2. Conventions
Magazines, like any other media product, have conventions that they follow
Certain elements are common to almost all magazines regardless of their audience
It is the way these elements are presented to the audience that defines each magazine
You can break conventions down into those they are general and cover most magazines
and those that are more specific to a genre.
For example, photographs appear in almost all magazines but the style of photograph
changes depending on genre.
Text also appears in all magazines but the type and size of font will change depending on
the demographic that the final product is aimed at.
AS Media Studies 2009 2
3. Who is this for?
The next 3 slides all contain the same elements of text and pictures
They have all been arranged with a specific target audience in mind
Look at the colour scheme and the overall layout of text
What the image depicts is not important
Can you define the demographic that they are aimed in terms of gender, age and taste in
music?
AS Media Studies 2009 3
4. TITLE
BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH
BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH
BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH
BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH
BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH
BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH
BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH
BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH
BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH
BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH
BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH
BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH
EXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXT
TEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXT
TEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXT
TEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXT
TEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXT
TEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXT
TEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXT
TEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXTTEXT Males aged 15-24 into rock/metal music
7. Pitching your idea
Your research so far should have given you a good idea of the conventions of
your chosen genre.
Your audience research should have given you further information on what your
demographic wants and expects.
You should have ideas about the key aspects of your magazine.
This week you will develop and formalise those ideas and use three different
methods to present those ideas.
AS Media Studies 2009 7
8. Style Sheet
A style sheet allows you to present your ideas for the key stylistic elements of your
magazine quickly and simply.
It will help you organise your thoughts and ideas
It will allow others to see what you have planned
It will let you receive feedback on your magazine without having to make it
It should contain:
Examples of fonts you will use for your Masthead, cover lines and body copy
Examples of the kind of photography you will include – these can be found images for
illustration purposes only
Examples of the colour scheme you expect to use in your magazine
AS Media Studies 2009 8
9. Example style sheet
Potential fonts for article headings
Blues
Colour scheme
Blues
Blues
These are the types of images I will use.
They are a mixture of live shots and high
This is a font the quality portraits
main body text
will be written in. AS Media Studies 2010 9
10. Flat plans
Flat plans are simple drawings of a page layout that show where the different
text, picture and graphic elements will go on a page.
Flat plans give designers the chance to experiment with a wide variety of
different layouts quickly and easily, before coming to a final decision on page
layout.
They will allow you to experiment and try and find a layout you are happy with
before going into production.
This helps to cut down on production time and leads to a product which has
been clearly thought out.
AS Media Studies 2010 10
12. Flat plans
From these simple first draft outlines you can then produce a more detailed plan
which incorporates some example content
This will help to give you a better idea of how your page might look.
AS Media Studies 2009 12
13. Example Layout
ArticleHeading
Text
Text
Text Text
Information bar
20 21
www.bluesmag.co.uk www.bluesmag.co.uk
AS Media Studies 2010 13
14. Example Front Cover Here is a basic layout for
a front cover along with
MASTHEAD an example image
Main Sell line
Additional cover line
Picture
Additional cover line
Additional cover line
AS Media Studies 2009 14
15. Example Front Cover
This example
brings together
the basic layout
Peter Green
Playing live again
with examples of
fonts and pictures
Lightnin’ to make the front
Hopkins Plaung live again
cover.
Rory Gallagher
History
The blues progression Plus:
Gigs
New releases
AS Media Studies 2009 15
16. Pitch
Your pitch should be a brief explanation of what your magazine will be like.
It should include:
A name
A target audience
A description of what music it will cover and how it will cover it (articles, reviews, news,
interviews)
A description of the style of the magazine
Some idea of what your double page will feature
AS Media Studies 2009 16
17. Pitch
Pitch
Blues is a new magazine aimed at the mostly male 35 – 60 market. Readers are likely to
be affluent white males with a settled family life.
It will cover all aspects of blues music from its roots right up to the present day. It will mix
interviews of musicians and famous fans alongside pieces on the history of blues. It will
also review new and re-release albums and cover other blues events and news.
It will be simple in style with pictures and text given breathing space and a greater
emphasis on text backed up with limited but excellent photography.
The example double page spread will be an interview with John Lee Hooker, discussing his
new album and tour. The interview will be supported with side bars giving a brief history
and discography to fill new readers in on his past.
AS Media Studies 2009 17
18. Getting good marks
Grading Criteria
Work on
In order to gain high marks you
must show that you have layouts, drafting, scriptin
drafted a range of ideas. One g or storyboarding.
single idea will not get high
marks Care taken in the
presentation of research
You need to present your work
clearly and neatly. Badly and planning
presented work will not get
high marks Time management
You need to make sure you
manage you time well, so that
you hit your deadlines and you
produce a good range of work
AS Media Studies 2009 18
19. Over to you
Now it’s your turn to produce a pitch, a style sheet and a flat plan
Look at what you have found in your research and use it to inform and influence
your design
Your project should have a clear progression from research to planning and then
to production
AS Media Studies 2009 19
Editor's Notes
Incorporating an example picture and using fonts which I plan to use in the final piece has helped add depth to this flat plan. The footer also helps give a clear indication of the style of the magazine.
This is to show how once a layout has been produced, it’s very easy to then bring all the elements together to create a cover.
