Conventions – My Magazine

Simon Langley

I have used conventional colours for my magazine cover. I chose my colours from my audience research where I found that people wanted to see black, white, red and yellow.

The layout of my magazine is conventional, I have made my magazine follow the route of the eye which is conventional for any magazine not just rock magazines. I have the masthead in the top left with the main image in the middle with the main cover story over the main image.

I have put the cover stories and other information around the outside of the main image like it is on most magazine covers.

At the bottom of the cover I have put a list of the bands and artists that will feature in my magazine. This is conventional for rock magazines and I have seen it in man different magazines such as Kerrang.

The images I have used are also conventional. I didn’t want them to be too happy and jolly because that would not be conventional for the genre. This is why the only smile from the images is a little one in the main image. The costume I have used is very conventional as they are mostly dark colours like black and grey, and also some white. The props in my images are also conventional, they include drum sticks and a guitar.

The fonts I have used are conventional for the genre. I have used bold san serif fonts that are clear and easy to read. My masthead is a font that looks broken up, this connotes anger and violence which is conventional for the genre, it is also similar to Kerrang’s masthead

I have put a competition I my magazine as I have found this to be very common in all types of magazines including rock.

I have used the same colours for my contents page as I have for my magazine cover. The difference is the way I have used them. I have used a white background with black and yellow on the top half. And a black background with white and red. These are conventional colours for the rock genre and they look good.

The images that I have used for my contents page are conventional. The main image on my contents page is one of the featured artists ‘Bessie Cruz’ singing into a microphone, and he is wearing a black T shirt, this is conventional for the genre. The image on the right is conventional as it is very dark and serious.

The fonts I have used some of the same fonts on my contents page as I did on my cover. This includes the font for ‘Contents’ and for ‘in this weeks Rockit!’. However the rest of the font on the page is different. I have used Franklin Gothic as I feel it is conventional for the genre, it is san serif and very easy to read.

The layout of my contents page is similar to that of many Kerrang contents pages. This includes the spit page that I have used with the contents of the magazine appearing at the bottom. Also I have added a subscription to my contents page which is conventional for magazines.

I have included a editor’s message to my contents page as this is conventional.

I included the poster advertisement on the contents page also as I found this to be conventional for the genre in my research.

Overall I have made a very conventional contents page. I have used conventional colours, images, fonts and a conventional layout.

My image on my double page spread it conventional for the genre. It is conventional because it shows the artist playing the guitar. I have seen images of performing and practising artists used in Kerrang magazine.

The font I have used for my headline is the same font I used for my main cover story on the front cover. This shows that I am sticking to a house style which is conventional in magazines.

I have included a stand first underneath the headline. This is very conventional for a magazine article and would be found on all the good double page spreads.

The main text in the article is a basic san serif font that is the same as what I used for my contents page. This is normal for a magazine as the text is an article needs to be clear and easy to read.

I have put a caption under my main image which is very common in magazines.

I have added a caption onto my image also which is a quote from the article.

The layout of my double page spread is very conventional. I have put the image on the left page and than the headline, the stand first and the main article taking up the second page.

I have put a kicker in my article which is very common for any magazine.

Just like on my cover and contents I have used conventional colours for my double page spread. This includes red, black and white which has been common throughout my magazine.

Comparison

My masthead is in some ways similar to Kerrang’s masthead. They are both san serif and are both black and white. I feel that they both use a font that connotes violence and anger which is conventional for the genre.

This strip line from a Kerrang magazine is very similar to mine. They both use the same colours and both use clear san serif fonts.

At the bottom of my cover I have added a little section that shows the bands and artists in the issue, under it I have put an example of this that can be seen in many Kerrang magazines.

The main image on this Kerrang magazine shows that mine is conventional as the are both of the artist with a guitar, which is a very conventional instrument in he rock genre.

Comparison

This comparison shows that the colours have used are conventional as they appear in Kerrang magazine. The red connotes violence and anger and the black connotes sadness and darkness, this is conventional for the genre.

Here I have taken a poster advertisement that appears on the left of a Kerrang magazine. This is where I have put mine also. Having posters is very conventional for a rock music magazine.

Comparison

The layout of my contents page is very similar to this Kerrang one, I have the page split into two sections just like the Kerrang page. Both contents pages have a main image on the top half with some extra information and also the bottom half is taken up by the contents in the magazine. I have found this to be a very conventional layout for rock magazine contents pages.

Just like this image, mine is very dark, this I conventional for the rock genre.

The colours I have used are very similar to this contents page also, this includes white, black and yellow, however I have used more red, but this I still a conventional colour for the rock genre.

The fonts I have used are also similar. They are san serif and easy to read fonts which through research I have found to be very conventional.

Comparison

The layout of my double page spread is very similar to this Kerrang double page spread. The main image is on the left with the article on the right.

The image I have used is in some ways similar, this is because these images are both of a performing artist, which is conventional for the rock genre.

The colours of my magazine are very similar to this Kerrang one. They both have red, black and white. This is conventional for the rock genre.

Both this Kerrang double page spread and my double page spread include a headline, stand first, main image, kicker and main article. However the Kerrang page does have extra, but many different Kerrang pages have the same as mine.