The document discusses the design choices made for a music magazine. Conventions from existing magazines in the genre of R&B and hip hop were followed to make the magazine look professional. This included using a striking masthead font, including the date and price, and using cover lines and headlines to attract readers. Layout choices like large prominent images and fonts for artist names and headlines also followed genre conventions. Researching existing magazines informed design elements like the placement of the masthead over the cover image and the use of quotations from interviews. Overall, conventions were adhered to make the magazine realistic and to attract the intended audience.

1. Question 1

2. Whilst designing my music magazine I chose to abide the forms and
conventions of magazines rather than challenging them because they are
there for a reason and they are what help bring the magazine together and
make it look professional making the audience want to buy it. I looked at
many different genres of music magazines and most of them follow similar
forms and conventions, in particular I used Vibe magazine which gave
inspiration for my own magazine with the layout and presentation. The
masthead is an important convention of a magazine and after researching
many other Hip-Hop and R&B magazines, I have noticed that their main
image covers part of the masthead to make the main image stand out more
and draw more attention to the model, which in my research I found that
some people only buy magazines depending on the main image. I used this
convention for my magazine because my genre was R&B Hip-Hop and I chose
to adhere to the conventions of my chosen genre to make it look realistic
and professional as I could. I have also used a Striking font for my masthead
to make it recognisable and to attract an appropriate audience.

3. I have used the simple convention date and price to make my magazine look
authentic and professional. Almost every magazine has this and is an important
part of a magazine so readers know how much the magazine is and whether it is
up to date. Some magazines such as Vibe add a Web address so readers can visit
their website, I have also added this to my magazine because I thought that it
looks authentic and real. I created a barcode on Adobe Fireworks to make my
magazine look realistic.
Just like any other magazine I used cover lines to help attract readers and draw
attention to the main article. I also included an anchorage which is also a main
convention of a magazine, I used the engaging line “Is that Atlanta?” to make it
appeal to the audience. I included a strapline at the top of the page which gives
the reader a small insight of which artists will be in the magazine.
After looking at other main images of music magazines had used I decided to
choose this pose for my model because it makes her look prominent on the page
and the eye contact is eye level with the reader looking straight which also
engages the reader/audience.

4. Throughout the production of my contents page i look at contents pages
from Vibe magazine to see what sort of layout and information should be
included. I have developed my contents page by following the codes and
conventions of magazines. The main image of a different artist is dominant
and provocative which links well to the genre of hip-hop and R&B, the
model is also looking down on the readers which suggests power. Many vibe
magazines just have one large main image which covers most of the page
and I have decided to adhere to that convention.
On my contents page I have included page numbers and a story line for each
to give a small insight of what will be in the magazine. The like many other
hip-hop magazines the contents is split into sections so it is easier for the
reader find what they want. Another convention that I abided by was the
page numbers at the top of the page.

5. Before creating my double page spread I researched into R&B Hip-Hop
magazine double page spread to see what sort of model they have used and
what sort of layout they have used. Whilst creating my double page spread I
developed codes and conventions by including the name of the artist
„Atlanta‟ in a large prominent font so it stands out on the page. I also
included a catching headline „Exclusive Interview!‟ in a large font across the
lines in the middle of the page, this draws the readers attention. Many other
music magazines have a one main image on their double page spreads so I
have chose to follow that convention using the same model as my front
cover, also I included smaller images using same model again across the top
of the page like a collage. After looking at other interviews in magazines I
noticed that they use a quotation from the answers they are given on the
page of the interview, I decided to use this convention on my double page
spread because it makes it look authentic and it stands out to the readers
and catches their eye because the font is always larger..