Conventions of a Contents Page

Conventions of a music mag contents page

1. Issue Number/Date
2. Title
3. Main Image
4. Magazine Logo
5. Category Headings
6. Specials
7. Page Numbers
8. Quotes
9. 3/4 Columns
10. Editors Letters

Mojo The Smiths Cover

This Mojo magazine features a free CD. This attracts people to buy the mag because they get some free little gifts. It also gives the audience an opportunity to discover a new band/album which they could like. The CD is most likely the same genre as the rest of the magazine so chances are the audience will like it. I won't add a free CD or poster in my magazine because I will then have to design another band which takes time. I don't have a lot of time.

The lead singer is standing in the foreground which is very common in photo shoots for bands. He is standing in front of the letter O of Mojo. This is quite effective as everyone knows the magazine is called Mojo so they can afford to do this. It also looks very tidy when they cover the title as it gives the letters a 3D effect. I really like the effect this gives and I may do the same to my magazine. 

NME Stone Roses Cover

This cover is quite different to the rest of the NME covers I have looked at. Instead of having a dramatic shot of the singer/band looking cool staring at the cover, we see the band covered in paint and it looks like they have being rolling around in it. This is different because the other 2 NME mags I have looked at have the models looking clean and slick however here they are very messy and look as if they are having alot of fun (other than the guy in the back). I quite like the idea of this though I don't think my models will let me cover them in paint. I think I will stick to having the band out on location. 

Q Foo Fighters Cover

I like the way the magazine has planned this picture of Dave Grohl to have his mouth open wide enough to fit the foo fighters in. He is a huge icon in the world of rock so I think it is better to have just him on. He was previously the drummer of Nirvana which is a band who had a huge following in the 90's. The magazine has only included the main picture of him because he is the main icon of the band. Although I do like this feature, I think I will stick to a main picture of the whole band. 

On the side of the cover, it mentions 143 new albums rated. This is a good feature because it promotes new albums for the audience to listen to. They will most likely be the same genre of music as the Foo Fighters because they are featured in the same magazine. Consumers will want to buy this magazine because they will be able to discover a lot of new albums in 1 magazine. I like the idea of mentioning ratings of new albums in a magazine and I will most likely include this on my front cover.

Dave Grohl's head overlaps the magazine title Q. They can do this because Q is a well established magazine and most people know what it is without having to see the whole letter. The red background with the white Q is iconic in the music mag industry. I do like this but Q is a very recognised brand and everyone knows it's a Q mag. However, my magazine is "Rhythm" and has a quite nice font which I think the look of it could be spoiled if I have it overlapped. 

NME Double Page Spread

7/02/2017

The picture of Liam Gallagher on the left side of the page shows him not looking at the camera. This is typical of indie bands/singers as it shows an "action shot". The picture is also taken in a studio which we can tell by the plain white background. The photo is in black and white which is quite common in indie magazines. For my magazine, I think I will have the picture shot on location because I think it shows the indie bands as being regular people so they can associate with their fans. I will have my band looking away from the camera as it seems to be a key feature in most pictures for indie bands. I quite like the idea of putting a black and white filter onto my photo but I haven't made up my mind yet.

The headline is in sans serif font which is very common for headlines across all genres. The blue and yellow colours of the headline immediately show us the colours which we are going to be seeing in the rest of the article, along with the red background of the column towards the right of the page. This shows that the article is following a tri-colour scheme which is common for double page spreads. I really like how they have reversed the colours from their headline to their quote on the left of the article. This is a very common feature which makes it look very professional because there isn't too many colours. For my magazine, I am going to have a serif font for my headline and a serif font for my main article. I am going to stick to a 3 colour scheme.

For the main article, they have stuck to 3 columns of text which is the most common number of columns in an article for a double page spread. They have also made the first letter of the article a similar style to the headline which looks very nice. The quote which they have pulled from the article is used because it sums up Liam - aggressive and cocky. The dividers between the columns of text is a small dotted line which I think looks better than a standard straight line. For my magazine, I will stick to three columns of text with the dotted line dividers. I will also pull a quote from the text which will add a personality to my band. I will definitely make the first letter of the article similar to the headline because I think it looks very smart. However, I am also going to add another picture on the right side of the page, in the article, just to break up the text so the reader doesn't get bored. My picture will most likely be the band in a studio, hard at work.

The picture of Liam is on the left side of the page which in my opinion looks a lot better than when it is featured on the right page. The picture has only featured Liam Gallagher, who is the lead singer of his band, "Beady Eye". NME have only featured him in the photo because he is a massive icon in the world of music because of his previous band, Oasis. This will attract fans of Oasis to buy the magazine and fans of Liam in general. He is also a huge personality which is very controversial and people either love him or hate him. The picture goes across the spine slightly. This is a good idea as it merges the article with the picture. Although I do like the idea of the photo just being the main singer, I think I will include a picture of the whole band for my main picture, and then perhaps have a photo of the main singer and the lead guitarist on the right page to go along with the article. I am also going to have the photo come across the spine slightly but I will make sure not to mess up any key points of the image by putting something like a band members face across the spine.

NME Arctic Monkeys Cover

2/2/2017

I really like the colour on this front cover. The way the red contrasts to the navy blue of Alex Turner's jacket looks very nice. The red of the headline also corresponds with the red from the magazine name in the top left and the exclusives in the top right. I think it looks very good the way that they have stuck to a 3 colour scheme with the red, white and black texts which, again, contrasts brilliantly to the background and. Those 3 colours also contrast very well with each other to make it look very professional. I will be sticking to a 3 colour scheme which will be contrasting to the background to make my mag eye catching to my target audience.

The way the Arctic Monkeys are posing is typical of an indie rock band. Alex Turner (the lead singer) has kept his sunglasses on to show his indie fashion type, along with them all either wearing a jacket or an over-shirt which are quite indie pieces of clothing, especially on a hot day. The magazine is also showing that they have an indie style by using the quote "Are you ready for us then?". I will include a stereotypical indie quote on the front of my magazine to go along with the picture of my band.

NME Catfish & The Bottlemen Cover

31/01/2017

This NME mag cover has a lot of features which I like. 

The colour scheme looks very neat and professional. The red, blue and yellow contrast each other brilliantly, even though there isn't a lot of colour. The magazine sticks to 4 main colours which stops it from looking messy by using loads of different colours. I really like the way they have changed the colour of the backgrounds of the text rather than the text colour, it makes it simple yet effective. I will definitely be doing that for my magazine. I really like the red, yellow and blue colours and I will be likely to use those 3 colours on the front of my mag. 

The cover also includes most of the features which I included in my previous post about the conventions of a magazine cover. The picture of Van McCann (the lead singer of Catfish & The Bottlemen) is a mid shot which is typically used on front covers. Catfish is an indie-rock band and the way the singer is posing shows that he has a "bad boy" attitude, shown by the tilt of the glasses. This is further proven by the quote "Am I the bad boy of rock, then?". I don't really like the idea of just having the lead singer on the front, I'd prefer to have the whole band but if the lead singer has a good 'indie' persona then I would't mind just having the singer/lead guitar.

This edition of NME is mainly targeted at rock music fans. The other artists featured on the sides of the cover are all rock bands. Brandon Flowers is the lead singers of The Killers who are a huge rock band. The loyal fans of Oasis and Liam Gallagher will also want to buy this magazine as the magazine says that Catfish have the same attitude as Liam Gallagher which most of Oasis fans love. I will try and include another band on my front cover to draw in fans of that band.