All magazines have a consistency throughout them that make them noticeable to audiences it allows them to see what they are and what information they provide, also the genre of the magazine.
From research at looking from magazines previously as stated below I was able to gather up key points (codes and conventions) which I could involve within my magazine, and also gave me a rough sketch of what my magazine needed to look like and what it needed to include.
Typical things a magazine has is ;
- Masthead
- Sub-headings
- Main image
- Captions on images
- Date,price and bar-code
- Colour scheme
Although these are my own evaluations on the typical codes and conventions of magazines, I can easily spot from being part of readers of magazines the typical trends throughout the texts.
Conventions in which I used in my magazine
Front cover
Main image: The main image is a vital part of a magazine as it engages with the audience and gives a quick preview of the genre of magazine - e.g fashion,music,lifestyle. Although some magazines have a variety of images on the front I feel that my product was better with one main image so the audience can engage more within the model, and the picture as a whole, instead of making it busy and hard to navigate (left) although the magazine still has one main image.
The main image also needs a good eye-line match this will engage the readers/audience more within the model and enable to gain analysis of the emotions in which the model/celebrity feels. The main image also relates to the main feature/story within the magazine, this being another important convention of any magazine, as the image is the main aspect of a front cover this meaning it is used as a main selling point, therefore audiences expect there to be a large, interesting article within the magazine about the person on the cover.
Eye-line match and positioning: These are important aspects of the main image as it engages and allows the audiences to gain vibes and emotions of the model and also the impression it is trying to give off about the magazine. Below are a variety of front cover images that have different positioning
. I chose the middle image as it provides a more stable photograph with the right body language and framing.
Posistioning is too close to the camera although good eye-line match not enough of the body is on show
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| This was the final image in which I chose to put on my front cover as it shown all true conventions of a front cover image that is typically found on a front cover of a magazine. It had a perfect eye-line match therefore engaged more with the audience and were able to analyse the genre of magazine and slight emotions of the model. |
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| The image is very close up on the models face and shows clear visibility of emotions, although I wanted the main image to have some figure showing to enable more analasys of emotion.
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| The image is not centered and the positioning of the model is slightly to the left making it off center. |
Date Issue,Barcode and Price
These are vital conventions to insert on any front cover as they provide the customer with the option to purchase the magazine quickly and easily without the hassle of finding a shop assistant - therefore this was not an option whether or not to conform or subvert the codes and conventions of this particular topic.
Layout
Colour Scheme
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| Chosen colour scheme of Red,Black,White and Yellow. The colours work well together and are a variety of different shades therefore stand out from one another when swapping background text colouring. |
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| Pink,Red,White and Purple are an example of a more "teen girl" magazine as they are more related to that gender and not to a more Indie/Rock multi-gender magazine, therefore these colours weren't appropriate. |
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| Dark grey,Light Grey,Nearly White and Black are good shades of colours although not colours you would specifically put together due to the lack of vibrancy and effect. The colours are dull and although relate to the genre of "darkness" do not attract audiences. |
Font
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| The chosen font felt relative to the genre of my magazine. The boldness stood out as title font, and was easy and clear to read therefore seemed appropriate and effective enough to use for my magazine. |
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| This is an example of a very clear, fancy font although the font does not seem relative to be used as a magazine title as it does not stand out and the font does not relate to the genre type of my magazine. |
Contents Page
Page number and information
These help interest the audience and also make the contents easy navigable as the readers can find the topic that interests them and quickly find it within the magazine. Page numbers are one of the most vital and common things found on a contents page.
Images
Images are an important aspect of all magazines including the contents page. By including images on the contents page it showed more clearly what was inside of my magazine while also making it look more interesting to look at and also added colour to the page. The images are clear and easy to see therefore more effective to audiences.
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| Image 1 - non-blurry and clear view of all detail. This would be an appropriate image to use on the contents and or double page spread. |
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| Image 2 - The same image but with more blur to it, not as effective and would not appeal as much to the audience therefore image 1 would be more suitable. |
Subscription
This helps the economy and pricing of the magazine as it increases sales and gives the readers an oppourtunity to pay for a yearly issue.
Written format
A contents page needs to include quick, snappy points as it's just like an advertisement/teaser to get the audience more inclined within the magazine you can't drag in-depth information within it. This is a main feature and convention of a contents page which I thought was vital to include within my magazine.
Layout
Simple layout that is effective to the audience while still easy to navigate around. The colour scheme being the same as the cover to show consistency and order.
Double Page Spread
Written format
For the written format of the double page spread I decided go along the informal yet very insightful to emotions. I done this to engage within the audience more, and go along the line of experiences as I thought this would make it a more interesting read as people find things they can relate to a lot more important and interesting and also comforting. This helped conform to my young teen audience as many people during that age may have experienced the same thing in which this celebrity has. The text goes into in-depth detail about Eliza's life therefore will be more catching to the audience due to this, as readers like articles that include information that no-one else knows.
Format
I decided to make the format more original by including four medium sized pictures along the top. In such case the images where too small of a size to make a dominant full page picture therefore to conclude this I had to experiment with different layouts, and seems as though I wanted my magazine to be original I thought of no better way than to make an original layout giving my DPS an original feel to it. Below is an image of a previous DPS in which I designed but later had to re-design due to the bad quality of my images.
Images
I felt the images where appropriate to the text included and involved Elizas past therefore related to the article with her sister- Gabriella. The images where clear and insightful to emotions with eye-line matches.
Costume + Fashion
I wanted the outfits to relate to the genre of the magazine and also appeal to audiences. By making the artists wear trendy/affordable clothing this aloud the images to engage with the audiences more.
Props
Props were a vital part within the images included on this page as it provided the audience the knowledge that the magazine was a music magazine and the models included on the image where musically talented and famous.
For the contents page I showed significant improvement and gained a higher knowlege of the basic conventions a magazine contents needs to include. Although images were suitable on both tasks the pleniminary task showed the contents page with a lot of empty space, I improved this in my final product by filling the page and making sure that there was no gaps. I used relative,readable font in the final task and also included consistency with my contents and front page - although this could of been improved upon in my pleniminary task.
