Evaluation 1: Forms and Conventions

Evaluation 1: Forms and Conventions

Masthead and Title:

These conventions are used to attract the audiences attention, in my case this is done by using a thick bold font and having be dark colours. I have used this to make my own house style, this font is featured on every page and is memorable because of this.

Drop Cap:

I have used this to tell the audience where the content of the main article starts, this has been done using the same font as my masthead and titles, creating a sense of a unique house style.

Column Structure:

The structure of the columns of my main article are fairly simple, they are all the same size and fill almost the whole right page of my main article. The font I used for the content in the columns is unlike the other fonts used throughout my projects, it is simple and easy to read therefore not distracting my reader from the actual content.

The division of my contents page into regulars and features:

My contents page is split up into different sections, on the left it shows the entire contents, whereas on the right it shows all of the articles that would be regul articles and exclusive articles to that magazine. I have chosen to keep these on the same side of the page and with one above the other for the reader's convenience. This helps show the reader my unique brand identity.

Kicker:

Another convention that I used to help develop my brand identity is the kicker. The kicker on my main article is short but to the point, this may attract attention as my target audience as well as most other readers prefer to get the the point and content of articles.

Graphical and other layout devices:

For most of the layout in my magazine I have used the colour grey for white space and the colour blue for text. I have used this on mostly every page which creates a unique brand identity.

Use of white space:

There is not much use of white space throughout my products, there is some on the front cover between the masthead and image but I have used this to make the image stand out more.

Colour scheme and  house style:

For the colour scheme of my magazine I have chosen blue, black and grey, these colours work well together because the black makes the blue stand out and it is clear where separate things are in the products because of this colour scheme. This use of dark colour is similar to other magazines as that same genre but because I used two similar colours (black and grey) my house style is unique.

Journalist style of written content:

The way that I have chosen to present my written content makes it seem like the writer is talking to a friend, this is because I have used some slang words and terms. I have done this whilst still making my content sound professional and kept the content interesting so the reader does not lose interest.

Cover line:

I have used this convention on the front cover, I have made it easily recogniseable as the main cover line as the font size is larger than the other cover lines on the front cover, I have also  added white lines to make it unique and to make it easy to read, it is one of the first things you notice other than the main image when you first look at the front cover.

Masthead and Title:

This convention is similar to my masthead because the the use of dark colours and the partially faded font used. However my masthead is not obstructed by anything.

Drop Cap:

This magazine is of a similar genre to mine but has used drop caps very differently, there is also two drop caps for this magazine's main articles but this is due to there being more content within the main article compared to my product.

Column Structure:

The column structure of this magazine has been used very similarly to my own product, however my main article’s last two columns don't have anything between them.

The division of my contents page into regulars and features:

When comparing this professional product to my own I can see that this similar magazine's contents page has less information about the magazine than my own product but it also uses more images and uses a lot more.

Kicker:

The ways in which this professional magazines kicker is similar to mine is that it is short and gets straight to the point.

Graphical and other layout devices:

The layout for this particular contents page is similar to the side of my front cover, but the colour scheme is different. The layout of my magazine is slightly different to a typical punk rock magazine, this is because I don't make many features overlap others, nor have I tilted many images etc.

Use of white space:

There is very few blank spaces on this magazine's front cover which makes it look slightly messy but this may the intended outcome as the target audience for this magazine are stereotypically messy.

Colour scheme and  house style:

This magazine has made its own house style by using a specific colour scheme, in this case its colour scheme consists of red, white and black whereas the colour scheme of my magazine is blue, black and grey.

Journalist style of written content:

The style of this written content is similar to my product because the writer has tried to speak to the reader as if they are a friend, using slang words and terms.

Cover line:

This cover line is from a magazine of the same genre as my product but both cover lines are very different. My main cover line uses only two colour but this one uses 3 or 4 which makes it look messy.

The magazine that is have produced is a combination of metal, punk and rock music. The magazine that influenced my product the most is kerrang.