Spider Diagram + Mood Board Posted by Jordan Harrison , Monday 23 November 2009 at 01:07, in

Conventions of Double Page Spread Posted by Jordan Harrison , at 01:07, in

Here are Music Magazine Double Page Spreads, I will now explain conventions of them.

Kerrang!:

The Kerrang! double page spread is very fitting to the Kerrang! look and house style, this also giving it the same audience feel as the cover and contents page.

After taking a closer look, the black and white images fit extremely well, using the red to make anything that is important stand out.

The black and white theme fits amazingly well with the band, which you would have to know the band to see the link. Kerrang obviously know that the majority of their readers know the band, so the bridge can be made by all readers.

The red shows a sense, again, of danger which can be seen throughout the magazine. This mixed with the grungy messy font gives a real feel of the music and what this band are about.

I love the way that the photographs are presented like a film strip almost, like a storyline. this gives a great look and feel to the magazine, also again linking the reader to the magazine with the connection this effect makes to the band.

The red has a big representation also within the band and within this magazine.

Most of these connections can only be made if you know of the band, and brief history if them.

NME:

The NME has a great complimentary colour scheme, blue ranging to black works really well and compliments the colour of the bands shirts.

The composition looks like some type of collage or a pin board in someone's room.

The article itself to me looks like something that will be read by someone around the age of 16+, but probably around he age of 18-22.

The messy theme of the page fits well with the bands look also, a good band, well put together and good content, but a casual look. Just like the Band.

Within the pages, the article colour becomes symbolic to the band, so you know what your ready, another piece of ideology.

The layout of the page could be seen as very uneven, with the image taking up the whole of the left page. But if you take a closer look you'll see as previously mentioned that the dark blue on the background of the text is the same as the bands shirts colour. This colour match means that the pages seem more evenly balanced for a well made page.

All of this will be taken into consideration when I produce my double page spread.

I like the layouts of both of these pages, they're both similar but I like the way they work.

Conventions of Contents Page Posted by Jordan Harrison , at 01:07, in

Here are Music magazine content pages, I will now explain the conventions of them.

Rock Sound:

The rock sound contents page give off a feel of rock, which fits well for the genre of magazine it is. the stars in the bottom left hand corner could be representations of star tattoo's traditionally symbolic of a rock genre/life style.

The rock sound title itself tells the audience what it is, a magazine about rock music.

Rock sound looks and feels like the same kind of magazine as Kerrang! but made slightly for the older generation as well, catering for most people.

Even though the magazine is again, like a rebellious teen, the contents page shows extreme order, again giving a more sophisticated feel to this magazine.

The red and white represents a slight feel of danger possibly, which is a feeling throughout rock.

Splatters and disorganised text within gives a messy look, which really add to the feel and representation of this magazine, also adding to the ideology.

The whole contents page has heavy rock symbolism within it, intertwined with representation, ideology and language, this contents pages works extremely well and i will take this into consideration when producing my magazine.

Kerrang!:

This contents page is the same throughout many issues of Kerrang!, this has a continual house style, this style continues to the website and the cover, and even CD's etc.

The chaotic style of the contents page matches well with the front cover, along with the house style this create a strong bond when you open the magazine.

The audience of this magazine is obviously teens as previously stated, but it is furthermore shown through this contents page with a sense of danger, breaking the mould etc.

The colours are bold, and attract the right audience for this magazine and genre. The images are again main focus, with the information wrapping around them to create a tight area filled with information.

The colours are also symbolic to this magazine, in the way they are used. The yellow on grey is contrasting like a warning sign, but they work well together in this sense. This logo and colour combination are a house style for Kerrang! and becoming extremely well known.

Again all of this will be taken into consideration when designing my magazine contents page.

Conventions of Front Covers Posted by Jordan Harrison , at 01:07, in

Here are Music Magazine covers, I will now explain the conventions of them using LIIAR.

Kerrang!:

The masthead is strong bold and straight to the point, rebellious, this is emphasised by the cracks in the text as if its breaking the mould. The word itself fits with the genre, rock. Kerrang it sounds grungy and rock-like. The language itself is different from other magazines, like "Metallica storm the UK" - instead of simply saying "Metallica come to the UK" it makes it sound more strong, violent. Like a rock magazine, reaching out to the audience.

The kerrang font and "K!" is symbolic of Kerrang now, this is ideology, as you can see on this cover, the male in the main image is covered in tattoo's, this as well is symbolic to rock, again giving this magazine another feel of rock and connecting with the audience and the genre.

From this cover, I would say the audience that it is produced for is mainly teenagers, prominently male and possibly some older readers. This magazine gives a young rebellious feel to it, like most teenagers, they like to rebel, be different, and this is what this magazine does, creating a strong bond with the audience through this connection of attributes.

The colours and fonts, the boldness of it all brings to mind a representation of again rebellious teens, this magazine represents what these teenagers are in many ways. They could be strong, bold or different. The magazine caters for all of its readers within its selected audience, through the strong representations.

Rolling Stones:

The masthead of this is covered by the subject, in this case "Metallica". This doesn't affect that magazine in any way, because of its strong representation and symbolism. The masthead is extremely symbolic to this magazine, the style, the colour and the look, most people would recognise just a small section of the masthead. the writing is traditional, in many ways like the magazine. its elegant yet simplistic, but it works amazingly well.

The subject image is the main focus, telling us that its the main thing in the magazine, also maybe putting the genre of magazine across to the audience. This gives a classic rock magazine feel to it, not classic music but a classic magazine, of music. Well made and well put together. Also as previously mentioned, the masthead is extremely symbolic, this is why it can be covered up, even 50% covered and it will still be recognised.

From the look of this clean cut magazine, it looks like its for the more mature music magazine reader, 20+. it looks classy and sophisticated.

This magazine is represented very easily, by the logo and the masthead. All of the cover subjects are representative of the contents and usually of music. Metallica are extremely representative of rock music, but possibly the kings of Rock. Making the magazine have a sophisticated, elegant feel.

Magazine Conventions Posted by Jordan Harrison , at 01:07, in

Presented with the brief of producing my own Music Magazine, the first thing I thought I must do, and what was crucial, was the Conventions of a Music Magazine, and not just a Music magazine but also another magazine to see the comparisons and differences.

Music Magazine -

Obviously, a music magazine will differ from a normal magazine. To show the differences, I will use a well known rock magazine, Kerrang and compare it to another magazine such as .

Kerrangs language used reflects the audience, predominately male and teens to early 20's, its straight to the point and fast, like the music within the magazine. The magazine name, Kerrang! is also portrayed as a thing of defiance, breaking the mould with the rebellious font used in the masthead title. The font itself is strong and bold, big black letters with what look like cracks within the writing.

The layout of the magazine is quite messy, deliberately messy, like a teenagers desk or pin board. This gives the feel of what kind of magazine this is and again portrays it extremely well.

Bright colours are used throughout, and the usually large masthead is always black and white, whether it be the font black and the background white, or the font white and the background black.

The cover itself is well composed, with the inside articles layered around the main subject, usually a medium shot of the band/artist. laying the writing around the subject and putting it on a strong bold background makes the subject stand out straight away. Also the masthead is always behind the subject, if the subjects head is going over its space and onto the masthead, it was lay over the masthead not underneath it. If, in some cases, the information or titles are on top of the subject itself, they are bright bold and contrasting to the colour of the subjects clothing etc. depending on where it is placed.

You ideology of this magazine can be seen in such as, previously mentioned, the font in the masthead, along with the layout and colours. They are all rebellious, broken and bold, loud. These all reflect the rock contents of this magazine and why people buy it.


As you can see, all these attributes are in place on Kerrang! magazine, but they differ in a regular magazine.

a Magazine such as OK magazine would differ in a lot of ways. Firstly, the ideology would be completely different. Big headlines to attract females predominantly of all ages. It isn't trying to attract a rock audience, its about celebs and gossip.

The language is different, used to attracted the right audience. Gossip talk etc. It's used to attract teenager's and women all all ages.

The masthead has similar qualities, its bold, and is always behind the subject.

As you can see, the differences are quite significant. These are what, in this case, makes a music magazine. These will all be taken into consideration when making my Music Magazine

Music Magazine main tasks Posted by Jordan Harrison , Wednesday 11 November 2009 at 02:51, in

This is a list of tasks I will need to complete to successfully plan and produce my magazine cover and double page spread.

► Brief
► Explain LIIAR
► Conventions of a Music Magazine
► Conventions of a normal Magazine
► Compare Conventions
► Conventions of front pages
► Conventions of contents pages
► Conventions of double page spreads
► Spider Diagram
► Mood board
► Planning and Research (Types of magazines, Typography, Style, photography etc.)
► Hand Rendered and IT Drafts
► Photographs
► Analise drafts, change and tweak,
► Produce final draft using photographs taken etc.
► Evaluate

All these things will be completed in time for the given deadline.

LIIAR Posted by Jordan Harrison , at 02:43, in

The concept of LIIAR within Music Magazines.

L angauge - Terminology and wording used in media text, which should be relevant to genre, audience, and the specific piece of media. Such as: Cover lines, main image, mastheads, selling line etc.

I nstition - The company/organisation within which produces the media.

I deology - This is the reason they sell produce the media, what it is for. For example a music magazine is for/about music. A TV magazine is for/about TV.

A udience - The people, age group, sex etc that the media is aimed at.

R epresentation - How concepts are represented in the media, such as stereotypes etc, such as how you see a certain character and remember something, this person becomes representational towards this thing.

The Brief Posted by Jordan Harrison , at 02:41, in

Preliminary exercise: using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph o a student in medium close-up plus appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. Additionally you must produce a mock-up of the layout connects page to demonstrate their grasp of DTP.

Main Task: the font page and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images the text used must be original, produced by you - minimum of four images.

Presentation Of Work: The presentation of the research, planning and evaluation may take the form of any one, or combination of two or more, of the following:- A presentation using slide show software such as

- A PowerPoint;

- A blog;

- A podcast;