In what ways does your music magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of existing music magazines?

To start with, when deciding what type of music magazine I wanted to create, the important things I needed to think about were, what makes an appealing magazine. I had to do a lot of researching and deconstructing each aspect of a music magazine. From looking at and researching current music magazines, I saw that each one followed different conventions that reflected the specific genre, and I gained inspiration and noticed that for the audience i was targeting my own magazine at, I needed to put a lot of work into making the front cover very attractive and aesthetically pleasing to the eye, as this is the main theme that attracts customers to purchasing a magazine of any sort. I started by looking at music magazines such as 'VIBE' and 'KERRANG'. Both front covers were packed full of eye-catching information and bright, bold and vibrant images as well as fonts. Mastheads were the main element on the front cover that seemed to give off a lot of information, such as what genre of music the magazine is based on and who the magazine is targeted at. I then tried to make my masthead with suitable colours and an appropriate font for the ideal audience and the field specific genre. For the genre of music for my magazine i chose 'R'n'B' but also wanted it to have some aspects of 'pop'.

Next, I looked at the images and the graphology. The way in which certain images and pictures were placed complimented other parts of the page, like the text. Some images were overlapping, blurred out, reflected and often edited with bold outlines to emphasise the main features of the magazine. A lot of the music magazines I researched used more than one image on the front cover, however, for my front cover I chose to use one image. The image i chose was taken at a close up angle. The images I looked at seemed to give the reader a clear idea of what was to be expected inside the actual magazine, which is the impression I tried to give with the way I photographed my front cover image. It also gives the reader an insight to what the image is about and has to do with the magazine.

Thirdly, the text which was placed on the front cover of the magazines, was an important feature to have. This text had to be short and subtle, but also to the point. A lot of the music magazines i researched which were aimed at teenagers/young adults, often used a lot of colloquial language. The text on my front cover needed to be informative but not tell to much of what was inside, to give a sense of drawing the reader in, and wanting to purchase the magazine.