Drafting and planning

 My NME magazine

This was a task we were set in which we had to create a cover in the style of our chosen magazine, for me its NME something I discussed in my previous blog post : http://stevesasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/drafting-and-planning.html. the conventions and the layout had to comply with the style of our magazine and I think I achieved this well.

This is an original photo in which I try and present myself as a stereotypical main cover star. I did this through costume, I sported a suit because it is fashionable and professional and I wore sunglasses because its a form of disguise that adds a cool attitude to the artist. These create a typical image for an artist especially ones in mainstream magazines like NME.

I used a mid shot because it is a conventional camera shot used in music magazines. I also used a technique called direct mode of address which creates interaction between the artist and the audience. Finally I used bright lighting so that the artist is clear to the readers.

On the left is a screenshot of the magazine roughly half way in to the making.

I implemented a masthead of a similar size to the ones on the real NME magazine and edited the image so that it overlaps the masthead. This is a typical convention of NME magazine which demonstrates that the main cover star is more Important especially since the masthead is well known. I added a main cover line with anchorage text and used colours that complied with the house colours of NME. The font I used was big and bold, yet another typical convention which instantly tells the readers who the main cover star is and makes out that the artist is important in comparison to the other artists and bands shown in the cover lines.

I also feel that this created good typography because the font was professional and serious like the image. I also added in more common and much smaller conventions, like date, price barcode and a pug. These are laid out in the style of the NME magazine, so I think they fit in well.

This is the completed front cover, to do so I had to add in cover lines.

These featured well known artists that would most likely appear on an NME magazine and I also used colours that contributed typographically to the cover. This is because the fonts again matched that of the image and the main cover line but also because of the colours. Like the main cover line I used red for the artist’s/ band’s name to emphasise their importance but I also used navy blue for the text because it complied with the colour of the jacket in the image. I was able to use typography because i covered it in a previous task: http://stevesasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/drafting-and-planning-investigating.html At the bottom of the page I included a list that is used in a lot of NME magazines. In one of the cover lines I used language techniques like a triple and alliteration which are typically used in NME magazines because they are more appealing for the readers.

I managed to do this because of my knowledge of codes and conventions demonstrated here http://stevesasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/drafting-and-planning-codes-and.html
my research into NME magazines http://stevesasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/indie-rock-music-magazine-analysis.html
and finally my practice with making NME magazines http://stevesasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/drafting-and-planning-magazine-front.html