Question 1 of Evaluation

1
QUESTION 1

• FORMS AND CONVENTIONS

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HOUSE STYLE
My house style is based around sophisticated
mens magazines. I used them as a basis to
reflect the sophisticated nature of my musical
genre, and also because there isnt many Jazz
magazines out there to use as a conventions
guide. This example from Esquire magazine shows
the similarities in sophisticated layout
The features are arranged in a similar way,
although I have added extra ideas to the layout
3
My cover uses simple contrasting colours to
create a visually effective outcome. The black
and white is evocative of the Jazz age old black
and white photography and tuxedos come to mind
when looking at my cover. The key features e.g.
Headline are in another colour to make them stand
out to the reader. This is effective because it
draws attention to the main selling points of the
magazine. The Front cover photography evokes a
mood of the era and fits with the black and white
theme. It also features a period guitar which
furthers this communication of genre to the
reader.
There are similarities between my cover, and this
example form esquire, especially the graphic
feature. Mine has much more of a music magazine
feel however.
4
This example from NME, uses similar design
principles to mine, the article is on the right
on both and the photography is mainly on the
right, this shows that my magazine has many
elements of a traditional music magazine layout.
My double page spread uses the same style as my
cover, this gives the magazine a sense of
continuity. The black and white theme is
continued, as is the contrasting feature element.
The masthead is condensed and reprinted in the
top left, this helps to immerse the reader in the
magazine and constantly remind them of the title.
Pull quotes have been used in the contrasting
orange and the headline from the cover has also
been used here, with a slightly different graphic
feature. This differs the content slightly to
keep it fresh, but keep the idea of house style
going. The photography used is again moody and
more stereotypical of music magazines than the
front cover, this time it is in colour which is
more conventional and creates a bright feel to
the page, especially the photo used in the bottom
right inside the circle which is vibrant and
stands out form the black background. This makes
this page seem friendly and inviting as it needs
to be being one of the main interviews.
5
The general layout was inspired by this esquire
magazine contents with the large numbers and
photographs separated by lines. Key elements were
added to give the page an interesting visual
layout e.g. the editorial section with the
Editors signature that gives the page a classy
finish that fits with the jazz genre.
Here, the continuity remains strong and ties my
contents in with the rest of the publication. I
have re-used the masthead once more and the black
and white really brings out the contrast when
reading the features cover lines. A return of
the box graphic features form the double page
spread is present. Was inspired to create the
bottom section by looking at old advertising, the
use of the musical note breves also tie in with
the magazine's genre and sub genre.
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SPACE
AND
CONVENTIONS
7
There are many conventional aspects to my
magazine cover. The key signifiers are musicians
and their eye level is parallel to the middle
third, there is a masthead, kickers, cover lines,
a barcode, graphic features, issue number, price,
basically everything that you would expect to see
on the front of a music magazine. This is to make
the magazine saleable and to give tried and
tested elements to the design. The black and
white theme however challenges conventions of
music magazines as most front covers are bright
and colourful to appeal to a young, mainstream
audience. As mine is designed to appeal to a
different audience, conventions of sophistication
ae included e.g. simple colour scheme and
atmospheric photography. There is not much dead
space on my cover, the only space not filled
works effectively in my opinion so is more like
white space as if the space was it would make the
design look cluttered. This makes the designs
use of space effective.
8
My double page spread is quite conventional in
its use of features e.g. pull quotes, graphics,
headline and photographs. It challenges
conventions very little, other than its use of
white space on the left hand side.there is a
considerable amount of white space in use that
draws the eye to the main headline/ graphic
feature effectively by surrounding it with space.
The colours are also somewhat unconventional and
this is a theme throughout the whole magazine.
9
My contents page uses both conventional and
unconventional design aspects. When compared to
the example of the classy contents page form
esquire, the layout is conventional and is also
somewhat conventional when compared to the
average music magazine contents page, it has all
the elements normally used on a contents page
e.g. cover lines, photography, editorial,
regulars etc. The overall house style and colour
scheme is however quite unconventional but this
is once again due to the unconventional nature of
the genre of music. White space is not very
present here but this gives the page a feeling of
being packed with content for the reader which
makes the magazine feel like good value for
money, there is some effective use of white space
in the top banner of the page, this ensures that
it doesn't look too cluttered and still has a
sleek design . Below are examples of the two
design styles that have been married together on
my contents page