Drawings DP

Drawings front cover and content page

Drafts

Mood Board

Music Magazine Content Page

Magazine Contents Page

Colour Scheme: A contents page (CP) colour scheme will match the front covers.

Mix: CP is a mix of pictures/ photos, headings text boxes, and can be 1-2 pages.

Columns: Magazine CP is laid out in columns, usually 3 or 4, and is simple to read

Main Image: One main picture relating to the featured article on the front page

Other Images: Other featured article pictures with page numbers, anchoring them to the text

Masthead: The magazine name will be able at the top (smaller version of the masthead), and often a smaller image of the front cover can be found somewhere on the CP

Title: CP will include the title contents, issue date, subscription, contact info, web address, page number, a competition, photography credit, and an editor’s letter

Categories:  Headings of regular features of the magazine will appear in every issue, as well as new features which will only appear the once

Text Boxes: A variety of text boxes use one or two words which could be a name or ambiguous text to intrigue the reader in bold type, often capital letters.

Sub-Lines: the sub-lines give more specific details about what the article is about. Sub-lines are a smaller font size than the headline, but always using the same font

White Backgrounds: Allow the readers to not be distracted, keeping attention on the text. 

Coventions Diagram

Codes and Conventions of a Magazine Double Page Spread

Magazine Double Page Spread

Colour Scheme: Magazine double page spreads (DPS) will follow a simple colour scheme, meaning the colours are kept to a minimum, creating a modern and contemporary look.

Image: Generally DPS consist of one large image taking up a whole page. The pose of the subject is often direct address. Occasionally the image will bleed between pages (part of the image is on other side linking two pages together) and sometimes, the main picture is spread across the whole double page spread with text placed over the top.

Subject Name: Somewhere amongst the DPS layout, the subjects name will be placed or highlighted.

Quotes: Most DPS will include a quote taken from interview. They will be enlarged and placed somewhere in the article. They will break up the page, be positioned under either the headline, by the picture, in stand first, or place in the middle of columns of text. 

Stand-first: Always used at the start of written article, a stand-first as an introductory paragraph printed in large/bold/capital.

Drop Capital: All DPS will have a drop capital at the start of article. This shows the reader where to start reading.

Headline: Often place across the top of either one page or both, the headline will use a stylized font. It may not tell reader anything about the article, but be a song title, quote, or pun. This is used to draw the reader in.

By-Line: A section where the journalist’s name is written and photographer is credited.

Columns: A DPS is laid out in columns, usually 2 to 4.

Strap-Line: often placed either at the top or bottom of a page, tells you the subjects matter.  

Codes and Conventions of a Magazine Front Cover

Magazine Front Cover

Masthead (Logo): Magazine displayed in the typeface it is designed. This is the visual branding of the title & is often done in a specially designed typeface to be recognisable & unique. It is usually used on the contents page inside as well as the front cover, and as logo for advertising and branding purposes.

Dateline: Month and year of publication, often with the price. Note that a monthly magazine usually hits the news-stands the month before the cover date.

Main Image: in the case of this front cover there is a single image of the singer Keri Hilson. The image is use in a classily way, from head to waist is visible, with the singer making direct eye contact.

Cover-lines: Vibe magazine uses many cover-lines, which are distributed around the main image without detracting from it too much. A mistake often made with cover-lines is that they run over an image that has a lot of colour changes, rendering the words invisible.

Main cover line: this is very large- taking up almost a quarter of the magazine cover – and comes in three layers, each with variations in white and red type. It promotes the artist as a strong independent person choosing her own destiny. Note the main cover line is positioned in the right bottom, so it does not interfere with the main image.

Left Third: the left third of the magazine cover is vital for sales in shops where the magazine is not shown full-frontage.the title must be easily recognisable in a display of dozens of competitors. The start of the masthead is important here, as are easy to read short cover-lines.  

Barcode: standard bar code used by retailers

Selling Line: Short, sharp description of the title’s marketing point for Vibe Magazine: ‘One of the USA’s Biggest Music Magazine’ or perhaps settling out its editorial philosophy.

Website Link: All magazine released should state the companies/ publisher’s website.

Audience Research

Textial Analysis

Introduction

My name is Jean-Noel Sophola I attend Christ the King Sixth Form College. I have created this blog to illustrate my As Media Coursework.