2. The font for my title, which is also used on other pages, is a similar to kinds used in
other rock magazines. The title for my magazine “Retro Rocker” is rather simple.
When naming my magazine I wanted a title which wasn’t really ambiguous as to who
magazine is being aimed at. The positioning of the title is rather usual in and takes up
space the upper-middle section. Again, this is standard of most magazines and it’s so
the people can easily see it. I have included some miscellaneous information on the
front cover such as a website for the magazine on the base and an advertisement for
free tickets. These minor features creates a great deal of authenticity and alludes to
a consumer audience. Other features like putting the title of the magazine in the top
right-hand corner are extremely common in magazine front covers, so helps with
making my magazine appear genuine.
I have used the generic
“Contents” title for the
contents page as I felt
that this feature did not
need to be challenged. I
have also used the same
font as the title for
consistency.
3. The writing style of my magazine is relatively well structured. This features
widely in magazines such as “Classic rock”. The language is also appropriate for
my magazine as it is rather formal and uses a rather developed vocabulary. The
ordered structure is also here and continues the idea of a consistent style for
the magazine. Pull quotes are also common features of magazines and they
would most likely gage a person’s interest and allow them to easily begin
reading the article.
4. In terms of mise en scene my images very much conforms to the conventions of
rock. The do models not strike youthful poses. They instead take on a very
subdued pose. The black and white imagery has been used extensively
throughout the history of rock and is still used today. The masculinity versus
femininity aspect of rock as I had to choose between following the normal
convention of rock magazines by mainly featuring male musicians or subverting
it and photographing a female model.
The common design choice in most magazines centred around the rock genre is
a relatively dark colour palette. This helps with ascertaining the target audience
as the common stereotype of men preferring darker colours and women
preferring lighter colours comes into fruition. Here I have developed this
particular convention by featuring dark clothing throughout the magazine.
5. The images of the models posing as a musicians also follows the traditional use
of a masculine figure in rock magazines. Men have been the main figurehead of
the rock genre with not as many female rock musicians in comparison. The
clothing the models wear is dark which is a stereotypically masculine colour. The
use of black and white photography alludes to this idea of a magazine
presenting late both twentieth century music and bands which still adopt their
style.
My own magazine does challenge some conventions of popular rock magazines.
One such convention I have subverted is used in the magazine “Kerrang”. This
magazine has a much more anarchic style in terms of colour usage and the
positioning of some features compared to my own. I opted for a much more
subdued style as I wasn’t attracting a majority youth audience. The black and
white imagery is not used extensively in mainstream rock magazines but it
features throughout my own, challenging the common conventions used in
colour scheme. The overall style connotes a relatively sophisticated magazine
with the style taking place over content. The orderly fashion may slightly
subvert the unpredictability of the rock genre with its image of non-conformity,
my keeping a rather neatly structured style.
