Research main task

Main Task
Here is a list of the codes and conventions used for a music magazine front cover:

• the small pictures used feature artists performing
  
• pictures convey an attitude


• list of artists in strip at top or bottom


• features musical instruments


• small number of colours for classy feel
  
• Photography is creative
  

Here is a list of codes and conventions for the contents page of a music magazine:

• Photography is creative

I have constructed research about different magazines and their contents here are the examples i have wrote about:

NME

Price- £2.20
Frequency of publication- Weekly
Issue size- 76 pages
Regular content- Reviews (albums + tracks),Radar, Live! (best gigs), crossword and gear, NME video chart, New videos out this week, editorial
Feature Articles- 2 Double page spreads about the artist/band on the front cover (Arctic Monkeys), other articles about bands/artists that appear in other cover lines on the front cover, information about bands that are in the strap line.

Q

Price- £3.90
Frequency of publication- Monthly
Issue size- 164 pages
Regular content- Reviews (Singles + Albums), Crossword, Monthly News, Editorial.
Feature Articles- Cover story about the main image (The Killers) about their lives up to date, other articles about bands/artists that appear in other cover lines on the front cover, information about who is mentioned in the plus section from the front cover.

Mojo

Price- £4.10
Frequency of Publication- Monthly
Issue size- 152 pages
Regular content- Reviews (Singles + Albums), Editorial, Crosswords, Monthly News.
Feature Articles- Cover story about the main image (Kings of Leon), articles about other band/artists that feature on the front cover of the magazine, puff on the front cover showing that you get a free cd with this issue.

Evaluation - preliminary task

My front cover and my contents follow the codes and conventions quite well. On the front cover i have used one main image of a medium close up with a main cover line. Also there are coverlines which talk about the other contents which feature in the magazine. The colour scheme is kept consistant as the font is blue and is always the same type of font. i have included a puff with my front cover which is allowing the buyer to recieve a free poster.
On my contents page, i have kept to the codes and conventions in many ways. I have used the main image from my frony cover and smaller images with page numbers on the corner to anchor the image. I arranged my contents in order so that it first reads the number of the page and then what article is on the page. i have included an editiorial on my contents page abd included the issue number and contact details.

To construct my front cover i used Adobe Photoshop and i used a picture i had taken to construct it to the full page of the cover. I also used it to insert text that is original and i had modified it so that it was bevel and embossed.
To construct my contents page i used QuarkXPress Passport and input my pictures into the layout that is used for real magazines. Also i used it so i could re-size the pictures and create text boxes to insert my contents page and editorial.

The advantages of my product is that the image can be seen clearly and the text can easily be read because of the serif font which has hooks on the ends of each letter. The disadvantages of my product is that the arrangement of the front cover is out of line with each new coverline down the side.

Production

this is my finished piece for my contents page

this is my finished piece for my front cover

i used this image for my frony cover and used it on my contents page

i used this image on my contents page

i used this image on my contents page

i used this image on my contents page

i used this image on my contents page

Planning

this is a sketch of my contents page

this is a sketch of my front cover