Front
Cover
The first convention I noticed
is the masthead across the top of the page and is 1/5 of the page. This is common to most of the rock magazines
I studied. I used this convention because the masthead looks to best when it is
at the top.
I have also used a wide
range of font types and sizes and this one is important because it makes
different sections on the front cover stand out from the rest and it makes the
front cover visually appealing. Another convention is having free downloads and
this is also one that I used because it appeals to my target audience because
the 16-24 year olds listen to music on iPod's and not CD's.
I’m challenging
conventions by appealing more to a female target audience (TA) by putting a
young, attractive male celebrity on the front cover. Also there is a ‘strong’, attractive female
celebrity to appeal to women too. The
way she dresses and behaves make women look up to her. It will make my TA want to buy the magazine
to read about my celebrities.
I developed the idea of
the banner by making the bottom one slightly opaque.
The layout makes it very
easy to find the page of the article you want to read: this is done by lines
that divide the magazine contents into sections. My page is divided into two columns. A contents page can be divided into as many
as 4 columns so in this respect I have kept conventions.
I have developed the idea
of displaying two main story lines from my research (Lily Allen in Q). I have
done this by highlighting one on the front cover (the Jazz rock article) and
using a bigger image of Scarlet Rose on the contents and flagging my cover
story with a puff. (see image)
My DPS is fairly
conventional because I have used a pull quote, drop capitals, a huge title, an
image that covers both pages, columns and a stand first. Some parts are becoming conventions such as
the detail (lines) creating a border, the website at the bottom of the page and
feature titles (Bedrock introduces new stars) which would be used each month. The pull quote develops conventions because I
gave it a shape; a wave rather than straight.
The house styles for my
magazine are the feature title on my DPS, the colours that I have used red,
blue and black these are forms of rock.
Genre conventions have
been challenged because I don’t have much voyeurism. This is because my
magazine is not intended to satisfy the male gaze (Mulvey). As my TA is female, I am aiming to
concentrate on the music rather than the stereotypical rock look of women.
