The document discusses the design choices made for an indie music magazine. The creator used black, white, red and yellow colors which are common but also added yellow to challenge conventions. Interviews and music-related advertisements were included as audience research found these appealing. The price, layout, clothing, language, and font choices also considered conventions while exploring new ideas to develop the genre further. The overall design aimed to attract the target indie audience while presenting the magazine professionally.

1. By Jack Walsh

2. • The colours of my magazine are black, white, red which I used
as it was common colours of indie magazine articles. This is so
that it would attract my target audience who would most likely
be familiar with these colours, which would allow them to
connect with my magazine and therefore be attracted to it.
However, given the explorer/reformer nature of my magazines
I decided to also use the colour yellow on some parts of my
magazine, which I did so that I could challenge the conventions
of the indie genre as this is not a generally used colour in indie
magazines. This is so that I could offer a unique or at least
uncommon selling point to my magazine in order for my target
audience to want to buy it. However, that does not mean that
other indie magazines do not use yellow as on of their colours
but only that they do not do so very often.

3. • For the contents of my magazine I decided to use
advertisements that related to music and not to other
things such as perfume or cars for example , which is a
common convention of indie music. This is because my
target audience are generally interested in music when they
buy indie magazines according to my research. I also
decided to place an interview in my magazine’s double
page spread in order for viewers to get an inside look at my
band. This is because my target audience wanted to see
some interviews when I did my audience research. This
would therefore allow them to be attracted to it.

4. • I decided on the price of my magazine through the use of
audience research and my own personal research in stores and
online . I did this so that I could find the most appropriate cost for
an indie magazine based on other professional magazines that I
have seen. This is because I wanted to make my own magazine
competitive with other already established magazines , which
shows that I used the conventions of an indie music magazines .

5. • I made sure that I structured my magazine in a professional way
by adding giving it a table like structure on my contents and
double page spread (pages) as it allowed me to structure my
information in a well presented way as it made it a lot neater.
This is so that I could make my magazine look professional in
order for my target audience to take my magazine seriously. This
is similar to many indie magazines which shows that I used the
conventions of indie magazines.

6. • As shown, I dressed myself and my two other models in
what I considered to be typical indie clothing based on
online research about various indie fashions. This is so that I
could appeal to my target audience who are mostly indie
fans and would therefore be familiar with the clothing and
would most likely want to see bands they enjoy dressed in
recognisable indie clothing. However, given the
explorer/reformer demographic I also decided to slightly
alter my clothes so that I did not completely copy the style
of other indie bands as this would not be exploring new
ideas or developing the conventions of indie music, which
indie bands are known for. This therefore shows that I
developed the conventions of the indie genre for my
magazine.

7. • I decided to use language that was somewhere between being
formal and informal. This is because I wanted my magazine to
have a friendly and attractive tone, which I may not have been
able to gain had I been completely formal. However, I also did not
want to be completely informal as I still wanted my magazine to
be professional in order for it to be taken seriously and be an
interesting read as many other indie magazines do for similar
reasons, as I found out during my research.

8. • The positioning of the various features of my magazine are fairly
conventional for the type of magazine that I am doing. For
example my masthead is in the top right hand corner of my
magazine, which is both common in indie and other magazine
genres these day. For example both NME and Q both use this
convention. I did this in order to make my magazine recognisable
to my target audience as they would most likely be familiar with
this technique if they have brought similar magazines.
• The cover lines are also conventionally placed on my magazine as
they are on the left hand side of my magazine and just below its
main title and strapline. This is simply because it is the most
convenient place to put them so that it does not obstruct to much
of my main image, which I don’t believe would look very good.

9. • Throughout my magazine I used a website called
‘www.fontspace.com’ to obtain indie style fonts for my magazine.
This shows that I have specifically chosen the fonts that I have
used to match the style of many indie bands thereby using the
conventional fonts of indie music magazines. I did this so that I
could make my magazine look as authentic as possible.