13. A main feature artist/bandUses: The bold colors (gold, black and red) to create the front-cover house-style are similarly heavily applied across issues of Kerrang as dark, bold, energetic colors are associated with alternative-based music such as rock and punk. The masthead instigates similar typography styles as portrayed in NME and Kerrang- the contrasting color, the broken effect of the typeface, the large, capitalized letters. The use of ‘world exclusive’ is similarly used to entice readers in Kerrang to make a story appear more rare and first-hand. The laser-ray technique is used along the bottom to keep a consistently vibrant house-style across the cover and divert eye contact away from dead-space around the models legs (as it is a long-aerial shot) this is similarly seen to be used in an issue of Kerrang to make the cover appear more vibrant.
14. Uses Noise Wave uses the applications as shown in other existing publications with a similar niche market. Through this comparison we can see that Noise Wave adheres to the codes applied in NME through the alphabetically labeled band index (which helps the audience see all the featured artists of this weeks issue and allows them to skim straight through to the pages that they are interested in), and the special-edition features listed under columns such as ‘news’, live performances, features and so fourth to give a list-in on the weeks hot topics whether it be related to musicians or personal interest related to music (i.e the ‘Records’ listing under my Noise Wave features column). It also similarly has a subscription advertisement across the bottom essentially selling how much will be saved due to subscribing. As in NME’s content page, it also features a small teaser of the main cover story (in my case, the promoted band Be a Dolphin). The obvious generic conventions applied in most magazines like mine also feature the date, a ‘This Week’ header, and website advertisements.
15. Use Similarly to this double-page spread in NME (below, right) my magazine uses the ‘(magazine title) loves’ in a speech-banner just before the title of the band is introduced. This helps to create more dynamic use of shapes shown in the layout and helps the audience to feel more involved with the magazine. NME’s double page spread also features a ‘radar’ section (angled to appear more diverse on the page) featuring information on the band. My magazine also uses more generic codes shown through most magazines such as merged, capitalized quotes from the band which are particularly interesting to attract the readership and create a more interesting layout. Another convention is the use of a main image alongside the article, where then the article has a more low-key image of a band member within the article text.
16. Challenge One of the ways in which my publication challenges the generic codes and conventions of other existing publications (within the same niche market) is by challenging the racial norms. I have approached this by using latino models for the feature instead of conventional white models. This challenges racial norms because the ethnic group majorly portrayed in alternative-rock magazine are white. Thus, the magazine will gain a culturally diverse brand identity as well as appealing to other ethnic groups, and therefore it opens to a wider demographic. Another way in which Noise Wave challenges the conventional codes of other existing publications is by reinforcing the importance of the innovators of the featured genres of music and how they have influenced (new) bands today. I have done this by using more subjective features (as shown in the contents page) of achievements and articles related to past artwork on past innovating musicians. Thus, unlike most other publications the magazine keeps to the same genre but merges past and present art together. Whereas, most existing magazines mainly feature modern bands whom are featured for new up-coming stories.
17. Develop I wouldn’t say my magazine has used many innovating improvements to develop the music press as the main design has been followed through by a combination of other existing publications. However, a significant difference between my magazine and others (which you could classify as a development) is the representation of the artists within visual terms. In my photography I have portrayed a socially ‘cool’ image of this band by using the heroin chic look (popularized in the 1990s) and shooting in a very urban, artistic location. This new image of representing what looks ‘cool’ among youths could develop the conventional photography (where shots are in middle-class areas or the artists are dressed quite formally even for someone of a grunge-based alternative nature, or the captions are from on stage). This could develop the music press youth representation as it shows a much more casual, down-to-Earth attitude towards music formations of art, and thus appears more approachable and realistic to aspire to for the youth readership.
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