How does your magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions?

Katherine Carr

I chose to use a red, yellow and black colour scheme to on my magazine the same as this one, it is appealing to look at and the bright shade of the red attracts readers to choose this magazine to read over others of the same kind.

The bold, block writing for this title works well as it is appealing to the eye and is simple, as I think if you use too fancy writing it detracts the eye away from the actual image itself, as the name is not the most important thing on the cover. As my background was already quite light i put a bold black stroke around the title to make it stand out against the grey.

Using a certain colour for the header at the top and the writing further down causes your eye to follow down the page and so causes the reader to take in all of the information, I used this technique on my magazine cover with hints of yellow throughout the page.

On this Q cover they use one single model, and make their body the main image of the magazine. I think this works well because it immediately shows who the article is going to be about and so will attract the certain target audience immediately. Also, if it is a good photo it works well, I think the photo I chose to use is simple yet effective, and the glow around it highlights the model used.

Using an interesting pull quote in the article makes people read it first, and then want to go on to read the rest of the article. I put mine larger, and in the centre so that it is seen immediately, also, I used hints of red throughout the page so that it causes the readers eye subconsciously to read down the page.

Highlighting certain texts is conventional of music magazines to make specific sections stand out. The white writing contrasts with the red background but still fits in with the colour scheme of the photographs and the cover and contents aswell.

Using a selection of different images makes the article seem more interesting, and fills up the page so that it is not all writing, which I think makes it seem quite boring.

Using big letters at the beginning of an article is typical of magazines, and I think it works well as it makes the appearance of the article nicer, and more tidy.

I included the American flag in one of the images to relate it directly to the article, which is similar to the NME article as it does the same thing, however, using four images of the same model just in different poses is unusual but I think it is effective because it shows off different aspects of her personality top the reader.

I have used typical magazine conventions for this contents page to keep it simple but effective. I used large page numbers to attract the attention of the reader, and large subtitles with smaller subtexts to explain what the main articles will be about.

I used quotes from the articles to make them seem interesting, and encourage the reader to read them. I also included pictures of the main articles similar to the NME contents page, as I thought it was effective in grabbing the readers interest.

I made sure the headings were clear by using white text and then a black background to contrast. Also the red banner makes the red run through the page and so the readers eye will follow the text down the page more easily.

I only included the main articles and most interesting stories, that will be the biggest news in the music industry, and will be what my reader is interested in, rather than include everything

I kept the same colour scheme running throughout the magazine. Red, white and black. I think this works very effectively as it immediately shows that the article and contents belong the same magazine as the colour. Also they compliment each other very well.