Codes and Conventions

As part of our preliminary task, we have to create a school magazine. Magazines in general have codes and conventions they all use (as I posted earlier). As my magazine is only for my school, I won't be using all the codes and conducts that major magazines use however I will be using some. 

On my front cover I will need a title, like most other magazines I will place this at the top. I will use a big bold font to make it stand out, that will probably be the same font I use throughout the magazine. I've found some fonts which I think will work well on the cover of my magazine. 
 

Idsall News – Harrington

Idsall News – Bodoni MT Black

Idsall News – Castellar

Idsall News- Bookman Old Style

Idsall News- Freestyle Script

Here's an example of a school magazine, although this title stands out I wouldn't of put the strip across the very top as it takes your eyes away from the title. 

 

As I am not selling my product I won't need the bar code or price. I could of put them on to make it look more realistic however as it's for my school, so I don't need it. Another thing I wont be needing is free giveaways, as the school has nothing to giveaway!

Another code and conventions I will be using is cover lines. Like most other magazines I will be placing these round the main picture that will be in the middle. These will show people what is inside, it could also tell people what page a certain article or picture is on. I will also use the main cover line just below the title to show the main content. However I won't be using a strip across the top or bottom of the magazine containing lists of items which feature in the magazine as with the cover lines I won't need it. 

Lastly, I will choose only a couple of colours to have on and inside my magazine. The colours will probably be the same as my school logo, which is green but I will have a couple more colours - probably black or gold as I think they will complement each other. This example has the same colours all throughout the cover, I think keeping the colours simple makes the magazine look better than if there was loads of colours on the page. This example looks good because the title and the cover lines are the same shade which complements the photo to.

Codes and Conventions

For magazines there are different codes and conventions they all follow. On the front cover of  magazines there is one main feature article, usually about the person on the front cover. The picture taken is either a close-up shot or a mid shot. For example this front cover of EllE Magazine had a mid shot of Jennifer Lopez, this encourages people to buy the magazine because inside there is an article on her. All the colours used on front colours are usually very simple and there is only a couple of different shades. On this example they've used blacks and greys, this could be to complement Jennifer Lopez's skin tone and make her and the cover look more attractive so more people buy it.

On the front cover there also has to be a title, this is usually one or two words and fills the width of the page. In this example of ELLE Magazine the title is across the top and the mid shot of Keira Knightly is covering the middle two letters. This is the same for many well-known magazines to have the photo cover up some of the title. Also on a lot of magazines they need to have the bar code which is commonly put on the right of the cover and the issue number and price which is also put on the right but can also be found by the barcode.

 

Free giveaways are common among more children ages magazines as this catches there eye and they want to buy it. However you do get giveaways with magazines like ELLE and VOGUE but it’s rare as they are mainly magazines just for fashion and articles on the cover girl/man.

Another code and conventions the magazine business live by is cover lines, a cover line is lines of the text on the cover that attract the audience. They usually go over the cover girl/man a little. The main cover line is the larger section of text that usually sits under the title. It may be about the article inside. For example, this VOGUE magazine with Kate Moss on the cover has her name under the title in a bigger sized font than the others around it. Also at the bottom the font size is bigger to tell people who are thinking of buying it what might be inside, it gives them a sneak peak of what’s to come.

 

Lastly, on magazines they like to give you a hit of what’s inside. This could come in the form of a strip across the bottom of the cover however it's mostly put down the side of the cover girl/man. This links in with the cover lines. On this example of VOGUE with Rihanna on the cover, they've put the snippets of information that's inside round the edge of her mid mid shot. Like other VOGUE magazines it's roughly the same layout, this is because they want all the magazines to be similar in style so they've got one unique style and people can know what the magazine is about before they buy it. They have a reputation to be the best of the fashion/gossip section of magazines so a constant style allows that to happen.

 

 

 

Hey, My names Lily and welcome to my media blog.

 

I am at Idsall Sixth Form and I'm studying Media, Art, I.t and Product Design.

 

This is the first post for my media blog, so I'm going to tell you what's it all about. The purpose of this blog is for me to keep upto date with everything I'm doing and to show the order I'm completing tasks in.

 

I hope you enjoy my blog,

 

Lily