3. Masthead
The positioning of my masthead conforms to the conventions of a generic
music magazine. Magazine’s such as NME, Vibe and Kerrang always have
their mast head at the top region of the page, in fact I have never seen
these 3 magazines deviate from this convention. By having a large
masthead in such a dominating position on a page allows it to be easily
seen amongst other magazines on a cramped shop stand.
REWIND NME VIBE
4. In regards to font and colour, my
masthead challenges traditional
conventions. Q magazine have a very
‘vintage’ font which is always
surrounded by a bold red colour,
which in my opinion makes it seem
very boring. Kerrang have a very in
your face aggressive title (broken
glass, grunge font) . My masthead is
different in the sense that I have gone
for a more sleek approach with
readability in mind. I have chosen to
use a gradient of two browns (taken
from the image to form a good colour
palate) as it connotes sophistication,
which is what will attract my target
audience.
REWIND
Q
KERRANG
5. Although you can’t actively put
your finger on the conventions of
naming a music magazine I feel
that if there was a definitive one
that I’ve deviated from the
standard norm. If you look at the
current most popular music
magazines (DIY, Kerrang) there is no
relationship with music at all,
arguably there picked just because
they sound good. In the case of
naming my magazine ‘Rewind’ I
wanted to make my magazine
stand out whilst still maintaining the
musical element. I feel ‘Rewind’
does this justice, it has both a
catchy tone to it and also has the
musical connotation of rewinding a
song. Furthermore, by having a
musical reference in the name of
my magazine it reinforces then
genre of the magazine to the
reader.
6. Colour
The colour scheme of my magazine considerably differs from conventions of most
rock magazines. Most rock music magazines such as Kerrang and NME are often
associated with the unanimous use of reds, blacks and yellows, with the intention
of making the text stand out from the background and store shelves. My
magazine challenges these conventions but still has the end goal of making the
magazine stand out. Instead of using the ‘traditional’ rock magazine colours I
decided that I would pick a colour palate that synergised well, much like my
initial student magazine. However, it does make the magazine look a bit boring
and plain, in contrast the traditional magazines bright vibrant colours make it
more interesting and eye-catching.
REWIND NME KERRANG
7. Images
Good quality imagery is essential in a magazine, they are at the core of reaching a
target audience. The photograph I have used for my main cover image both varies and
conforms to the conventions of most music magazines. My image varies from the
current media conventions as it is taken in a ‘real-life’ environment, we can see this from
the foliage, light rays and sunlight within the image, I feel this makes the image more
interesting and original making it more eye-catching on a shelf. All the large scale music
magazines have a different approach to the style of their main image, NME and Clash
almost always use photographs in a formal studio setting, whilst this produces a high
quality clean image it is arguably very boring and ‘mainstream’, making it stand out
less.
REWIND NME CLASH
8. The attitude used in a
photograph commonly reflects
a magazines style. Kerrang is
famous for it’s photo’s
portraying artists in an
aggressive, rebellious and an
‘in your face’ style. My image
differs from this rock magazine
convention in the sense that
my artist has a very casual pose
with a meaningful and friendly
look that is complemented by
the eye-contact. This portrays
my magazine as a more
‘friendly’, calmer magazine
than that of NME and Kerrang.
REWIND
KERRANG
9. Font
A carefully chosen font makes the
world of difference when trying to
look professional or trying to target a
particular type of audience. Kerrang
for instance has a very gritty, glass
shatter, bold font that gives it a very
aggressive in your face look that
helps it attract it’s target audience of
heavier rock. The fonts in my
magazine conform to the current
music magazine conventions of a
clear easy to read bold font,
however I felt it was crucial to have
something slightly different to make
my magazine stand out. In this regard
I challenged the conventions of
current music magazines by using an
italic style with my font, which is not
commonly seen.
REWIND
KERRANG
10. I used font size to focus the readers attention on my cover sell lines, this
would allow them to get seen more and would lead to more sales. The
biggest sized font was the title of my magazine, this allowed it to be clearly
seen on the shop shelf. The second biggest sized font was the sell lines, by
drawing the readers attention to the key stories and artists will increase the
likelihood they will find something that persuades them into buying the
magazine. The smallest information on the page was the issue number,
since this information won’t attract a reader (main image can be used to
differentiate issue) it’s best to have it small so that it doesn’t infringe the
more important information. This conforms of music magazine conventions,
NME for instance use the same text size hierarchy.
REWIND NME
12. Colour/brand image
The front cover of a magazine is aimed at attracting the target market to
the magazine, hence the style can change issue to issue. The contents
page is the first part of the magazine to show some consistency in regards
to forming a brand image for the magazine. I have chosen to use a
brown/blue/white colour scheme as they work well together and display
white text clearly, which is essential. This conforms to the typical conventions
of a magazine, NME for example have a colour scheme based around
three colours, red, black and yellow.
REWIND NME
13. Design and structure
The design of my contents page uses several different aspects of
conventional magazines, but when combined forms a unique
unconventional contents page. The features and regulars columns conform
to the standard conventions of a music magazine contents page. Q
magazine usually have a features and every month column which is
positioned down the side of the page. My contents page is similar in that I
have a features and regulars (every month) column on the right hand side
of my page.
REWIND Q
14. Another standard convention of a magazine contents page is to include a
large image which acts as a headline story. Q for instance (see previous
slide) have chosen a photo of the band ‘the courteeners’,since the image
is so large it suggests that the story is aimed at attracting the target
audience to buy the magazine. My contents page varies from these
traditional conventions, I decided to have a collage of several headline
stories as I felt it made the page more interesting/existing and highlighted
several more artists that will attract my target audience.
Similarly to the conventions of many music magazines I have enforced a
design that guides the readers eye in a specific order around the page. The
main headline stories are what sell magazines so it’s crucial to draw the
readers attention to these first, my main headlines are in the form of
pictures (accompanied by the page number/artist info in the features
column) this draws the readers attention to this section of the page first as
they stand out amongst the text on the page. After reading the features
column the readers eye is naturally drawn down to the next information
below which is the regulars column, this information doesn’t necessarily
attract new customers, however helps with repeat purchase of the
magazine. Finally the editors note, it has no real part in the selling of the
magazine and is often not read, hence why I have tried to direct the
readers attention to it last.
16. Brand image
A brand image is really important in attracting a target audience and
maintaining a magazine ‘fan base’. I have created a brand image within
my magazine by using a similar colour set throughout. Q, NME and Kerrang
all have created their own brand image, Kerrang for instance have a red,
white and yellow colour scheme which is often associated with the
aggressive rebellious style that their magazine is known for. My magazine is
similar in the sense that I use my colour scheme to represent brand image,
the key colours in my magazine are brown, white and blue , these colours
connote a sophisticated well written magazine which is what my target
audience desire.
REWIND KERRANG
17. Images
The main image of a double page spread is used to show the reader who
the artist is and arguably their persona. In my double page spread I have a
large main image that takes up the whole left hand page. I went for a
gritty street scene style as it emphasises the reality of upcoming bands
being formed ‘on the streets’, it also would appeal to my target audience
as it’s not to formal (studio) nor too ‘unprofessional’, this varies from the
conventions of most rock magazines. Q usually use photo’s shot in a studio
environment which portray the artist as having an aggressive and rebellious
persona. The eye-contact in the photo was used to give the artist a positive
impression, without eye-contact the whole photo would have connoted
negativity and arrogance.
REWIND Q
18. Language and content
The written content of my magazine
conforms to the writing style of a music
magazine interview. It contains the
‘standard’ interview questions that
allows for the exclusive answers that a
reader will buy the magazine for. Music
magazines such as Q regularly use this
style of interview as it’s very simple and
effective which is an appealing quality
in comparison to the alternative –
‘hundreds’ of questions forming a wall of
text.
The language style I have used is very
professional and is purely music based
to appeal to my audience, as an
audience of indie rock aren’t
particularly fussed about the hyped up
celebrity gossip. This conforms to the
conventions of more ‘sophisticated’
music magazine such as DIY apposed to
the more ‘aggressive’ magazines such
as Kerrang.
19. Design
In my double page spread my main large image on the left page
overlapped to the other to link the two pages together, this varies form the
conventions of most music magazines. Q music magazine for example,
always have their main image on the left hand of the page and then the
text on the right. I feel my design choice links the article with the picture,
whereas Q’s style makes the image seem detached from the article, for all
the reader knows they might think the image and text are unrelated. The
design of the written content conforms to standard music magazine
conventions. Q, Clash, NME and practically all music magazine opt for a
newspaper style of displaying the text – columns often starting with a larger
first letter. My article design conforms to the standard convention as I have
gone for the column style with the larger first letter.
REWIND Q
