1. The magazine hasn't used the left hand side rule, instead
they have placed the majority of the information on the right hand
side. This may put off readers because they may not buy the
magazine because the information isn't clear enough with what else
is in the magazine. The mass head is in the top left hand side of
the magazine it has a tagline underneath it too. But the mass head
is behind the models which gives it an unprofessional look. But
this has been done because theyve already established their brand
and can get away with layering their mass head. In this magazine
there are some plugs giving away details about what else is in the
magazine. There is only three, meaning the page doesnt overcrowd
the page. But it does mean that there isn't a lot of information
about other articles in the magazine.
2. This magazine cover encourages readers to buy it too as at
the bottom of the page there is extra information about certain
features in the magazine. This magazine cover does has a cover line
it has Mumford & Sons in bold, this is too encourage people to
buy the magazine because theyre very famous. Also because this is
layered on top of a clear background it stands out more. This
articles follows the three colour rule as it uses; red, grey and
white. This means that page doesn't look to dull nor too loud. The
shot type used is a long shot, the image is central causing the
models to take up most of the page. This draws more attention to
them. There is some eye contact which will still draws in readers
but maybe not as much. The photo also links to the main article in
the magazine. The barcode is in the bottom right hand corner
because they dont to draw attention to it. This is because they
often place the price on it and they dont want attention to be
drawn to the price as often music magazines are expensive and if
attention is drawn to the high price people are more likely to not
purchase it.
3. A magazines typical convention is layering, I have developed
this by layering a number of things on top of each other, for
example I layered my main cover artist with a paint splatter and
then layered text onto the paint splatter. I chose to do this so
that my music magazine would stand out much more than others.
However the conventions I did challenge were; having a logo and
placing the cover artist in the middle third of the page. I decided
to challenge these conventions because when I included a logo it
looked really out of the place, and the type of logo I wanted
clashed with the colour scheme of my magazine. This would have
meant that my magazine would look unprofessional and therefore
wouldnt be accepted by my target audience. I also chose to place my
cover artist across the middle and last third of my front page this
was because my image was quite large and would have looked out of
place just in the middle third. I placed the majority of my text on
the left hand side, although this isn't a generic convention of all
music magazines now most did many years ago. I chose to do this so
that all the information was in one place and it made articles
easier to fond for my audience.
4. The subheadings of other major articles are underlined in a
thick bright red line, this draws attention to them as soon as you
look at the contents page. Meaning that readers are attracted to it
meaning they want to read the articles and hopefully purchase the
magazine. They have only placed a few articles from the magazine in
the contents page, this causes readers to believe that thee
articles are much more important than others and that theyre the
main ones. However it doesnt inform the reader very much as to what
is in the magazine because it only gives details about a specific
amount.On the contents page two different shot types have been used
for each image. The larger image is a long shot, although the image
isn't central there is still eye contact which draws the reader
into wanting to read that specific article. Where as the smaller
image is a medium long shot, this shows that this article is
important but not as important as the one that is much larger and
has the page number on it. A bold boxed off mass head, this makes
the mass head look even bigger wh9ich gives the impression to the
reader that the mass head is really important. Also even if you
were to take away the mass head readers would still know which
magazine it is. This is because they use the same font and style
throughout their magazines meaning people get to know the magazine
without the mass head even being on it. Unlike the cover the main
article isnt the main one in the contents page. We see this because
they havent advertised the page number that the main article is on
in the contents page. Instead they have used two different articles
and placed one on the front and one on the contents. This isn't a
very good idea because if readers cant find the page that the main
article is on, they may not purchase the magazine. In the contents
they have continued the three colour rule, this means that the page
doesn't look too busy but nor does it look too empty because a
variety of colours is still used.
5. I chose to not challenge the convention of placing the
majority of information on my contents page on the left hand side.
I decided not to challenge this so that when my target audience
turned to it, it looked a familiar layout. . Also with how my
contents page is layed out it looks quite neat, this enables my
audience to find articles quickly because its easy to read due to
the page not seeming messy. On the contents I have chosen two
artists to be on it, this is so that the page doesnt look empty
with just one artist also it gives the reader other artists to read
about in the magazine. Some magazine chose to place at least 3-4
different artists on the contents. I challenged this because both
my artists are from the same genre of music which goes well with
the type my magazine is. Also too many images on the page cause the
page to look overcrowded, this makes the page look messy and means
that readers may not be able to find the article they want.
6. The enlargement of text, draws readers into reading these
sections of the article. This suggests to the readers that this
part of the article is important to read. The picture of Lady Gaga
has a black and white effect on it, this makes the picture stand
out much more because the colour contrasts the colour L on the
opposite page. Also due the size of the image it intrigues readers
into wanting to know more about whats in the article. The page
number in the bottom right hand side is really important because it
links to the contents page. The enlarged L has been placed in the
centre of the page this is typical of Q magazine because it is used
to represent Lady Gagas alias. This article has 3 columns, which is
a generic convention for the majority of magazines. It is done to
spread out the text a lot more, making the page look less crowded.
Also it is easier to read and follow when its in columns. This is a
medium shot. This shows that they want the readers to see her eye
contact which draws them in.
7. Black and white effect on the image, means it contracts with
the text on the opposite page, as well as keeping in with the
colour scheme of my whole magazine. I chose to place a large letter
in the centre of the page, this contrasted against the rest of the
text on the page. Although this is a generic convention some
magazines choose not to do this. The page number in the bottom
right hand side is really important because it links to the
contents page. I chose to only use one because it meant the picture
looked more effective and stood out more, this wouldve therefore
caught the readers eye. However some magazines choose to layer the
image on the double page spread with text/quotes from the artist on
the page. I chose to challenge this and not do it because it
wouldve made the image look messy which would therefore causing the
double page spread to look unprofessional. I chose to challenge the
convention of using an extreme long shot this is because a medium
shot (which is commonly used in music magazine double page spread)
wouldnt have worked in my magazine an also the extreme long shot as
mystery to the artist.