Target Audience Questionnaire

In order to best create my magazine, establishing a target audience will help me to choose the aesthetics and contents that would best align with my readers.

Creation:

Using a survey would be the most efficient way to collect my data, so I choose a program called "Google Forms" to help me create one. I came up with 15 questions ranging from demographics to personal preferences and used them in my survey.

Sending It Out:

Once I completed the survey, I sent it out to some friends as well as classmates. For my friends, I sent them a link to fill out the form via a text-message. To get additional responses, I generated a QR code and asked the other students in my class if they could scan and fill out the survey.

A message I sent to a friend The QR code my classmates scanned

Questions:

Question 1:

"What is your age group?"

I asked this to pinpoint the age of my audience and the top to responses were 0-14 and 15-24. Almost all of the people I asked, however, were teenagers. This is helpful because, as a teenager, I am best equipped to appeal to this age group.

Question 2:

"What is your gender?"

I asked this not to gear my magazine towards a specific group, but just to get a general idea of who is going to be reading the magazine. While almost three quarters are female, I plan on creating a magazine that is geared towards both men and women.

Question 3:

"Do you like to try new foods?"

This question was created for me to see what kind of food I should display. If most of my audience said "no", then I would probably showcase popular and well-known foods. Since 87% said that they do like to try new foods, then I might branch out and feature a more interesting dish.

Question 4:

"Do you read food magazines?"

The responses were very close, with the top choice being "Once in a while". "Almost never" and "Never" were tied at 30%. What this data tells me is that none of my audience normally reads magazines and it's not part of their routine.

Question 5:

"What would you like to see in a food magazine?"

The options given to those taking the survey reference possible contents of the magazine. Most people wanted a recipe to be included as well as food from different cultures. People did not want a history of the food. This data will help me decide what to write

my article about.

Question 6:

"Does color palette matter to you?"

I asked this question to gage what would draw in and potentially steer away my target audience. I wanted to know whether they would read a magazine regardless of it's color palette. The responses show that over 60% care about the color palette.

Question 7:

"What kind of food is your favorite?"

This question is very helpful as it tell me what kind of food would appeal most to me audience. The top responses were Asian, Argentinian, and Italian cuisines.

Question 8:

"If a recipe was included, would you like to see a step by step with pictures?"

This question is especially helpful since most people chose to include a recipe in one of the previous questions. This shows that my audience is mostly made up of people who prefer to see examples rather than

read about them.

Question 9:

"What kind of food do you want to see in the magazine?"

This question goes hand-in-hand with the one regarding the kind of cuisine. This, on the contrary, helps me narrow down which group of foods to pick within a cuisine. Most people chose a dinner food and a dessert. This will help me

to choose what food to showcase

and what the article will be about.

Question 10:

"Does how a magazine's cover page look matter to you?"

This question is similar to a previous one regarding color palette. However, this specific one takes the entire cover page into account. Once again, my target audience agreed that the

visual aesthetic matters a lot to them.

Question 11:

"Does the style/type of fonts make a difference to you?"

Once again, this question addresses the values of my audience. Their answer matches their other ones, saying that fonts matter a lot and can pull a magazine together.

Question 12:

"Which font is your favorite?"

Most of the choices were serif fonts with the exception of one sans serif. Most people choose the serif font and not many people chose the sans serif one. This tells me that my audience likes serif fonts which means they prefer a refined and more detailed style.

Question 13:

"What style of magazine do you prefer?"

This is a very important question that will most likely dictate the style my magazine is in. Over 60% wanted a more minimalistic and neat style opposed to bright, bold, and dramatic.

Question 14:

"Should the cover page image include a person?"

The majority of participants prefers that just the food is showcased on the cover which goes in accordance to their answer to the previous question where they like a cleaner, simple look to a magazine. The absence of anything

extra, such as hands, arm, or a face,

could clutter things up or make things

look too busy.

Question 15:

"How many article titles should be placed on the first page?"

This last question tells me that my audience just wants things to look aesthetically pleasing and neat because of their answer. The fact that very little people chose 5+ articles to be featured proves this point.

Conclusion

In brief, I'm very pleased with the creation and results of this survey. The production was fast and sharing the survey link was a smooth process. Many people took their time and put a lot of effort into the survey which ensures that their answers are as truthful as possible. This survey supports my initial plan for a magazine. I wanted it to be minimalistic and organized, have a muted color scheme, showcase a recipe, and highlight different cuisines from around the world. The data I collected supports all of my ideas. As a result of conducting this survey, I will make sure that the color palette and font goes together and make the magazine appealing because that's what my audience cares about. My target audience are mostly teenagers, so my content will be geared towards them. An answer I found surprising was that over 80% of them like to try new foods. This will for sure play a part in my magazine's content. Going forward, I will use the data I collected to best curate a magazine that appeals to my target audience.