Forms and Conventions

My magazine is aimed at the sub-culture group, Indies aged 16-24. It is a music magazine so the content is music related. The front cover of my final three products includes the masthead, M.H (music head) the name of my magazine. I named my magazine this as it is a music magazine and the head part is related to the fact that you listen to music through ‘head’phones. For the mast head I used a font that looks like hand writing, to make it look scruffy and non-glossy. Underneath the abbreviation M.H, I wrote the whole name, music head, so the reader knows what it stands for as it is the first issue. If more issues were produced then this may not have to be put on the cover as the magazine already has a regular buyer audience. The cover lines on the front cover include ‘win tickets to Glastonbury’ and ‘exclusive sneak peek at this years festival line ups’ also ones including band reviews and interviews. These are on the front cover as they are targeted at my audience and are something which the target audience would be interested in. The colour scheme is dark colours, as this goes with my target audience. Overall I think my front cover is ok but needs more cover lines to intrigue the reader and make it look more ‘busy’ to help connote Indies lifestyle. The contents page I like as it looks simple yet effective with the white text on the black background making it stand out and eye grabbing. I like the border effect on the two images as it looks retro. The page numbers are on a yellow box in black font and look like warning signs. The black background keeps in tone with the theme of the front page; this creates a house style for my magazine as dark colours indicate the dark nightlife. On the double page spread I like the white text on the brown box and the red font the questions are in as it separates the text more making it easy to follow. In between the boxes of text are gutters, these I used to separate the columns of text. I prefer the black and white and other effects on the main image on the double page spread I used on it as it look vintage and goes better with the style of my target audience. Originally I planned to make my double page spread a lot different, with images down the side and text across the rest of the page. I changed this because I thought a big image would look better by drawing attention to the picture and then down to the text. I then added the three individual images along the bottom as an addition to the text to draws attention to the bottom of the page. The white space at the top then draws the eyes back up the page over the text, and back down the text so it is read. In white-space the page numbers are located, this is to make it easy to see which page you are on when flicking through the magazine. I placed the main title of the article across the white space to make it look lie the white space and blue background are not completely separate. In the white space is also the logo of the magazine to remind the reader of the magazine they are reading. The white space has a ripped edge to connote the un-glossy and un-commercialised life of the Indie style.