Music Magazine EvaluationJessica Law

Why did I choose to create a Punk Magazine?

Magazines always look for a niche in the market- which audience needs attention and could be potential profitable consumers. Also, with music magazines which have varied target audiences, it’s possible to create magazines for the vast amounts of music genres. But we don’t. As the popularity of certain genres would intervene in the popularity of the magazine and the percentage of sales and profits. Also, publication of music magazines need to be in with the current trends and what’s popular- keeping up to date with the audience’s interests and needs. I chose to do Punk as it was an old movement, an authentic part of culture and still relatively popular- but the only magazines that seemed to have catered specifically for a punk audience have been fanzines, like “Punk” created by cartoonist John Holmstrom and publisher Ged Dunn in 1975 . The fact that Punk had been so untouched meant that I could play around with the conventions of a magazine- challenge them, just as the genre itself is aimed to do. This also meant that I could broaden my target audience. As well as retaining authenticity, I could cater a new audience and involve the modern-aspect of it. The only other magazine comparable to this is Q as it features many articles on old bands, culture and a reasonable mix of artists to suit its readership.

Q1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

Q magazine Anarchy magazineMasthead

Typically at the top horizontal third of magazine, clearly showing the name of the magazine and ownership of it. Usually has a name of reference to the genre

Left-third

Barcode

Show the importance of a retailer and the consumptionpurposes of a magazine.

Both show the issue, time frame and price of magazine.

Conventionally contain most of the features/cover lines, displayed by both magazines

Main Image

Consistent Colours

A continuous theme of coloursthat feature consistently for presentational purposes.

Quote

A snippet of themain article used to entice the reader.

Main Coverline

Typically larger than the other coverlines, with a center alignment. The main feature of a magazine.

Price/Date

The image at the centre of a cover, usually the topic of the main coverline.

Q’s masthead is bright and instantly recognisable but it is displayed as being behind the main image, something that I did not conform to with my masthead. I chose to spread my masthead across the entire horizontal third with the main image tucked underneath, I felt as though going against conventions would link to the name of the title itself, “anarchy.” Also, the Q logo has a box around it that separates it from the rest of the cover, and I wanted to mimic this with my own spin. So, I chose to miss out the shape and use the fact it is a front layer as an advantage to separate it from the rest of the page and indicate that it is dominant. Q’s main coverline is featured at the very bottom of the cover, with the band name far bigger than the rest. Similarly, I made sure the font size of the band was bigger but I didn’t want it to be too dominant amongst the rest of the page which goes against traditional conventions. Both features include a pull-quote to entice the audience in. However, I didn’t use exclusivity with my main feature, though I did use it within the magazine itself. I also chose to position my main coverline in the right-third of the page, above the barcode. This was because I felt it could strike it amongst the page without having to dominate and spread across it to wildly. Overall, I think I conformed and developed the conventions of a cover, rather than completely challenging them.

Page title

Date

Features & coverlines

Puff/Plug

Logo

Image(s)

Range from a few, with plugs/puffs to specific pages, to one main image that links to the content.

The image that clearly represents the magazine.

Shows the type of page it is.

Show the time of the latest issue for consumption purposes.

Typically link to what has been feautred on the front cover, also show other pages inside the magazine.

Highlights a specific page within the magazine, sometimes the same as the plug on the cover.

Both titles are typically positioned at the top of the magazine, as displayed by Q mag. However, I decided to challenge this convention and have it at the bottom, with the focus automatically going to the articles within rather than the title. Also, Q put its date next to the title, whereas I kept it up the top, without including the title. I felt that it was still important to show the audience that they are reading the latest issue, as well as for collectors/subscription purposes. Both magazines have their articles going down one-side with just one main image. Q’s contents page has its image as a background, whereas I chose to keep it separate from the features themselves so everything on the page had an equal chance of standing out. Q did this through shapes, like the red box underneath it’s features. I made it clear what each of the types of pages were by a differentiating colours and font styles. Q did include this as well, by swapping with colours in its theme (red, black and white) and with sub-heading to indicate the style of magazine entry. I just to display this in a different way. Logos are also used by both contents pages. Q’s logo is positioned at the top left-hand corner, contributing to the red, black and white mix that runs down the left of that page. I however, did not position my logo in a deliberately neat and conventional way. I decided to put the small anarchy symbol which features within the masthead at the bottom right-hand corner, next to the page title which happens to be the same font as the masthead too. I thought this kept with the continuity of theme as the colour scheme remained the same throughout and it displayed the right amount of challenge to conventions to cater to a rebellious audience and genre. Overall, I believe I challenged conventions of a contents page by changing the position of the title and using an image that was not of an artist within the magazine.

Columns

Page Number

Drop Capital

Exclusivity

Layout Devices i.e. shapes

Main Image

The way the text is organised in magazine spreads.

Adds to the display of a page, can highlight specific things.

The biggest image of the feature, the subject of it.

When the capital at the beginning of a section is bigger than the rest of the text.

Indicates where to go for the article. Continuous with contents page.

A primary source of information which draws in the audience.

I found Q’s double page spreads to be quite minimal and basic with no clear title other than in the top right hand corner of the second page. I used a minimal display to draw in its reader, keeping the look of the pages very clean and sleek. I felt that my double-page spread was un-coordinated in comparison but still held the key features. Both magazines include drop capitals to indicate the beginning of sections, though I decided to keep the increase in font size from being to drastic, whereas Q magazine clearly shows the start of a new section. Both feature a large, monochromatic main image on the left-page of the spread, this shows instantly who the artist featured is, though Q had their title considerably smaller in comparison to my own. They do however include a large “L” shape to highlight the page and who the artist is. I too, tried to mimic this but did not want to have a large letter which due to the colour scheme I have selected, may have made it less eye-pleasing. Instead, I decided to include a coloured rectangle to highlight the band’s name on top of the image of the model, that way it struck out and showed clearly to the audience what the page was about. Q magazine used only one image, whereas I decided to incorporate three, one being the main image, the second being a tour poster to link to the purpose of a music magazine and the third of an album cover to act as an advertisement which feature in magazines, instead of doing a review. The colour scheme was continuous in both Q and my own magazine as this showed a certain continuity which is required, as well as page numbers to ensure that the magazine is well constructed and continuous. While Q changed font styles to indicate different speakers within the interview, I decided that I would stick with my use of colours to show the interview style and remain presentable on the page. I think that overall, I conformed to conventions of a double page spread.

Fin.