The document discusses the codes and conventions for designing different parts of an acoustic magazine, including the front cover, contents page, and double page spreads. For the front cover, key elements include the masthead, main image, cover lines, issue details, and following color schemes used by other acoustic magazines. The contents page typically includes images, categorized article listings, an editor's note, and contact details. Double page spreads normally feature a large header, standfirst, article text, main image, pull quotes, and credits for authors and photographers. The document examines how following these typical design elements and styles helps create coherent and recognizable acoustic magazines.

1. Evaluation

2. Front Cover Codes and Conventions
• When designing and constructing the
Acoustician Magazine, one thing that
was commonly done was looking at links
between our designs and those of other
acoustic magazines. “Acoustic” was
possibly the magazine which had the
largest influence over our entire
construction. For the front cover. The
codes and conventions were as follows:

3. Masthead
• One of the clearest parts of any
magazine should be the
masthead at top of the cover.
It’s common to use a bold and
clear text, with a colour like red,
green, orange, black or white to
fit the typical natural colour
scheme found in acoustic
magazines.

4. Main image
• The front cover is usually
dominated by a single image of
an artist or band. They are
usually the most famous
artist/band written about within
or are the focus of the main
article.

5. Cover lines
• There are always many cover
lines, which are used to fill the
space surrounding the focal
point of the main image. It is not
uncommon for the main cover
line (usually linked to the main
article and cover image) will sit
in the centre or just lower,
essentially covering a portion of
the artist or band.

6. Issue Number, Date, Price, and Barcode
• These can usually be found all
together or maybe in one
place and two in another. The
price and barcode will go in
one of the bottom corners
whereas the date and issue
number will be at the top of
the page.

7. Front Cover:
• After noting these constructive elements and conventions, it became
easier to put together a front cover. There was a heavy emphasis on
the appearance of the masthead and main image especially, due to
the fact they were the largest parts of the cover. The black and orange
alternating masthead for the final construction of Acoustician shows
the conventional colour scheme whilst also being bold and easily
visible. The main image I used of “Skye Page” was clear and the
addition of a spotlight into the final cover helps to emphasise the
focus upon the model/artist. On top of this was the cover lines, which
filled the empty spaces without looking too crammed and helped
improve the acoustic feel achieved by other magazines

8. Contents Page Codes and Conventions
• For the contents page, a
similar approach was
taken by comparing the
main conventions of
other acoustic
magazines and finding
the common results.
The codes found on
most or all of the
magazines are shown on
the following slides:

9. Title
• The main header for the
contents page would be
clear and obvious on
the top left hand side. It
is not uncommon for
these to be boxed, but
is not a requirement

10. Images
• All the acoustic magazine
contents pages analysed
show are large amount of
images linked to the main
few articles each one is
usually given a page
number to show the
connection with the
corresponding articles.

11. The Content
• For the list of articles and page
content, the page would be
divided into sections, showing
different categories for the articles.
These would mostly include
separation between interviews,
instruments, artist, bands, festivals
and competitions. Each of these
would be shown as clearly divided
and each given headers so they
were distinguishable.

12. Editors Note
• It was common to find a
small descriptive paragraph
on the contents page which
can be credited to the editor.
It would be their explanation
of the following content and
the genre as a whole.

13. Contact Details
• For the magazine itself, it was
expected that there should be
contact details on the contents
page. They could appear in a
variety of places: the bottom of
the page or the footer are two
common placements. This
would include websites, emails
and sometimes telephone
numbers or postal addresses.

14. Contents Page
• From researching the conventions of the contents page, it was not
hard to then go on a develop one. The use of images in the final
construction is less than what is found in most Acoustic magazines,
but fits with the contents page layout and the actual content. The
black background, white text and orange structured boxes is very
conventional colour-wise for an acoustic magazine and the content
laid out also suitably fits the genre.

15. Double Page Spread Codes and Conventions
• Due to the size and amount of
content found within the
double page spread, there was
much more to look at and
analyse. Considering that one
magazine would have only one
front cover and contents page,
but could have multiple double
page spreads meaning clear
styles and conventions became
much more obvious.

16. Header
• The header for each
article tends to vary
depending on how the
rest of the page is set out.
It will always be bold and
much larger than the rest
of the text.

17. Standfirst
• Usually accompanying the
Header and written in
italics or a slightly
different way to the main
body of text. Not
uncommon for it to be a
couple of sizes larger also.

18. Article
• The article itself is normally
based around an artist or band
and is the retelling of a
conversation between the
interviewer and the
interviewee. It’s uncommon for
the structure to just be a
question then the answer.

19. Main Image
• The main image tends to
take up a large portion of
space with any double
page spread. In some
cases it’s nearly an entire
page.

20. Pull Quotes
• These quotes are shown in
two ways: One is just
highlighting the text and
making it stand out more
within the article and the
other is placing the quote from
the article over the image or
outside the main body of text

21. Author and Photography Credits
• It is normal for the Author and
Photographer to be credited on the
page they are responsible for. It will
just be a brief comment on the
page, normally in the footer

22. Social Media
• The artists details for their social
media pages are usually included
in the page layout, with a pre-set
space specifically for the account
names. These will include typical
social media sites such as
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
and YouTube

23. Double Page Spread
• The double page spread set itself out to be the most challenging, not
only because of all the necessary requirements needed for it to look
conventional, but the article itself would have had to fit its own
criteria. From the research though, the group decided on a style and
there were a few strong articles written and arranged to fit around
the main image situated in the middle of the page.