Conventions
From both my preliminary task and my main magazine research, I learned that a lot of magazines followed the same conventions. This helped me a lot when i came to making mine as i knew the guideline in what made a good magazine.
Whilst analyzing 'Q' I found that they always had the masthead in the optical area filling the whole top left principle their square always backed in red, they tended to use 1 main model at a mid-shot level and had smaller coverlines around the picture but usually not on the picture. I also found out that they were very well ordered they all followed a main colour scheme of red,white and black i think 'Q' magazine looks very stylish and professional but it does lack somethings on some a price and barcode are small and unrecognisable and also the colour scheme can look too harsh.
For my preliminary task i had to create a front cover and contents page for a school magazine. I learnt how to layout my magazine successfully using, route of the eye, principle of thirds, hot spots, primary optical area, terminal area. You can see that my research and planning from both preliminary task and music magazine remained the same, but my understanding of the conventions of layout developed i, knew how to extract the information to help improve my magazine.
The route of the eye shows where the readers eye See's first and this is shown in the above pictures as the white and black 'z shape' this is why its important to have the masthead at the top or bottom in line with the route of the eye as the reader will see it and read it first and remember it, if the magazine looks good. On both of the above magazines the route of the eye then runs through a model and this is good as the reader then has an idea of what the magazine is going to include and this is what will attract them to reading it or not, the route of the eye then runs through a coverline which is another way to grab the readers attention as if it appeals to them their more likely to buy it.
Principle of thirds break down a magazine into three sections, the optical area (top left square) is the most important part and this is where you usually see the masthead and both of the above magazines fit in with this. Another important part is the hot spots this is where other key elements are placed including images, coverlines as the hot spots are the four corners in the middle of the magazine which draws the readers attention. The primary and terminal areas usually have coverlines which also draw the reader in and make them more likely to buy it.
Other key conventions of a magazine are fonts, images and colour schemes as these also can catch the readers eye from a distance and be enough to get them to buy it. For both of the above magazines you can see that the font is clear and bold and easy to read. Important coverlines and headings stand out and are highlighted in different colours to emphasis the importance and attract more readers, on the 'x magazine' 'first week drama at the xfactor' is written in a different font and in pink to make it stand out and show what the main story in the magazine is and in my preliminary magazine, the word 'mask' is highlight in yellow and in a bigger font.
The colour scheme is used cleverly in my preliminary research magazine as they use Burgundy as the predominant colour as that's the school uniform colour so its representing the school and making you think of the school when you see it without being to obvious, it also appeals to the whole target audience which is the whole school including parents and students, they've also used yellow as it contrasts the Burgundy and really stands out. The 'x magazine' i used for my music magazine research has used pink and white as their predominant, this shows their target audience is mainly female as their femine colours, but then they have highlighted key points with an orange background as it contrasts the pink and really stands out. One thing that's different on both of the magazines are the pictures on the preliminary research magazine they've used one image which appeals to the audience as it shows them what the magazines main headline story is about, whereas the 'x magazine' uses more than one image which attracts more audience as different images could attract different types of people, both ways are effective but both also affect the layout as the 'x magazine' has a more cluttered layout and this is due to the more than one image as each has to have a coverline underneath explaining, cluttered magazines can attract readers because it looks like there is a lot in the magazine and they are getting their money's worth but then sometimes it can look to jumbled and messing and confuse the reader. Whereas the School magazine has an ordered layout with just the one picture covering the whole front cover and the coverlines around the picture this way its easier for the reader to see but the only downfall is if they don't like the picture they see or it doesn't appeal to them they may not look further on I'm the magazine.
You can see on my final front cover that my research on route of the eye came in good use as my magazine fits in with others as the masthead covers the whole of the top, then the route of the eye goes through the model and a cover line about fashion, grabbing 1 type of audience it then goes through, the word 'free' which is good as this can attract more readers as they know they get something for free when buying the magazine. The route of the eye finally goes through another coverline of 'exclusive interview' which will grab another type of audience as its about music. Overall i think i used route of the eye effectively as all major parts of my magazine are included in the route of the eye meaning i attract more audience. One thing i did unconventionally was have my main coverline at the bottom of the magazine and in a smaller font, i did this because i used one picture which is the main article i thought it would be obvious that 'chloé' would be included in the magazine as the front cover has to have relevance of the whole magazine, so i did it in a smaller font so other coverlines stood out. Having it at the end of the route of the means its the last thing that the reader would look at which suggests that it would be the thing they remember the most. i have kept the image closer to the right as conventionally this is the dominant side, and i have all my cover line on the left other than my main one which is at the bottom and then another cover line on the right on the hot spots. i also have my models eyes on the hot spots as these catch the readers attention and having her face on these points means that the reader identifies her straight away. For my colour scheme i have used a variety of colours but my main colours are pink purple, black and orange, which is different from other magazine conventions as most magazine only use 2 or 3 predominant colours but using four i felt i could widen my target audience and steer away from just a female audience, the colours all contrast each other and therefore stand out well, to make my mast head stand out more i used purple backing whilst the rest of the magazine was on a wall background. i feel the colours i chose all are bold and stand out which is good as compared to other magazines you would be able to notice it.
i used 3 main fonts for my front cover, using to many can make your magazine look unprofessional and cluttered. Arial and impact are clear San serif fonts this is what i used for my masthead the most important part and i also used them for most of my cover lines.i used fine liner script because i wanted a bit of quirkiness and not just plain.
i varied the fonts around the page, i made 'free downloads a little bit bigger to stand out more to the audience so my magazine would appeal more as its something for free. i also wrote 'exclusive' in a completely different font called 'forte' as that was my biggest cover line and i wanted the different font to attract the audiences eyes.
i had my main model as my whole background as that's what my main article was about and i wanted to have more of an ordered magazine. i choose my model as she has very light fare skin which looks lovely on pictures her skins shows up flawless and she has long brown hair which stands out against her pale complexion. i chose her outfit i wanted her to originally look indie but since my genre changed i wanted her to look fashionable i wanted the costume to be quite plain as having to much detail would distract the reader unnecessarily, so i choose a denim play suit. I decided to use one image unlike my inspirational magazine 'x magazine' as i had more fonts and more colours i thought the magazine would look to cluttered and busy and loose readers so i had one image spread over the whole of the magazine front cover, Ive carefully positioned my coverlines so they don't obstruct the models face or body too much the only exception is my main coverline 'exclusive interview' which is related to the image, and the reader will be able to see that the model is the artist.
After looking a wide variety of music magazines i wanted my magazine to be a pop, r'n'b type magazine and i focused on two main types of magazines, x factor and vibe.
I liked the colours and layout that xfactor magazine used as, they used bright colours pink was the predominant colour with white text contrasting it but, the cluttered layout made the magazine stand out more as, it makes it look like its filled with things in it and its good value for money. whilst making mine i found it hard to make the magazine look cluttered but readable it just look unprofessional and i only wanted to use one photo this is when i looked more at vibe. Vibe only use 1 main picture on the front cover and usually have the picture center and slightly to the right which is the dominant side, they never put text on the image unless its related. Vibe tend to use long shot pictures, with the technologies i used i found it hard to get a good professional looking long shot picture, i also thought that the long shot pictures didn't stand out as much as the xfactor magazine that uses close ups or mid-shots. X factor has a small masthead which fills the whole optical area, but because its short and catchy it stands out in a small place, but like mine 'vibv' masthead is a longer word takes up more space, but i like how they spread it across the whole width of the magazine.
So when making my front cover i combined the best qualities from both magazines and below is a list of similarities i used for my front cover to make sure my magazine fitted in with others of the same genre conventionally
- large masthead across the width of the page
- ordered layout
- picture centered, slightly to the right
- cover lines on the left
- no cover lines covering image unless related
- price barcode in the bottom left corner
- bright colours
- important things emphasised with a bright contrasting backing colour (masthead)
- 1 main image
- 2-3 san serif fonts, 1 serif font
This is my final front page, and i think i did a good job combining the two magazines conventions and making mine.
The conventions of a contents page are very similar to that of the front cover, the key features are still the route of the eye, principle of thirds, images, colour scheme. Other thing that a contents page conventionally include are a letter from the editor, having a letter makes the magazine more personal as its addresses to the reader it can help the readers connect, and tells them what is in the issue. The style and form of most/all magazines is conventionally informal in most letters it starts 'hello' this makes the read a more relaxed one, the letter is ended with the name of the editor and kisses this also shows its informal format and it shows a relaxed side. Another convention of a contents page is that the coulorscheme is usually the same as on the front cover this is to create familiasim to the reader. Articles are usually written in columns this makes the page ordered and easy to read. Most magazines have a smaller front cover page on the contents with page references on, another usual conventions is lots of smaller images on the contents page all related to whats in the magazine, this saves the reader having to read it all they can see the pictures and know whats going to be in it.
I took all of the magazine conventions and tried to make mine like them, i had my mast head in the optical area so people saw it was the contents page, i then had it ruining through my front cover shot as this is what would have attracted my audience to the magazine, i then had it running thought the main article preview and the editors letter and free downloads and then through references. i included all the main parts of my contents page in the route of the eye to ensure they are seen first and make them stand out. i used smaller images to attract readers to the pictures and not just the text i used a range of different colours so the page didn't look boring and so different things were emphasised. i used similar fonts to that on the front cover but used a few more as there is so much text i wanted it all so look interesting and not boring and blend in.
The conventions for the double page spread are also similar to the contents and front cover for my genre of magazine, key elements are again route of the eye, principle of thirds. Other important things on the double page spread are the masthead, image, text.
From the magazines i researched of similar genres 'vibe, xfactor' some key conventions of a double page spread are there is usually 1 main picture and then smaller ones which are similar like from a photo shoot the picture/s are always on a whole page and the text on another this has a great effect as if a reader is just flicking through the magazine they will see the bold picture/s and then want to read the article. Its also common for the image/s to have a quote from the article on the top this means when a reader flicks to the page they will see the quote and it will draw them in to read it. The colour scheme for the main article is usually the same as the front cover as this makes the article exclusive to the magazine and make it recognisable to the reader. If the article is an interview (which is most commonly) then its usually layed out in 2-3 columns to make it an ordered layout and easy to read. The questions asked are usually bolder and in a different colour to make it really stand out who is who. another common convention is that the start of the article is in bold and is an introduction to the article.
For my magazines double page spread i used 1 main image and had 3 smaller ones along side it, all were placed on the whole right hand side which is conventionally dominant. I thought having more than one image would give the reader a better idea of the artist and also make the read more interesting. in the bottom right hand corner i included a pull quote which would help unitise readers to read the article. I had the pull quote in green which was the same colour i backed my masthead in which shows that green is a colour used to emphasis important things on my double page. I kept my colour scheme the same as my front cover and contents to make it familiar to the reader. I had my text layed out conventionally with an introduction in bold and with the starting letter bigger to drag the reader in and make them want to read. I also put my article in 2 columns to make it easy to read and make the pages ordered. I had my text in a san serif font to make it clear and relate to all genders, i also had the interviewers text in orange the same colour as the masthead to emphasis them both. My text was informal so it could relate to the readers, the questions related to music and other topics that my target audience research said they would want to read about in a magazine.
Representation.
To decide my social group i made a questionaire, originally i followed the overal vote of indies and boys but i then changed it due to my research so my target audience was teenage girls. i wanted to aim my magazine at teenage girls because i am one and i thought there was a gap in the market top music magazines are predomiantly aimed at males or indie music which is more masculine so i wanted to make something different and base my magazine on a gossip fashion type one but for music. Being a teenage girl myself ment making the magazine easier as i could relate to a amjaorty of other girls my age and what they wanted in a music magazine.
Although I was aiming my magazine at teenage girls I also didnt want to completly loose all males, and i wanted it to still look mature and proffesional to attract older readers. I used my questionaire results to also help me decide what else to include in my magazine and who to appeal to you can see that a lot of people voted fashion and gossip, which are more feminie.
the model i have used relates to my social group as she young, fashionable so relates with my target audience, she is also wearing fashionable clothing, but its casual clothing and this will appeal to teenage girls as girls are sterotypically into fashion, because the clothing isnt to dressy the auidence could relate more as its affordable fashion. The make up and hair was natural which also relates to my target audience as it more like them.
Technologies.
I used several technologies but my main one was the computer, but i also used a camera, when i edited the pictures i just used windows picture editior to crop the pictures and lightened them to make them look more proffesional. i made my magazine on windows publisher, i chose this as i have used it before so i had a good understanding on it.
I used survey monkey to make my surveys, as its a free site but is really quick an deasy to use, i also used facebook to inform people of my surveys this was a great way to get research as i could appeal to a lot more people.
Blogger was the technology I used the most as this is the site i uploaded my work to i orignanilly used wetpaint but that became confussing to upload things to so i changed to blogger.
Target Audience.
My target audience was 14-19 years olds both male and female but predominately female. I found out that the that the average age of someone that read xfactor magazine was 18 and the average to read vibe 17. I decided to aim my magazine below this age as in my research found out that a similar magazine NME had over 42% of students readers and i wanted to aim to students and young teens.
I also made a questionaire to help me with my target audience research and I found that more 16-19 took my survey and most were female.
Other magazines tend to appeal to teenagers and 20's meaning these are the people who are more likely to read and buy the magazines.
Institutions
A magazine like mine would be Q. Q is an indie/pop/r'n'b based magazine aimed at older teenagers and 20's. Its published by Bauer media, which is one of the UK'S leading consumer magazine publisherers.
Bauer produce magazines for both Men and Women, some of these include, kerang!, MATCH, zoo, heat, pop all major magazines.
Progression from preliminary task
At first i wanted to create a pop music magazine aimed at a young children audience so i could include 'heart throb boybands' but i found it difficult to find research from younger people and from other magazines so i then changed my target audience but kept the genre of 'Pop music' but my audience was at teens and slightly more at girls my inspiration was the xfactor magazine which included fashion tips, gossip and music.Comparing my preliminary task with my finished magazine now i can see that I've developed my magazine creative skills and have improved, i think my magazine has a more professional finish to it and is more realistic to other magazines. I found making the music magazine easier finding conventions of the genre i wanted to use was significantly easier as there is a wider range available in shops and on the Internet. Plus with the preliminary task the genre was wider spread as i tried to appeal to the whole school including students and staff whereas with my music magazine i shortened my target audience and made it more precise. My fonts also improved as i explored further than word fonts and this enabled me to appeal to my target audience more. My pictures improved the most as i considered location, clothing, model and my equipment in taking the photos a lot more in my music magazine.
You can see that i have improved from the pictures of my magazines below, my music magazine is much bolder and brighter colours, my picture is brighter and much better quality, my coverlines are bold and there are much more of them, my magazine is still ordered but does have a cluttered tweak to it, I've made it look more realistic by including date, barcode. I did keep somethings similar to my preliminary magazine i kept to just one main picture, i kept the place of my masthead and the position of slightly slanted.
