The document summarizes how the student's music magazine front cover and content pages use, develop, or challenge conventions of real music magazines. For the front cover, the student followed conventions like using a band banner and center image but challenged conventions with text placement. For content pages, the student used a layout inspired by NME but challenged conventions with formal elements and rearranging some sections. The goal was to appeal to an intended audience of older indie/rock music fans.

1. Media music magazine
evaluation
By Tarun Knapp

2. In what ways does my music magazine use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products
The genre of music for my magazine is indie/ rock , so I looked at
magazines such as NME MOJO and rock sounds. All of these
magazine showed me the convention is indie/ rock magazines.,
however I felt NME would appeal most to my intended audience so
I used NME to look at the main features of a front cover.
For my mast head I used a large, bold font called stone
san, to make it stand out I increase the bevel and emboss
levels I felt that the font was appropriate because indie/
rock music is stereotypically loud and aggressive. The font
style is similar to that MOJO, however I chose the colour
red for the heading after looking at the way NME used the
colour to make the heading standout.
My sell line is ‘time to rock’ this fits with the title of TTR. The sell line helps the reader understand
what TTR means, also the sell line ‘time to rock’ links with my genre of music which is indie/rock. Its
appealing to my intended audience because their eager fans of rock music. I placed my sell line
directly underneath the heading, similarly to NME’s lay out. By doing this the sell line stands out,
also to make it stand out I made it red to keep the house style fluid.

3. I laid out my main head line similar to the style of NME, i chose to use the colour red to keep
the house style consistent. Also I felt red was suitable because it contrasts with the black
and white back ground, by doing this the colour stands out drawing in the readers attention.
Mine differs from NME because I have added depth to my main heading by adding a drop
shadow, this adds a 3D effects and makes the word stand out against the back ground.
I have added a pull quote from the article featured inside the magazine,
as I have seen this done by magazines such as kerrang and rock
sound. By adding quotes to a heading it gives the reader an insight into
the main subject of the article, also it makes the reader what to read the
whole article because the quotes used are typically striking and
interesting.
My quote differs from quotes from NME because i have used a separate back
ground, i chose a white back ground because it stands out against the dark
image and it allows black text to be easily visible. Also I slanted the quote so it
crosses with the heading, this shows the link between the heading and the
quote. Also the slanted effect makes the page look more messy which reflects
the type of music featured in the magazine, also it appeals to my intended
audience because its not too formal.
My magazine doesn’t follow the codes and conventions of most indie
rock magazines, most magazines have the majority of the
information on the left hand side, because this is the direction the
audience read in. However I have chosen to have the majority of text
on the right hand side because it worked best with the lighter back
ground
However I do follow the connotations of indie rock
magazines in the sense that the most important text is on
the left hand side. I placed the article head lines and news
stories on the left hand side to draw the reader in by given
them a small piece of information

4. I have followed conventions of a music magazine by offering free products to my
audience,to attract my intended audience my magazine offers free iTunes
downloads, i chose to offer this because my survey shows that most people listen to
music through their iPods. This goes against allot of other indie rock magazines that
offer posters because they have a different intended audience.
I followed the connotations of other indie rock magazines by having a
banner running along the top of my magazine front cover. Allot of
magazine do this to grab the readers attentions, also if lot of
magazines are in front of each other it allows the audience to easily
see what type of genre the magazine is.
To keep the house style consistent I added red symbols
between the band names, this allows the reader to define where
one name finishes and another starts. I kept the font simple so it
didn’t look to clustered, I set the back ground for the banner as
black to keep it discrete. Also rock music is perceived as being
dark, so I felt it was appropriate to the bands on a black However my magazine goes against the codes and
background. conventions of other indie rock music magazine
because the majority of magazines have a band
banner along the bottom of the page. instead I chose
to have on top because I feel its easier for the
audience to see.

5. I have kept the conventions of a music magazine
by using a mid shot image of my model, many
magazines such as kerrang, mojo ect use
midshots to grab the readers attention. In my
midshot the model is looking directly into the
camera, this helps the reader connect to the
magazine because they feel that the musician is
looking at them, this makes the magazine feel
more personnel.
The model is wearing all black to reflect the
genre of music which is viewed as dark. Also
the clothing fits with the house style of black,
white and red, I also chose to use a black and
white image because it has a high contrast
which makes the image more striking. My
survey shows that the intended audiences are
first attracted to images, there for I felt the
image was appropriate for the front cover.
The image is placed in the centre of the page, this follows the connotations of the
majority of indie rock magazine. By doing this it allows space for text around the
outside, it also makes the image the main focus which is what my intended
audience are attracted to.
The image has been place directly in the centre so the title fits in correctly, the
title isn’t covering the models face which would look unprofessional. Instead its
placed around her face, so it frames the model instead of covering her up. The
placement of my title goes against the connotation of most music magazine
which have the title the full width of the page. I felt that it would be inappropriate
to have the title along the whole page because it would cover the models face,
also if i put the title behind the models head the letters wouldn’t be visible

6. I have followed the connotations of indie rock music magazine by using lots of
different font sizes and colours. The different colours keep the house style
consistent, by doing this I can make certain important words stand out
compared to others.
Magazines such as kerrrang use this style to attracts the readers attention to
desired words. In addition I varied the size of the font in proportion to the
importance of the text.
By giving each musician its own colour and front size, it defines each
musician and shows them as individuals. This appeals to the intended
audience because they see the musicians as being different from each other
I have put the barcode at the bottom right hand side of my front cover , this follows conventions of indie rock music
magazines. I have placed the bar code in the bottom right hand corner because this isn’t some where that the audience
look first. By putting it in this position, its out of the way of important pieces of information. The barcode doesn’t effect the
image nor does it effect any of the text. Magazines such as NME rock sound and kerrrang also place the bar code at the
bottom right hand side.

7. I have followed the codes and conventions of indie rock magazines by
following the lay out of an NME content page. This is an appealing layout
for my intended audience because it has features that appeal to my
audience.
I have used a black and white image for my content page to
contrast with the large about of colour on the rest of the page. I only
used one image so the page doesn’t look so clustered, also it
creates and central point of focus. This is appealing to my audience
because they are first attracted to images instead of text.
I used NME’s idea of having a band index down the left hand side, it
looks effective visually . Its appealing to my intended audience who
want to find music the easiest way possible, because it quick to the
find desired musician.
I have used NME’s idea of having the sub-titles on the edge of the box, because this layout is
uncommon it makes the reader take notice of the sub-title. This style makes the overall page
look more organised which is appealing to the audience because they want it to be as simple
as possible to what they want. The black box keeps the house style consistent and also
breaks up the page.

8. I followed the connotations of indie rock magazines by
using elements from different magazines such as NME and
Q. The thin black banner is effective along the top of the
page, is fits with the colour pallet and breaks the page up
so it looks less clustered and confusing.
Because my intended audience are older students I felt it
was appropriate for there to be formal element to my
content page. the title ‘this week’ gives off the impression in
an informational page, also I chose a font that has a formal
style similar to a newspaper. This goes against the
connotations of the majority of indie rock magazine.
I have followed the codes and connotations of most music
magazines by repeating the title of the magazine again on
the inside of the content page. Both Q and NME do this, the
title then becomes the logo for the magazine.
I looked at many magazines, such as NME and rock sounds and found that the back ground is
commonly white with black text. I have also chose to use black text on a white back ground
because it makes the copy easy to read. To draw attention to the text, I have added red writing
above it that says ‘the moment that’. This makes the reader want to read on, it creates a sense
of anticipation. Similarly to NME I have high lighted the title of the main article, this makes it
easier to read as well as making it stand out against the image.
Because my intended audience are older students, the main article has a small paragraph
attached to it. The paragraph is short and informative, this goes against the conventions of
most magazines because I haven’t written in columns.

9. I have followed the codes and conventions of the majority of
music magazines by adding a subscription box. After looking at
different examples of content pages, it showed that most put the
subscription box at the bottom of the page. I chose to place my
subscription box at the bottom of the page because that is where
the reader looks last. By doing this it reminds the reader to
subscribe to the magazine.
I have added an image of my magazine front cover to
remind the reader of what the magazine looks like. Many
other magazines such as NME have done this to promote
their product.
The house style for my magazine is red, black and white. However to make my
subscription box stand out against the whole content page, I chose to add a odd colour
that isn’t part of the house style. By using yellow, it grabs the readers attention and draws
them in.
I have followed the connotations of the majority of music magazines by making
my page numbers a different colour to the text related to it. Because its
important that the reader see the page number, I made it stand out by changing
the colour to red. The red stands out on the white back ground and it sextremely
eye catching