Conventions of Music Magazines

By looking at magazines such as Q, a music magazine and Vogue, a fashion magazine... I realised that they all use the same rules.

1. The image of the magazine must fit the content and the target audience. Just like The two front covers i looked at: both images fit within the frame and will relate to the target audience. For example Bruce Springsteen a rock musican, is on 'UK's biggest music magazine'

2. The name of the magazine must also relate to the relate to the genre of he magazine. For example, Vogue is defined as 'The prevailing fashion, practice, or style' therefore, a fashion magazine being called this makes perfect sense.

3. The colour scheme creates a 'house style' and becomes appealing to the audience. Q magazine's main colours are red,black and white, this gives the magazine a recognition and familiarity with the audience, as well as connotes well with the main music genre it concentrates on.. rock.

4. Mode of address is created when in an image, the person n the cover looks straight out of the magazine, not only does it invite the reader in but also creates a relationship them. for example, the reader feels like they 'know' Michelle Obama because her friendly smile and eye contact is a positive approach toward the reader.
On the other hand, indirect address has been used a few times... but it is not a convention!

5. Stars and Celebrities related to the genre of the magazine/ theme. Aspirational people such as Bruce Springsteen and Michelle Obama not only becomes more appealing to the audience but also increases sales. The image on the front cover is either in close up or medium shot, but still has to fit the whole frame!

6. Eye catching and interesting front covers is the representative of the whole magazine and should appeal to readers. The title/header is usually at the top and begins to be recognisable to the audience, varieties of fonts on the cover make it visually interesting and eye-catching but be aware that you should stick to the same noes throughout the whole magazine. Just like Vogue, they use simple fonts to give a sophisticated look for their target audience: affluent females 25-54 years old. 

7. Slogans may be used on magazine front covers to stand out from competition or to explain the contents of the magazine. This is seen in Q magazine - 'The UK's biggest rock magazine'

8. The leading caption tends to dominate the page, this is focused on your feature article and therefore should anchor your cover story. In this case both magazines anchor their main article on the stars. This helps the audience aware of what the theme or main topic is about in that issue of the magazine.  Subheadings, placed on the left or right are also used to advertise other stories that are included in the issue. Straplines such as 'Kings of Leon in New Orleans' in Q magazine are placed at the top or bottom of the front cover highlighting other stories or stars featured in that issue.

9. Date, barcode and now a web address are also applied on the magazine front cover to entice audiences to the magazines website.

10. Monthly magazines are usually expensive such as my two examples whereas weekly magazines such as NME, OK and More are cheaper. 

11. Contents pages should be bright and colourful with the header usually at the top. This will encourage the reader to read on.

12. Images with direct address should allow the reader to 'graze' by also providing a page reference. 

13. Having a list of contents doesn't only make it organised but it also aides the reader on what article is on what page.

Overall, by following the main conventions of magazines not matter what genre, they can be successful just like Vogue and Q!

PRELiM TASK

My preliminary task was to create a front cover college magazine targeted to post 16 students which would help me with the development of my actual magazine. To engage the audience, I used bright vivid colours blue and yellow which were also the colours of St Mary's college. In addition, my headlines 'coursework deadlines' and 'free trip to Brazil' is very appealing to the target audience because the articles will relate with their interests and therefore make them want to read it. Mode of address, known as MOD was very important in this medium shot image because it gives the magazine a 'friendly' approach.
The name i decided to use for my preliminary task was 'SMC Common Room', I feel that it is an effective name because a 'common room' is a room/department for college students where they can relax and socialize. Therefore, by naming my magazine it comes across as a relaxed, sociable magazine for students.
As a preliminary magazine i think it's very successful because by using InDesign for the first time, it helped me get used to all the features as well as adding more knowledge of using PhotoShop.

On the other hand, even though my image i chose was a clear medium shot, it would've been better if i changed the brightness of the image to make it more appealing or instead include a background that's in the environment of the college, such as the image being taken in the library or canteen.

I also drew a quick draft of a simple contents page with the heading at the top so readers would know what the page their looking at. This will help me to decide that for my final magazine, will i want a basic contents page or 'think out of the box' to make it more interesting, depending on my feature article.

Overall, by doing this preliminary task, it helps me with the production of my final magazine and of any magazine because they all follow the same codes ad conventions.

INiTiAL IDEAS!

My task is to create a music magazine of any chosen genre and target audience. Above is a mind map of all my possible choices i considered.

After researching each genre, I realised that for Christian music magazines,  the majority of the music magazines are targeted to middle aged groups and only a few of their articles, artists would interest young adults. Therefore, with a slight gap in the target audience of 16-25 year olds, I will be creating and providing a Christian music magazine solely targeted to this age range because i feel that this niche market can be a successful one. 

In addition, the reason i did not pick another genre such as reggae or indie/rock, is that there is a mass audience and even though i would find it easier to create one in these genres, I feel that it would not be as successful because it is highly competitive and may begin to look mainstream.