QUESTION 1 OF MY EVALUATION

1. Q1. HOW HAVE I
USED/DEVELOPED/CHALLENGEDTHE
FORMS AND CONVENTIONSOF A MUSIC
MAGAZINE?
USE OF FORMSAND
CONVENTIONS

2. Magazine Cover
• Short memorable title- making the reader familiar
with the genre of the magazine.
• Bright colour scheme- appeals to the reader and
makes them take interest in their magazine.
• Cover image- showing the person/object directly
associated with the main feature or article.
• Selling line- an introductory headline to the
featured article.
• Bottom strip- this gives the reader further
information as to what is included in the magazine.
• Date and price lines- this is legal information which
informs the reader which article they have and the
price of it.
• Cover lines- this essential piece of information
shows the reader what will be in the magazine.

3. Contents Page
• Eye contact- this engage the reader in the piece and keeps their
attention so they read the rest of the page.
• Contents title- this title is coloured red and black, to lift it off the
seemingly stark background. It has been conventionally placed at the
top of the page, which ensures consistency with the front cover and
colour scheme.
• Section headings- like the masthead, the section headings are in a bold
font with contrasting colours to the background, making them stand
out on the page.
• Page numbers- these are used to help the reader navigate around the
magazine easily and without any problems.
• Smaller image- this image has been used for the review section, near
the end of the magazine. Again, it interests the reader to read the
magazine.
• Main article description- this gives a quick description of the main
article to entice the reader to look at the mentioned article.
• Article image- this is medium close-up shot of the person in the main
article. The artist/person has a passive aggressive look reflecting the
genre.
• Small cover thumbnail- this is a small addition I added that may not
usually be seen. It keeps the format and colour scheme the same as the
cover.

4. Magazine article

5. Analysis of article
• Article title- this title is an important convention because it signifies to the reader
what or who the article is about and it gives a good start to the article.
• Pull quote- I have used a pull quote because it is another convention used to draw
the reader in and it clearly stands out from the page, making it noticeable.
• Article lead in- this usual convention has ben added to my article to slowly
introduce the reader to the article and the person they’re about to read about.
• Magazine name- I have included the name of the magazine on the top right corner
(and bottom left corner) to adhere to normal conventions as well as use it as a
focal point for the reader; the colours make it more likely for the reader to
remember the magazine name.

6. Analysis of article continued
• Article questions- the article questions are in a different colour as they need to stand out
from the page, a signal to the reader where a new point has begun.The same has been
done with pull quotes.
• Page number- the page number is mandatory, as it gives the person reading a signal as to
where the article has been placed, referencing the contents page.
• ‘Exclusive’ banner- this is an important convention/marketing point because it gives the
reader a sense of importance; that this is the latest news and they have the honour of
having it before anyone else.
• Article picture- the article picture is an important convention because otherwise, the article
would seem incomplete and the audience can get a reference as to who the article is
featuring and has an image to associate the name to.
• Eye contact- this draws the audience in and makes them feel like they are more connected
to the person in the article.The eye contact is important because it gives a better effect to
the article and is a unique selling point for the magazine.

7. •DEVELOPING
FROM REAL
MAGAZINES

8. • With my music magazine, I decided to keep all the traditional
conventions of a rock magazine and match them to the example of
Rolling Stone’s cover which features Ringo Starr from the Beatles.
• I decided to follow the conventions of Rolling Stone’s cover for my
magazine because it produced an effective and aesthetically pleasing
cover which fits in with my genre.
• Hence:
• The cover lines have been moulded AROUND the cover artist to give a
fullness to the cover and a professional look
• A passive aggressive look has been copied as it seems to be a
convention associated with the rock genre
• The masthead has been made the largest text on the page, partially
hidden by the artist to create a 3D look to the magazine cover
• The ‘Exclusive news’ has been put in a different colour to make it stand
out more
• All fonts used are blocky and clear, with bold fonts to make them easy
to read from a distance
• The masthead has a bold outline around it, making it clear and easy to
read
• The name of the artist and a short description has been layered on top
of the actual cover artist to create a more enticing and 3D look to the
cover

9. • For the contents page, I used ideas from a contents page from NME,
because the layout was simple and gave a professional look.
• I decided to follow the conventions of NME’s magazine cover because the
end product is effective and well presented. Also, I believe that this layout
would prove to be the best for my genre and everything I wanted to put
on it.
• Hence:
• The name of the magazine and the word ‘contents’ has been put in the
largest text, with an outer stroke and inner glow added to make them
stand out on the page
• The sub headings e.g. ‘NEWS’ and ‘NBR REVIEW’ have been put in white
text with a red graphic behind them to lift them off the page and make
them clearer
• The colour scheme of red, black and some yellow has been conveyed onto
my magazine cover, creating a contrast between the text, graphics and
pictures creating an over-ally pleasing look to the contents page
• The main image from the most prominent image has been made the
largest, as it draws the reader’s attention to the main feature of the
magazine
• The title and description of the main article has been put in a larger font
than the other articles to again attract the reader’s attention the main
article
• The columns have been laid out in a clear and ordered fashion
• Page numbers have been used so the reader finds it easier to navigate
through the magazine

10. • With my article, I combined conventions from Kerrang’s Halloween edition
magazine which featured an article about Andy Biersack and Alice Cooper
and another article from Rock Sound magazine.
• I decided to use the base of this Kerrang article to produce my article because
it is a simple layout that appeals to the audience and keeps them interested in
the article with the large pull quote and collection of pictures. As mentioned
before, I also used an article from Rock Sound as inspiration for my article
because it offered a well-organised layout of columns and photos which could
easily be produced and would fit in with what I wanted for my article.
• Hence:
• The pull quote has been enlarged and highlighted with different colours to
make it stand out
• The columns have been separated to give a definitive line for the reader to
read down
• The article image has been enlarged to present the reader with a clear idea of
what/who the article is talking about, helped by the pull quote and the title of
the article
• Each question has been highlighted to show the reader where the questions
begin and it has deliberately been put in a separate colour to keep the
reader’s attention as well as give some variation to an otherwise long text
• The title and page number have been made bigger to help the reader locate
the article
• NO props were used as I felt that they may complicate the picture too much
as I was aiming for an effective (or simple) layout and design

11. •CHALLENGESTO
CONVENTION IN
MY MAGAZINE

12. • On my cover, the only significant
challenge to convention that I can pick out
is that I do not have direct eye contact
with the audience because of the way my
head is tilted (left eye seemed to wander
to the left).
• To combat this and keep the readers
interested, I have to mould the texts and
fonts around the artist to move the focal
point of the magazine to the middle of the
page, where said photograph is located.
The main text body (my name and a short
pull quote from the artist) has been placed
over the artist to draw attention to them
and create and effective and aesthetically
pleasing magazine cover.

13. • There were two challenges to
conventions in my following contents
page.One was that I used a small
thumbnail of my cover in the top left
corner of my contents page to make
colour and design references to the
cover.
• The other was that I had created a
completely separate review section,
entitled “NBR REVIEW”. I decided to
create this because I wanted to show
that I could use alternative graphics
and text to make an effective footer
piece for my contents page and to give
more emphasis to this review, as it will
be important to the magazine.

14. • I found that there were more challenges to conventions
contained in my article. First of all, I had placed the name of the
magazine on the article twice; once on the bottom left and the
other on the upper right index tab. I had done this so that the
name of the magazine was more likely to stay in the reader’s
mind.
• Secondly, I placed one of the pull quotes for the article nearly ON
the article image. I did this because the article image and its
circumference and the places where the readers will usually look
first and I thought that creating this ‘new convention’ would
spark the reader’s attention.
• Next, I designed my lead-in to be very large, larger than it would
usually be.This happened because I thought it would be a good
idea to enlarge the lead-in to draw the reader’s eye to the start
of the article after they had seen the image and masthead.
• Lastly, I made the interviewer’s responses to the interviewee
almost ‘chatty’ as this genre and style of magazine/article would
already allude to a more relaxed feeling and it felt more
comfortable to write it in that style.