A magazine magazine was follows the letter title at the buyers on magazines as it particular feature of the
design which I took into account when designing my own ‘Q’ a highbrow general music magazine which mainly conventions of a magazine. It does this by placing the one top left corner of the page, the side which is often exposed to newsstands. This is conventional to draws in the eyes of the buyer. This magazine also presents the main issue to the left quarter of the page, again on show when being sold. Other professional methods include the use of light colours on a dark background, used by this magazine to enable all writing is visible on the page, as well as the use of different weight fonts to distinguish the features and their descriptions. A final feature, conventional to many music magazines including ‘NME’ and ‘Vibe’ is the colour scheme of red and black. Due to these colours being widely used by a range of music magazines, audiences tend to associate these colours with the connotations of music, helping to draw in an appropriate audience. Other aspects conventional to magazines include a slug line, a phrase which appears beneath the title of every issue for identification of your magazine as well as continuity. You can also include a ‘buzz’, a shape which draws the reader’s attention to a particular feature of the magazine using large ‘buzz words’ like WIN etc. All of these methods are conventional to magazines, and not only help in the selling of the issue, but combine to make a generally professional looking product. I have therefore used all of these methods on my own magazine, as my aim was to create a highbrow professional magazine for a niche genre. Title in the top left corner to enable visibility on newsstands.
Pull quote
Slug line Main feature in left third All new features in left third to draw in a buyer when being displayed.
I have also used a location picture on my front cover, something which most mainstream magazines do not use as a cover photo to keep attention to cover lines and the therefore artistI have themselves. decided to subvert this convention, as the outdoors setting of my photo is effective in asserting a different style. The connotations of the outdoors is also associated more with freedom, something which reflects the freedom of my genre. It is also effective in catching the eye of my audience and drawing them into the artistic aspects of my product, as this relates to my artistic target audience.
Red and black colour scheme I have placed my regulars on the right third of the cover so that cover-lines exposed to the buyer are new. Different fonts to distinguish the cover-lines and their description.
My Artist does not perform a direct stare into the camera lens, a convention of any magazine to draw in the reader with the eyes.
I have thus chosen to subvert this convention, as unlike ‘Q’, the genre of my magazine is indie/ alternative. I have therefore chosen an alternative position to reflect my genre (as done by NME on page 1). I also feel it gives a mysterious effect, and will lead the reader into fining out more about my artist.
I have made many conforms to the conventions of a magazine page. This house stylecontents in my use of my masthead font as includes the usethe of general large folio ‘contents’, and use of my colour numbers order to draw in scheme ofinred, black and white. I have also the eyesmultiple of the reader, as wellon my folio, used pictures as different weight fonts to photo for the stereotypically using the largest distinguish main featurethe andfeature smaller,title relevant ones for from features. the description. I have other Other conventions include the also made a distinguished use of columns to distinguish the ‘features from ‘regulars’ something which I have included, the first two columns for my features and the third column for my regulars.
Subverting the general conventions of a magazine based on normalising the indie contents page, genre includestomythe standards of mainstream. that aashouse useI thus of believe a picture a style which focuses giving the artist a consistent background. voice is effective in doing so. My othermagazines subversions Conventionally, include a generally more minimalistic use a solid base onapproach. which Although I believe this to has buildtheondesired and Ieffect have of allowing an audience decided to focus to in on my content, challenge this. I think that the conventions layering This isof more because my of different medias, for example text boxes as used magazine construction was in ‘Q’ and ‘NME’ would be effective in making my product more professional. It would also give more depth to the page. I could have also improved the page further by reinstating the title, something which both Q and NME do for a continued house style
Stanferst, used to give a reader an idea of what the article of about, something i used in my magazine to entice a reader into reading on.
Picture across two pages, establishes that this is the main feature.
Statement title which shows the nature of the interview. Drop cap, conventional to a page/ double page spread to draw in the eyes of the reader to the beginning of the article.
Another convention not used in this edition of Q includes a pull quote. This is used to separate blocks of text, as well as give a skimming reader an idea of the responses of the artist.
I have also used warp text, something which the Q magazine has not used, yet is often conventional to a dps. I have used it to incorporate the background picture with my article and show that the two are connected. It also gives body to the pages, and helps to make my product appear professional. I have also added the simplistic convention of page numbers to show continuity throughout my product, as these page numbers coincide with the feature on the contents page.