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.
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.
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 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.
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