This document summarizes how the media product uses and challenges conventions of magazine design. It discusses using a dark orange color scheme which is somewhat unusual for magazines but creates branding. The cover image uses a candid photo rather than a posed shot, which is less conventional. Layout and design elements like mastheads, pull quotes, artist listings, and column formatting both follow magazine conventions and challenge them in innovative ways. The double-page festival guide spreads also take an unconventional scrapbook approach rather than typical large cover photos. Overall, the document examines the careful balance of conforming to and pushing boundaries of standard magazine formatting.

1. In what way does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions?
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2. I have chosen a colour scheme
to feature across my magazine. I
chose a dark orange as to
coordinate with the image (the
violin and wall). I also used white
for text, and occasionally black
depending on which would show
up. This is conventional of
magazines as a strong repeated
colour is part of the house style
and branding, making a
magazine more recognisable.
NME use a bright red and then
similarly, black and white for
text. My colour scheme however
is quite unusual as it is more
typical for magazines to use
bright primary colours.
My cover image is not
unconventional but
largely unusual as most
magazines will use
pictures from
photoshoots with the
artists for the front
covers, allowing them to
customise the
background and making
adding text etc a lot
easier. NME does
occasionally use candid
photos and I have even
found a cover in which
the image does not use
direct mode of address. In
my cover and this both
the people are looking
away, and its as if the
photo as been taken by
someone in an ordinary
position, not from
specially close access that
photographers would
usually use to get live
shots. Both images are
also the same sort of
midshot.

3. This shows how I have overlapped and layered the
masthead over the cover image, a common convention
with all magazines.
This is my slogan, a common feature which is
usually positioned small near the
masthead, used for branding the magazine in
a catchy way. ‘Connecting’ is ironic reference
to the title Bridge.
Having a pull line along the top or bottom of a
magazine is a conventional cover feature which is
usually used to advertise something which is
special, exclusive, free or a bonus to the reader. In my
case, it’s the freebee of an unusual, pull out edition.
Here is more
layering, this time
with text and the
pull lines. Layering
is conventional of
magazines but to
almost squeeze
and slot text in
like this is fairly
unconventional, b
ut here it has
been done on an
NME cover

4. Listing artists is a typical NME
convention, and indeed for all
music magazines, putting
artists names on covers is a
convention.
Having the name of the main band/artist that is the cover
star and having the main feature in the magazine, much
larger, sometimes even the largest text on the cover is a
typical convention. I also placed it partially over the person
in the image like NME have here. The second typical
feature is a few words before the artist name, smaller and
above it, to give a clue as to what form the
feature/interview might take.
I conventionally put my second main feature, the festival
guide, on the cover as it’s a big part of this months edition. Its
in NME and some other music magazines to also put smaller
other photos on the cover on top of the main image. To make
these visible I had to use an overlay in the house colour
behind, I did this in the square shape. It is conventional to
have boxes like this on covers. Also I decided to use a
handwriting type front for FESTIVAL GUIDE, similar to that
used on the NME cover, and found quite a lot in magazines in
order to convey a certain message.

5. My contents page maintains the house style and feel of my
cover, using the same colours and boxy design. I wanted to
keep and even increase the packed fullness of the design
and create a fairly unconventional style of mosaic collage
type layout, using lots of lines and grids, as well as smaller
photos.

6. Having a subscription
advert is a conventional
aspect of contents page,
and a part of every NME
contents, so I included
this to make mine look
more professional and
also to increase profit etc
in that people will be
more likely to subscribe.
Here is my list of every other
article/feature in the issue.
While it is unconventional to
do this like this, it does
reflect the list format of the
band index of NME’s content.
I have also done the same as
NME in highlighting
regular/resident features in
bold and leaving ones unique
to this issue plain.
A main convention of any contents page is to have some sort of title which signifies it is indeed
the contents page. For my magazine I decided to use the fairly conventional phrase ‘INSIDE’.
Another common aspect is to still again have the masthead/magazine title, but to decrease it in
size, sometimes as well compared to the side of the contents title. The final convention to the top
of a contents page is to include the date of the issue.
The other main convention of the
contents is for the primary article
relating to the cover image/stars
to be given a large portion of the
contents page. This would usually
feature either another or several
different photos of the artists. I
did this here and made a collage
of many photos from the photo
shoot to maintain the gridded
collage feel of my contents page.
The other convention is to have a
small piece of text briefly
describing what this article will be
about, and including the name of
the band, usually in another
colour (like I have done). I did
however challenge the
conventions by putting a pull
quote, usually found on the
double page spread itself, here on
the contents.

7. My double page spread (effectively 8 page article) is a festival
guide, ‘guides’ to various things being typical types of articles
aside from very conventional interviews and reviews. The
design of the spread regarding the background and images is
fairly unconventional, as usually you will have one main large
photo, perhaps with smaller ones, and usually of an artist/s.
The scrapbook effect is especially unconventional. It is also
challenges conventions as nearly all double page spread isolate
quotes. A final convention I maintain is somehow continuing
part of the article across both pages of the spread in order to
create continuity. This is nearly always done whether it by
through the title, a border, or as in this insance, the image/s.

8. A typical convention is having almost
excessively large title text which takes up
nearly half of the top of the page. Here
you can see, in NME style, the writing is
boxed so I mimicked this convention.
Also here you can see a smaller box of a
conventional small amount of text which
is used to give a brief overall description
of the proceeding article.
Here you can see the
conventional use of
bold and colour/boxes
to differentiate
between text and
subheadings. NME and
other magazines use
this usually to highlight
questions and answers
in interview articles.
This shows the magazine convention of
columning. Articles will nearly always be
written in columns but usually 3 or more,
so while I'm using a convention I’m also
challenging it slightly by using only two
very wide columns, as well as putting a
divider down the middle.

9. “The ultimate student and/or devoted rock lovers mosh fest.
Hardcore and abrasively brilliant... we heard they set fire to
the tents if that gives you an idea. Forecasters predict a riot.”
“…plenty of appeal for us ‘youth’, equally not
crawling with kiddies – bring your family and
score a lift!”
“Dude! This is definitive festival for the
surfers, skaters and riders out there. …Chill in
the best summer vibes before partying the
night away in the dance arena. Gnarly.”
With summer fast approaching its that time of year where we go festival
crazy here at BRIDGE! You’ll be seeing lineups left right and centre, and with
over 300 events each year it can be a bewildering process…but fret no
longer, you now have the ultimate, definitive guide to festivaling at your
fingertips and no excuse not to festival this summer away. Your Welcome.
The writing style of music magazines differs greatly but when researching NME and reading lots of
their editions it was clear they used very colloquial register and a number of repeated conventions, for
example speaking directly to the reader by asking questions and referring to the audience directly as
‘you’ and sometimes even collectively together with the audience as ‘us’ or ‘we’. Here is examples of
me using young language and all of the above within my magazine.