Format research evaluations

Evaluation for format research on music magazines

Within the format research carried out investigating music magazines and analysing aspects of the features within the magazines themselves, the norms and typical features of a music magazine is revealed as these are repeated throughout all different magazines and as a reader you can find these immediately and instantly know that it is a stereo typical music magazine feature. This could be to do with layout of the pages, positioning of text and images, positioning of headlines branding and lots more.  The more magazines you begin to analyse the more you can notice these features and realise how often they are used.

Front covers of the magazines:

After looking at three different music magazines and analysing the features on each, you can begin to see the stereo typical layout and features of a normal magazine and understand how they work within the genre of music, target audience and other aspects.

      Through the research which took place, the reader can quite clearly see that with magazines of a younger target audience, the use of images on the front page is used more often and the variety of colours used within the magazine front cover is greater than those of which are for older target audiences. Each magazines colour choice is suited to the target audience in some way and it relates to the rest of the magazine with the house colour being carried out through the rest of the magazine and linking the whole of the magazine together. With Kerrang magazine, the uses of dark colours for most of the text and images relates to the genre of the music being conveyed in the magazine and this is carried through the rest of the magazine also as you can see in the double page spread. Although the contents page which I analysed had brighter colours on the front page, this does not defy convention as the use of often brighter colours within the magazine is effective has it helps certain parts of the text to stand out more, and having brighter colour on the contents page gives this emphasis to certain sections of the text and the headlines of the featured articles in the magazine.

   Although I analysed a classical magazine front cover, I was unable to find contents and double page spreads for this specific magazine, however this did not affect my research as I investigated into different genres of music and layouts of magazines, so this choice of front page was good for my research as it gave me a variety of different genres to analyse and understand the features used. The classical music magazine in which I chose had a very plain choice of colours and there was a lack of different colours used. This reflected in the target audience as it was for an older age group, so less variety of colours was necessary as colours aren’t always the attraction for older target audiences.

   With the last magazine being Q magazine and having the same aged target audience as Kerrang magazine, the use of colours seemed to be brighter once again, and brighter than those on the classical music magazine. As already mentioned this is due to what attracts certain target readers and this is what makes the magazine more effective and easily sellable for the target audience purposed for. Although on this magazine there is a use of darker colours, this helps the branding/masthead to stand out more and this is effective for the selling of the magazine as target readers will know which magazine they are reading by the immediate use of bright colours. This defies convention slightly as instead of using bright colours for the whole of the magazine and attracting the target audience, they have purposely used brighter colours for the branding of the magazine which helps it to stand out more and become more recognisable.

    Within my own magazine, I would like to combine both of these ideas within my own design as they are both very effective. My magazine will consist of bright colours for the younger target audience that I am aiming my magazine towards and with the use of colours, I am going to be very careful as although I don’t want to make the colours on my magazine very dull, I also do not want to include a large amount of colours in the magazine as I want my brand to stand out as much as possible and become recognisable for readers so that they are immediately familiar with the brand and what the brand includes. This will help to defy convention slightly as I mix the two ideas together and will help my magazine to become more unique and original rather than following the norms of a typical magazine for the whole of my design.

     Another norm of the magazines revealed within the front cover was the use and placing of mastheads. Within all three magazines that I analysed, you can see that the placing of the masthead is always at the top of the page mainly bannering across the width of the page. Although Q magazine slightly defies convention, with the placing being to the top left hand corner of the page, rather than bannering across the top of the page, or being central, it is still part of the norms of a typical layout of a music magazine as the masthead is at the top of the page. With some of the most common magazines which are often bought by regular readers, they masthead is slightly covered by the image as the design of the magazine is made because the brand is so recognisable that you don’t need to have all of it showing. I feel that this idea of part of the masthead being covered would have to be a longer process within the making of the magazine as firstly you would need a large audience that buy the magazine and that would easily recognise the branding. This would then be the time to use this feature of the magazine as you already have a large audience willing to buy the magazine and so the view of the masthead is not as important as they already know which magazine they are buying and they know what is included in the magazine.

    For the creation of my own music magazine I am going to follow the norms of a typical magazine and place my masthead at the top of the page in the centre so that it is easily recognisable for the readers. I will have my masthead I n bold writing emphasising the name of the magazine. My masthead is going to be the brand of the magazine. I want to make my masthead the brand of the magazine as this will help advertise the masthead more and readers will become easily familiarised by the brand and they will start to easily recognise it in the different issues. This will keep the masthead the same on every single issue keeping consistency throughout the magazine and giving professionalism and formality.

     Throughout all three magazines, there is a consistency with the use of images, and although all three magazines are different the consistency is through the norms of the typical music magazine. On the typical magazine featured and covering most of the page is a large image of a famous artist. This famous artist is usually the main headline and main article in the whole magazine. On the often magazine, but not all magazines there are a few other images on the page that advertise other articles within the magazine which are also featured articles within the magazine. Around the edges of the page and to the left third and right third of the page, the text is placed. This is so that it is out of the way of the main image, and it is in smaller text so that it doesn’t take the lime light way from the main image. The layout described is featured on all three of the magazines that I have analysed and shows that it is a norm of the typical layout of a magazine.

   For the creation of my own magazine I am going to stick to the norms of the layout of the magazine as this is effective for music magazines and the layout is set out well and in a way that the audience can easily read the text on the magazine and also view the images.  The layout is clear, easily read and simple. This will be good for my younger target audience as it will be simple for them to read and easily set out so that they can work their way round the magazine easily. This layout is effective for younger target audiences because although it is a simple layout it still looks professional and formal.

   To conclude, in my own magazine I am going to stick to most of the norms of a typical magazine as I have found that these are very effective on the magazines that I have analysed and I aim to make my magazine as successful as possible. Although sticking to the norms of a magazine is good, I would also defy convention with some aspects as I want to add originality to my own magazine and make it my own. Defying convention will add originality and make  it different to general music magazines.

   

Contents pages:

After analysing Kerrang, Billboard and Q magazine contents pages and with some analysing of the front cover pages as well, links can be made from these two pages and things within the magazine are carried throughout. Although not analysing Billboard magazine front page, you can still make links from assumptions of what could have been included on the front page from the view of the contents pages. From the analysis of the three different magazines there are aspects in which you can take and see are typical aspects of a music magazine or any magazine as these features and aspects are carried through in all magazines.  

   Features which are the norms of a typical magazine contents page and featured in most magazine contents pages include use of image, branding and amount of text (headlines and captions underneath headlines). 

        To start with the use of image was bold, and through research you can see that there is use of at least one large image and then on some magazines there is a use of other images as well, but a main image on the contents page is a norm and found on most magazines. Although through research you can see that Billboard magazine didn’t exactly have one main image and there were a few images placed at the top of the page, you can still tell that there is an element of one of the images which is meant to be a main image. The magazine does try and stick to the norms of a typical magazine with this aspect, although it isn’t as clear as the other magazines as these images are placed in different areas of the page and with more text around. The use of different placing of the images goes against the norms of a magazine and defies convention in this magazine as the images are at the top of the page. Although this is effective for this magazine and its target audience, in my magazine I would not defy convention with the use of placing of images and the main image being subtle as this would not work with my target audience as my target audience will include teenagers and to draw their attention into my magazine I will need to use the aspects and stick to the norms of a contents page for this audience. I will take the ideas from Q magazine and Kerrnag magazine to attract my target audience and these two magazines have the same target audience helping to give me ideas for my magazine. The large images placed close to central of the page show the norms of a magazine and this is what I aim to use in my magazine to stick to the norms and attract the readers that I intend to get.

    The next feature which is carried out on all three magazines in which I research upon, is the branding and this is shown as a norm of music magazines also as I found that this was on all three magazines researched and featured on most magazines that you will find. The use of branding is mostly vivid on the Q magazine as this is clearly carried through onto the contents page and also onto the double page spreads. The branding is clearer on this magazine as the branding is bold and clearly shown on the front page of the magazine. Although the other two magazines also showed their branding carried through onto the inside of their magazine, it isn’t as clear as Q because they have made sure in their magazine that it is large and standing out for the reader reassuring them of the magazine that they are reading and constantly reminding the reader which magazine is in their hands. With Billboard magazine they have carried the brand throughout the magazine; however isn’t very eye catching and it tucked away into the corner of the page. With Kerrang magazine contents page they have carried it through and they have placed it within the contents headline. It is as bold as the branding of Q, magazine although it doesn’t stand out as much.  Within my magazine that I will be creating, I am once again going to stick to the norms of a magazine with the use of branding as I feel that within the magazines, especially Q magazine, it was very effective and eye catching for the reader. Within my magazine I would like to make my brand very recognisable so that when readers see the brand they will immediately know that it belongs to my magazine and I am going to carry it through my magazine just like Q magazine has done as this is effective and helps readers get used to the brand even more, and making them recognise it.

    Looking at the use of text and headlines, I found that target audiences of teenagers and of a younger age group, there is less text underneath headlines and on the contents page there is lack of lots of text.  This is effective for the target audience (as mentioned in my analysis) because younger audiences are more likely to pick up magazines with lack of text as they enjoy the use of pictures. I am therefore going to stick with this idea for my target audience as I will want to attract as many readers for my magazine as I can and draw in my audience easily.

Double page spreads:

From analysing the double page spreads of three different magazines, likewise with the contents pages and front cover pages you can identify the norms of the typical double page spread. All three magazines which I analysed for the double page spreads had the same sort of layout and were very similar with each other. This shows a norm of a typical layout of a magazine. 

    By analysing the double page spreads of all three magazines I found quite a few norms of the typical magazine. These include position of main image, article title positioning, article positioning and size and drop caps. Firstly the position of the main images seemed to be the same throughout 2 of the magazines; however one of the magazines defied convention and went against this. But sticking to the norms of magazines, on Kerrang magazine and Q magazine, the positioning of the pictures on the double page spread seemed to be on one of the pages (either left or right) and the image seemed to fill the whole of the page.  The image filling the whole of the page makes it stand out easily for the reader and for younger target audiences this is effective as it draws the reader in quickly with the large interesting image and lack of text on the page.  It seems to be that the large image that fills the page is usually on the left hand page, but some are featured on the right hand page.

     The article title positioning is placed on the opposite page to the main image at the top of the page. On the Q magazine there are two article title headlines, one which features the brand and carries it through the magazine and one which is the actual article title. The use of a branding title and an article title is effective as it helps to carry the brand throughout the rest of the magazine. The positioning of the article title at the top of the opposite page is effective as it is right as the top; therefore standing out immediately because readers usually scan from the top of the page to the bottom. Depending on where the images are depends on where the article title will be placed, but if the magazine sticks to the normal layout then the article title will be in the original place already described.

     Depending on the target audience and the amount of text that can be written about an article, depends on the size of the article and therefore the placing of the article on the double page spread. For the younger target audiences the text seems to be limited and in small sections. It is placed on the opposite page to the main image and underneath the article title. With the older age groups there seems to be more text on the page and in more columns. This is effective for this specific audience as they will enjoy reading more about the artists or problem in the media.

    The last norm of a typical magazine is the use of drop caps within the text. Although not all magazines include these in their articles, the majority of them do and so this makes it a norm of the magazine. The drop cap helps to emphasise the first word of the text, and it also gets the reader involved in the text straight away with the bolder letter being more eye catching.

    In my magazine I would like to stick with some norms of the typical magazine to keep it formal and professional. For my images I want to stick to the norm with one of them being on one of the pages and I would quite like a few other images on the other page, but not as large and tucked more away as the article will also feature on the other page to the image. This will give my double page spread a variety of images by sticking to the norm but slightly defying convention as I add my own idea into it. I am going to stick with my article title being at the top of the page, and my article itself being on the opposite page to the main image, and slightly to the left, leaving space for images or any other text I choose to place on the page. I will also have a drop cap at the beginning of my article to help emphasise the first line of the article and help to stand out more for the reader.

     Although there are any norms within these three magazines that I analysed, there are also a lot of aspects which defy convention and go against the norms with these. In my magazine I would also like to use features which will defy convention as this will help my magazine to be unique and slightly different to the other magazines. In the magazines that I have analysed I found that two of them defied convention and went against the norms. They were only small aspects to do with the placing of images, but this made their magazines unique and different to the others.

   Firstly there was the image difference with the Vibe magazine. The placing of images on this magazine is different to the other magazines as the images are placed along the top of the page and then the text and the article title is placed underneath this. This is effective for its target audience as it is for older people and so they enjoy reading more about the article. The placing of the images at the top is effective and a change of ‘scenery’ for the double page spread.

    The other magazine which slightly defied convention was Kerrang magazine double page spread as this features more than just one image on the page. It features one page with a large image on and then there are smaller images on the opposite page. Although this defies convention it is effective as it gives a variety of images for the article.

   For my magazine I would like to take the second idea and include this in my magazine as I would like a variety of different images on my double page spread. I aim for this to attract more readers as I feel the more images there are on the page then the more viewers I may achieve with a young target audience. However I do not want my double page spread to be too packed and busy as this may push readers away as they do not know what to look at and could get confused with the article.

   To conclude I am going to use aspects within my magazine which go with the norms and those which also defy convention. This will mix up the ideas within my magazine, giving it originality but also sticking to stereo typical features of the magazine also as this helps to stay professional and formal.