How do Magazines target audiences?

In order to gain a greater understanding about the conventions used in magazine publishing and the reasons behind why certain techniques have been employed, I decided to look at 2 magazines that show a complete contrast so I could understand how different magazines target different audiences. To get the biggest contrast I have chosen to look at GQ and Nuts, two well known mens magazines.

From face value it is quite clear to audiences that these two magazines are aimed at the male market with the choice of focus as images of women semi naked but the similarities stop there. If we look at GQ as a magazine first of all, it is published by one the worlds best known publishers, conde Nast, with Nuts being published by IPC media. Conde Nast holds the publishng rights to other magazines such as Vogue, Tatler, and Vanity Fair, to name a few, with circulations reaching well into to the 100 thousands. This automatically puts GQ into a different publishing league, so to speak, as traditional readers of magazines such as Vogue and Vanity Fair are likened to the more well do to families and socialties, so therefore GQ would match, in status, the likes of Vogue in the very male orrientated professional business world.

IPC, on the other hand, publish magazines that are very working class in their connotations and representation within society with examples such as Look, NME and Marie Claire, which means that the magazines themselves are targeted at two completely diferent markets. Due to the publisher and the image that they continue to uphold, GQ has been marketed to attract a professional, business audience who aspire to do well and live comfortably, an audience who are intersted in politics, business and culture, which can be seen on the cover of GQ itself with highlighted key contents that is to be covered in the magazine. In complete contrast, Nuts was to be targeted towards a younger, more 'laddy' audience, where the cover images tease it's audience with unrealistic fanatsies. Now I understand this in a larger context I am going to look at how these two magazines have been edited and styled in a way to attract these two completey different audeinces.

In referrence to Language and the techniques that the magazines employ, this media convention is perhaps the most important part to product success.

The images on both covers are relatively similar in there structure and focus, with both photos showing famous womem, semi-naked, covering a part of their body. GQ has used subtle lighting tones and 'warm' accents and tones to emphasise an idea of seduction and subtlely puts forward connotations of sex. It does this by cleverly using lighting and shadow to outline her figure which makes the image seem more sensual and dreamlike. This would appeal to men as it plays on their own fantasies and represents the women on the front of the cover as a 'dream like' being and one they wished to know. This is also emphasised in the use of the white sheet as this symbolises and connotates images of innocence and perhaps almost angelic qualities. If we look at Nuts, the contrast in the use of colour between the magazines is clearly evident as Nuts has used very Bold, bright and ' in your face' colours to make the magazine stand apart from the rest, making the image of the women sharper and 'harsher' on the page. Whereas GQ use lighting and tone to present an idea, Nuts has used stereotypes to appeal to men as the women on the cover is posed in way that would suggest to men that she is more free willing than most and is perhaps the type of women that the 'average joe' would be able to abtain. In contrast to GQ where the women is seen to be an almost unobtainable dream and one that draws by appealing to your fantasies. Whereas the image used on the cover of Nuts doesn't rely on tone or lighting to convey an image but instead, derocative stereotypes and social generalisations of typeography, for example the Blonde Bimbo. I found it interesting that the women on the cover of Nuts is seen to be wearing Black, which connotates a 'sexier' side of seduction and shattered innocence, which is in complete opposition to the white used in GQ.

Going back to GQ, the magazine has linked all of the colours on the cover with one central tone and emotion, which blends together to create the sensual feeling that is trying to be portrayed whereas Nuts has used quite contrasting colours, and bold colours, with the red, yellow and orange, which unlike GQ, make the undertone and message of the cover representations less subtle. The sharpe hars lines of the words and images have no real hint towards seduction like GQ but instead hint at a more brash and direct approach to sex as a topic. These differences are fundemanetal to the way the different target audiences have been targeted. In regards to the rest of the cover GQ has lsited features that are to be covered in the magazine such as politics, the economy and culture which is suggestive of a professional, high powered lifestyle that has ambitious men leading the front of the pack as these topics will be of interest to them in their lives and daily routines, whereas the ordinary working class 'folk' will not neccessarily be interested in the latest high Tech equipment or the latest politics. The magazine has used very clean cut, understated type face as not to distract from the overal representation, in contrast to Nuts which solely features quite upfront features about sex and relative stories, for example there is a give away for 2 life size posters of semi-naked women, again lacking subtlety. Words such as strips, topless and naughty also hint at a bolder approach to sexuality, whereas GQ solely relies on the cover image and connotations to present it's messages.

I also realised whilst conducting my research that Nuts pays similar resemblance to Heat magazine, which can be very closely compared in terms of target audience the only difference being gender. They are similar in both structure, layout and overal representations. GQ, as a magazine could perhaps be compared to the likes of Voque in its approach to subtlety and standard of presentations. When looking at the presentation of the magazines, GQ has been set out in a way that looks neat, with bolder colours and text when needed, whereas to look at, Nuts is messy and seemingly unstructured in layout with an abundance of content on the front cover. This can be linked back to audience expectations as a professional audience would not want there magazine to look cheap and messy as this ditracts from audience representation. It would be fair to say that GQ looks expensive and Nuts, in comparion looks trassy and cheap, in the colours, structure and representation of women as a sexual object.

If we ditract from the magazine covers and look at the advertisements used in the magazines, there is real definition between the target audiences, with the likes of GQ advertising designer brands and high end expensive fashions, technology and cars. This is all linked to money and the representations within that. Nuts, on the other hand, holds advertisements for computer games and sport ware, relative to a working class audience who couldn't afford the sorts of products being advertised in GQ as opposed to the professional city workers.

When looking at the industry of magazines themselves, almost every magazine has its own website that ties in with the theme and content of the magazine covers. This allows audiences more interaction with the magazines and builds a brand identity with the audience and the magazine. Having a website for a magazine is especially relevant in todays media world as print media has taken on a new life online and has become very interactive with its audiences. 

 After really taking a close look at the technique that these two magazines have employed I now understand the importance of knowing your audience and their expectations within the media community. I think i would be really beneficial to my final product to conduct market research into my chosen target audience so i can understand what they want and expect in a school magazine.