Codes and Conventions of a music magazine

Masthead

Top left aligned At the top left as its short Big bold unique fontThe main image can cover the title if it is well known

As a result we can see here ‘NME’ is known well enough for Alex Turner is covering their masthead.

The main image

Direct address is used at audience to engage them as this could improve the selling point of the magazine. Mid shot /long shot The main image portrays a popular artist that will attract the fans of that fellow artist to buy the magazine. The image is mainly posed with a clear background, you will never find a piece of text over the facial aspect of the image.

One main image –of a well known person e.g Band,Artist

Colour scheme

Around 3 or 4 colours maximum to portray the simplicity of the magazine.Usually use primary colours due to them being more popular within the music magazines as they do not clash with one another.

Red

Blue

White

Barcode

BarcodeDate Pricewebsite

The barcodes is usually found at the bottom right of the magazine being displayed as horizontally. The barcode also includes the price of the magazine, the issue member, date and the web address.

Text:CoverlinesUnique for a reasons this will entice audiences in.Always written in capital letters to grasp the audiences attention.Same font, simple and bold.As a whole these frame the main image on the magazine.5 or 6 coverlines maximum.

Main coverline: Symbolises the main image and is the largest font than the other coverlines.

Sublines: Give extra detail to the coverlines, however they do not give the full story away.

Text

Usually smaller subsidiary images are used to link other stories inside the music magazine or other coverlines.

Fonts:Sans serif (plain font)/Serif (with hooks)