Considering your target audience...

A few simple questions useful to ask yourself are:

What supermarket do they shop at?

What clothes shop do they shop at?

What is their job?

What else would be next to this on a shelf?

What is it's main competitor?

Mansueto Ventures (2013) defines searching for your target audience as considering the following:

Demographics:

• Age
• Location
• Gender
• Income level
• Education level
• Marital or family status
• Occupation
• Ethnic background

Pyscholographics:

·         Personality

·         Attitudes

·         Values

·         Interests/hobbies

·         Lifestyles

·         Behavior

Evaluate your decisions:

• Are there enough people that fit my criteria?
• Will my target really benefit from my product/service? Will they see a need for it?
• Do I understand what drives my target to make decisions?
• Can they afford my product/service?
• Can I reach them with my message? Are they easily accessible?

Mansueto Ventures (2013) Inc. :How to determine your target audience, available at: http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/06/defining-your-target-market.html/1, viewed on: 09/12/13.

Redesigning a page in The Big Issue...

In an attempt to understand the use of typography for creating audience approriate moods or sentiments, I set about playing with the layout of one page from The Big Issue Novemeber edition.

The orginal page:

Bird, J. (2013) The Big Issue, edition November 18-24, p13.

Article is John Bird's sharing his personal thoughts on his reaction to the Kennedy assassination.  John Bird is the Founder and Editor in Chief of the Big Issue. 

Here is my redesign of this page with fonts i had on my computer, in the style of The Big Issue:

Here is my redesign of this page with fonts i had on my computer, in the style of TV Choice mag:

Here is my redesign of this page with fonts i had on my computer, in the style of The Guardian newspaper:

Analyzing different papers and magazines

Looking closely at the choice of fonts, the hierarchy of types, page layout, use of images and any adverts.  By analysing the general rules/themes applied to the magazine/newspaper as a whole I can see vibe of the content and gauge:

*the target audience.
*the mood implied.
*what the magazine/paper is about.


The Big Issue magazine

Fonts:
Brand name:       Unique individual style type, bold sans serif with surrounding box.
Header:              Mostly Sans Serif (same as subtitles) occasionally is more elaborate header.
Subheadings:      Sans serif
Body Copy:       Serif
Highlighted bits:  Bold variant of Serif (same as body copy)
Specials:            Script/handwritting font

Colours:
Black and Red largely throughout, Choice of colour for subheading differs in section:
The mix: Red
Films, TV, Culture: Ocre yellow.

Light gloss to pages

Content:
Cultural issues or features on lighter side.
Ads are for community projects or homeless assistance
No product placements
Free-er speech
Less formal content and style of writing.

Example page, p 13:

The Guardian newspaper,

Fonts
Brand name:           Slab Serif, bold version.  Lower case writing for both words "the guardian"
Header:                  Slab Serif (same), bold version.
Subheadings:          Slab Serif (same), bold version.
Body copy:            Slab Serif (same)
diagrams/specials:  Thinner sans serif.

Same font, different parts of the family for it -
bolder: page title
regular: body text
in red: for subheadings and bold
thinner: for quotes
condensed:  section title header top
6 varients on pages 6 and 7.

Colours
Larger colour photos,
limited colour palette - mainly black white and red, varies colour of subheadings for some sections.
ocre yellow, orange, maroon red and occasionally blue.


Content
For the people
3 or 5 text columns a page instead of 2.
Family orientated ads - time together to catch up as family.
High end purchase ads - cars, designer bags, M&S.
Consumer ads on most pages
Charity ads occasionally through.
Political subject matters.

Example page, front cover:

TV Choice magazine

Font
Header:                different for each article, even if 4 on page! Round or blocky, sans serif largely.
Subtitles:              Sans serif, italic version (of body copy)
Body copy :         Sans serif

Colour
6 used - red, white, black, yellow, green, blue - all very bright!
Borders and text and b/g's are coloured.
Colour tab on page edge for day

High gloss pages

Content
Ads are for cheap but practical clothes or accessories, appear to be at a glance better than are.
Ads for elderly assistance items
tabs like "new" appear like price tags, stuck onto pics and overlap stuff.
Intense - an assault on the senses.
Fast read - intended for quick pick up and short reading.

Example page, p4: