The document analyzes conventions used in magazine design, including the masthead, plugs, pull quotes, main image, barcode, issue number, website reference, house style, main feature story, header, footer, secondary images, contents page layout, letter from the editor, subheadings, and double page spread components like the title, drop cap, main image, stand first, and main article. It examines examples from an NME magazine to identify how these typical elements are implemented and their purposes in grabbing readers' attention and presenting information cohesively.

1. CONVENTIONS ANALYSIS
- Lewis Spencer

2. FRONT COVER: SLIDES 3-12

3. MASTHEAD
The masthead can be recognised as the title of
a magazine front cover, it’s located at the top of
the editorial page and presented in bold font
formats with prominent colour schemes in order
to catch the audience’s eye. The masthead is
essentially the name of the particular brand of
magazines for example NME, Billboard and
Sound on Sound are highly popular brands
which offer specific content referring to genre
and artist types which are currently viewed
worldwide for their exclusive content on live
events and news of particular artists.

4. Plug
A plug is the promotional material
which is typically apparent on the
upper right hand side of the front
page. It refers to content which is
available on the inside of the
magazine and is usually presented in
rather vibrant colours with a variation
of tents and colour schemes on the
inside in order to interest the
consumer.
The plug highlighted above on the NME
magazine offers a contrasted colour from the
background in order to bring the viewer’s
attention to this specific area of the page. The
golden colour connotes a sense of positivity and
richness of this promotional content, the black
text is indicated clearly from the bold capital text
used in addition to the attractive orange text
below which gives information on the Arctic
Monkeys, which fans will be interested into
looking into when purchasing this magazine.

5. Pull Quotations
Pull quotes are snippets referring to stories or
speeches of particular artists which is conventionally
located around the main image. They’re most often
presented in the very opposite colour to the
background, in the NME magazine section to the right
this can be demonstrated as its attraction is broadened
considering its size is usually a lot smaller to the rest
of the texts on the front cover.

6. M
A
I
N
I
M
A
G
E
This conventional material
is usually visualised as a
medium close up on specific
artist(s) in order to indicate
mode of address clearly to
the target audience. The
main image takes up a large
proportion of the cover in
order to ideally set as the
primary focus for viewers,
specific images will be used
for specific branding styles.

7. Barcode Issue Number Website Reference
These are simple
requirements for
magazines and are used in
order to provide a
scanning code for
purchases of products.
Barcodes are usually
rather small and located
within the footer area,
commonly situated on the
left or right side.
The issue number is a specific
number of the particular
magazine of its series. It’s
usually located in the footer
area and appears rather small in
order to fit next to or within the
barcode section. This is a
purposeful method done in
order to provide more space for
variations of texts and pull
quotations around the bottom
of the magazine front cover.
Website references are
generally located near or
in the footer of a
magazine front cover;
they’re used for the
purpose of referring the
viewer to further
information of the
content in the magazine
via a particular website.

8. HouseStyle A house style is a colour
scheme format
consisting of three which
are implemented within
the variations of texts,
images and background.
these colours are
usually used in a
connotation like format
in order to represent the
magazine front cover in
a particular style which
meets the interests for
specific target
audiences.

9. Main Feature Story
The main feature story of the
front cover of a music magazine
is recent events from particular
music artist’s performances or
news in relation to them which is
broadcasted on a large scale of
popular importance. The main
feature story is conventionally the
largest text on the front cover in
addition to it being located
usually near the bottom or top
central, left or right. The colour
scheme of the main feature story
is most often the juxtaposition to
the background in order for it to
stand out clearly. Pull quotations
can also be part of the
implementation of the main

10. &
Skyline
Footer
The header is essentially the
header text of the front page,
various important information can
be identified here such as the
price, extra promotional material
other than the plug i.e. music
advertisements and the issue
number. Though the prominence of
the header may not be as much as
the other texts on the front cover
from its small size, the colour
scheme of the other texts will also
be used here for it to be easily
noticeable for those who are to
scan the front page as an entirety.
A footer is located within the
horizontal lining of the bottom
of the magazine cover, small
texts are placed here in terms
of numbering formats such as
the barcode, issue number and
page referencing details. The
text in the footer is usually the
smallest so that the other texts
scattered around the main
image are the most attractive to
the viewer.

11. Images
Secondary This particular mode; of the Arctic
Monkeys NME magazine didn’t include
secondary images on the front page
when studying it, however after
researching into more NME front covers I
had identified that the vast majority do
not offer secondary images as there are
only a very few that do. It isn’t a
conventional aspect of a typical NME
magazine, however an example of one
that does is the image to the left.

12. CONTENTS PAGE: SLIDES 13-20

13. TITLE
• A title of a contents page is placed at the top of the
page in order to signify that it’s representing the
information below. The font and sized appear
prominent through their boldness in order to form
an eye-catching appearance for the audience. The
colour of the font is often the juxtaposition to its
background in order to fully ‘stand out’.

14. MAIN IMAGE AND STORY
The main image of the contents page appears in an
enlarged format which is larger than the rest of the other
images on the same page to intrigue the reader to this
specific section which conjoins with the main story. The
main story most commonly starts with a pull quote, very
similar to a double page spread as seen in the NME
issue’s image to the right, but can also start as a headline.
Following on from this will be a snippet which gives an
overall message of what can be read within the specific
page. This page number is also attached to the main
image and story in a thickened font which offers a different
colour scheme to the back and foreground so the
audiences interest is also drawn here.

15. TITLE AND WEBSITE REFERENCE
The title of the contents page is
conventionally formatted in a bold, clear text
for it to be easily recognisable of standing as
the basis of the page’s information layout.
This can usually be found at the top middle
of the page as it stands out above all other
texts on the same page as it is much more
enlarged.
Similarly to the front cover, a website
reference is also used on the contents page in
order to refer to additional information
based on various other pages within the
magazine.

16. PAGE
NUMBER
• A page number are used on each and
every page to locate and relocate via the
contents section as seen in the upper
right image of the NME magazine. This is
used as a reference process.
• The previous editions section on the
contents page is used in order to
advertise the brand’s magazines of
which came before the current, this is
very important for the industry to
successfully profit in its grossing through
marketing.
Previous
Editions
&

17. LETTERFROM
THEEDITOR
• The NME magazine of which I
studied didn’t include a letter from
the editor in the content page. This
could be due to the fact that its not
conventional for a typical NME
product to be included. However if
the letter from the editor was
included it would appear as the
image to the right. The letter from
the editor is purposeful in terms of
promoting the ideology of the
magazine in an informal tone, it
includes their own signature too in
order to authenticate. There’s
usually a bold heading followed by
smaller text so that the attraction is
instantaneous and the content can be
followed on from this.

18. SUBHEADINGS
• Subheadings are a prime convention of a contents
page in order to give the reader an overview or
title of what the content below will entail. The
location often appears above variations of texts
which are spread throughout the page, as
demonstrated in this 2015 NME issue image to
the right hand side.

19. SECONDARY
IMAGES
• Just like the front cover of a
music magazine, the contents
page also contains secondary
images in addition to texts below
which are additional content for
readers to follow up on as well as
the main feature story/article.
They often appear rather bold in
size but smaller than the main
image, this is demonstrated
within the NME 2015 issue to the
left.

20. SLIDES 21- DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

21. TITLE
• The title of a double page spread is used
very similarly to titles of contents pages and
main covers, it essentially outlines the article
below in a format which is eye-catching.
Conventionally lyrics of the focus artist can
be implemented stylistically in order to draw
eyes to this specific text across both pages.
This can be identified in my magazine
example to the right with Arctic Monkey’s
referenced lyrics “R U Mine”. Its presentation
is broadened by a thick often capitalised text.

22. Drop Cap
The drop cap of a magazine or newspaper
article is the enlarged letter within the
start of a paragraph, the rest of the text is
formatted into a smaller size in order to
highlight the prominence of the drop cap.
This is a prime convention of a media
format in order to attract the audience’s
attention from interesting content which
follows on from this.
Magazine referenced example:

23. MAIN IMAGE
• A main image of a double page spread is very unique
in terms of style as it is very different to a typical
main image of a front cover and contents page. The
physical size of this image usually would take up the
entirety of one or one and a quarter pages of which
text sometimes overlaps. The main image will refer
to the same artist as presented on the front cover
and will be presented in usually vibrant colours in
order to appear attractive in being the very first
aspect of the pages that the reader’s interest lies.

24. STAND FIRST
• The stand first of a double page spread is essentially a
summary texts which encourages the viewer to
proceed reading on to more texts. This chosen issue
didn't contain a stand first above the text across the
double page spread, though this is usually a
conventional feature from NME magazines. This
could represent that this particular magazine doesn’t
follow these usual expectations.

25. MAIN ARTICLE
• A main article is based from the main subject of the
magazine, within music magazines a specific artist
will be presented on the front page linking to the
feature story, and then is followed on in the double
page spread as they are the main focus. Various
quotations from the artist will be referenced in order
to engage the audience with specific events.