Evaluation Question 1

Front Cover

I adhered to lots of codes and conventions of classical magazines and other magazines that are targeted at the same age group as who I wanted to read my magazine. I wanted both genre and audience to be easily recognizable so it would intrigue the right people into reading my magazine. First of all I used a bold masthead which you would find on most magazines, I located it in the 1/4th of the left corner and would be something my audience would recognize. Its the biggest font size used on this page and all other subtitles are in smaller font.

I followed the convention of having all my font lined up in columns along the side of page, this makes the magazine have a formal, organised look which you typically would find within a classical magazine. However, my title of the artist isn't lined up this is because I want it to stand out and intrigue the reader into this new

artist.

All the other text is sectioned with small lines in-between each article and are the same colour of the banners to create synergy. All other colours are light browns and gold's to represent autumn but also a premium look with the gold, the title and the puff of 'exclusive interview' has the same gold underneath to represent the importance and special addition to this certain magazine. You would commonly see gold on a classical magazine.

All the font stands out from the image which is a mid shot of the artist, you can see her face and is making eye contact to the camera. She is also holding a violin which is symbol of both classical music and classical magazines. All magazines have the date line and price and is a expectation for the reader.

I did challenge some codes and conventions on my front cover by not showing a typical higher class women with castle backgrounds. My star is a middle class women in a forest so its something totally different to what is found on a normal classical magazine. Also I used a deep blue colour for the name of the artist, this is a colour you wouldn't normally see on a classical magazine and more of a pop magazine. I used this as it would much more appealing to the younger audience I'm trying to attract.

Upon reflection, I believe my front cover was effective. I used many codes and conventions from other music magazines to attract the similar audience. Using a bold masthead, a picture with eye contact and many cover story's to intrigue the audience into buying the magazine, All these things worked well as there bold and show an 'exclusive' and packed magazine. As the front cover will be the first thing the audience sees it needs to look worthy to buy. However, the colour's wasn't as successful as I would have liked them to be. The colours need to be more bright and mixed using pinks,reds and blues to attract a mix of genders at a younger age,


Contents

I followed most codes of contents pages this is because the page needs to be easily found and used to direct the reader to the wanted page. I used columns for the title and page numbers so they can be read easily and make the page organised. The articles that are highlighted on the front cover are in much bigger font than the others as this would be the articles that attracted the reader into buying the magazine.

A lot of magazines use titles to make it even easier to find the article using 'features and 'regulars' and is a way to separate the articles. I also used the convention of using multiple images on the page, it separates the text and also links to the article with the page number in the corner. You commonly see images of scenery and instruments and this is what I used. In total I used 5 different images on this page.

 Another thing I added was a subscription box, a lot of magazines offer these to persuade there customers into always buying there magazines.

The only thing I did challenge was using social media links to attract with my audience. Commonly as a classical magazine is aimed for a older audience, social media links for sites like Instagram and Twitter are not used by the older population. However, as my target is much younger its a popular way to attract them in for using digital media.

I think this page is comparable to other classical contents pages, Using a crammed but organised layout to show where is article is located and clearly labelled images, I think all the images are effective as I followed the conventions of what images work on other contents pages. Although, I think this page is very similar to others I would want to make each text clearer and use a range of fonts. Even though its readable I think it can be clearer and more colorful and to make it even more intriguing into all the other articles not just the main ones.  

DPS

I used the layout of having one image on the right page and the article on the other. The text is all lined up with each other and is in very small font. As my article is a interview, each question is separated with a box underneath so it stands out.

 The text is the same and the title is much bigger and is also underlined which you typically see to show the importance and make it look bold.

I also used a drop capital of 'I' which is used to show its direct and personal about the artist. My page also uses the same colours throughout. The blue which I used on my front cover and the purple which I picked up from the image. The banner is in this colour and banners is something you normally see on a DPS.

The page numbers are at the bottom of the pages and are there to direct the reader.

However, I think I developed lots of codes and conventions on my DPS. First as my whole right page is the image, even though its midshot of my artist. The image is black and white, normally the image is bright and bold to intrigue the reader but instead I wanted to highlight the violin. This is because its a symbol of classical and the artist without it would make the genre not recognizable. Also the artist is not looking at the camera. A lot of images the artist wants to be looking at the camera to make the artist look dominant and powerful.  I believe my artist is showing that she's looking out into her future being a upcoming artist,like she's looking away from                                                       all the media and focusing on portraying her music style. 

Her article which is a interview uses slang and colloquial language, normally classical magazines use formal language only as its for much older and higher class audience.However, the younger audience much prefer more conversational language and 'gossip' but also they will be able to understand the slang used.

Another thing I used which you wouldn't find on a typical classical magazine is shapes and symbols but also puffs. The shapes like the star link to the text would attract a younger audience but also the repeated music notes create synergy.
Another thing you wouldn't normally find is a pull quote, I used this quote as it uses slang and is something the reader could read first and be intrigued to read the full article.







My dps page is my favorite out of all my pages, I liked the layout of this page and the synergy of colours, This colours worked well and makes the black and white image stand out. However, I would want to add more highlights of colours like red and blue if I did it again. I like the text font and size as its clear and easily read and understood. Just overall, the colors may needed to vary more and attract a mix of genders as purple and browns attract more of a girly audience.

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 3

Beth presentation from BethVannet

After doing research, I've decided my magazine needs to be aimed at a niche audience. Having a European based institution like Bauer wouldn't fit my market as effectively or even a global institution like TeamRockLtd. I need my audience to be very specific and I believe I could get this by publishing my Classi magazine through Rhinegold. Even though the other institutions reach much larger audiences by using websites and social media links, the way Rhinegold offers downloadable lessons and educational apps all links to the purpose of my magazine. They already attract the type of audience I want to read my magazine and from some of my features on my magazine which don't follow the conventions of there typical magazines this could attract more of the general public into the genre. 

Evaluation Question 4

Beth Vannet's Slidely by Slidely Slideshow

Evaluation Question 5

How did I attract/address my audience?

Evaluation Question 6

Evaluation Question 7

Media Institutions Research 2

Beth presentation ins from BethVannet

Change of Masthead

When creating my magazine pages I felt like my masthead wasn't representing what I wanted it too. I felt like my audience could misinterpret the word for class as in classroom or social class. It wasn't a masthead that is symbolic for a classy magazine which my audience would be intrigued to buy.Therefore, I changed it to 'Classi' to make it more representative of a high quality classical magazine.

Institutions Research

Looking at institutions I found these three; Bauer,IPC Media and BBC. These are very popular institutions who publish well recognised music magazines.

Bauer
This institiatuon publishes many different types of magazines from sports,fashion,hobbies and music. Bauer is the publisher of Kerrang a rock magazine. This magazine is aimed at commonly the older audience and typically men. The magazine is read by rock and heavy metal fans and people who are interested about new and famous rock artists. Bauer also publishes Q and Mojo who are read by around 14+. The artists that are commonly used in these magazine are pop,r&b and acoustic. They're popular to both the younger and older audience and are suitable for both genders.

IPC Media
IPC create tv,music and fashion magazines. They're audience is more of an older age as the artists that they advertise are older bands and single artists like 'Kings of Leon'. However, they do attract some of the younger audience with tour details and competitions.

BBC
BBC publishes 'Top of the Pops, which is aimed at younger audience aged around 8-12.The colours are much brighter and the pages are more crammed to be suitable for that age gap. The artists are usually pop and acoustic and they're all very familiar to the audience so the reader is interested in reading it.  As the age gap is young they wouldn't be so intrigued in reading about a artist they didn't know.

For my class magazine, I believe the best institution is Bauer. Its a popular business which would get my magazine to a wide range of people but also my target audience. My audience which is 15-20 usually buy similar magazines published my Bauer already. As the magazines they already publish are suitable for this age gap and are intriguing due to them having a range of genres. However, Bauer are missing a classical music magazine They produce pop and rock magazines already but no successful classical ones. This is why Bauer would be the most effective institution, my magazine has similar techniques they already use and it gives them more of a rage of genres for the target audience.

Media beth presentation from BethVannet

Standfirst DPS Research- Emaze

Pull Quote Research- Moodboard

When creating my double-page spread, I found trying to create a pull quote hard. So, i researched different pull quotes and how other magazines use them. One way was to use a over exaggerated, dramatic quote from the artist for the title. Another way was use a quote for the standfirst to give a small insight to what the article is about and the last way is to text wrap a quote around the article. Through researching I decided I'm going to use two pull quotes as it intrigues the audience in to the article of the new artist. I will use a quote from the interview and write it across the image of the artist. It will be in a bold font and be highlighted with a colored box underneath it. I will also text wrap a quote in the middle of the article. The quotes I choose have to be exciting and represent the 'gossip' the artist is talking about in the article. I did realize through the research the pull quotes are usually secrets or gossip to intrigue the younger audience who are interested in finding out about the artist.

Research For My Magazine- Moodboard

When designing my magazine, I decided I wanted to create synergy between all my pages. Through research I believe Q magazines do this effectively by repeating the well recognized logo of the 'Q'. They repeat the same logo throughout all the pages and use the same colour red for font and underlining. I want to do this for my magazine pages but use a capital 'C' to represent the class magazine.

On the front page, the Q logo is the masthead and is what the reader recognizes when buying a music magazine. Its bold and clear, so I going to make the 'C' in the word class much bigger and bolder than the rest of word for my masthead. I will then copy the 'C' throughout my pages.
On the contents page, Q uses the red colour to highlight the page numbers and underline main artists and storys. They also use features like 'Q quiz' to make the magazine unique and more exclusive than any others.
The dps they commonly use a large letter behind the article in the same red to represent the artist and use hints of red throughout the pages. They always use the logo in the corner of the page next to the number.
I will use a similar technique to Q magazines to make my masthead symbolic and easily identifiable for my target audience to the rest of the magazines available.

Contents Page Features

Researching contents page I've found out that these pages are very crammed full of features and direct information, they're is hardly any of the page that isn't covered. When creating my contents page I've found that there isn't enough features on my plan and that it's very simple compared to these pop magazines which are already aimed at my audience. I'm going to use coloured boxes to highlight my headings using synergy between my front cover and also add much more information about each page instead of just the name of the artist. I will also advertise my competition and social media links on this page too making it more intriguing for my young audience The contents page below also uses key words like 'PLUS' and 'subscribe today' and these words are very effective as it attracts you to read about it so I'm going to add more key words like 'more', 'plus' and 'exclusive' to make my magazine seem unique and worthy to buy.

Front Cover Draft 2

Front Cover Draft 1

Hand Drawn Drafts

Images of Artist-Flickr

 I like this picture, I believe it would look effective on my front cover as the star looks very serious and dominant which would link to the title of 'Seriously Seeking New Star'. She looks powerful by looking straight down to the camera and is making eye contact this would intrigue the reader into who this confident new artist is. However, I believe the artist doesn't stand out. All the colours are quite bland and the violin which is the main feature doesn't stand out compared to anything else. If I chose this picture, I would have lighten up certain areas so the star was more lighter than the background.

 This picture also shows her powerful stance but this shows her whole body. I like how you can see how her whole outfit as one of the areas I want to reflect is that this artist is a classical artist but is still middle class. I would again have to enhance the colours to be most effective on the front cover.

 This picture makes the background look interesting, the way the shot is took from a mid shot you can see a lot of the forest. However, you can still the artists face and violin. Even though she does look happier in this picture which I think is a key feature when intriguing a reader into a new artist, she's not looking into the camera. I think this picture would fit better on a contents page or dps as I think its important to have the artist much closer up and dominant on the front cover.

 This image, I want to use on my contents page. Traditionally on a classical music magazine they use images of musical instruments and landscapes as well as artist pictures. I like this picture as you can see both. I would enhance the violin colours so it was much brighter than the urban background.

 I think this image shows too much of a soft artist when first looking at the magazine. Even though the colours have synergy between the leaves and violin, the star isn't looking at the camera. I could use this image on my contents and use a statement suggesting she's looking pass the media and focusing on her music.

              

Photoshoot 1 Reschedule Front Cover

I planned to take my photos of my model for my front cover last night. The location was in a woods which is near my house and all the costume,makeup and equipment was prepared and organised. However, due to traffic my mum who is my model didn't get home for when she expected so if we did take any shots when she got home the lightening of the area wouln't of been bright enough to get any effective shots due it to being the evening. This means I had to rescedule my shoot to the weekend when I can get my shots in the daytime. So till then, I'm going to focus on writing my coverstories for my different pages.

TA Research Analysis-Questions

I asked 5 people in my target audience to answer my questionnaire, I asked 2 boys aged 16 and 17 and 3 girls aged 14,16 and 18,all these people were students of a middle class I used a range of ages to get a different opinion on my magazine and to decide what ages and gender like and dislike specific features. 3 out of the 5 people wrote out there answers and the 2 others filled the questions out online over facebook message. I will collate my answers and improve my magazine to make it more appealing to my target audience.

My first question asked how people consume media, this will give me a idea how most of my target audience read media and too see if people of my age read magazines. I found out that only 2 people mainly consume media by magazines and the others consume it over the internet or using technology like there phone or radio. This suggests that I need my magazine to be very appealing and intriguing so my audience firstly considers to pick it up in a shop and secondly buy it instead of downloading a different one.

 My next two questions asked 'If you don't buy magazines, why not?'.  The overall answer was that technology is easier,cheaper for someone that doesn't make a lot of money due to my audience still being teenagers. I then asked 'What would persuade them to buy a magazine?'I asked this to make me clear what they want to see on a magazine to consider buying mine. All the 5 people want too see new artists, tour details and gossip or secrets about someone. My magazine uses a interview which will give small details about my artist which I think might attract them into my magazine but I'm going to add a feature advertising a tour on my front cover.

Question 4 asked 'What genre came to mind when seeing my masthead.?'. Everyone said classical so I'm not going to change it in anyway as it must be clear what genre it is and its effective for my magazine.

Question 5 asked 'If my whole front cover is intrigiung?'. Everyone also said yes but two added that the front cover needs more features. I know that magazines aimed at a younger audience uses lots of features as they like too see a lot for what they pay but I think I'm only going to add a couple more because I still want my magazine to look formal and classy. One person did add to the question that the artist needs to make eye contact so I'm going to experiment with different shots at my photoshoot.

The next question I asked is 'What is the first thing you see when looking at my magazine?' Two people said the image, 2 others said the title and the other one said the name. This makes it clear that different people see different things when they first look. I think this is effective as not just one feature stands out but the front cover is still intrigiuing. However, I will experiment with my features on where to place them on my cover and see what looks more effective.

My next questions focus on if my magazine includes enough to make it worthy buying, as my target audience is around 15-20, commonly they don't have a lot money or spare money to spend on a magazine. It's the age when they start getting a job but they may not be willing to pay a high price for a magazine. However, classical magazines are usually priced highly which the stereotypical audience are willing to pay. So I asked if there is enough features on magazine to make them consider to buy it. 2 of the 5 which were the oldest of the group actually said there is enough features to make them look inside and buy it. The rest of the group answered that they would want too see a couple more features just to  attract more of the audience and to clearly make them think there getting a good quality magazine and that they should pick it up instead of downloading a different type. Initially I was charging £3.99 for my magazine and most of the group said they're willing to pay that but they also added that they don't think all students would. I might have to consider lowering my price to make it more suitable for all my target audience.

The next question were all answered the same, everyone said yes. The questions were asked 'If the front cover and contents have visual links? If my magazine is intriguing? and If my font is clear and easy to read? So, visually I don't think I'll change my magazine as all ages and gender like it and think its effective for my genre. Also, I then did go onto ask if they liked the black and white theme. I decided to use the black and white as the classical magazine needs to look formal and unique. They all went on to say they liked it and that the theme makes it  look classy but also that the highlights of color are effective for younger audience. However, I needed to ask what features I'm missing to give me a idea to what they would want to see to encourage them to buy it. 3 out of the group, wants to see a free CD or poster so I'm going to add a puff of a free CD of my new artist I'm advertising but also a competition to win tour tickets. This will be another reason to attract my young audience into the magazine.

Question 14 was 'If you were to put my magazine back down in the shop, what would be the reason?' They was two answers from all 5 people, 3 of the group said the genre. As classical isn't a common genre of this class and age the magazine would be a challenge to attract them when choosing a magazine. This means I need to make it look up to date and with the trend to attract them in and make it relatable to them. I need to make them aware that this artist is new and brings classical to this age and time. I will have to do this by using bright colour's and slang to which they can relate too.
The last question asked 'What do you like most about my front cover and contents page?' Four people said the font, its representative of my genre and easy to read. The last person said the colour's so I'm not going to change any of these features.