articles featuring famous hip-hop artists. There were also pages on hip-hop clothing and style.
In order to investigate my target audience I looked at some other magazines of my genre. I looked at the adverts in certain hip-hop magazines. This gave me an idea of some of the clothes and styles that my target market audience could like. I also looked at the artists in the magazine. I then researched the artists in more detail, this helped me look at the genre in more detail and gave me a wider understanding of my target market audience. I created a questionnaire to help me with this sort of research, this will give me an idea on music tastes, clothing tastes and also things like social networking sites and phones. All of this will help me aim my magazine to a specific audience.
In order to conduct better primary research I need to try and get a bigger range of magazines. Doing this will broaden my idea to not just a specific market audience and genre but to a larger, more varied genre. I could also do primary research by going to concerts and gigs and seeing first hand my target audience who enjoy the genre I have chosen. I could also listen to more of the music, this would also aid in simply getting a bigger idea of hip-hop. To go along side my magazine I could do an opinion poll or interview people.
To be able to make more secure decisions about my magazine I need to make sure I know enough about my chosen genre. With this information I will be able to write good content that I am comfortable suits both my theme and feeds the needs and desires of my target market.