The document discusses conventions and techniques used in magazine design for genres like house, garage and dubstep music. It notes that magazines in these male-dominated genres often sexualize women. The author's magazine takes a gender-neutral approach. Common conventions for magazine elements like the front cover, contents page, and double-page spreads are outlined, along with how the author incorporated or adapted these conventions for an "underground" magazine focused on these genres. Theoretical perspectives on star construction and postmodernism in relation to the magazine's design are also discussed.

1. Charlie Whitmore

2.  Magazines that explore the genres of House,Garage and
Dubstep tend to sexualise women in the magazines as the
genres are dominated by a more male audience in the Cross
cultural Consumer characterization model of Young and
Rubicam the main characterizations of those that listen to the
genres is the explorer and the Reformer as they both value
there own opinion. Magazines such as mine would base
themselves largely around synergy marketing whereby they
would offer free albums with every magazine or sponsor
festivals or gigs. Digital online distribution is also a large
factor within the genres of the underground as the age group
that follow the genre are those that are characterised into the
group of millennial’s and born around the time of a large
upraise in digital content and web 2.0. Due to them being
born around this time they thrive on the prospect of free
content which is why synergy marketing, digital online
distribution and web 2.0 are a large part in the genres
marketing in and outside of the magazine.

3.  Due to the dominance of men within the genre
women are sexualised in magazines and other
medias that represents the genre. This is
highlighted in the magazine “mixmag” as they
show women in a sexualised manor particularly
on their contents pages. My magazine has
gone against this sexualisation of women as I
wanted to produce a gender neutral magazine
to give it a more sophisticated look on the
underground genre and to widen my audience.

4.  The purpose of a front page of a magazine is to attract. The
magazine should entice your target audience and make them
want to buy the magazine. It should highlight the main
contents and other selling points of the magazine. In order to
give it a unique selling point.
 Throughout my research I have found that it is conventional to
have a main cover line and the front page image to relate to
each other. There is usually colour coordination throughout
different texts and images and a large amount of text around
the page promoting other aspects of the magazine.
 The main image should show a man or women who is well
known within the genre or popular with the target audience
and should relate to some sort of article or page in the
magazine.
 The barcode will usually be presented amongst the price of
the magazine and the issue number.
 Different magazines have different layouts and designs to
attract a certain audience. For an underground magazine that
means a lot of text around the image promoting the contents
and other information that is in the magazine.
 A prominent house style is established on the front cover and
usually kept throughout the magazine.
 Different aspects of the front cover such as the Masthead and
Cover lines are filled with bright colours to make sure that they
stand out on the cover and that the magazine stands out
amongst other magazines.

5.  The underground front cover
 The masthead – I have tied to stick with a conventional underground magazine masthead. It
takes up little room on the page and I have applied a bright colour to the masthead that also
matches with parts of the graffiti wall in the background of the main image. A colourful
masthead is conventional for an underground magazine as it represents the partying nature
that the music is heavily associated with. The photo choice for the masthead in many ways in
unconventional, the positioning of the model suggests a sense of vulnerability this is
unconventional for a magazine. I did this because the photo tackles that childish attitude of
partying that is portrayed in many representations of underground music. If I where to do the
magazine again I would try a different approach and see what a more dominant position would
look like.
 I have stuck to the convention of placing it in the bottom 3rd and having price and issue
information such as issue number or the month of the issue close to it.
 House style – The convention of a house style is to establish it on the front cover. Whether this
is through choice of font or shapes. For me I have utilised my house style of the arrows by
placing them under the descriptions of one of my cover lines to make the cover lines more
readable. By doing this I have therefore established my house style which I will then carry
throughout the magazine.
 I have added a quote from the main double page spread next to Alex. This is conventional as it
makes the reader want to find out more and gives a small insight into the main double page.
Having a quote on the front cover is conventional but would usually be placed in a splash,
making mine unconventional. the simple type for the pull out quote connotes the underground
nature of the magazine.
 My main image was selected carefully, I used a Nottingham based music partnership as my
artists to feature within my magazine. I chose Congi as they are something that the target
audience would have a particular interest to as they are a part of the underground scene and
are the same age as the target audience.

6.  The Underground front cover
 The conventional place for your main cover line is to have it in the
bottom third of the magazine so it is below your main image. I
have gone against conventions by placing my main cover line in
the bottom half of the top section I have done this as I wanted it to
be central to the page without disturbing the image and by placing
it further up the page I felt as though it would give the cover line
the same stance as the masthead making the selling point that is
the exclusive double page about Congi more noticeable.
 I decided from the beginning of my production that I wanted to
have a limited amount of writing on the page. The convention for a
magazine such as mine is to have a lot of cover lines surrounding
the main image and promoting the contents of the magazine. I
went against this convention as I was aiming my magazine at the
income bracket of B-E and by giving my magazine a more
simplistic design it would appeal more to the income bracket of B.
 I feel that i could have improved my front cover by perhaps
changing Alex’s position and expression as this photo goes
against the conventions of the stereotypically aggressive
underground culture.

7.  The conventions of a contents page is a simple
list of page numbers and next to that a
description of what is on the that page. Next to
the list is pictures that relate to some of the
pages. Above the title is the date of the issue
eg. January 2014
Mixmag

8.  I have followed through with my house style of arrows
and established that my house colour is a deep red. I
have chosen deep red as it is a rich colour that
promotes sophistication to once again reach out to my
audience within the income bracket of B. By adding
images at the bottom of the page I have still
maintained the normal convention of placing images
on the contents page and have managed to stick with
the trend of geometrical shapes I found within
magazines related to house, garage and dubstep
music by placing images into triangular shapes.

9.  I have tried to edge away from the Conventional
style of the a contents page to give my magazine a
more of an independent style. I have done this by
making the numbers larger and more grouped
together. This goes against the normal conventions
of a contents page but still gives the information that
is needed.
 I have placed the title contents at the top of the page
and below that the month of the issue.
 I feel that the contents page design in some ways
has affecting other element on the page. Because of
the design my photos have had to be made smaller.
If i where to do the magazine again i would perhaps
change the magazine whereby i could increase the
size of the images on the page.

10.  The idea of a double page spread is to
give the reader information on the subject.
Double page spreads are normally in the
style of an interview, story or Q&A. These
will take up a good proportion of the page
and to accompany the writing will be a pull
out quote a picture or pictures that relate
to the double page.

11.  I have stayed with the convention of a pull out
quote within my double page to promote the
inside story of Congi. The Pull out dominates
the page as it is one of the largest elements on
the page and therefore prioritises the voice of
the artists. The white writing also stands out
behind the black background. I have once
again maintained the house style of the arrow
in my title and page number but this time
placing part of the graffiti wall inside of the
arrow of the title.

12.  The only way I went against the normal
convention of a double page spread is
through the large image of Congi as I
once again placed the image into a
triangle to represent the on going beats of
the genre. This gave the page a personal
twist and fitted with the whole magazine
design.

13.  When planning my double page spread I wanted the page to
look professional. I wanted to focus more about the story of
Congi as I thought that it would be more fitting as they where
an upcoming artist in the genre and people would be more
interested about there story. The upcoming artist section also
establishes the magazines supportive force for a niche
industry that is dominated by conglomerate record labels. I
wanted the page to highlight the imagery of the genre. I did
this by giving the page a black background to connote the
time of day that the music is usually played eg. In clubs. I
made sure that i used an image of Congi that promoted the
run down street scene that in often associated with
underground music. This is why i chose to photograph Congi
next to a graffiti wall as the imagery that is associated with
underground music is street scenes. I feel as though this has
worked well with the page and given made the two more
recognisable with the genre.

14.  Dyers star theory- This theory states that stars are constructed to
look like real people with real emotions. According to this theory stars
are constructed by the media to serve a particular purpose. Dyers
star theory can be seen on my front cover through the positioning,
clothing and background. The facial expression and positioning of
Alex suggests vulnerability and his clothing choices are of those that
the average person would wear this suggests he is like the average
reader and is as the theory suggests experiencing real emotions. By
placing Alex in front of a graffiti wall we are increasing his identity as
an artists who still remains close to the urban street life. This is all
done to attract members of the target audience who will see the front
cover and will immediately be able to associate themselves with it.
This also helps with the personal feel that i wanted to give my
magazine as people feel that they can associate themselves with the
artists that are showcased.

15.  When doing my theoretical research I suggested that postmodernist
theory could perhaps be a part of my magazine. I believed this as the
underground combines many different genres within it and could
potentially extend the bounds of genre making it a postmodern. After
having a look at my final production I believe that I have tried to bring in
many parts of the genres of the underground culture through different
ways of photographing. Throughout the three artist I photographed
each and everyone one represents a different part of the underground.
I had Joe sit on a small bike in conventional riding gear representing
the fun nature of the underground. I had Chris wear more formal
clothing than the other three and photographed him in a studio shoot to
give the feel of a more sophisticated style of the underground and
finally I photographed Congi in a urban street scene as they wore
informal casual street clothing to represent the wider more
stereotypical underground fan base. So overall I feel that I have done
my best to try and fit as many different cultures of the underground
scene without effecting the magazines feel of legitimacy.