Evaluating forms and conventions

Kyra-Mai Green

R&B’s typical conventions Colour palette; greyscale, black, white, red Men leading a magazines power; viewed for men, made by men Big masthead with big main image Simple style Sans-serif font Black, white or red clothing Branded throughout magazine Variations between bold text and standard text Black or mixed race person on the front cover generally Typically a man headlining front page

In my research I looked closely into the use of women and how they were presented within the R&B genre magazine. This uncovered that they were shown to be promiscuous which confirmed the male gaze theory introduced by Laura Mulvey. I decided I wanted to subvert these conventions with my edition and present women in a more empowered, respectable way. I did this by covering my female model up with more clothing than an R&B magazine usually would. Despite this, I also did stick to some conventions with the use of the colour red as conventionally the R&B genre usually uses the colour palette of red, white and black with clothing and layout. My choice of clothing for my front page and double page model stuck to conventions with the black and red colours and also a dress with knee high boots showing an edge of a provocative use but not too extreme like some of the magazines I studied and analysed. In contrast to this, I also broke typical conventions by covering her body quite well with a big red coat. This was to enforce that women do not have to be looked at sexually but still can succeed within the R&B genre.

I used a white, female model which broke conventions as typically a black or mixed race man is used. I did although make sure that she had dark hair and the R&B ‘look’. I think this works well as it shows a different side to R&B but still sticks to its traditions. I stuck with the costume and model ideas throughout without changing them as the idea was pretty solid with great meaning behind it that I was set on.

I obeyed to conventions with having a big masthead and image with a ratio of 20:80 in which I discovered seemed to be a convention amongst the R&B genre magazines when researching into them. I also stuck to the clean style by not plastering my magazine with cover lines and pugs, but stylising it so it was neat and not overloaded. With this, I used a straightforward sans-serif font throughout the whole of my final production as this sticks to R&B conventions and gives it the modern, edgy look that the genre craves.

Another way I stuck to conventions was branding the magazine on other pages as well as the front page so the brand and company is constantly being advertised which is considered a main factor when producing a magazine. I also did this by promoting the magazine through social media that is stated on the front cover.

As I am a female, I did my magazine from a female perspective although still considered the opinions of men and so formed a more sensitive, uplifting side to R&B that can be read more by women- therefore subverting conventions.

I also kept my text interesting by using variation between standard and bold text which is typically used in any sort of magazines to keep the readers interested.

I was inspired by spin off vibe magazines that specialise in women and wondered why women were classed under another category to men. Because of this I wanted to subvert some of these conventions but also still stick to the typical genre and house style of R&B. I presented this throughout all of my pages and still did include a male so it wasn’t all subjected to women. I demonstrated that women can be used powerfully in magazines by taking Gauntlette’s empowered female theory and playing with it to make an hopefully successful magazine that has equality, making R&B move forward.