When doing format research for the three music magazines I felt that my analytical skills had improved from the previous experience of the school magazines. This meant I was prepared to look at the norms of the magazines as well as aspects that defied convention. In this research I learnt how the music magazines front cover all varied on the genre of the music, this is because they were designed for a specific audience and therefore used all the attributes of their magazine to contribute towards linking to the genre. This is why I picked R&B, Rock, and classical music as they all differentiate from each other, resulting in all the three front covers being unique therefore allowing me to find the norms.
One of the norms that all three magazines had was how they all had one main image to use as the background; this made all the front covers more powerful as this image determined the colouring and content of the front cover, which all related to the genre of the music. Each one of the magazines contained a different artist as the main image; the artist was dependent on the genre. These specific artists are used to help represent the brand of each contrasting magazine and all shape the overall mood you receive as a reader. For example the classical music front cover had Nicola Benedetti a young musician; this suited the brand created by the magazine because her main music surrounded the classical genre. This meant that the magazine can engage the target audience straight away and inform them of their genre, creating their own identity. I would like to use one main image for my front cover as it is a way of introducing the audience to one of the main stories therefore portraying the genre of music I will chose.
However the rock magazine I analysed has small individual pictures in a strip up the left hand side as well as the background, this defied the norms but I think by doing this the front cover had more impact and was more in your face. This suits the genre of Rock as it is loud and upfront and fits in with the audience because as soon as you see it you can instantly tell the edgy look of the front cover, leading you to believe its rock music. This magazine front cover also has a wider range of aspects going on, even though you could argue it is cluttered I think that it has a positive effect due to the genre, this front cover defied the norms but was effective. One factor I would like to take from the Rock magazine was the consistency it had throughout; all the little attributes contributed towards the genre and really attracted the target audience because of this. I aim to appeal to the target audience strongly too because the target audience are a crucial element to think about when creating a magazine, therefore I will have to ensure that I know what appeals to the target audience depending on what genre I choose. If I were to choose R&B music then I would know that the target audience is anyone who is interested in this genre, to appeal to them I would aim to use an R&B styled model as an artist for the main image to draw attention to the genre.
Furthermore all three magazines all shared the fact that they had a masthead placed at the top of their magazine, this is something that that was the norms of all three magazines. They all did this because the masthead should be the first thing you see when you look on the page, this contributes towards a magazines brand. All of my three magazines I studied kept the masthead constant on each edition of their magazine as they aim to use this attribute to become recognisable, it is almost like a stamp that resembles their brand. I would like to ensure that when making my own magazine I use this form of convention because creating a brand is a real key aspect, so by having a constant masthead along with a main image it would mean that my front cover could generate my own brand in relation to the genre of music I will choose. This is also something that will allow me to attract my audience because it is the first thing you see when you glance at the magazine because it is the biggest text on the page; it is a way of addressing the audience and communicating to them the genre of music in a sophisticated manner.
Through further research, I found that all magazines try to keep a consistent brand through the similar layouts of their front cover. This makes their own brand regcnisable and ensures that the target audience can easily find the magazine they are looking for. They do this because the same institute, the Immediate Media Company Limited, makes their magazine each month which means they can ensure the consistency of their magazine. Every magazine has their own institute which makes the magazine unique to their own genre, through doing this the magazine has their own brand. An example of the consitency of the BBC music magazine is shown below:
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