Codes and Conventions - Double Page Spreads (Task 6)

Codes and Conventions of Magazine Double Page Spreads

Layout
Has drop quotes in the middle or top of article – small excerpts from the article to grab reader’s attention, usually something exciting or controversial.
Page numbers and magazine title in the bottom corners of the page.
Has a by line – says the name of journalist who conducted the interview or wrote the article and the name of the photographer who took the photos used.
A limited use of colour.

Images
Has a large image – sometimes has a caption saying who the picture is of.
Sometimes a picture of the journalist at the start of the article.

Text
Eye catching headline – bright colour, bold, large.
Catchy text that relates to the article and/or the person/people it is about.
Has the text in columns – name of artist or person the article is about is highlighted in some way i.e. bold or in a different colour.
First letter of the article is usually bigger than the rest of the text.
A short summary at the beginning of the article – a stand first.

These are the double page spreads I analysed to get these codes and conventions:



Q Magazine (click to enlarge)



NME Magazine (click to enlarge)

Codes and Conventions - Contents Pages (Task 5)

Codes and Conventions of Magazine Contents Pages

Images
Have a large amount of pictures.
Larger images correspond with main story/stories.
Smaller images with smaller stories.
Images usually have the page number on which links to the story they are related to.

Title
“Contents” at the top in a large font.
Can have the issue number, date and magazine website near to it.

Layout
Laid out in different sections i.e. “features”, “regular content”, “reviews”.
Content in columns with page numbers beside.
Sometimes contents pages are set over a double page spread.

Font
Font size usually 11pt.
Easy to read font which is consistent throughout.

Editor’s Letter
Letter from the editor or editorial team usually with information about the issue.

Credits
Sometimes has credits for the front cover photograph and other photographs.

Information
Information about the magazine – address, phone number, name of editor.
Information about subscribing – price, how to subscribe, how many issues etc.

This is the contents page I analysed to get these codes and conventions:



Q Magazine (click to enlarge)

Codes and Conventions - Front Covers (Task 4)

I analysed some magazine front covers, contents pages and double page spreads and found out the codes and conventions of all three.

Codes and Conventions of Magazine Front Covers

Masthead
Name of magazine usually left aligned or right across.
Uses a large, unique font.
Can be partially covered if the magazine is well established.
Positioning statement is above the title and normally conveys that the magazine is better than the competition.

Barcode
Usually at the bottom of the magazine and has the date, issue number, price and website of the magazine near to it.

Buzzwords and puff
“Exclusive!” “You won’t see this anywhere else” “New!”

Images
One main image which anchors with the main story.
Main image usually close up or mid-shot.
Person/people in the photograph normally looking at the reader – direct address.
Never any text over the face. Smaller images which correspond to other stories in the magazine.

Simple colour scheme
Colours that don't clash and are easy to look at.

Coverlines
Usually small amounts of text near to the smaller images.
Main coverline with main image.
Coverlines all in the same style of font.

These are the front covers that I analysed to get these codes and conventions:



Q Magazine (click to enlarge)



NME Magazine (click to enlarge)

Music Magazine Research (Task 2)

I researched some magazines of a similar genre to the one I am going to produce so that I could get an idea of the price and frequency of them and then I would be able to decide on my own.



Q
Price: £3.90
Frequency: Monthly
Issue Size: 170 pages
Positioning Statement: "The UK's biggest music magazine"



NME
Price: £2.90
Frequency: Weekly
Issue Size: 66 pages
Positioning Statement: Doesn't seem to have one



Kerrang!
Price: £2.20
Frequency: Weekly
Issue size: Unknown
Positioning Statement: "Life is loud"



Rock Sound
Price: £3.80
Frequency: Monthly
Issue Size: Unknown
Positioning Statement: "New music first"

Main Task Decisions (Task 1)

For my main task, I am going to produce an indie music magazine.

The target audience for my magazine is teenagers or young adults and fans of indie music.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

For the preliminary task I had to plan and produce a front cover and contents page for a new school magazine. I had to come up with a title for the magazine as well as the features and regular content. I also had to think of which photographs I was going to include on the front cover and contents page and then take them myself. I was to create the front cover using Adobe Photoshop and the contents page using Quark Xpress.

My front cover follows the codes and conventions of other magazines in many ways. For example, it has a main image of one person who is looking directly at the camera which is direct address. The image is anchored to the main coverline. It also has a plain coloured background like other magazines. The masthead has the title, which goes across the top, and the positioning statement. The title is in a unique font which isn’t used anywhere else in the magazine. The barcode is at the bottom of the page and has the price and date next to it. There are also some smaller photos which anchor with the other coverlines. It deviates from some of the codes and conventions in the way that it does not have an issue number and that there are only three coverlines.

The contents page follows the codes and conventions by using things such as columns and sections, for example, it has a features section and a regular content section. It also has information about the school such as the address and the website. There are images on the contents page which have page numbers that correspond to the feature the image belongs to. However the contents page does not follow some codes and conventions, for example, it has a coloured background and there is a lot of empty space.

I used Quark Xpress for the layout of the contents page. It has a feature which allows you to insert columns which makes it easier to follow. I also used Adobe Photoshop to help edit some of the photographs such as the main front cover image as I had to remove the background.

I think my front cover’s main strength is that the title is in a simple font and is a bright colour as this makes it stand out and it is easy to read. I think I could have improved it by putting more coverlines and by picking a different cover image as in the one I used, the girl is wearing a purple top and this made it difficult for me to place the main coverline as a lot of coloured clashed with it.

I think I could have improved my contents page by having more images and by making better use of the columns. I also could have added an editor’s letter and maybe a small image of my front cover with arrows pointing to the cover stories. I could have arranged the text better and had more content so that there was not as much white space.

Contents Page

This is the finished design for my contents page:

Front Cover

This is the finished design for my front cover:




(Click image to enlarge)

Editing

I edited the image I am going to use for my front cover so that it has no background. This will make it follow the convention that magazine front cover images are usually on a single coloured background.

More Photos

Today I took the final photographs for my magazine and contents page and started editing the ones that I had so that I could use them.

I took these photos for my contents page and front cover:






I also decided to use a picture I took from when I was practising camera angles:

Preliminary Exercise Task 5

Today I took the front cover image for my magazine:



The only photographs I have left to take are some of the images for the contents page.

I also edited one of the photographs I had previously taken because it had a date in the bottom right corner so I edited the date out using Photoshop:

Preliminary Exercise Task 5

Today I took some of the photographs that are to be included on my magazine contents page:





I still have to take a few more photographs for the contents page and I also have to take the front cover photo.