Genre layout and conventions

Genre layout and conventions

• 1.
  NME music magazine Top of the Pops music magazine
• 2.
  Colours The coloursused on the magazine are pinks and purples, this is very stereotypical as these are the usual colours that young girls will like, as they have used these colours this will entice young girls to this magazine as the colours are very vibrant and bold and they are very girly. All of the Top of the Pops magazines uses these colours as it catches the attention of young girls as they are colourful. Masthead The masthead is very big and bright on this magazine, it covers 1/3 of the page. They have also used the colour bright pink, which is stereotypical as this will attract young girls as they like bright and bright things, so by using this this will attract them very easily. As the masthead is very bold this will make it very easy to read which is suitable for young girls because otherwise they would loose interest and it is also very symbolic of a girls hand writing. Layout The layout of the magazine is very busy and has many different features on the front cover. This is because young girls have a sort attention span, so if the magazine is covered in artist and actors that they like then they will be interested in this magazine as they like everyone on the front cover. It is also very informal as they are using ‘text talk’ as they young girls would only want to read the smallest amount and look pictures the rest of time as they young. Central Image The central image is a picture of Cher Lloyd she has been a star on the X-Factor and has released a few songs. They have put Cher on the front cover as she is young and stylish and therefore young girls would want to aspire to her, as she wears the latest clothes and she has nice make-up and hair. Young girls would aspire to look up to Cher as she is successful and popular. As young girls will know who this artist is this means that they will be more inclined to buy this magazine and also Cher is represented in a positive way to girls. Anchorage text On the front cover of the magazine they usually use text from inside the magazine to draw buyers to the attention so they will be interested in magazine. This makes them want to purchase the magazine just from reading a little incentive about the magazine. This is positioned next to Cher which the anchorage text is about. Barcode, date & price This is important as it lets the target audience know if they have to up to date issue of this magazine and also shows the price of the magazine. Institutional presence This allows the target audience to know about the institutional presence and as it’s the BBC everyone will know about it as they are very well known. Puffs Puffs are used to attract the attention of the audience, as they are usually about the latest stories and the best deals you can find, on this magazine they use a puff with the latest stories about the celebrities which would attract the target audience as they are interested in fashion. Graphic features This helps incise the target audience to read and buy this magazine, as they use images on the magazine that are popular with the target audience and also they are the latest images from the media. They use well known images that are very popular with the target audience. Target audience The target audience for this genre of magazine is young girls from age 8-13. As they have different artist on the front that they would listen to as they are popular with young children. They enjoy listening to the latest music and wearing the same clothes as this artist, as they want to be like them.
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  Colours There aremany colours used on this magazine such as, red, yellow, blue, black and white this colours are all primary colours and are very bold which creates the magazine to have a 3D effect. This attracts the readers as it looks like the text is coming out of the page because of the colours that are used. The articles on this cover are mainly in blue and the main cover line is yellow causing to stand out than anything else on the page, this will grab the attention of the buyers as they know that it is about The Wombats. Puffs Puffs are used to attract the attention of the audience, as they are usually about the latest stories and the best deals you can find, on this magazine they use a puff with the latest list of gigs and events that are happening that their target audience will be interested in. As they are writing about gigs, the target audience will want to know about them so they can see their favourite artists. Graphic features On this magazine they have other graphic images, these are images of other boy bands and artists, which are popular with the target audience. This attracts the buyers to this magazine as they can also see what else is featuring in the magazine, this makes them interested so then they will want to purchase the magazine. Layout The layout of the magazine is very informal as the target audience are males and at young age this will attract them, as they only want to read small articles. The layout is busy but structured so you can see everything on the cover very clearly and its easy to read and also there many articles and pictures on the cover so it doesn’t look empty. Central Image An eye level shot has been used on the front cover of The Wombats they are looking directly at the camera which makes it look like they are staring straight at the buyer, this makes the buyer feel like are developing a relationship with the magazine. The Wombats are all at different heights, this may show the different levels of responsibility and authority they have within the group. In the image they all look scruffy and they are wearing messy clothes and they all look lazy and effortless, this portrays the target audience which is students as they can relate to this image as most students are like this. Tagline The tagline is bright yellow with black writing which will attract the buyers attention straight away, this will then lead the buyer onto reading the article about ‘Glasto’. Readers like seeing information about different festivals coming up as they can prepare themselves and also know the line up so by using information about Glastonbury this makes the magazine very popular. Barcode, date & price This is important as it lets the target audience know if they have to up to date issue of this magazine and also shows the price of the magazine. Masthead NME is a very popular magazine and this why the masthead is very recognisable. The masthead have colours such as, red black and white and is also very bold this makes the masthead easy to remember. The masthead is always at the top of the magazine, as this is the first thing you would be able to see when looking at this magazine. Target audience The target audience for this magazine is mainly aimed at males ages 16-22 years old, as they are messy and lazy like the image is portraying on the front cover. They also use other bands and artists that males like which would also entice them to read this magazine as that is what they would be interested in. Slogan The slogan used for NME is placed just below the masthead and it stands for ‘New Musical Express’ which lets the readers know that it’s a music magazine straight away. Main cover line The Wombats is in bright yellow and is very big and bold on the front cover, covering part of the main image. This attracts the buyers straight away as the yellow stands out and is the brightest feature on the cover. This also lets the target audience know that their will be a article on The Wombats. This entices them to buy this magazine as this band is popular with the target audience.
• 4.
  Top of ThePops contents page NME contents page
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  Layout From lookingat this contents page you can clearly see that it is the contents of the Top of The Pops magazine, as it uses the same colours and layout as the front cover did. This is very important that the magazine keeps to the same theme or it can confuse the audience and they may not be interested to read on in the magazine. The layout is very structured and organised so this makes it easy to read. This contents page has an image of the front cover of this magazine, this reminds the target audience of the front cover so they can remember the different articles that are shown. They have also labelled the different articles very clearly, this shows the page numbers which those articles are on so they can flick to that page straight away if they want too. This makes it easy to refer back to each different article. They have highlighted many articles in yellow on the contents page, this is what they feel the target audience will be most interested in reading. They have also used images of different clothes items to direct the audience to that page if they want to read about fashion, this helps the audience know where the fashion features are within the magazine as this may be the only thing they are interested in. They have also got a section about boys, this is very suitable for the target audience because girls at that age will start getting interested about boys, which means this will attract them to read this magazine. The magazine is also promoting 3D posters, this will attract the target audience, as they will want a poster to have on their wall of a popular artist and also this is very unique and different in a magazine which will also attract the audience as they might not of seen it before. On the contents page they have spilt features and stories into sections, this shows organisation within the magazine. Also some of the features are highlighted within that section this shows that those stories are more important than others and also it allows the audience to get the that part easier of the magazine if they are interested in it. This is something I would include to my magazine if I was to choose this genre as it makes it very easy for the target audience. They have also used a image of a boy band- One Direction, this relates to one the competitions under the section ‘@wins&offers’ . This will attract some girls as if they are interested in One Direction then they will want to try and win the competition. This is very relevant as this magazine is focused on the music industry and they are very popular.
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  The header conveysNME’s logo, so it will be easily recognised to who produced the magazine and this also makes the magazine consistent as they use the same logo every time. This gives the reader a constant reminder of the magazine so they don’t forget it and they will be able to remember it well. Also they have used ‘NME this week’ this shows that they are giving off a young and current style of their magazine as they are producing one every week with the latest news. This also gives the magazine a new edge so the magazine isn’t the same every time. The colours that are used are following the colour scheme in which NME always uses, this makes the magazine consistent and easy to recognise straight away as the colours don’t change. The colours are used very effectively as they all contrast each other and make everything clear and bold to read. The layout is very clear as everything is in sections, which makes the contents page very structured and easy to follow. This also allows the reader to understand which story fits in with each section by their titles used. This lets the readers look at certain sections which appeal to them so they can go straight to that page. On the contents page there is only one main image which shows that there is only one main article in this magazine as this is the only image used on the contents page. Just by looking at the contents page you an easily tell that it is related to the front cover, as they use the same colours and font in the contents and also the image is also related to the front cover and also it is very obvious that this genre is rock from the images, layout and colours used. If this was the genre of magazine I would chose then this layout is one thing I would think about because it appeals to the audience and by giving it structure it makes the magazine look professional. On the contents page they also have the band index which appears on every NME magazine. This is very useful to the target audience as they can the list of bands from this index and go straight to the page which that band is on. This also entices the target audience to keep buying this magazine because of they are interested in a band which is shown in this band index then this will persuade them to buy it as they can find out new information every week.
• 7.
  Top of ThePops double page spread NME double page spread
• 8.
  The main imageon this double page spread is Cher Lloyd as she has featured on the front cover and the contents page. This image is a full body image of Cher Lloyd, she is wearing fashionable clothes which will appeal to young girls as they want to keep up with the latest's trends so this shows that she like fashion. Cher's pose is very unique as she is holding a camera with her hand over her mouth whilst bending over, this shows that Cher can be cheeky and mischievous sometimes this portrays the image of the target audience as this is how they would act as well. The colours that are used are the same as the front cover and the contents page so this magazine is easy to recognise and also makes the magazine consistent and professional. By using the colours pink and yellow this makes the text very bold and clear to read and by using the yellow this is highlighting the text and feels like that those parts are the most important to read. This allows the target audience just to read those parts and still be able to know about the story, as the target audience is young they won’t want to read a lot as they have a short attention span. This double page spread has been broken down into columns so it is easy to read and doesn’t seem like there is lots of text on the page. If I was to do this genre of magazine then I would use this layout as it would be very appealing to the target audience. Under the pull quote from the text they have a sub heading this gives an incite to readers about what is happening in the story and this makes them interested in reading it as they have said “forget everything you think you know about Cher Lloyd” this makes this article seem like its one off and you should read it as you will get new information about Cher that you cant find anywhere else. On the page they have a page number this allows the readers to go straight to that page to find out more about he story this is very useful as then they don’t need to go through all the pages to find the story. They can ensure that they will go to that page as they have been given the page number. This double page spread is very applicable to read and to interpret when looking at the magazine. This suggests that the magazine is aimed for younger girls as they don’t want to read a lot. This is very clear from the magazine and this is useful for other people as then they can see straight away who is it aimed at and this would one thing to include for this genre of magazine.
• 9.
  This image showsa boy band who looked very engaged with the target audience trying to draw them in to buy this magazine as it looks like they are looking straight at you, they also look a bit ragged in their clothes and this would appeal to men as they don’t really care what they look like. To be successful you don’t need to be wearing the most expensive clothes as this image portrays and this again would interest men as they don’t really worry about their own appearance. Also this emphasises that if you want to be successful you should just be yourself as you don’t need to look and be the best. The background used is the same colour of some of their clothes it is very simple and plain which suggests that the band don’t want to stand out they just want to be seen as simple and they don’t want to be like other music artists. The clothes portray the image that this band is very vintage and this appeals to their target audience as people that like rock generally wear vintage and unique clothing. The image is a medium shot as you can see their clothing from the waist. Also they are positioned in an order which shows that the man at the front is the lead singer and that he is the most well known of the group and the other members are still important but many people many not recognise these people. The use of simplistic colours and the vintage look for a boy band is very popular and I think it sells the magazine very well. This is something that I would like to use in my magazine as it gives off a great effect about the band and how they are as a band and if you were to see them then this is how they would be. The title of the magazine is very plain which links well with the design of this magazine which is very simplistic. This makes it appealing to young men as they like simple things to read because if its complicated then they won’t want to read it. This is something that I may incorporate if I use this style of magazine. This article is set out like a news paper with the columns used. This shows the basic layout for this genre of magazine, this is useful to use as if I was to do this particular design in my magazine then this would be the layout I would like to have. Also by using the blue this contrasts the usual colour of red for the NME logo.