For this research task, I sent out a Google Form out to two places: my close friends' group chat and the internet. With my friends, I could guarantee half decent answers but the internet means I can have a wider range of opinions, ages, genders, and backgrounds.
I started by sending a message to a group chat with my closest friends and got six responses, which means my initial pool is incredibly small - and the main reason why I'm putting this form out into the internet - but I still wanted to check what my friends have said separate to the rest of the world, given anyone could answer outside of the age range.
The first question (aside from the ones gauging gender and age) was a unanimous "no" from everyone. There was something that made people not want to buy magazines, and it's something I would have to look into to figure out how my magazine can reach the largest possible audience.
When I asked people why they gave the answer they did, and the most common answer was money. Four out of the six who answered said that magazines were priced way too high for them, and others elaborated by saying that they could easily find the same information online for free, so why bother with a physical paper at all?
Now, surprisingly, it was a 50/50 split about visiting websites. I would've assumed that not many of my friends would've been interested in magazine websites as they weren't interested in the physical copies, but that was under my assumption they didn't like the content of magazines.
However, you'll see by the answers given that two of the three that visited magazine websites did it for their media coursework and one reads for fun. The rest either didn't know they had websites, or weren't interested in magazines to begin with.
Style was a little harder to define here. There was a debate within the group chat with the boys taking the form that style was all about fashion and makeup and that they had no interest in it, when style is all about how you outwardly present yourself to feel happy. Overall, I'm gathering that people like interesting outfits with attention to detail, but they boys my need persuading.
My friends have a range of interests, however, there are touches of topics you'd see in Condé Nast magazines - fashion, style, and politics - so one way I could take my own is teasing a story of relevant political stories in the UK. I wouldn't make it about the monarchy though because I'm aware a vast majority of the younger generation are strongly against it.
The answers in the chat were split for the price answer because of how diverse the economic situations of each person is. Some are pay check to pay check, others are middle class, so this was an answer I'd need more data for to be certain (I'm not pricing a Condé Nast magazine below £2.50).
Each person had something different to say, each having their own reasons for being drawn towards something: some people want interesting and pleasing front covers, some wanted famous faces like James Marriott, both pieces of information that I can take inspiration from.
I then reached out to the people of the discord server that I'm in to ask for their opinions because it gives me a safer option to reach out to people I trust instead of the randomness of the internet. This does, however, mean I am limited to a certain view point, much like with my friend group, with people who like very similar things and have very similar backgrounds.
I eventually decided to post the video to my TikTok page to ask the internet for help, using desperate language (I haven't "left [it] to the last minute" but people are more likely to act when the scenario seems dire) to encourage people to go and do the form. With both of these methods, I had 11 more responses meaning I have 17 in total now, enough to get a wide variety of answers.
The majority of the people polled were in the age range of the target audience, meaning I can take on board most of the answers, but even the over 25s polled with have beneficial opinions that I can work with.
However, most of the people within the form do not read magazines. This means that we'll be taking the advice of what people dislike in magazines and
not doing that for ours. We're looking to bring in a large audience to kickstart the newest magazine so if we do what people dislike, no one will buy it.
Overall, reading the responses, they're pretty much identical to before. People either don't have the money in today's economy or they haven't found one they have an interest in, people don't visit websites because they either don't know they exist or they would rather go to another website for news.
Style for people is varied, more varied than I thought it would be, some of the more interesting answers are:
"Stylistic choices that have symbolism or tell a story because I love a good hidden message"
"Fashion really interests me, especially fashion history"
"i find it interesting to learn about clothing styles outside of what i normally wear, seeing people experiment with clothing in ways i never would’ve thought to"
So from this, the style of my models should be interesting, not just the whites and beiges of the modern style culture. A lot of the people also would read magazines if they were about games, table top role playing games (ttrpgs), or queer history, themes that I could try and make a nod to when creating my own magazine.
I was somewhat surprised to see 17.6% of people would pay over £5 but I feel like most people won't pay that steep a price, even for a Condé Nast magazine so pricing it around the £3.50 - £4.50 range would attract the most amount of people for an audience.
Many people said that interesting front covers with people they recognise, or at least having a diverse range of models will encourage them to pick up a new magazine series, whilst many also said price was a big factor.
From the form, I know that I need to make the cover intriguing with "known" celebrities with diverse body types and sexualities, unlike the current modelling industries with thin, hourglass figures. I will also be using intricate outfits that are different from the plain and simple outfits most big brands market today. With these factors, I believe I will have the best chance of reaching my intended audience.
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