Conventions of a Magazine / Conventions of a Music Magazine

Many conventions of Magazines in general are just how each magazine uses and adapts certain examples of Media Language to suit the needs of the particular magazine.

For example, one main magazine convention is the masthead. The masthead is the main banner/logo, normally placed at the top left of the front cover (so that when placed in a magazine rack, it can easily be spotted and recognised). The masthead helps portray many aspects of LIIAR: for example, it helps show the institution (i.e. the NME Magazine masthead lets you know, by use of the logo, that the magazine has been made by NME.) It can also be used to attract certain members of the target audience, (e.g. if a magazine is aimed at female audience they may want to give the masthead a conventionally feminine feel to it to attract the chosen target audience.)

Another convention of magazines are cover lines. A cover line is a small heading which outlines the content of a particular article. They are normally very catchy, snappy, short; often get straight to the point and are used to attract members of the chosen audience as well as being able to portray certain aspects of the magazine's ideology (they briefly display what a magazine is about.) The Main Cover Line is the largest, boldest cover line which stands out above the rest of the normal ones. This is normally centering on the main article of feature of the magazine, so in a music magazine it would feature, for example, the most famous musical act featuring in the article. It also displays an article which would be of major interest to most of its target audience therefore attracting more people to buy the magazine. The main cover line normally relates to the main image on the front cover.

The Main Image is the largest image which takes up the majority of space on the front cover. This mostly relates to the main cover line and conventionally, contains the most famous person/musical act to appear in the magazine. In the main image, the person contained is normally represented as being very attractive and confident. This is because they want to put across the idea that the person who makes up this magazine is confident/successful/attractive/powerful, therefore boosting the magazines credentials.

As well as the single main image, throughout most magazines are many Secondary (or sometimes just normal) Images. These images are not as important as the main image, but still hold importance in the context in which they are placed. For example, if a secondary image on the front cover is placed next to a cover line, then chances are it will relate to that cover line. Similarly, images placed on the same double page spread as certain articles, will most probably be related to that specific article.

When regarding Colours used in a magazine, it is clear that colours are used to appeal to their Target Audiences. For example, a 'Gothic' music magazine, will most likely have a much darker colour scheme when compared with a popular music magazine. However, a colour scheme used a lot in magazines (such as NME Magazine,) due to the colours complimenting each other very well, is red, black and white. I will consider how the colours (such as the three aforementioned ones,) I use on my magazine will compliment each other and appeal to my target market, and also how they reflect the ideology of the magazine.

The Bar code is only important to the magazine when regarding the more 'behind-the-scenes' aspects of making/distributing/selling it. While not important to the consumer, the bar code shows that the magazine itself is a commercial item and is only really important to the people and companies who make, supply, buy and sell the magazines (i.e. it is used in the shops to scan the price).

As stated above, a magazine is a commercial item. This means that it is made to be sold to the consumers and make money, meaning that the magazine has to have a Cover Price. The cover price is always priced depending on the size of the target market (and in some cases can dictate the exclusiveness of a magazine's target audience). For example 'Kerrang!' Magazine, is a lot cheaper than 'Vogue' Magazine, meaning that 'Vogue' has a much smaller target market, and although the market of 'Kerrang!' is smaller than that a lot of other magazines, due to the content in 'Vogue' being a lot less mainstream that that of 'Kerrang!', (therefore it is sold to a much more exclusive audience,) it is a lot more expensive than 'Kerrang!'. This shows how Cover price is dictated by and can dictate many aspects of the Target Audience (such as the size of the audience).

Tag-Line's are short, snappy, catchy and positively-themed slogans normally placed near (i.e. just under,) the masthead in most magazines. They are normally relevant to the ideology and content of the magazine, and sometimes incorporate literary techniques such as alliteration and assonance (repetition of the vowel sound,) to make them sound catchy and have an appealing rhythm to them.

Practically all magazines contain Articles. The content of the articles can reflect/influence many aspects of LIIAR, (for example the bands featured can appeal to certain audiences, represent people in certain ways, and also give hints as to the magazine's ideology. The articles themselves has many of their own smaller conventions, such as headlines, quotes from the article, images and smaller headlines or sub-headings, even.

The Contents List of a magazine is found after the front cover and contains a list of articles in the magazine and several images to go with them. They are normally divided in to two sections (and will be in my magazine,) labelled 'Features' (featuring the regular features of the magazine) and 'Specials' featuring one-off features of the magazine (such as a one-off interview with an upcoming band).

All of these conventions can be applied to Music Magazines (as has been mentioned) just by relating the finer content of them to music (such as having articles about a musical act and not just anything.)

I will consider all of these points and conventions when making my magazine.