1. MAGAZINE CONSTRUCTION
Rebecca Bailey

2. CONVENTIONS
What you get on front covers

3. 1. Masthead
8. Selling Line
or Banner
Web-links?
Ears?
9. Tagline
2. Kicker
3. Cover Line
10. Feature
Article Photo
11. Headline
4. Secondary Lead
12. Anchorage
13. Flash
5. Plug
6. Graphic
Feature or
Puff
7. Caption
14. Menu Strip
15. Bar Code
16. Date Line

4. 1. Masthead
8. Selling Line
or Banner
Web-links?
Ears?
9. Tagline
2. Kicker
3. Secondary Lead
10. Feature
Article Photo
11. Headline
4. Cover Line
12. Anchorage
13. Flash
5. Plug
6. Menu Strip
7. Caption
Graphic
14. Feature or
Puff
15. Bar Code
16. Date Line

5. 1. Masthead
8. Selling Line
or Banner
Web-links?
9. Tagline
Ears?
2. Kicker
10. Feature
Article Photo
3. Cover Line
11. Headline
12. Anchorage
4. Secondary Lead
13. Flash
14. Menu Strip
5. Plug
6. Graphic
Feature or
Puff
7. Caption
FREE –
15. Bar Code
Live music
downloads
16. Date Line

6. CONVENTIONS NOTES
The mastheads on my example magazines are large and bold,
which gives you the idea that the magazine is more ‘in your
face’ and stands out. The genre of music this magazine
represents is a heavy genre. Both ‘Rock Sound’ and ‘Kerrang’
are ideal titles of magazines as they relate to the genre of
music. ‘Rock Sound’ relates to the genre of the magazine as
the magazine emphasises the sound of the Rock genre,
through interviews and new bands and concerts. ‘Kerrang’ is
unique as it is onomatopoeia of the noise a guitar makes , and
guitars are essential in the rock genre.

7. CONVENTIONS NOTES
Usually the headlines and the anchorage are related in a way
to the front cover image. Looking at my first example of ‘Rock
Sound’, the anchorage reads ‘The Truth About Rock’s Last
Outlaws’, along with an image of the band together. The
photo is a mid shot showing the band behind each other
which gives the impression that the front man is the ‘leader’
like most ‘Outlaws’ have. The idea that it emphasises most
the dark denim clothing states the idea that they are a bit
‘thuggish’ and do not dress formally. This also can relate to
the tone of the overall magazine. The shot is also a close-up
shot showing the smiles on the band members face, almost
like a smug/imitating look making them look like they have
done something wrong, like an ‘outlaw’.

8. CONVENTIONS NOTES
My second ‘Rock Sound’ front cover has the anchorage ‘The
Stress of Success’ with an image of the whole band. The
image interacts with the anchorage through the use of the
shot and position of the members. The image is a long shot ,
showing the whole body of the band members. The facial
expressions of the band members looks serious like they
mean business. It also connotes that they are looking down at
others, and that they are better than other bands. This could
be seen as they see themselves as successful, which relates
back to the anchorage. The ‘Kerrang’ example uses the
anchorage ‘Their Battle for Hearts and Minds’ along with a
long shot image of the band looking serious, as the front man
is holding something red. This could be seen as something
relating to the heart and blood, due to the red colour. Along
with that the colour scheme of the front cover also relates
into the main anchorage, using red, black and white.

9. CONVENTIONS NOTES
The kickers are usually bold and more noticeable than the cover lines
but are usually a band name, for instance on my first ‘Rock Sound’
example the kicker is ‘Black Veil Brides’ with the cover line ‘Biersack
Breaks Free’. The use of the cover line is to explain what the article will
be about but not in too much detail. It is also to drag the audience into
wanting to read the article to find out more. The kickers and cover lines
are usually aimed about the lifestyle of a particular band.
When creating a magazine there is a lot of different conventions that
are important. The masthead is essential to ensure the audience knows
what magazine they are reading. The front cover image, the headline
and the anchorage need to be different to attract the target audiences
eye along with a headline and anchorage which needs to be interesting
and intriguing. The plug is also a great convention to use of a magazine
front cover as the target audience are interested in buying a magazine
with a reasonable free item for instance, music downloads or posters.

10. DESIGN
How front covers are conceived and laid out

14. HOUSE STYLE
Looking at my examples, for both ‘Rock Sound’ and ‘Kerrang’ use a
similar colour scheme of red, black, white and yellow. The front cover
images on my ‘Rock Sound’ example and my second ‘Kerrang’ example,
both use the whole band in the image but are positioned differently,
posing differently, or have props. This gives them uniqueness and
makes that magazine cover stand out. My first ‘Kerrang’ magazine
shows just one individual which uses a close – up shot to emphasise the
make up of the individual. Although they use the same colour scheme,
they alternate on how they use the colours, for instance the ‘Rock
Sound’ cover uses a red background with white and yellow writing and
hardly any black is used. My first ‘Kerrang’ magazine uses a red
background and although white is used as the masthead and the
headline, there is more yellow and black used on the front cover. The
second ‘Kerrang’ front cover example uses more of a white and red
background, with a black masthead and the headline is in white but
the rest of the text is usually in black and white with hardly any
yellow. The use of the dark colours relate to the genre of the music but

15. HOUSE STYLE
On my examples, it shows that there is about 2/3 different types of
fonts that are used. The headline and the masthead usually have the
same font emphasising the importance of that headline. My ‘Rock
Sound’ example uses another font for the kicker, cover lines and menu
strip. Another font is used on the anchorage which makes the
anchorage stand out from the headline. The first ‘Kerrang’ magazine
uses along with the font for the masthead and headline, uses a different
font for the anchorage, the plug and kickers emphasising that they are
equally as important. A slightly different font is used for the cover
lines. The second ‘Kerrang’ magazine uses the same font for the
masthead and the headline. A completely different font is used for the
anchorage and menu strip. The kickers and cover lines also have
different font types. The use of different fonts determines the
importance of each convention.

16. HOUSE STYLE
My magazines give a more informal tone to the magazines through the
use of mainly the cover image but also the headline, anchorage and
kickers. This for instance, in my second ‘Kerrang’ example is the use of
the devil horns with the anchorage ‘ Come Over to the Dark Side…’
which is entertaining tone to the magazine. Photographic techniques in
the ‘Rock Sound’ example like the close up mid shot of the band could
make the magazine have more of a serious tone but the use of the hand
expression from the front man gives the tone a more informal look to
the magazine. The band members have a direct mode of address,
looking straight into the camera engaging the target audience towards
the magazine. It has more of an invitational look to the magazine
through the use of the cover image.

17. HOUSE STYLE
The first ‘Kerrang’ magazine I used as my example, only shows the
front man of the band as the cover image, but still uses the close up mid
shot and has a direct mode of address. Although the image could be
seen as serious, the anchorage related to the cover image is ‘is Andy Six
the New God of Rock?’ and the cover image itself presents a questioning
facial expression, which intrigues the readers to read the magazine as
people want to know more. Although there was a serious tone to the
photography used, the idea of the individual wearing make up could be
seen as more informal look to the magazine.

18. HOUSE STYLE
The second ‘Kerrang’ magazine example also uses direct mode of
address and a mid shot is used on the band. It clearly indicates which
individual is the front man of the band, as he is wearing devil horns.
The anchorage relating to the cover image is ‘Come Over to the Dark
Side…’, and the overall idea of the look makes the magazine more
entertaining and invitational to the target audience. As well, the look of
the cover image and anchorage, makes the magazine look more
mysterious, providing an enigma, making the target audience to ask
questions and become intrigued to read more.

19. HOUSE STYLE
All my examples show an informal expression through the style of the
magazine. The different magazines I used, have a different proportion
of the front cover as the image, for instance the ‘Kerrang’ examples use
1 third or 2 third of the front cover, whereas the ‘Rock Sound’ has the
image stretched over the whole front cover. The examples show the
magazines are ‘heavy’ and chaotic as there is kickers and cover lines on
both the left and right thirds of the magazines, along with a menu
strip, plugs and flash. This ensures that along with the cover image,
there is no white space and the magazine does not look empty.

20. HOUSE STYLE
Looking at my magazine examples, it shows that magazines conform to
conventions but they also challenge them. This will encourage them to
stand out and look different to other magazines. They are designed the
way they are to attract and stand out to the target audience. For the
particular music magazines I looked into, they would have to look busy,
and ‘loud’ to make them stand out to that certain genre.