This document discusses conventions used in music magazine layout and design. It explains that magazines establish a consistent house style through layout to create a sense of identity. Most magazines feature a large artist image and masthead at the top of the cover. Text is placed on the left third of pages according to how people naturally read. Depending on genre, magazines use different styles - for example, hip hop magazines tend to be brighter with single artist features. Magazines also employ tone and style of writing to create a mood that allows readers to relax and enjoy reading.

1. Conventions

2. Page Design
On most music magazines the layout is the first aspect you look at and notice
first, so this is why a magazine like Billboard or NME is a top quality
magazine, as they have found a layout that fits their house style and they keep
it the same each issue, this creates a sense of identity and as a result, they
can advertise their magazine and sell it just from the layout, because people
will look at it and straight away know what they are talking about and which
magazine it is. Most music magazines have a large image of an artist or
band, depending on the genre of music. This is what people look at first and
this is what attracts people to buy it. They then have the masthead at the top
of the page, either in the top left hand corner or big enough to fit across the
whole page. This is because they use the left third technique, which is when all
the information they want to be read is placed on the left third of the page, as
this is the way people read (left to right) so if all of the information is on the
left, it gets read and taken in. Cover lines, cover stories and features are also
placed on the left third. These are written in large, bold and bright fonts, so that
they get noticed and intrigues people to what’s in the magazine.

3. Genre
Depending on the genre of the magazine depends on what layout
they have and mode of address they use. For example Billboard
is hip-hop/new music, so they have a bright style of
magazine, which is what the people who buy the magazine like. In
the genre they aim at there is more artists rather than bands, so
each issue there is a single artist in the middle of the page. They
use the same font for all of the cover lines and cover stories, this
is so that they get identified and then they create a house
style, which they can keep each week. The magazine can be
based around the genre, so if it was indie/alternative, the colours
would be darker and the images would have different mise-en-
scene, props and setting. Where as a hip-hop magazine, is bright
and the images used have the complete opposite of what an
indie/alternative has.

4. Mode of Address
Magazines use mode of address to create a mood and tone of
writing. Billboard has a calm, friendly and nice style, this is
made by the amount of text used, the way they are
wrote, what’s wrote about and the images used. When people
buy a magazine, they want to be able to read it and switch off
from everything, so this is why the magazine needs to create a
style that the audience would be able to do that with. They also
want to enjoy reading it, so if they find it hard to read, due to
the amount of text, they will be deterred from buying it again.

5. How I used Conventions in my
Magazine
I designed my magazine around hip-hop magazines’ best aspects. E.g.
the title was similar to billboards, the image used, was in the same style
as all of the magazines I looked at, the colours were from a range of
magazines. All of my text is on the left third, which is like most
magazines, this is where all of my main articles have been mentioned, so
that people are interested and will hopefully buy it. My image is offset
from the centre, so takes up the right hand side of the page and then
comes onto the left side; this is so that the artist is noticed and is the main
aspect of the cover. The masthead is across the top of the page and part
of it is behind the artist’s head, this is so that the masthead is noticed and
seen easily, but the artist looks powerful. The main colours I have used
are red, black and white, this is because they stand out from one
another, but go with each other. The fonts are different, but they are
masculine and feminine depending on the sex of the name, e.g. Marvin
Weathers (masculine) Ella Elliot (feminine).