I chose to use this as my final image as I felt that it was very conventional and related to

my magazine well. Such as in relation to mise-en-scene, her costume appears very

rocky as it is black leather, which are common connotations to rock outfits. In addition, her boots have studs on which

present a fierce appearance. Moreover, her hair was backcombed for big volume, this implies that she is the next ‘big thing’ and that she is powerful. As well, her make-up

shows the continuation of black, on her lips and eye shadow represents her dangerous side and I found was very common in other female rock artists. She is directly looking at the reader which makes it appear like she is directly addressing and including them, this

makes the magazine appear more approachable to read. I decided to position her on the page to cover the majority of the

it, as well as covering some of the masthead. This emphasises her dominance

and also suggests that because the magazine is popular, they will be able to

recognise and already know what the magazine title is.

I placed my masthead across the top of the screen to show the importance of the brand, as it stands out. I also decided to create the text as red, because red has connotations of danger and allows the text to stand out with the added emphasis of the black outline.

Furthermore, this is also emphasised by the font being large and bold, and this masthead is continued as the magazine brand name. I decided to name my magazine ‘Muse’ as the

definition means creative artists, therefore this implies that the magazine features creative music artists.

With the sell lines that I created, I was heavily influenced with Q magazine, in terms of the font that I used and the highlighted text, to help it to

stand out. I specifically chose to use these artists, as they are well known and are alternative rock

artists, creating verisimilitude of rock magazines, which makes it more appealing to the reader and persuades them to read on. As well I decided to keep the colours of the text white and black as these colours contrast against each other, with

the black highlighter catching the readers attention and allowing the text to stand out, which infers that they are dominant artists.

Here I have placed a plug to catch the readers attention and become a dominant feature of the magazine. This is very conventional magazine feature. I chose to use the shape of a circle, as I feel it created my magazine to appear professional and organised and appeared bold, which matches the genre. As I have created a promotional offer in the plug, which is a popular band which are of the same music genre as my magazine. This will appeal to the audience and persuade them to buy the magazine so that they

have a chance of winning. In addition, I have placed a skyline at the bottom of the page, with the free gift of a CD inside the magazine, which will also appeal to the

audience and persuade them to but the magazine.

I placed my anchorage text over the main image, in a large font to emphasise her dominance. As well I chose the text to be white as it contrasts

against the red and black and represents her as a strong individual, moreover this is also

represented by the font of the text appearing like her own signature stands out against the rest of

the text on the page and shows that she is an important part of the magazine. I also included a pull quote which will feature on the double page spread, which will entice the reader to read the

article about her.

I have showed continuity in the colours, such as red, white, black and yellow from my front

cover onto my contents page and double page spread. This creates my magazine appear

professional and conventional.

I have placed my contents title large at the top centre of the page, this is to clearly show what the page is and so that it appears conventional. I used the same font from some of my text in the front cover and continued with

the colour yellow to allow it stand out.

I have stated what issue the magazine is in small black text, as it is not the

most important feature on the page and therefore does not take away any dominance from other

artists.

The main image that I have placed is the same artist that features on my front page and my double page spread, this makes my magazine

appear professional and aesthetically pleasing. Her make-up and hair is very similar in the style

that it is big and dark, showing continuity throughout the magazine. Furthermore, her

costume is again black and the models position shows that she has a dangerous side and

matches with the rock genre.

I have used these two secondary images that I have captured on my contents page as they both mise-en-scene link to the rock genre. Such as, on

the left image, his costume consists of black leather which is a common convention of a rock

magazine and also the use of iconography is conventional, as he is holding drum sticks which show that he is a drummer which is associated

with the rock genre and also creates verisimilitude, as his article title is “why I left the band”. Furthermore, the image that I placed on the right, I created through Photoshop, where I merged together a photo of the model in the

photography studio and the stage of a gig I had previously been to, and created the effect so that

it appeared my model was playing live.

I made the decision to place large numbers on the images of the artists

featured, instead of including the artists names and pull quotes. This is because my magazine is popular, so the readers

will already know who the artists are, as they are popular rock artists.

When I categorised what my features would consist of, I researched into other magazines with a similar music genre to see what common features appeared. I decided to use two different text sizes,

firstly I used a larger text size of a summary of what each page will be about to attract the audience to read that page. Compared to the smaller text that I have placed under each page summary, gives a

brief detail of what that page is about, with some including pull quotes from artists. I decided to keep all of the text black as it contrasts against the white

background, so it is easy for the audience to read. However I have created the

feature of the main Artist ‘Alys’ and her pull quote red, so that it stands out against

the other features as she is the most important feature in the magazine issue.

I also included a subscriptions to my contents page, as I found that they were a common feature amongst other music magazines. The subscriptions box will entice the audiences attention as it is offering a promotional offer and will persuade them to buy the magazine.

When designing my headline, I looked through various different fonts and styles through other magazines for inspiration. I was influenced by bold and unperfected

fonts which have connotations of rock music and therefore decided that I also wanted to create my headline like this. I went on to www.dafont.com and designed

my headline, so that it stood out and grasped the readers attention immediately. Furthermore, I decided to make the text colour black, as this contrasted against the

light background and emphasised it to stand out. In addition, black is part of my colour theme so carried on with the magazines house style, as well as creating my

double page spread to appear professional as it matches the costume of the artist.

I have included again the main artist featuring on my magazine on the double

page spread, and chose to use this specific image of her as I found this was most conventional and appeared very

effective. I decided to include the iconography of an amplifier as these are

commonly seen and used within rock music and as her body language is sitting on it, this implies that she is currently at the top of the rock music genre and that

she is dominant in the industry. Furthermore, the mise-en-scene of the model all connote rock music and allow

her to appear very effective and conventional. Such as she is wearing black

leather and studded boots, which are connoted to rock, as well as her big

backcombed hair which suggests that she is a big, successful artist in the industry. I

have used the same costume from the front page, to show continuity and to

allow my magazine to appear professional.

I have also included page numbers and the Muse logo at both corners of the double page spread; as

these are common conventional features of a magazine and create verisimilitude for my magazine.

I decided to make the background colour the same red/pink colour that is continued throughout my

magazine as this represents continuity and creates a matching house style, as well as encouraging the

magazine to appear professional.

I placed a pull quote in the main body of my text as they are very

effective features of magazines and direct the audiences attention to an

interesting part of the text, which will encourage them to read the text. I

decided to create the text in a larger, bold font which encourages it to

stand out against the rest of the text.

When designing the layout of my text, I chose to place my text in three columns, as this is a key conventional feature of double page spreads. I

debated between two and three columns, but came to the conclusion that three most looked most

effective with my page layout. I decided to keep the colour of my text black, as this contrasted against the light background, allowing the text to be easy to read for the reader and they kept in with my colour theme, showing continuity. I also decided for the text form to

be of a interview style, as I felt this would be most effective for my magazine.

I have included a drop cap to my text as when researching other magazine double page spread’s,

they were a common feature, and create the spread to be

conventional and appear aesthetically pleasing. It also creates

the text to appear more conventional.

Challenging conventions with inspiration from existing products

NME MUSE

I found that plugs were very conventional features on magazines as they emphasise import information on the magazine. Also I mainly took inspiration for my plug from NME magazine, as I felt that the yellow was very eye-catching and made the plug to

stand out on the cover. Furthermore, as yellow is part of my magazine colour scheme, I thought that it made my cover appear professional and aesthetically pleasing.

However I also incorporated other influences to mine, such as the black outline from the ‘Q’ plug, which adds emphasis.

QPlug

Challenging conventions with inspiration from existing products

Artists includedQ Muse

For the artists names on my magazine front cover, I researched other magazines to see the different text styles and positions to find inspiration to creating mine. The magazine that I found most inspiration from was Q, this is because the names were positioned very close together and only filled up part of the cover. I felt that this appeared professional and did not take any dominance away from the main artist featured. However, I still wanted the

artists names to stand out so that the audience can be informed of what other artists will feature in the magazine and persuade them to read it. Therefore, I was influenced by the

text on the Q magazine being highlighted in bold colours to allow this to happen.

Challenging conventions with inspiration from existing products

BarcodeVibe Muse

NME

When creating my barcode design, I took influence from the design of both NME and Q magazine and merged them together. As the barcode is the least important

feature on the magazine, I wanted to take attention away from it and thought this would be best by placing it horizontal and I found this was a common position

amongst other magazines. I also included a phone barcode, magazine website and price shaped around the barcode as I found these made my magazine appear more

conventional.

Challenging conventions with inspiration from existing products

FeaturesQ

Muse

The features is list is one of the most vital areas of a contents page. It is very conventional to present them with a heading of each column section. I found the most inspiration from Q magazine, as my magazine is also monthly and I thought the layout of the features then the every month section was very conventional and created verisimilitude. In addition, I was influenced by the column separating each feature and therefore created my own design with the colour boxes. I made sure the colours matched my continuous colour theme and created the page to appear aesthetically pleasing.

Challenging conventions with inspiration from existing products

Image layoutQ

Muse

When I researched into magazine contents’ pages I took inspiration from Q magazine, as they tended to layer their images and rotate them in different directions. I felt that this appeared very aesthetically pleasing and was effective for my magazine; as the images aren’t perfectly in line with one another this shows that rock artists aren’t perfect

Challenging conventions with inspiration from existing products

NME Q Muse

On music magazines contents pages, boxes are very conventional and are usually used for either: subscriptions, reviews or editors letters. I chose to do a subscriptions box as this

promotes the magazine and also looks very effective. I took inspiration from both NME and Q magazine during this. I was influenced by the black background as on the majority of my

contents page, I have a light background and this emphasised the box to stand out. Furthermore, I included the masthead on it showing continuity, as well as kept with my

colour theme. In addition, I added a website address and a false phone number to create it to appear real and conventional.

Challenging conventions with inspiration from existing products

HeadlineNME Muse

When researching NME magazine, I appealed to a majority of their headline styles being big and bold, with different shapes and sizes, creating a distorted and rebellious feel, which

are connotations of rock magazines, so I decided to create something similar. The main purpose of my headline is to grasp the audiences attention when flicking through the

magazine and draw them to read the spread. This is important as they are a vital convention of magazine double page spreads.