Through researching magazine conventions in the rock genre, the document discusses: 1) Common elements of rock magazine covers including large mastheads, dark colors, and images related to the cover story. 2) Typical contents pages with "Contents" headers, page numbers, and images related to the main story. 3) Double page spreads containing kickers, pull quotes, large central images, and captions. 4) The rock genre aims to appear dark, masculine, and rebellious through its visual design and language to appeal to its target audience of 16-25 year olds.

1. SUMMARY OF RESEARCH – TASK SIX
Karen Maryan

2. Conventions of Form Through my research, I have found that every magazine has a masthead,
and the masthead and cover-story have the largest fonts and the masthead
always has a font of it’s own, while the coverlines have smaller fonts and
the font styles are normally the same or similar.
Usually you have one main image, which the
cover story is related to, and then you have
other smaller images around the edge of the
main image, which uses the rule of thirds.
They normally use a mid shot to close up for
one artist, and for bands they use a medium
wide shot so the whole band is included.
Through my research I also found out that the
barcode is always in the terminal area.
Front page conventions:
• Masthead
• Coverstory
• Coverline
• Main image
• Smaller images
• Use of route of the eye
• Use of rule of thirds

3. Conventions of Form Through my research, I have found that every magazine has columns
that list the contents of the page.
Every magazine has a header saying
contents page, and also has a main
image relating to the main story on
the page
It has an ordered layout and
it’s broken down into different
sections using contents
columns and numbers of pages
which show you which things
are on what pages.
Contents page conventions:
• Contents column
• Main image relating to
main story
• Page numbers
• Editors letter
• Subscription offer
In every magazine, you always have an
editors letter and some sort of
advertisement in the terminal area.

4. Conventions of Form Through my research I have found out that every double page spread
has a pull quote, kicker, main image, main article, byline and a caption.
The kicker is normally much larger than the rest of the article, and is
sometimes in a different colour and font style.
The pull-quote is normally very big and bold and is placed across
the page to give us a taster and a little bit of an insight about
what the article is about, and whether or not the article is worth
reading.
The image is normally very big
and takes up at least one page
worth of the double page
spread. It always relates to the
article on the opposite page
and is always an image of the
band/artist that is featured in
the article.
Double page spread conventions:
• Kicker
• Main image and article
• Byline
• Caption
• Pull-quote
The caption is normally
small, so it doesn’t take
up much space and
isn’t any kind of
distraction.

5. Conventions of Genre
Through my research with the rock genre I have learnt that the
masthead is always the largest font and always the boldest. I
have also learnt that it’s always at the top and is always sans
serif to make it more masculine and aim more at a male
audience.
The rock genre always
uses dark colours such
as black, red, blue, etc.
It almost always uses a
dingy yellow colour
because this helps the
genre appear more
unsettling and
dangerous.
It always uses one main image on the front page
of the band or artist, and it’s always related to
the cover story.
They also always use language which makes the
genre seem dangerous, violent, dark and
rebellious. For example it says above the cover
story “This time it’s personal!” making the band
in the main image appear as violent and
dangerous.
They also always use a
sans serif font across
most of the page. This
helps the magazine to
relate to their target
audience and to make
the magazine appear
more masculine and not
feminine.
Also with the layout, the genre is always consistent with using
the rule of thirds and the route of the eye.
It also always uses the left third when placing their coverlines
and always makes good use of their primary and terminal areas.

6. Conventions of Genre
Through my research with the rock genre I have found that on
the contents page they always have one main image of the
band with a little article or coverstory on top of the image
relating to the band/artist in the image.
It always has the word “Contents” at the top of the page to signify that it is the contents
page, and it’s also always one of the largest font sizes, and is always the same font style as
the masthead on the first page, which creates a house style throughout the magazine.
It then has the sub-headings of what things you’ll find inside the magazine and then a more
detailed description underneath of what you’ll find and what page to find it on.
It also has the issue number and cover date next to the contents area.
It always makes good use of the primary
optical area and terminal area. It usually
places the editors letter and a subscription
advert in the terminal area, and places the
main “Contents” and the issue number and
cover date in the primary optical area.
The colours they use are normally quite
bold and contrast well against each other,
so reds, blacks, yellows, whites, etc. They
also use ones that will help represent the
genre well, so again blacks and reds.
They use quite normal language and don’t say
anything too absurd. They often also place some
kind of competition relating to the band/artist in
the main image, and so would use a language
like “Win!” to catch your attention.

7. Conventions of Genre
Through my research with the rock genre I have found that with a double page spread they always have a main image taking up a
big part of the double page spread, sometimes one whole page, of the main artist/band that is being talked about in the article.
They always use a kicker with the article and they always state who the artist/band is by placing their name somewhere near the
top.
They always use a pull-quote,
which is always quite an
important feature of the article,
so that we become interested
and want to read more in-depth
and learn why they said or did
what they did. The kicker is
always a larger font compared to
the article, which is normally a
different colour and font style.
They almost always use dark
colours on the page, with other
colours that go well or contrast
well with the page.
They also always have a
caption underneath the main
image talking about who the
artist/band in the image is and
other information.
They also normally have the
name of the person who
conducted the interview and
they normally place this in
either the primary optical
area or the terminal area.

8. Mode of Address
Overall, I have learned that the rock genre want to come across to their
audience as dark, violent, mysterious, aggressive, etc.
I have learned this through their use of images and shot types, font
styles, colours, layout, language and mise-en-scene.
The rock genres main target audience are mainly males but
can be females too, the age range is about 16-25 year olds,
so teenagers and young adults, they’re normally quite a
mysterious and aggressive social group, and their ethnic
group is normally white because of the artists ethnic group.
Since the audience for rock are quite young, they haven’t
matured yet and so can still be rude and reckless, so the rock
genre uses quite informal language and uses slang phrases so
the audience can relate to the genre. It also uses mainly a
sans serif font style, so it’s aimed more at the masculine
audience, but occasionally uses serif to have a more feminine
feel and so it’s not leaving out it’s female audience.