Target audience research

Format Research And Evaluation For My Music Magazine

Below are three front covers that I analysed for my format research, I discuss many features that are reoccurring between all three of them, their advantages and disadvantages. A generic feature in all 3 of these front covers is the bold colour choice for the masthead. Red has been used for the masthead because it is bright, eye-catching and meets the theme of jazz. Another interesting element of the magazines is the main image over-lapping the masthead, however this is not reoccurring between all 3 of the front covers below. It is interesting to see whether or not the main image has more importance than the masthead on the front cover because it tells the reader that the magazine is well-known if the masthead is hidden behind another feature of the magazine. I would like this to be the case for my magazine, however because it is an original magazine, readers would not recognise it. Therefore I would need to highlight my masthead as one of the main focus points on my front cover of my music magazine. For the layout, the main image seems to be the main focus for all 3 magazines below, therefore a good quality image would need to be taken. It would need to be engaging with the reader, whether that means eye contact within the photo, or an exciting expression on the person's face. Also there is only one magazine which has their image of a person front on, showing all but their feet in the image. It seems to be that the portrait of somebody's face is more recommended as a main image on a music magazine. Similarly for the two magazine front covers below that include this photography, the camera angle is not straight on. They both include the image of somebody side on, showing more of one side of their face than the other. One feature that is used incorrectly on the front of a music magazine is grammar, below you can see that the masthead begins without the use of a capital letter. Even though this may be indicating a sense of relaxation within the magazine, it also appears to come across as lazy to the reader, consequently I would not do this on the front of my music magazine as I want to give my readers a sense of sophistication when they go to read my magazine. In terms of content on the front cover, it tends to be that famous names are included, this is to grab the reader's attention, especially if they see a name that they know or like. The third front cover below includes a CD. Personally I believe that this is a good idea because it will entice readers to buy the magazine as they think that it is a good deal for their money and will therefore want to purchase the magazine rather than the CD alone as they know it will probably turn out cheaper buying the magazine as well.