Analysing 'Classical Music' magazine

What draws attention to this magazine is the combination of the image and the masthead. The masthead occupies around 1/5 of the front cover which is represented by the image in the rest of the cover. Id use the style of the masthead in my own magazine because it is bold, stands out and is what you instantly look at when looking at the magazine. The cover stories don't really reveal much on the front cover. On my own magazine id prefer to make them a bit more catchy and interesting, but as this genre is classical, it is suited to it as it is simple and not something you'd find on a teens magazine. The font on the magazine suits the genre but I wouldn't use this for my own, even if my magazine was about classical music. However it does appeal to the target audience as it is simple, easy to read and is a big enough font size. 
The magazine appeals to both genders and I would say that the target audience would mainly be adults. I know this because classical music usually has a bigger audience from the older generation, and doesn't look like a magazine that would appeal to younger people unless they listen to this particular genre. 
There isn't much going on in this magazine, but with this genre it would be expected to be simple with not a lot going included on the front cover. Having too much on the particular front cover would make it look overcrowded. 
The model in the photo represents the genre of the magazine as she is holding a violin which is a instrument that is used mainly in classical music. She is looking away in the photo which gives a more peaceful affect on the magazine, because if the model was looking at the camera it would be more direct effect. The model is wearing a red dress which again represents the genre and links to the theme colour on the magazine which is red and black. The model is dressed appropriately as it doesn't look stupid and over the top. If I were to be doing a classical magazine I would probably want my model to be dressed similar, as it is appropriate and suits well to the genre. 

Reflection on the task

Throughout the task I have experimented with different colours, fonts and pictures and feel like I have achieved what I was set out to do. I have taken on board any errors or improvements I would need too use for future tasks.

Evaluation of the preliminary task

The colours, masthead and the cover stories I have used on my front cover all link back to my survey, which was to find research from my target audience. I originally wanted to use the colours blue and white for my front cover, as i thought that they would work well together. However, the colours blue, red and white came out the most popular choices in the survey so I decided that I would add red, which I think has made the text stand out more than if I were to have used my original idea of just blue and white. I think that the colours look bold and eye catching which is what I was aiming for when planning my front cover. 
I took one of the masthead ideas from my survey as it was a popular choice and gets straight to the point of what the magazine is about. Also when doing my survey I found a mixture of results that students would be interested in finding out about in the magazine, therefore I decided that putting a mixture of cover stories on my front cover would draw in more readers.
When researching other college magazines I found that using a bold and not too fancy font makes the magazine look more professional and eye-catching. Which is why I decided to use the particular font 'veranda'  which I personally think makes my magazine look more neat than it would of if I had decided to use a fancy font.
Finally the image I decided to use was a medium close up shot with a background of a classroom and the model holding an iPad. This is a representation of the sixth form itself and the facilities that are open to use. I attempted some different range shots, the photo I have used was originally a medium shot but I decided to crop and zoom to give more focus on the model.

Contents for the college magazine

College Magazine Front Cover

The photo I have chosen to use for my front cover of the college magazine

I have decided that I am going to use this photograph for the front cover of the college magazine. The reason I have chose this photo is because it looks very natural, it is taken in a classroom and is using natural light. Tilly is holding an ipad in the photo which is what I wanted for the front cover to show the facilities that are available to use in the college. However, because this is a medium shot I am going to have to crop the photo to be able to fit it in my front cover to make it the medium closeup that I need. This is something I may want to think about when doing a front cover again because cropping and zooming in on the photograph may cause me to loose some of the quality in this photograph.

3 photographs I could use for my front cover

If I were to use this photograph it is good because it is used in the natural light, so it shows all of Tilly’s face and there are no shadows. It is bright but it has a plain background, whereas my other examples are taken in a classroom.

This photograph is also taken in the natural light. It is taken in a classroom, which gives a more college scene. This isn’t as bright as my first example, which may be an issue when printing my front cover because some of Tilly’s face might look darker than the other from the light.

This photograph is similar to my last example but there is more room at the top which I could use to place my masthead.