2. MASTHEADS
When creating my masthead I took
inspiration from existing products. To the
right is my own masthead and three others
from existing music magazines NME, Q and
Billboard. I made my masthead conventional
by using some of the features that the
existing mastheads use:
• I chose to use one word – Strings – as
these mastheads are all one word or a
few letters and thus memorable
• I only used one colour because the
existing mastheads only use a maximum
of three, excluding Billboard who
deliberately break that convention to be
unique
• I placed my masthead at the top of the
magazine like all three other mastheads
and to the left like Q and NME.
I have also chosen to challenge conventions
here by placing my issue date within my
masthead. Although this is not typical of a
magazine, I think it adds to the aesthetic of
my cover and suits the more
alternative/indie genre.
3. FEATURE STORIES
I also took inspiration from existing
magazines when creating and
positioning my feature stories. I
followed the convention of placing
them down the sides of the cover and
using a variety of fonts and colours as
demonstrated here by my own product
and three other magazines –
Kerrang!, Q and Vibe. The magazines
use font and colour to highlight certain
stories and distinguish between
different articles so I attempted to
replicate this in order to be
conventional. I also included a list of
bands inside which is another
convention that Q have made use of
here.
4. MAIN STORIES
Conventionally main stories are
advertised on front covers in a large
font using the artists name or a pull
quote. In these examples from Top
of the Pops, Q, NME, Vibe and
Billboard we can see this
convention being followed
successfully. I have used this
convention myself in my own
product, advertising my main story
in a large font and including a pull
quote from the article inside to
encourage potential customers to
purchase the magazine. This makes
it obvious which feature story is my
main one, and ensures that the
article looks interesting and
enjoyable to read. By including the
artist name I have also highlighted
the main selling point of the product.
5. FOOTERS
Although not every magazine front cover includes a footer, it is still a
convention that I wanted to follow in my own product. The examples here
from Kerrang!, Q and NME demonstrate how footers at the very bottom of
the cover are used to advertise more feature stories or just list artists that
are inside. I used mine to advertise more feature stories and also include
a second plug that would hopefully attract more readers to my product.
Footers are conventionally a block colour that follows the magazine’s
colour scheme which is what I have opted for, or transparent to show
more of the main image. I made it purple so that it would stand out on the
page more.
6. BARCODES
Barcodes are a necessary
convention of magazines but not a
selling point and so are typically
placed in a bottom corner where
they are not as noticeable. I
followed this convention, placing
mine in the bottom right corner. As
you can see from these examples
from NME, Billboard and
Kerrang!, magazines often combine
other features with the barcode and
print them together – things such as
web addresses, issue date and
price. I chose to place my price next
to the barcode because it is similar
to the barcode in that it needs to be
on the cover but doesn’t add
anything to the aesthetic so can be
placed in a position that isn’t as
prominent. This follows conventions.
7. MAIN IMAGES
Main images are conventionally
framed as midshots and depict one
artist as shown on these covers from
Billboard, Q, and Vibe. I used an
image framed as a midshot on my
own product in order to follow
conventions. However I challenged
conventions by using two models as a
girl group duo. This is because I
wanted to break conventions slightly
in order to appear original and appeal
to a readership who are more
attracted to an alternative style of
music. This isn’t a radical breaking of
conventions though, because the
main image is a huge part of the
cover and I didn’t want to make it too
unconventional at the risk of it looking
unprofessional and not selling.
8. CORNERS & PLUGS
Corners are a convention of
magazines but do not appear in many
music-specific magazines. They are
usually used to advertise a plug or an
exclusive story. Plugs are another
convention that most, if not
all, magazines use to attract readers.
I have chosen to include a plug within
a corner in order to really make the
plug stand out and to follow
conventions. These examples are
from magazines that aren’t
necessarily music orientated, just to
demonstrate how the industry uses
them in general; the images are from
Vogue, Elle and Q. I think using a
corner that follows my product’s
colour scheme has helped improve
the overall look of the front cover and
also helped to attract readers.
