4. Masthead
Large, simple, capital letters, bold, Century
Gothic Font, placed in top left corner, made it in a
contrasting colour to the background to make it
stand out, eye catching colour creating brand
awareness. Although didn’t put the artist in front
which is very common as I thought they are the
two most important parts of the front cover and
shouldn’t clash
Examples going with these conventions:
5. Sell line
Used a sell line at the top of page, placed above the
masthead which goes with the convention of a
music magazine, sticking to the colour theme of a
red bar to make it stand out.
Examples going with these conventions:
6. Features
Features showing an insite into other stories with in
the magazine, persuasive language to drag the
customer in, red colour sticking with the colour
theme of front cover and the summer theme. Font
used is Century Gothic in regular , very similar to
what mixmag use and think it looks quite stylish.
7. Anchor Text
Artists name, main piece of the magazine aimed
to pull fans in. Same colour and font to the
masthead showing they are the two big
attractions on the page. Put on top of the main
image which slightly goes against the convention
of the usual magazine, I did this because I tried
to make the page look busy in a creative way
and thought the colour went well on the black
background.
Examples goes with these conventions:
Colour scheme of masthead and anchor text.
8. Cover lines
Cover lines showing extra content and acts in the
magazine used to entice customers with extra acts
showing how big the magazine is in this genre.
Century gothic font in bold, but made in the
different names in different sizes to make it look
abstract and quirky.
Examples going with these conventions:
9. Marketing
Advertisement used to attract customers in, the tag
line ‘UK’s hottest dance fest’ aimed at my target
audience and use of informal language to give a
more chilled vibe. Very common for magazines and
goes with the convention of them. Circle sticker very
common tool used to grab customers attention.
10. Barcode
Barcode made to look like a cocktail cup with a
straw in it, this wasn’t in any mixmag front covers
and making an image from the barcode is quite a
unique convention. I thought it looked creative and
went wit the summary feel.
Examples which go with the normal conventions:
11. Main image
Main image of the artist- DJ Section, staring straight at
the camera which goes with the convention of a lot of
music magazines giving the artist a direct mode of
address so the reader feels like there connecting with the
artist. It is also a slight action shot which occurs in a lot of
mixmag front covers.
12. Background and colour schemes:
The colour scheme used for my front cover were red, yellow and
orange which goes along with the summer edition and gives it a
vibrant feel with a lot energy. The masthead and anchor text were
done in a different darker colour to show them as the big
attractions. Although the colour schemes are different to a
conventional magazine, but mixmag usually go for different,
vibrant colours to give the magazine energy. There is also an
orange to yellow gradient from the top left corner this is also
something that mixmag have done.
14. Title
Title in big and bold Century Gothic at the top middle
of the page, done in the same colour as the masthead
and anchor text on the front cover, this is to show it’s
the title of the page and goes along with the
conventional magazines.
15. Images
I Have two close up images of two different artists om my
contents. Although both photos are very similar I made the
first picture very blurry and then added a fade onto it, this was
because I wanted to keep the identity of the artist unknown to
make a sense of mystery to intrigue the reader. For the other
photo DJ Section is supposedly a big artist so I didn’t need to
blur the picture. Although I didn’t use direct mode of address
for the photo to show the artist as perhaps shy and still
adjusting to the lime light.
16. Features
For my magazine I had a look through mixmag and other
magazine companies to get an idea of what stories and
incites come inside a music magazine more specifically a
dance one.
17. Numbering
Used big numbering so the reader can easily navigate around
the magazine. Kept with the same colour scheme of the
magazine and font. Also put a number in the corner of the
images so the reader can link the story with the image. I saw this
in a lot of contents and is very common in a magazine.
18. Social media links
As I found out from my audience demographics music magazines
have a large following on social media, many people buying the
magazine or finding out information online so it was important to
add social media links to the contents where it’s often placed in
most magazines. To make it smaller and take up less of the page,
instead of putting a link for each one e.g
@RAVEmagazineUK@gmail.com, know the reader will know the
extra parts to each site, and put the main part of the links
(RAVEmagazineUK) for each site, knowing that the audience are
mostly young and understand what to put for the different sites. I
thought of this myself and doesn’t go with the conventional music
mag.
19. Pull
Quote
Used a pull quote to engage the audience with the
main attraction and also intrigues them to read the
article. Pull quotes can be on any of the front cover,
contents or double page spread and is a common
technique in music magazines.
21. Layout
For my layout I used a conventional method of having the
image of the artist on one page and the text on the other. I
decided to do this show the importance of the artist and show
how big he is.
22. Image For the image I used a long shot of the artist. A medium
shot is more common but I felt seeing the body in a slight
action shot goes with the ‘rave’ genre more. He is
crouched down and looking at the camera this gives a
sense that he is higher then us and coming down to our
level and the eye contact gives a connection with reader.
23. Text I made my text into an interview as I believe the audience
are more interested what the artist has to say himself then
someone writing about him. I added an into to give the
readers an overview of the artist and what the interview is
about. This doesn’t always happen in music magazines as
they usually go straight into the interview but I thought it
was important to set the scene. Questions in bold to know
where it ends a conventional magazine technique.
24. Columns I used columns to keep the text organised and
professional looking. This goes along with the codes
and conventions from my research.
25. Anchor text/ Artists name
For the artists name I decided that it didn’t need to be
that big as the artist is known enough. Text in black to
make look professional but the dots and underlining
keep to colour scheme of the magazine to give energy
and that summer feeling.
