The document discusses the conventions and design choices used in creating different elements of a rock music magazine, including the front cover, contents page, and double page spreads (DPS). For the front cover, banners with band names, quotes from articles, and a large central image were used. The contents page included a listing column, issue number, editor's letter, and subscription advert. Double page spreads featured a large central image on one page and columns of text on the other, with stylistic elements like drop caps and colored text to draw the reader in. Comparisons are made to established magazines to ensure the conventions of the genre are followed.

1. By Joe Roper
EVALUATION

2. With my front cover I wanted to make it stand out. I
decided to make it scattered and have a very bright
colour scheme but still keeping to the rock genre. The
banners at the top and bottom with band names on them
are very conventional to the rock genre it shows what
bands we are going to include in the magazine. Having
quotes from articles inside and putting them on the front
also draws in readers because it catches they a lot more.
Having the image and no background behind is normal
for front cover images. With cover stories it needs to be
smaller than the mast head and the headline. I had also
covered a little of the mast head to make it seem like the
image is popping out of the page and it is also very
conventional for the mast head to be covered a little bit.
CONVENTIONS
ON FRONT COVER
Having little
stories on the
side to make
more appealing
and it shows
what will be in
the magazine
Having stories in
bubbles and
making them
seem exciting
will attract
readers.
In it I had decided to add
loads of little cover stories as
well to make the magazine feel
more alive. It also fills in black
spaces that don't look good on
magazines.
I had added the
price and date on
the front so it is
more legitimate.
I tired to make the front cover as
eye-catching as possible so adding
a lot of colours that are easy to
read and not to much writing so
you can scan through it easy and
see what you like.

3. CONVENTIONS
ON CONTENTS PAGE
I did research into other magazines to figure out
the conventions of contents pages that are
popular in the rock genre. The first thing I did
following the conventions, was to add a listing
column and putting in a box so it stands out
more with writing that is bold and is easy to
read. I added the issue number and the cover
date in the top corner, which I had noticed was
on most of the magazines contents pages.
There was a monthly subscription in all of
Kerrangs contents pages so I decided to add my
own advert in the contents page. I had made a
editors letter as well because it is in some of the
biggest magazine companies. For a better affect
on my contents page I decided to add boxes
that related to a certain page number on the side
so it gave people a preview on what’s in the
magazine. On the contents page I wanted to
make it seem very scattered while making it easy
to see what you are reading, so I gave each area
of the page a section, the bottom was
miscellaneous, the right side was previews of
pages, and the left side was the listing. Another
convention for the contents page is the title
‘contents’ which is normally the biggest title on
the page. I had also added my magazines name
in the top left corner to add more effect to the
magazine.

4. -
CONVENTIONS
ON DPS
With the double page spread I put the main image
and title on one page and the text on the other the
make it look appropriate. I added a pull quote from
the article and put it in the middle of the article to
split it up a bit more. At the start of every paragraph
I made the writing yellow and larger to go with my
colour scheme and to help it stand out more. With
the title of the article I had decided to put blood in
red and a different font to give the word more of an
effect when you read it. Also on the image I added a
quote from the interview and put it in a banner to
make it stand out more. With the image itself, I did
not do any editing to it and made it fit on one entire
page. With the starting paragraph I made it much
larger and put it at the top of the page to introduce
the story. I also made the first letter into a drop
capital which is conventional to all articles, I also
made it yellow to make it stand out more from the
rest of the text. I put some page numbers on it as
well to stay with conventions, I put these in my
house colour. For my article I made 3 columns
instead of 2 to make it fit better , I also ensured they
were all aligned properly and the same width to make
it seem more organized. Having quotes from the
aricle and making them stand out is a very good
affect to have on a double page spread because if a
reader relates or likes the quote they are more likely
to read the article.

5. COMPARISON OF
FRONT COVER
It was hard to find a magazine which I
wanted to use as an example. My magazine
has got the image covering the mast head
which is conventional to rock magazines. The
cover title is in bright colours to make it
more eye-catching for the reader and it is a
little bit smaller than the mast head. Then the
cover story I put in a different colour which
is in my colour scheme and it is a little bit
smaller than the cover title. I had added
banners at the top and bottom which is
normally got news or band names on them. I
had put the banner in red and the text in
yellow because the colours support each
other well and are nice to look. I had added a
couple stories about bands and people on the
bottom of the page to fill it up more. I had
added a pull quote on my front cover as well
because while I was searching for an example
I saw that a lot of magazines had a pull quote
on the front of them. The mast head I
wanted to choose something that would be
very easy to read and something that fits in
with my magazines style as well.

6. COMPARISON OF
CONTENTS PAGE
To help me design my contents page I wanted to
get an idea on what it needed to make it
successful so I used one of Kerrang contents
pages for the guidelines and similarities. So with
my mind set on what I wanted in my page. I had
the listing put into a column on the right of the
page, with numbers on the sub categories and the
headings larger and in a different colour. All
contents pages I had viewed, had most of the
writing in the listing in a different font. At the
top of the page I wrote contents to follow up
what most magazines do with the title of the
page. I also decided to put the name of my
magazine in the top left corner. I had noticed
that in some contents pages they had the name
of the magazine on it somewhere, so I put one in
mine as well. At the bottom of the page I put the
editors letter which is a personal note from the
editor telling the reader information about the
magazine. Another similarity is the subscription
advert I added, which is always on the contents
page in Kerrang. On my page I added the issue
number and date it was issued, to make it feel
more like an magazine. I used a masculine and
aggressive colour scheme to keep it conventional
for my chosen genre.

7. To compare my magazine’s double page spread I
looked at another one to compare to see what was
similar between them. For the magazine I wanted
the background to be dark so it made the writing
clearer and draw the reader in. With the article I
decided to have 3 columns, similar to the Kerrang
one, underneath my magazine. At the beginning I
wanted to do 2 columns but it was bunched
together and didn’t read well so I changed the
font size and made it into 3 columns. With the
Stan first it isn’t on the example I showed but they
are on most double page spreads and with it being
on my magazine it draws in the reader making
them want to read the article. With the title of the
double page spread I made the word ‘blood’ a
different font style and colour to make it stand
out more. I added pull quotes to the article
because it keeps to the conventions of the double
page spreads and it also breaks up the text and is
more appealing to look at. With the starting word
of each paragraph I made them a lot bigger and
changed the colour to yellow, they had done this
in the dps I am using as an example. I added a
drop capital because it is conventional to articles
and magazines to have drop capitals at the start of
the article.
COMPARISON OF
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD