3. Like most music magazines, I was mainly trying to stick to conventions. One of these factors is the
way in that I have used my main image. My main image has been used to almost replicate my
target audience, so that when they buy my magazine, they will feel like they can relate to the
main image. Another thing that my main image had was direct address. The point behind
direct address is that the model, or artist in my case, is looking straight at the camera, to give
it the effect that they are addressing the person reading the magazine. This will hopefully
appeal to the reader, attracting them to the magazine. Another big thing about my music
magazine is the Masthead. For this, I did follow conventions in the terms that it was one of
the biggest things on my front cover which I had to do as the Masthead is a form of brand
identity. Something that I did the other magazine didn’t was cover the Masthead. I didn’t
cover the Masthead due to the fact that it is a new magazine, and if I covered it , people
would be unaware of who made the magazine. Compared to the VIBE magazine, this is clearly
a well known and popular music magazine due to the fact that it is able to hide its Masthead
slightly, outlining there popularity. Like most magazines, some standard conventions include
the barcode, date line and issue number. Something that I included on my music magazine but
wasn’t on the VIBE one were buzz words. Buzz words are words that are used to catch the
attention of the reader e.g. Exclusive. I felt that if I wanted to add to the appeal of my
magazine then this was going to be an essential factor that I would have to counter act into
the magazine. Another main convention that both of the magazines followed were the main
coverlines. These are mainly used to anchor the main image which basically means that they
connote to the main image. By doing this, it gives a clear link between these two, highlighting
the most important part of the front which was one of my main aims anyway. As well as this, I
also used other things such as a “puff” which is used to draw attention/to promote other
elements within the magazine. Finally, I would just talk about the house style colours that I
used. The main colours I used were Red, Black and Green. These are very standard house
colours but I felt that they were a simple but effective colour scheme as they are used quite
frequently within other magazines as well so they are easily recognisable.
Front cover analysis
4. Theories- Stuart Hall and Stanley
Cohen
The two theorists I am going to use for this part are
Stuart Hall and Stanley Cohen. With Stuart Hall, he
argues mainly about how young people are
portrayed, which is similar with Stanley Cohen as he
talks about the moral panic that we have as a society.
Overall, this definitely links with my target audience
as they are young males, and young males are
stereotyped as being “youths”, and these two
theorists highlight that even though this may not be
necessarily true, we still think it as a society as this is
what we’re taught to believe.
6. One of the very first things that I did when creating my contents page was bring in my
Masthead. The reason for why I did this was to reinforce that idea of brand
identity so that I keep reminding them of it so that eventually they will remember
it. Something that I did similar to my front cover was to use images. With these
images, my aim was to still capture my target audience within them, but to also
make it link with the contents that was going to be included in the magazine. One
of these images that I used also had my artist from the main image on my front
cover, again, underlining his importance within this magazine. This shows that I
have follow conventions as I have kept that link going throughout my magazine.
One convention that I have definitely followed is the Rule of Thirds. This
convention is one that is used everywhere, in pretty much all magazines. When
using the Rule of Thirds, there are two questions that you have to ask, What are
the points of interest? and Where am I intentionally placing them? By asking these
two questions, it gives you an idea on how to set out your magazine, in my terms
my contents page. This definitely helped as something I believed I didn’t do in the
past very well was utilise my space well enough and I believe that this is what
made my magazine look unprofessional. Finally, something that I used that the
VIBE contents page didn’t use/have were social media links. I also found these
were important due to the introduction of New Media and the fact that it has now
become a lot more digitalised, highlighting the importance of this to appeal to my
audience
Contents page analysis
8. In terms of the colour scheme for my double page spread, I have kept similar house style
colours to what I’ve used throughout my magazine. These colours were predominantly
Red and Black, and I have used these colours within my title and the text. In terms of my
text on my double page spread, I used a sans serif font which is the same font that is
used on the VIBE double page spread. This is more of a modern font which links in with
the hip-hop genre, with it being quite modern as well. I would say it also connotes with
my younger target audience and them being bought up in the midst of the modern
generation. Although, something that I used on my double page spread that wasn’t used
on the VIBE one was a drop cap. This is quite a standard convention and is used to signify
the start of a paragraph. Another convention that both magazines followed was the
incorporation of the main images. Even though they both followed the conventions of
including a main image, there was very different placing of the images as with VIBE
magazine, they followed the normal idea of having one image on one side and the text
on the other whereas with my magazine, I had it so that my main image was faded into
the side with the text on it. This gave a different effect to it but also slightly went away
from what you expect from a normal layout on a double page spread. There was also a
variation in terms of the shot type. On the VIBE magazine, there was a standard close up
with a normal white background whereas, with my double page spread, I used a wide
shot as it meant that I could then use it as part of my background, making it more
realistic. I also want to point out the Masthead in the top left hand corner, signifying its
importance. Finally, I would like to comment on the two different styles of writing. With
the VIBE magazine, they used a Q & A style which is quite popular amongst magazines
and can give the target audience quite a good idea about the artist who is being
interviewed, hence making it more personal. Whereas, with my magazine, I used a free-
flowing style. I did this as firstly, I think it was a good alternative to the normal style of
Q&A but I also believed that it had more of a flow to it. What I mean by this is that I feel
it flows better compared to the Q&A style questions.
Double page spread analysis
