Researching Jazz Magazines #1

To help prepare to create my music magazine I have found multiple magazines from my genre and am going to assess them on what I should do to create a successful music magazine.

My first Jazz magazine I have chosen is the September 2007 issue of 'Jazz magazine'. This looks like a simple front cover which could have been improved. One thing which could be improved for me is that the masthead appears to not be one of the most significant parts of the magazine front cover. This to me is wrong as the masthead is the brand you are trying to sell and if the brand doesn't come across as the most important, then people will not buy the magazine or not know straight away what the magazine is about.

One thing I like is the way the image has been taken. The image has been taken during a recording session so this to me appears to be a natural image. Even thought the model is in fact being photographed inside an institute, this model is not inside a photography studio and has a facial expression as though he is enjoying himself. This gives off a positive feeling to people who look at the magazine and may make them have a look as to why the model is happy.

I also like the organization of how the colour scheme has been implemented. This colour scheme fits into the conventions set for the jazz genre, and they have took the most out of the set amount of colours and created a very attractive scheme of blue and black.

I will take note of the colour scheme combination and the pose and environment set in the image for possible ideas in my jazz magazine as these appear very positive and attractive to me. On the flip side, one thing I will NOT take on board is how this publisher has established the brand identity by placing the mast head in a small corner of the cover as this comes across as demeaning the brand making it seem less important than it really is.