Magazine layout conventions

Of front cover, contents, and double page spread of a range of magazines.

Front coversBBC Music (UK), Kera (Japan), and Q (UK)

Mast head takes up ¼ of the

cover

Bar code on the bottom right with white background, also has multiple straplines and the URL for the website of the magazine

Name of the artist on the cover. It is

usually big amongst most

magazines, but in the ones I have

chosen, they vary a lot.

Cover image takes up most of the cover area, sometimes covers the masthead to signify importance; BBC – Music is most important, Kera – Kyary (‘Queen of Harajuku’), Muse – the

music industry’s ‘astronauts’.

Images and text showing that there are other

people featured in the magzine

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Factors of Fonts & Text1. Fonts used – generally same 3-4 fonts used2. Colours which are used for text – same few

colours, the colours don’t have a certain ‘ranking’, both primary/secondary/tertiary colours are the same usefulness

3. Main focal text, usually smaller than the font used for mast head

4. Key words to make readers feel like they’re finding out secrets, i.e. revealed, exclusive, inside, or words which implies someone is the best

5. Text which shows the magazine has new albums being released, album reviews, tour dates, interviews, or new acts.

6. Text around barcodes, usually has the issue number, date of when the issue was released and the URL of the magazine’s website.

1. There are about 3 fonts used a serif, san serif and artistic font, sometimes words are italicised i.e.

2. Most of the font is black, apart from the text at the top which is white

3. This is the text under the mast head, it draws attention to itself by having the black strip, and the fairly large font with artistic type write font

4. They refer to Gareth Malone as ‘The nation’s choirmaster’, this adds importance to his character5. It has a guide to an instrument.6. Underneath the bar code, there is the price and the date

Music

Kera1. There are lots of different fonts used, the Japanese fonts are pretty constant, but the fonts in English varies2. There are 4-5 colours used for fonts pink, yellow, blue, red and black3. The main focal text is at the bottom rather than the top, as the focus of the background image is at the top, and it’s at the bottom to balance the focus out.4. The inability to read Japanese stops this part5. You can see there is a Q&A. 6. The bar code has been cut off, but it says the price and date on the right hand side, and it also says the name of the person in the cover photo(Kyary Pamyu Pamyu)

Q 1. There are 4 fonts, a tall font, san serif, artistic (Lydon), and a serif font, possibly 2.

2. There is a strict red, white and black theme. It is mainly red and white, the usage is spread out evenly3. The text of MUSE is large, but the font size is slightly smaller than Q’s logo4. Underneath MUSE, it says exclusive interview5. ‘Album Bonanza’ next to the barcode tells readers about new albums which are coming out. Mentions artists which are related to the magazine6. The date is October 2012 and the price is £3.99, it’s side ways.

Contents

BBC Music (UK), Kera (Japan), and Q (UK)

Music and Kera’s contents are 1 page, Q’s contents are on a double page spread

Collage of images, with a range of shot distances

and artists

The articles are ordered by

relevance, sorted out by regular sections and new/featured articles in a

separate column

The dates are the same as the covers, apart from Q’s pun

The same few fonts are used.

Unseen in scanned images:There is credit given to the photographer on the contents page, on the outside of the margin, near where the magazine binds.

Though barely legible, it shows that there are more than 68 pages, with a strap line underneath the heading.

Sometimes there are messages from the editor or address of the publisher.

Message to the editors are long, and take up a lot of the contents, where as publisher’s address is underneath the

magazine’s logo.

Double page spreadsMusic

Q

A few factors which all DPS* will always have are:• Text in columns; aligned to the right;

not justified nor have any hyphens• No orphan or widows• There are folios; even numbers on the

right, and odd numbers on the left

• A full page with a photo of the person the article is about

• Headline with strap line underneath • Expanded quotes

Most magazines will: • Have dropped capitals• be more than 2 pages

Some will:• Feature albums• URL of the magazine’s website/websites

affiliated with the article

*DPS – double page spread

CuTiE

MusicThe photo for the DPS covers 2 pages.The second thing to note is that the first page of the ‘double page spread’ (not really double page, as it has more than 4 pages) is part of the same photo shoot as the front cover and contents page, you can tell this because he is wearing the same outfit.There’s headline with a strapline below,the headline is in the same artistic font as the cover; the strapline is a different font to the headline. However, the dropped capital ‘G’ is the same font as the headline.

The first page is a single column, the page after are arranged in 3 columns, with images corresponding to the information related to the article. There’s also an expanded quote so that people who are skimming through the magazine might be interested in reading that particular article. The expanded quoteuses the same artistic font as the headline The foliage is correct, even numbers on the right and odd on theleft be side the foliage it says “BBC Music Magazine”

QThe colour theme for the text is red and black. The main bodies of the text are in black, which make the name of the person being interviewed stand out more than the headline of the magazine.

The image of John Lydon is part of the same photo shoot as the one used in the contents page.

In the actual text of the article, there are images embedded between paragraphs of the text to illustrate certain points of John Lydon’s life. There is context of where the image was taken from on the photo itself, below is a quote of what was said by John Lydon during what looks like a television appearance.

The article has a Q & A format. The question and person who asked the question’s name in bold.

It also follows all the conventions mentioned in the first slide about DPS.

CuTiE – June

2012

Unlike most magazines, there is text on the main image of the double page spread. The headline of the article is in the biggest font, then it is the name of the artist.

This double page spread features a few album covers of the artist as well as a few advertisements which they are featured in and promoting new item that she’s selling, collectable.

4 images used from the same photo shoot, 2 long shot, 2 close up. The long shots are surrounded with text and album reviews, where as the close up shots are embedded into the text.

Unlike most DPSs, there is text on the main image of the article, including headline and the name of the artist.

The text is inside a rectangular box with uneven edges. Each paragraph switch between 2 colours . There is also a pattern in the background, it is the same colour as the box surrounding the text. It appears like a boarder at the top of the page.

The foliage is also correct.