Codes of Conventions of Magazines

I will continue my research with a final example, before finalising my decisions and continuing to design my double-page spread.

This is from an issue of the Rock Sound Magazine and is a feature on Scars On Broadway. The backlground is a picture of the vocalist and drummer, with a horizontal strip holding the article, coming across the page. The left side holds the name of the band and the title of the article, and the right holds most of the article. A lot of text has been contained in one small section of the page. This is an interesting method of attracting a reader. I suppose the picture of the band itself will attract the reader more than anything. As far as band articles go, it is an averagely-designed one. At the top left is a sort of introduction to the article, and stands out to the reader, acting as a sort of way of engaging the reader into continuing to read the article. The layout is very conventional, including large pictures of the band memebers, a title on the left, and the article beginning on the right. Splitting the article through the middle is a quote from the article itself made by Daron Malakian, the man on the left. This another very conventional thing seen in many articles, and I will aim to use this.

I want to go for a conventional look when creating my double-page spread and I will look back at my research into this in order to accurately sculpt the perfect double-page spread.

Images to use

I have looked through all the pictures on my phone and I've found several possibilities to use on my site and my double-page spread. I will post them here so I can refer back to them at a later stage.

This image to the left is a picture I took from a plane on its way to Greece. I believe I could use this as some sort of album cover or background for something else.



This image to the right is another one I took from the plane. I think it looks amazing and can definitely contribute to my work in some way. I will find some way of incorporating it. It's too good a photo to pass up; I mean, it's not every day you get to take a picture of a view such as this.

To the left is a picture of me with my (at the time) new drum set, from a while back. I am considering distorting the face somewhat, so it isn't me in the picture; plus I look really scared for some reason. I don't particularly want to be featured in a band that my magazine is meant to be worshipping through an article, anyway. Still, here is the original picture, so you know it's me.







To the right is a character I call The Merchant. It is a drawing I made for one of my Art pieces last year. I came across this whilst browsing my computer and I thought it would be useful as a sort of mascot for a band. I'll see how it goes. I think the mysteriously sinister look he has could contribute to the theme of a band, and possibly be a running mascot the band uses on album covers, such as Iron Maiden have Eddie the skeleton demon thing, or like Disturbed have that evil face, and Avenged Sevenfold have the Bat Skull. Something I can experiment with.









To the left is a picture of my friend Adam. I'm gonna try and pass him off as the lead vocalist for one of the bands. I think it's a good idea, because it looks as if he's posing as vocalists do in magazines and on sites.




That's all the pictures I have for now. There will be more added as I go along, but I just wanted to post some sort of heads-up on my progress here.

Magazine Research

My next step is to create the double-page spread. In preparation for this, I have looked at the various layouts of different types of magazines.

My first example is from the Kerrang magazine; very relevant, seeing as this is also a music magazine:

To the left is a double-page spread on My Chemical Romance from an issue of Kerrang. The first page is completely taken up by a picture of the lead singer of the band. This is an effective method of attracting readers to the article if they are just flicking through it. They will look at the guy and think they recognise him, of think he looks interesting, and will read on. The colour scheme is very basic; a black, white and red. Additionally, all the photos are also black and white. There is a certain art to laying out an article, and this is done effectively. There is not much text on the opening of the article, and this is the very think that will draw the reader in. Once they get immersed, they may continue to finish reading on the following pages. The key to it is making people want to read it, and this is done through the composition of pictures, paragraphs, titles and other items to generate the required response from someone just glimpsing the page. On the right of the page is a small information box. It is separate from the rest of the article, but it is relevant, as you can see. This is a clever way of including more information in a page without it seeming like too much at a glance. Statistics do, in fact, show that the average reader will only take the time to read something that doesn't look like an essay. This fact will come in handy when I go about creating mine. Another point about this page, is that it shows personal opinions of the band in conversation. Readers may generally be interested in things like this, so this adds to the attraction effect, amplified by the tactical and strategic placement of the items on the page to provoke a response.

To the right, we have a picture of a double page spread from a review of Clash of the Titans in the Empire magazine. Again, the whole of the page on the left is taken up by a full-body view of the main person involved. In this case, it's Sam Worthington dressed as his character Perseus. The main title is a catchy idea of what the article is about, and it is in big, fancy letters, coloured gold to match the colour scheme of the film and the rest of the page. There is not much text to begin with: a technique used before in the Kerrang article. There is a smaller picture at the bottom, crossing over to both sides of the page. It has a caption, and this is meant to draw the reader in further and get them interested in seeing and readin more about this film. The background on the left is dark, in contrast to the white patterns of the background to the right. Contrast is a clever method in attracting the eye, with white and black being opposite. Above the word 'Monsters' there is another short summary of the article in bold and italic. This will, again, attract the attention of the reader. The layout of the page is interesting, with a massive gap from the top before the article actually starts. This is a stylish way of setting it out, and it is a method I may consider when making my own double-page spread.

Newspaper Ad Research

In this post, I will be looking at various types of newspaper advertisements and analysing their qualities, similarities and differences, in order to get an idea for my own style and layout when making an ad.


The image to the left is a newspaper advert for an ironing service. It's pretty basic, as far as adverts go, but I suppose it has to be basic in order for it to make sense on the page. It also has to stand out from all the other ads. So that's one thing I can try to accomplish. At the top, there is a big bold heading, in the form of a rhetorical question, directly targeting the reader. The rest of it just consists of minor details about the ad, and some pictures to make it look more attractive. At the bottom are the contact details for those interested. The font is very plain and boring, but readable.



To the right is the second advert. It's for a vinyl record and CD shop, just putting their name out there. The top holds the name of the shop and there is a mascot to the left. A mascot would be a good idea for mine, so I may consider it. It may make advertising easier. The slogan is centered fairly catchy. It relates to the reader, unlike most other adverts. More ideas for me. Again, at the bottom are the contact details. This seems to be a convention of them, as the ads are generally read from top to bottom. I will probably follow these codes and conventions when making mine, because they have proven to be effective. Changing things around might prove to be a bad decision. The font here is understandable, but it isn't that plain. It's a sort of curly handwriting font.


Now here's an old advert that I found. I thought comparing old with new would also be a good idea, so we'll see if there are any similar traits for the old ones. It's a Disney ad, and it clearly contains a lot less information. But I suppose just the fact that it is a Disney ad would be enough to attract the desired readers. It seems to be for a boat ride, a family event. And the date and time information is at the bottom. Centered and taking up most of the space is a cartoon picture of the boat and the captain, inviting the reader. This would be the first thing you'd see on a newspaper page, really. Looking at it, it would stand out among other ads. This is both good and bad; you can fill your space with an attractive picture to gain attention, but at the expense of losing space for extra text showing the details. And the details are important for me, so I'll have to take this into consideration. The font here is very cartoony and interesting for an old advert, but not surprising, seeing as it's Disney-related. Still, it's a good idea to mix around the look of the text.


Finally, to the right is a comparison of two newspaper ads. One is for a movie called 'Jennifer's Body' and the other is for a TV series called 'True Blood'. The images are similar, which is why I thought it would be a good idea. The Jennifer's Body advert is just a big picture with the title and some additional information. The lips and blood would be what attracts the eyes of the reader. Reading further down, you would then see Megan Fox's name and then the movie title. This would be all that was needed to successfully advertise it for now. But that is just relying on the power of Fox's name. I would need a lot more information on mine, so I might look to the above posts for ideas. The True Blood ad is extremely similar to the Jennifer's Body one, as it also just consists of the lips, blood and additional information. Because this is a TV show, it has the date and time included, but in the American format. The tagline is also visible. Taglines seem to be a necessity. Both adverts have information on the creators, mentioning successful projects they worked on before. Jennifer's Body is from the makers of 'Juno', another successful film; and the creator of True Blood also made 'Six Feet Under'.

Overall, it seems that a mixture of images and text would be ideal. Information on TV shows, such as dates and times are useful, with the channel name/logo, like the HBO one on True Blood. Additional information on the show would be relevant, and maybe I could have the tagline at the top, to be the first thing read by the viewer. Looking into ads has been a good opportunity to get ideas that may be successful.