The document discusses the conventions of magazine design, particularly in the context of a music magazine's cover, contents page, and double-page spread. It elaborates on various elements such as masthead, main images, sell lines, and content layout, explaining how these adhere to or diverge from traditional magazine standards to engage audiences. The use of design choices is framed around audience connection theories, demonstrating an understanding of how visual elements can attract and retain reader interest.

2. FRONT COVER
Sell Line
Masthead
Main Image
Features
Anchor
Text
Flash
Main
Cover Line
Cover Line
Tag
Pull Quote

3. MASTHEAD
My masthead follows conventions of
magazines by being bold, big and in capital
letters. Furthermore, the masthead is
placed behind the image in order to keep
attention to the main image yet at the same
time still being eye-catching in itself. It’s
also at the top of the page, like the vast
majority of magazines and follows the house
colours while still standing out against the
background.
Magazines that use this convention:
Vibe
Fader
Rolling Stone

4. SELL LINE
Conventionally, my sell line is on the front
cover and is also near the masthead. The use
of the sell line on the front cover is
informative (Informative - Uses and grat.
theory) as it tells the audience how
frequently the magazine is published. It also
stands out against the background.
Magazines that use this convention:
Q – Britain’s Biggest
Music Magazine
NME – New Music
Express

5. MAIN IMAGE
For my main cover, I went against the common
convention of using a medium close up image for
an artist. This was down to the image I used in
my mock up as I thought it looked visually
pleasing so I wanted to carry it onto my complete
production. However, other than the camera
angle, my main image follows other conventions,
such as there being a direct mode of address
(which connects the artist to the audience – uses
and grat. Theory). The image is also in front of
the masthead and a single person, in order to
create a sense of prominence and to attract more
attention.
Magazines that use this convention:
NME Billboard VIBE

6. FEATURES
Features on the front of music magazine covers are a
big convention, this is because it gives an insight into
what is in the magazine and attracts audiences who
are into the artists they have featured in the
magazine (Included for entertainment and
surveillance -Uses and Grat.). I used a smaller font
size for the features as they are not the main cover
line and further emphasised this by it being in the
bottom corner of my cover. The features list also
follows the house colours and style and stands out
against the background.
Magazines that use this convention:
XXL NME VIBE Q

7. PULL QUOTE
The purpose of a pull quote creates a sense of
questioning and lures the audience into the magazine
in order to answer their questions (Hypodermic
Needle). I have followed this popular convention
which samples the interview with my double page
spread artist, A.L.A. However, the pull quote is not
large and is part of a cover line, which goes against
convention.
Magazines that use this convention:
XXL NME VIBE

8. ANCHOR TEXT
The reason behind having an anchor text is
to show the audience who the main artist
in the magazine is, which will further
entice the audience, so it is a common
convention. The anchor text also links with
the main image and a drop shadow is used
to make the text stand out against the
image.
Magazines that use this convention:
NME XXL
VIBE Q

9. COVER LINES
Cover lines create curiosity to the reader, possibly
through hermeneutic questions (pictured in my
magazine), and through making the readers want to
find out the answers to them by making them
powerless to find out the answers (Hypodermic
needle and uses and grat. – informative) making
them a handy convention for music magazines.
Magazines that use this convention:
Billboard NME VIBE XXL

10. MAIN COVER LINE
The main cover line is typically used next to/near
the anchor text as they are linked. It is
conventionally kept short in order to entice the
reader to find out about it more and a shadow is
also used to make it ‘pop’. It also fits in with the
house style. It also makes people read it to create
a conversation socially (Social Interaction - Uses
and Grat.)
Magazines that use this convention:
Billboard VIBE
Q XXL

11. FLASH
Flashes are used in order to lure the audience
further into the magazine by using buzz words
(such as ‘WIN’ or ‘EXCLUSIVE’).
Conventionally, flashes do not follow the house
style in order to stand out but I did not follow
this convention. Instead I followed the house
style and rather than using different colours to
stand out I instead used a drop shadow.
Magazines that use this convention:
VIBE XXL Billboard Q

12. TAG
Tags are used to attract the attention of the
audience to show that the article in the magazine
is ‘exclusive’ and can’t be found anywhere else,
this makes the reader powerless to find out what
this information is (Hypodermic Needle and Uses
and Grat. – Information).
Magazines that use this convention:
XXL Billboard
Rolling Stone VIBE

13. HOUSE STYLE
The house style of my magazine is unconventional, as
usually music magazines stick to blacks, whites, bright
reds or blues as they all stand out. However, I chose my
house style to be a burgundy red and a blue-green. The
unconventional house style would be common in my
magazines as it would create brand awareness for being so
unusual.
Magazines that use this convention:
Billboard VIBE
XXL Q

14. CONTENTS
Contents Title
Feature Titles
- List
Social Media
Sites
Page
Numbers
Image
Issue Date
‘M’ of
Meltdown
Features
Intro

15. IMAGE
I used only one image for my contents in
order to create a simplistic approach. The
image is a mid-shot in order to capture the
whole body to fill up the whole page yet still
able to see the models facial expressions. The
use of this establishes a sense of dominance
for the artist as it is taking up so much space.
The model also creates a direct mode of
address with the audience which connects
them to the audience (Uses and Grat.). The
model’s skin is also on show, which follows the
convention that female artists show skin in
order to attract male attention (Mulvey)
Magazines that use this convention:
XXL VIBE

16. ISSUE DATE
The issue date follows the convention as it
makes the audience feel as though they are
receiving the most recent news
(Informative – uses and grat.). It’s placed
above the contents title in order to be seen
and is just as bold and in a different colour
to the contents title to further emphasise
this point.
Magazines that use this convention:
VIBE Q
NME

17. CONTENTS TITLE
I made the title the same font as the masthead of
my cover in order to follow the house style and the
same colour (but different shade, in order to look
better against the different background).
Magazines that use this convention:
Q
NME
XXL
VIBE

18. M
The use of the transparent M (From Meltdown)
is something extremely unconventional. I have
seen it in no magazines from all of my research
and included it in my contents in order to
create a sense of brand awareness, so that
when people see the contents page, they can
instantly know that it’s from Meltdown. It also
acts as a stand for my contents title to add a
dramatic effect to it. The closest thing to it I
have seen is the V from Vibe Magazine (shown
below)

19. FEATURES LIST
The titles are large and stand out against the
background in order to be noticeable and to
draw in the readers. The titles follow the
house style however in darker shades in order
to better stand out against the different
background.
The summaries give a taste of what the full
articles provide and to entice the audience
further by making them powerless to find out
the full amount of information (Hypodermic
Needle)
Magazines that use this convention:
XXL VIBE

20. PAGE NUMBERS
These help to navigate the readers across the
whole magazine to get to their favourite articles.
The use of the colour change is something
unique to increase brand awareness but also to
be seen more clearly as the background colour
changes slightly the further you go down the
page. A convention of page numbers is to be in
different colours to the titles (which I have
achieved yet still follow the house style.
Magazines that use this convention:
Q VIBE Rolling Stone

21. SOCIAL MEDIA SITES AND A WEBSITE
This is not that typical for music contents
magazine, even though it increases the
popularity of the magazine by connecting to the
audience by other means than just reading the
magazine. It also does this even more for my
magazine as the main demographic for my
magazine is late teens, which stereotypically
use social media a lot, so by having these social
media accounts, it is possible to be noticed by
more people. By having a website it can further
increase the connection between audience and
magazine.

22. DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
Image
Page Number
and Date
Pull
Quote
Article
Drop
Capital
Article
Title
Anchor
Text

23. IMAGE AND LAYOUT
The image placing for my double page spread is
unconventional as it is in the centre and the image
covers both pages rather than just the one side (like
magazines typically do). The reason for this
unconventionality stems back to my mock ups where I
used an image in the centre and I liked the idea so I
carried it through and I also feel as though it
emphasises the importance of the artist by it being in
the centre. However, I have followed convention by
making my model maintain a direct mode of address
which creates a link between the artist and the
audience (Personal Relationship - uses and grat.
Theory). The clothing and mise-en-scéne of the artist
also follows convention and it’s a visual representation
of what genre the artist belongs too.
Magazines that use this convention:
NME

24. ARTICLE TITLE
The title of the article is a convention as it summarises
the entire article into just a few words. I have followed
this convention by stating that the artist of the double
page spread has had a rise to fame from the title ‘Broke
2 Baller’. It also follows the house style of the magazine
and stands out against the white background, attracting
attention. It is further eye catching as it is a slightly
different colour to the artists title, which breaks them
up. The title presents the artist as a ‘Baller’ so the
audience then perceives him to be (Dominance –
Reception Theory)
Magazines that use this convention:
VIBE XXL NME

25. ARTIST NAME/ANCHOR TEXT
The artist name is bold, large and stands out in
order to attract all the attention and radiate
power. It also follows the house style yet is a
different shade to all the other reds in the article
to break it up and establish it as the main piece of
information. It is a convention among magazines
as it introduces the artist to the audience.
Magazines that use this convention:
NME Rolling Stone VIBE

26. PAGE NUMBER AND DATE
The use of the page number is to make sure the
readers are aware of what point they are in the
magazine and the issue date is to reinstate that
they are only getting the newest and up to date
information (Informative – uses and grat.). It
follows the house style, which is conventional,
and is further conventional by being placed in the
corners of the page.
Magazines that use this convention:
VIBE XXL Rolling Stone

27. DROP CAPITAL
The use of the drop capital is to mark the
beginning of the article. It is conventional for it to
stand out by being a different colour to the rest of
the article and large to attract attention. I made
the colour of my drop capital follow the house
style yet it still stands out and is visually
pleasing.
Magazines that use this convention:
Rolling Stone NME Q

28. PULL QUOTE
Pull Quotes are enigmatic, as it not only
provides shock value, it also gives the
audience a taste of the article to further
entice them to actually read the whole
article, as they are powerless to find out the
whole story and information (Hypodermic
Needle). It also follows the house style yet is
still eye catching and stands out.
Magazines that use this convention:
VIBE NME Q