Final: Music magazine cover, contents page and double page spread

The complete design of my Classical music Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread

can be seen below:

Media Studies AS Evaluation

My media studies evaluation in the form of a slideshow:

Media Studies AS Evaluation

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Evaluation of Music Magazine

In what ways does your media product, use, develop or challenge forms and conventions or real media products?

My music magazine ‘Musica Classica’ uses the structure and conventions of the classical magazine ‘Classic Fm’ My magazine follow the same conventions of ‘Classic Fm’ by incorporating the genre of my magazine within the actual title. On many of ‘Classic Fm’ magazine issues, the image used reflected not only a specific article within the magazine, but also the magazines genre itself. For this reason, I ensured that one of the props included within the cover image was a classical music instrument.

Classic Fm’s magazine’s main colour schemes consisted of White and Red. This co-ordinated well with the magazines front cover and by using a simple colour scheme, it added a sense of sophistication. I chose Teal and White as my colour scheme as I felt that the two colours complimented each other. Like Classic Fm, I used this colour scheme throughout the magazine in order to reinforce consistency.

I used headings and titles throughout the magazine where I felt necessary and ensured that articles were categorised under suitable headings. Each article was numbered, allowing the reader to navigate their way through the magazine. I included the ‘Issue No’ as well as images that connected to some of the articles that were published within the magazine. Headings and titles were underlined and made bold to catch the reader’s attention when flicking through the magazine.

In classic fm, the language used and the articles published within the magazine were quite formal, mainly because their target audience was the older generation and so for this reason, I too used Standard English throughout my magazine in order to attract my target audience.

2. How does your media product represent a particular social group?

For my particular magazine, I tried to represent a modern and upper-class social group through not only the language used within my magazine, but also through the images used as well as the actual layout of my magazine. I used Standard English throughout my magazine and I referred back to famous classical singers such as Myleene Klass. This would attract not only my target audience, but also younger readers who may be willing to pick up and read my magazine, mainly because they recognise a famous name. My research showed that Classic Fm target audience was mainly upper-class people who had a great interest in i.e. classical music.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I believe that a media institution such as Rhinegold Publishing will be interested in my music magazine as they are an independent publisher that publish classical music magazines as well as study guides for music, drama and theatre studies. Such classical music magazines include ‘International Piano’ and ‘Opera’. As ‘Rhinegold Publishing’ is an already well known and successful, it would mean that my magazine would gain a great advantage in selling a large number of copies.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Having a target audience is of great importance as by having a target audience; it ensures that your targeted audience’s interests are presented within the magazine. For example, a teenager wouldn’t be interested in reading about upcoming classical events. When deciding upon my target audience, many factors had to be considered such as the age group. My main target audience was the older generation and so for this reason, I used Standard English throughout the magazine as my research showed that the language used within a magazine reflects the genre itself. My target audience also included individuals who have a great interest in classical music. However, that’s not to say that individuals from the younger generation wouldn’t be interested in reading my magazine.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

I addressed my audience in many different ways. This included a bold and eye-catching colour scheme of teal and white which reinforced the elegance of classical music. I ensured that I used a consistent font for the main heading and sub heading of the magazine and used a classical style font. It was this font that was most preferred by individuals who had filled in my questionnaire.
My research showed that text within a magazine was mainly aligned in order to reinforce professionalism as well as make it easier for the reader to follow and so, I used this within my magazine. This structure was mainly used on my contents page and the use of page numbers will easily guide the user through the magazine. Having a plain background allowed the headings and text to stand out as well make it easier for the reader to read. On the magazine cover, I added an issue number, price tag and barcode in order to make it look more authentic. The use of various camera shots such as the close up shots that I had taken that were used on my magazine cover would attract the audience’s attention. I used a variety of strap lines on the cover such as ‘Exclusive Interview, Robyn Brown’ and ‘LIVE Music concerts this Christmas’ in order to engage the reader and persuade them into buying the magazine.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Before the development of the magazine, i knew how to use a camera and i knew the basics of Photoshop. However, during the development of the magazine, I became more confident in using the software and I learnt the different ways that a camera could be used in order to obtain different results. The most common feature that I used on the digital camera was the macro mode which allowed me to focus the camera resulting in me being able to take high quality and non-blurred images. This is so that it provides the reader with an immediate impact and persuades them into purchasing the magazine. For many readers, there is a great difference between a high quality Image and an average image which can result in there being a difference between the reader purchasing the magazine or not.

The editing software that I used was Adobe Photoshop. Adobe Photoshop was of great use as it allowed me to perform certain actions such as removing the background on the image used on the front cover by using the magic wand tool. It allowed me to manipulate my images by allowing me to add borders which reinforced the quality of the images as well as make changes to the lighting and contrast of certain images.

Whilst I designed the magazine. I used a digital camera to take the images. A great deal of time was spent trying to get the lighting right for each shot as well as deciding whether a flash was needed as well as the camera shots needed for each picture.

I also used Internet Explorer which allowed me to create my blog and keep track of my progress. This also allowed me to set myself deadlines which meant that I was able to complete my magazine on time. This interactive service allowed me to view my magazine visually in order to spot any i.e. spelling mistakes that I previously not spotted. Overall, I believe that the technology that I used during the development of my magazine allowed me to produce a high quality standard of work.

7. looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

For my preliminary task, I created a magazine cover and contents page that would help and teach ‘Photoshop beginners’ the basics of Photoshop. In my preliminary task cover, I used more of varied colour scheme whereas in my music magazine, I made sure that I had stuck to a specific colour scheme. In my preliminary task, I believe that I had overdid it with the colour as well as the strap lines which over powered the cover whereas with my music magazine cover, I balanced out the white space and the strap lines.

I believe that the cover and contents page that I had created for the preliminary task was not of the same standard of my music magazine cover, contents page and double page spread mainly because of the lack of time. During the preliminary task, I hadn’t really balanced out my time resulting in me having to rush the designing stage whereas with the music magazine, I had good time keeping skills which resulted in me producing a magazine that was of a higher standard. Overall, I am pleased with the design of my music magazine cover, contents page and double page spread.

'Editing Images - Before and After and Colour Scheme

I used a Canon A480 Digital Camera to take the images for my cover and then used Adobe Photoshop as my editing software to edit the actual images. I have illustrated below how the image(s) looked before and after.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I used the magic wand to remove most of the background and then used the Brush Tool and selected white to erase away the extra bits that were left. For my actual cover, I've flipped the 'After' image vertically as i believe that it would look more ideal and professional.

As you can see, i took a mid shot image of the girl playing the violon (which is a well knonw classical instrument) and also got her to position herself in a way that is similar to the positioning of the images of the classical singers on the 'Classic FM' magazines which was one of the classical magazines that i researched in order to gain more ideas and inspiration. I also adjusted the lighting to make it look lighter as before, the image was too dark.

Also, i have now decided on a main colour scheme of Teal and White. Teal because it co-ordinates well with the clothing of the girl in the image above and also because teal is a bold and expressive colour which is just like classical music - bold and expressive. I have also chosen white because white sort of breaks down the boldness of the teal and also co-ordinates well with teal - similar to the way that the colours Red and White co-ordinate with each other which is the main colour scheme for 'Classic FM' magazine.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

i didn't like the stairs which was in the background as it looked tacky. That is why i decided to change the background. I manipulated the image background by using the wand tool. I then used the eraser to erase the bits of the background that was left. I then browsed the internet for a set of stairs. This was difficult as i wanted to find a set of stiars that when merged, went well with the coliur scheme. I eventually found and image and then placed the layer of which the stairs was on below the layer which had the image of the girl on it.

BEFORE & AFTER:

I didn't edit the two images above as i didnt feel that there was any need for the images to be edited. In both images, the lighting of the images was perfect and the background of the image was suitable. As well as this, the essential prop (the piano) that was needed for these two particular image is clearlyt viewable. For these reasons, the images was not edited.

Preparation of Photos for Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread: Editing Image(s) for Music Cover

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Preparation For Photos For Cover

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Music Magazine Cover, contents page and double page spread - Draft

Before i could go ahead with the actual designing of my music cover, i decided that i should instead first do a rough draft of the cover. This would be a base for me when i design the actual cover. I just included the basic concepts that i would like to be featured on my cover and a scan of my draft cover can be seen below.

Front Cover:

I will however, during the actual designing stage change or alter certain parts. The main strap line 'Exclusive Interview Robyn Brown' is hopefully going to be related to the image which is going to be an image of a girl playing a classical musical instrument.

As you can see from the scan above, i have drawn out the title of the magazine in a fancy classical font and went for the same affect for the heading but instead decided to use a slightly different font.

I have drawn out the 'Free CD' on the cover and have roughly sketched out the positioning of my image. As my genre is classical, i have decided to use a digital camera to take a picture of a girl playing a classical instrument which i can then later edit in photoshop i.e remove the background.

Once i have taken my image(s) for the cover, i am then going to decide on a definite colour scheme. I mainly got inspiration for the layout of my magazine cover from 'Classical FM' magazine(s).

Contents Page:

For my contents page layout, i cooperated a bit of both of the layout designs from the classical music contents pages. The layout design can be seen below:

As you can see, i am going to include 3 images near the top of the page. On these images, i am going to have the page numbers in the corner(s) of the image. At the top of the page, i am going to include a kicker that is going to say the date and this is going to be in a bold and appealing font.

For the heading, its going to say 'Musica Classica Contents' and below this, there is going to be a text box stating the magazine issue number. This is so the reader knows what issue they are reading i.e - The latest issue.

On my layout page, the magazine articles are going to come under 5 different headings: 'Community, Interview, Live, Features and Win!. Next to each heading, i am going to have a musical note photoshop brush. I am going to also to have a musical note photoshop brush next to the 'Musica' text that is going to be in the top right hand corner. In order to make sure that the contents page follows the consistency of the cover page, i am going to use the same style font that i used for the title of the magazine for the 'Musica' text as well as the same colour scheme which i haven't yet decided upon. I am going to decide upon the colour scheme once i have taken and chosen the image for my front cover.

Double Page Spread:
For my double page spread, i did a similar design to one of the double page spreads that i analysed. My layout design can be seen below:

For my double page spread, i am going to be listing 'Live concerts this Christmas' This is going to be the main heading of the article and it is going to cover a double page spread. I am going to reinforce consistency by using the fonts as well as the colour scheme that i am going to use on my cover page and contents page.

To make my double page look more professional, i am going to have two bold boxes on the right hand corner that is going to look as if it is part of the template.

The heading is going to be in the top left hand corner and around the whole page, there is going to be a faint border which adds a sense of sophistication to the design and makes it look more professional. My research analysis showed this. There is going to be a smaller sub heading in the top right hand corner.

Despite having done a layout mock design for my cover page, conetnts page and double page spread, i may alter the actual i.e layout in the actual designing stage. The mock layout(s) are only a guideline.

In Depth Research: Analysis of Front Covers, Contents Page, Double Page Spread - And Audience Research

Front Covers Research:

Now that i have chosen my music genre, I've decided to research more into it by looking at 'Classical Fm' magazine covers, contents pages and double page spreads as well as Classical music videos including Scarborough Fair by Amy Nuttall and various different classical music magazines. This provided me with various different ideas for my cover. As you can see from the covers below, a Mid shot has been used to take the front cover image(s) and the rule of thirds has been applied to the images used on the covers. As well as this, i noticed that in 3 out of the 4 covers, a side camera shot was used to take the pictures which adds a sense of controlled sophistication. Also, a free CD has been distributed with each issue of Classic Fm which also encourages readers to purchase the magazine.


The main focal point for each of the magazines displayed above is an image of e.g. The classical singer or artist which has a great impact for the reader. The positioning of the secondary/tertiary focal points also grabs the readers attention. Now that i have researched into Classical Music genre magazines, i have now decided that for my cover, i want as the main focal point, a mid shot image of the classical music Artist.

As i watched a few classical music videos, i noticed that many of the song lyrics were written and sung in a different language. This gave me the inspiration for the title of my magazine which is 'musica classica' which, when translated, means Classical Music. As well as this, i have decided to have 'The International classical music magazine' as my subheading which will be below the magazine title. By adding a subheading, it 'motivates' the main heading i.e The title and gives it more of an emphasis.

For the layout of my magazine, i want to have the image positioned and enlarged maybe at the side of the magazine and then have the secondary/tertiary focal points surrounding it. I like the idea of distributing a free CD with each issue as like i said earlier, it encourages more readers to purchase the magazine and for this reason, i too want to advertise a free CD on my magazine cover. With the magazines that advertise a free CD, a kicker has been printed at the top of the cover. The kicker attracts the readers attention and I like this idea and so i too want to include a similar kicker.

I noticed that the fonts that have been used on the different covers also expresses to the reader the genre of the magazine. For example, on a rock magazine, a grungy bold font will be used for the magazines title. On the Classical magazines above, a fancy font has been used which indicates to the reader that the music genre is classical.

Contents Page Research:

As i browsed various different sites, i found it difficult to find classical music magazine contents pages on the Internet. I did however find 2 contents pages from two different classical music magazines and despite the text being in a different language, i believe that the layout designs will be of great use. The Contents Pages can be seen below.

I have noticed that the two contents pages above are quite opposite to one another, The contents page from the classical music magazine 'Scena' has a bold and eye catching colour scheme where as the the 2nd contents page which is from the classical music magazine 'International Piano' has more of a plain and sophisticated design.

The contents page from 'Scene' (the one on the left) illustrates a lot of text which illustrates to the reader that the magazine is jam packed full of news etc but the large amount of text may also be off putting to the reader. With the International Piano contents page, more images have been used than text and subheadings have been used to separate news, interviews, reviews etc. I believe that the images are more appealing to the reader as they say that an image speaks 1000 words.

For my contents page, i want to be able to have a bold and appealing background but yet also include images that reflect the articles, reviews etc that are featured inside the magazine. I want to use the same colour scheme that is going to be used on the cover and i like the idea of having the magazine title in the top right hand corner as well as little touches such as having borders around text which makes the page look more professional.

On the second contents page (International Piano), there is a large amount of blank space in the bottom right had corner which is off putting to the reader. For my contents page, i do not want to have any white space but yet, i don't want the page to be overcrowded. In the 2nd contents page, i like the idea of having numbers on the images as well beside the text itself and i too want to include this in my contents page.

Double Page Spread Research ggg ggg g

Researching for classical music magazine double page spreads wasn't as difficult as researching for the contents page. The double page spreads can be seen below.

With the first two double page spreads, a text box had been used in the top right hand corner that indicates to the user what the double page spread is about i.e - Reviews. I too want to include this in my double page spread as i believe that it adds a touch of class and also makes the double page spread professional.

Out of the 3 layouts, i prefer the third layout 'An exceptional Debut'. I prefer this layout as a large image has been used which attracts the readers attention to the page when they are flicking through the magazine. By including a star rating system, it reinforces the readers decision as to whether they should purchase the i.e CD. If i am reviewing a classical music CD on my double page spread, then i want to include a similar star rating.

I personally think that the colour scheme used on the first double page spread that is titled 'Two minute talk' is too dark and would like to use more of a light colour scheme on my double page spread. However, i like the fact that on the 'Two minute Talk' double page spread and also on the 'An exceptional debut', the magazines website has been included at the bottom of the page. This allows the reader to find out more about a specific article in the magazine etc and for this reason, i want to use this idea and include it in my double page spread.

In the second double page spread, i think that the text has been all squashed up together and paragraphs haven't been used. Also, the actual size of the font is small making it hard to read. I believe that in a magazine, the formatting of it is of great importance. The style of the font mus appeal to the reader but yet be easy to read and the same goes for the size of the font. Certain parts of text e.g Headings should be bold and stand out more to the reader than other pieces of text as it is mainly the headings or images used that grabs the readers attention.

Overall, i believe that by analysing a variety of classical music covers, contents pages and double page spreads, i have gained a lot of ideas and inspiration for the design of my actual cover.

Audience Research:

In order to find out my audience views and opinions on what they expect from a classical music magazine, I designed a questionnaire and distributed it to a sample size of 15 people. A copy of the questionnaire with the results can be seen below:

I have decided that i am going to use the majority of the feedback that i received from my audience in the actual designing of my magazine. There were quite a few faults in my questionnaire. For example, in the 2nd question, i asked 'How often do you buy a music magazine?' and one of the options was 'other' but i didn't ask the audience to 'Please state other option' However, this won't affect the designing of the magazine.

In my 3rd question, i asked 'If you were to purchase a classical music magazine, what kind of features would you expect?' My results show that 40% of the audience would expect there to be 'Artist Interviews in the magazine and only 6% of the audience expect there to be 'New Artists' featured in the magazine. This illustrates to me that in my double page spread, i should present an article related to the artist e.g A review of the artists album.

In my 4th question, i asked 'Do you prefer magazines that have a bit of everything or magazines that are suited to your tastes?' My results show that a large 80% of my audience prefer to read a magazine that has a bit of everything. This is useful feedback as it now makes me aware of the fact that in my magazine, i need to feature a variety of different strap lines and news and to not concentrate on a particular topic.

In my 5th question, i asked 'What first attracts you to the cover when you pick up a magazine?' The results from my questionnaire shows that the audiences main focal point of the magazine cover is the image. This feedback is also useful as it illustrates to me that more people will be willing to buy the magazine depending on the image on the front cover which means that that the image that is going to be used on the cover has to have a positive impact on the readers. As well as this, 40% of the audience that i questioned said that they will be more willing to buy a magazine if a Free CD was advertised. I am going to advertise a Free CD on my actual magazine cover.

In my 6th question, i asked my audience 'What would you say is a reasonable price for a magazine?' A majority of the audience said that they believed that £2.50 was a reasonable price for a magazine. I personally believe that £2.50 too is a reasonable price as if the price of my magazine was too cheap, i.e 99p, then it would be difficult to make profit etc and if the price of the magazine was too expensive i.e £5.00, then no readers will be willing to purchase the magazine and would instead would turn to a cheaper classical magazine.

In my 7th question, i asked the audience 'Out of the following fonts, which font do you think will be most suitable for a classical magazine' It was clear from my results that the majority of the audience preferred the font: 'Brock Script' I agree with the audience as i believe that it looks like a classical font and appeals positivley to the audience. Also, the font is readable.

In my 8th question which was my final question, i asked 'Would you rather go for a magazine that has a Bold and eye catching colour scheme or would you rather go for a magazine that has a light and calm colour scheme' It was obvious from my results that the majority of my audiences felt that they would be more appealed by a magazine that had a bold and eye catching colour scheme. As my genre is classical, I'm going to agree with the audiences choice and choose a bold colour scheme and also relate the front cover image to the colour scheme.

After analysing my audiences responses, i believe that i have gained a lot of relevant information that will be of great use when designing my magazine cover, contents page and double page spread. I'm going to use the information that i have gathered and hopefully put it across in the final design.