MAGAZINE CONSTRUCTIONRebecca Bailey

CONVENTIONSWhat you get on front covers

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Masthead

Kicker

Cover Line

Secondary Lead

Plug

Graphic Feature or Puff

Selling Line or Banner

Tagline

Feature Article Photo

Anchorage

Flash

Menu Strip

Bar Code

Date Line

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Headline

Caption7.

Web-links?

Ears?

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Masthead

Kicker

Secondary Lead

Plug

Graphic Feature or Puff

Selling Line or Banner

Tagline

Feature Article Photo

Anchorage

Flash

Menu Strip

Bar Code

Date Line

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Headline

Caption7.

Web-links?

Ears?

Cover Line

FREEFREE – – Live music Live music downloadsdownloads

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Masthead

Kicker

Cover Line

Secondary Lead

Plug

Graphic Feature or Puff

Selling Line or Banner

Tagline

Feature Article Photo

Anchorage

Flash

Menu Strip

Bar Code

Date Line

11.

Headline

Caption7.

Web-links?

Ears?

CONVENTIONS NOTES

The mastheads on my example magazines are large and bold, which gives you the idea that the magazine is more ‘in your face’ and stands out. The genre of music this magazine represents is a heavy genre. Both ‘Rock Sound’ and ‘Kerrang’ are ideal titles of magazines as they relate to the genre of music. ‘Rock Sound’ relates to the genre of the magazine as the magazine emphasises the sound of the Rock genre, through interviews and new bands and concerts. ‘Kerrang’ is unique as it is onomatopoeia of the noise a guitar makes , and guitars are essential in the rock genre.

CONVENTIONS NOTES

Usually the headlines and the anchorage are related in a way to the front cover image. Looking at my first example of ‘Rock Sound’, the anchorage reads ‘The Truth About Rock’s Last Outlaws’, along with an image of the band together. The photo is a mid shot showing the band behind each other which gives the impression that the front man is the ‘leader’ like most ‘Outlaws’ have. The idea that it emphasises most the dark denim clothing states the idea that they are a bit ‘thuggish’ and do not dress formally. This also can relate to the tone of the overall magazine. The shot is also a close-up shot showing the smiles on the band members face, almost like a smug/imitating look making them look like they have done something wrong, like an ‘outlaw’.

CONVENTIONS NOTES

My second ‘Rock Sound’ front cover has the anchorage ‘The Stress of Success’ with an image of the whole band. The image interacts with the anchorage through the use of the shot and position of the members. The image is a long shot , showing the whole body of the band members. The facial expressions of the band members looks serious like they mean business. It also connotes that they are looking down at others, and that they are better than other bands. This could be seen as they see themselves as successful, which relates back to the anchorage. The ‘Kerrang’ example uses the anchorage ‘Their Battle for Hearts and Minds’ along with a long shot image of the band looking serious, as the front man is holding something red. This could be seen as something relating to the heart and blood, due to the red colour. Along with that the colour scheme of the front cover also relates into the main anchorage, using red, black and white.

CONVENTIONS NOTESThe kickers are usually bold and more noticeable than the cover lines but are usually a band name, for instance on my first ‘Rock Sound’ example the kicker is ‘Black Veil Brides’ with the cover line ‘Biersack Breaks Free’. The use of the cover line is to explain what the article will be about but not in too much detail. It is also to drag the audience into wanting to read the article to find out more. The kickers and cover lines are usually aimed about the lifestyle of a particular band.

When creating a magazine there is a lot of different conventions that are important. The masthead is essential to ensure the audience knows what magazine they are reading. The front cover image, the headline and the anchorage need to be different to attract the target audiences eye along with a headline and anchorage which needs to be interesting and intriguing. The plug is also a great convention to use of a magazine front cover as the target audience are interested in buying a magazine with a reasonable free item for instance, music downloads or posters.

DESIGNHow front covers are conceived and laid out

HOUSE STYLELooking at my examples, for both ‘Rock Sound’ and ‘Kerrang’ use a similar colour scheme of red, black, white and yellow. The front cover images on my ‘Rock Sound’ example and my second ‘Kerrang’ example, both use the whole band in the image but are positioned differently, posing differently, or have props. This gives them uniqueness and makes that magazine cover stand out. My first ‘Kerrang’ magazine shows just one individual which uses a close – up shot to emphasise the make up of the individual. Although they use the same colour scheme, they alternate on how they use the colours, for instance the ‘Rock Sound’ cover uses a red background with white and yellow writing and hardly any black is used. My first ‘Kerrang’ magazine uses a red background and although white is used as the masthead and the headline, there is more yellow and black used on the front cover. The second ‘Kerrang’ front cover example uses more of a white and red background, with a black masthead and the headline is in white but the rest of the text is usually in black and white with hardly any yellow. The use of the dark colours relate to the genre of the music but also make the magazine stand out, especially having a red background.

HOUSE STYLEOn my examples, it shows that there is about 2/3 different types of fonts that are used. The headline and the masthead usually have the same font emphasising the importance of that headline. My ‘Rock Sound’ example uses another font for the kicker, cover lines and menu strip. Another font is used on the anchorage which makes the anchorage stand out from the headline. The first ‘Kerrang’ magazine uses along with the font for the masthead and headline, uses a different font for the anchorage, the plug and kickers emphasising that they are equally as important. A slightly different font is used for the cover lines. The second ‘Kerrang’ magazine uses the same font for the masthead and the headline. A completely different font is used for the anchorage and menu strip. The kickers and cover lines also have different font types. The use of different fonts determines the importance of each convention.

HOUSE STYLEMy magazines give a more informal tone to the magazines through the use of mainly the cover image but also the headline, anchorage and kickers. This for instance, in my second ‘Kerrang’ example is the use of the devil horns with the anchorage ‘ Come Over to the Dark Side…’ which is entertaining tone to the magazine. Photographic techniques in the ‘Rock Sound’ example like the close up mid shot of the band could make the magazine have more of a serious tone but the use of the hand expression from the front man gives the tone a more informal look to the magazine. The band members have a direct mode of address, looking straight into the camera engaging the target audience towards the magazine. It has more of an invitational look to the magazine through the use of the cover image.

HOUSE STYLEThe first ‘Kerrang’ magazine I used as my example, only shows the front man of the band as the cover image, but still uses the close up mid shot and has a direct mode of address. Although the image could be seen as serious, the anchorage related to the cover image is ‘is Andy Six the New God of Rock?’ and the cover image itself presents a questioning facial expression, which intrigues the readers to read the magazine as people want to know more. Although there was a serious tone to the photography used, the idea of the individual wearing make up could be seen as more informal look to the magazine.

HOUSE STYLEThe second ‘Kerrang’ magazine example also uses direct mode of address and a mid shot is used on the band. It clearly indicates which individual is the front man of the band, as he is wearing devil horns. The anchorage relating to the cover image is ‘Come Over to the Dark Side…’, and the overall idea of the look makes the magazine more entertaining and invitational to the target audience. As well, the look of the cover image and anchorage, makes the magazine look more mysterious, providing an enigma, making the target audience to ask questions and become intrigued to read more.

HOUSE STYLEAll my examples show an informal expression through the style of the magazine. The different magazines I used, have a different proportion of the front cover as the image, for instance the ‘Kerrang’ examples use 1 third or 2 third of the front cover, whereas the ‘Rock Sound’ has the image stretched over the whole front cover. The examples show the magazines are ‘heavy’ and chaotic as there is kickers and cover lines on both the left and right thirds of the magazines, along with a menu strip, plugs and flash. This ensures that along with the cover image, there is no white space and the magazine does not look empty.

HOUSE STYLELooking at my magazine examples, it shows that magazines conform to conventions but they also challenge them. This will encourage them to stand out and look different to other magazines. They are designed the way they are to attract and stand out to the target audience. For the particular music magazines I looked into, they would have to look busy, and ‘loud’ to make them stand out to that certain genre.