A magazine design which I took into account when designing my own magazine was ‘Q’ a highbrow general music magazine which mainly follows the conventions of a magazine. It does this by placing the one letter title at the top left corner of the page, the side which is often exposed to buyers on newsstands. This is conventional to magazines as it draws in the eyes of the buyer. This particular magazine also presents the main feature of the 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. Slug line Main feature in left third All new features in left third to draw in a buyer when being displayed.
Pull quote
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.
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 artist themselves. I have therefore 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.
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 contents page. This includes the use of large folio numbers in order to draw in the eyes of the reader, as well as different weight fonts to distinguish the feature title from the description. I have also made a distinguished
house style in my use of my masthead font as ‘contents’, and the general use of my colour scheme of red, black and white. I have also used multiple pictures on my folio, stereotypically using the largest photo for the main feature and smaller, relevant ones for other features. Other conventions include the 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 contents page, includes my use of a picture as a background. Conventionally, magazines use a solid base on which to build on and I have decided to challenge this. This is because my magazine construction was based on normalising the indie genre to the standards of mainstream. I thus believe that a house style which focuses giving the artist a consistent voice is effective in doing so. My other subversions include a generally more minimalistic approach. Although I believe this has the desired effect of allowing an audience to focus in on my content, I think that the conventions of more layering of different medias, for example text boxes as used 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 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.
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.