My magazine's genre is mostly electronic music with some indie and punk; these genres are associated mostly with young people and party/club culture and bands such as: Late of the Pier, Prodigy, Pendulum and Arctic monkeys. The conventions of these genres and youth magazines in general are bright eye catching colours and more focused on having a fun time than subtleties and getting meaning from music. The types of articles they will usually feature are interviews with big acts, club and gig reviews and competitions as they are what people interested in the culture will want to hear about. There are a few magazines that have this kind of look, such as Mixmag and NME.
I have followed a few conventions of Mixmag in terms of style and articles, but I have challenged conventions in terms of including non electronic genres in there, and incorporating other youth cultures in there as well. I think my magazine can fill a gap in the market because as of yet there is no magazine that combines the youth subcultures into one magazine, giving it a wider audience and making it appealing as it has everything they want. My magazine is called Forward as I wanted it to make readers feel as though they were being brought forward to the newest and cutting edge music scenes fashions and bands which I tried to represent through my magazine. 
My front cover has a lot of regular conventions such as cover lines, the mast head, bar code and tag lines.
My front cover has a lot of regular conventions such as cover lines, the mast head, bar code and tag lines.
I added in a tag line below the title 'feel alive' which is implied through the magazine is through going and having a fun time and this will draw the reader in as they will want to know how to have the best time. The masthead uses a rave/club style font giving the appearance of being made up of LEDS, this fits in with the conventions of the genres I am trying to portray. Below the masthead is a circle made to look like a sticker which displays the price, which is quite low for a monthly and another point that will draw readers in. I have 
used primary colours for the front 
cover as it will be more eye-catching and hints at the house style of yellow and black, and blue and red. The image I have used for the front cover is quite an energetic photo and connotes live rock music due to the amp and drum kit, it’s a group shot and has had the contrast altered and the background removed to give it a futuristic look. The last thing to see on the front cover is the barcode which is a common convention of magazines. The next finished product is the contents page, which follows the house style brought in on the front cover. The contents make it easier for the reader as it gives them short descriptions of each article and page numbers with photos. It makes the house style a bit darker, with more black to make it slightly less eye catching and smarter looking and easy to read. I added the masthead to give it a sense of continuity. I had a large picture of the cover band with a tag line showing the page number of it, this makes it really easy for the reader to find the article they want and also make the cover look more professional as writing the page numbers of articles on the front cover isn't a convention and looks 
unprofessional. I wrote the word contents in a smart semi techno looking font to go in with the genre of the magazine. I used it because this fits in with the ideas of the magazine and fans of the genre enjoy it. The contents is split into regulars and features each with their own title and black outline, I gave all them all descriptions below the page number and article name to make it sound interesting. These were written in an informal way to connect with the reader more, even using some of their slang. I tried to make the contents appear 'hi-tech' a theme that I am trying to use throughout my magazine. All the photos I have used have models in them that are connected to the club culture or more rocky drum and bass culture. I left most of the photos unedited as since they are part of the youth culture the backgrounds of stages and clubs are interesting on their own. The only photos I did edit were to make them look more hi-fi or eye catching to stay in with my themes. Another conventions I used was page number on the contents and double page spread, this makes it easier for the reader to locate specific parts of the magazine and makes it look more professional. My last finished product was the double page spread, and I went for the convention of an interview for it. My mast head says 'Prodigy is back!' in eye-catching fonts and colours, this suggests that the prodigy is something great that has returned, they are also known as a huge electronic/rock band which is really what my magazine is about, so this will appeal to my audience. Below that is a by line which shows who the article is by and also offers a peek at what’s going on. I used italics as that style is an obvious convention as well as the drop cap which is another convention used a lot to smarten up writing and make it slightly more eye-catching So I used it twice in the double page spread. The gutters in my writing are quite small which connotes busyness which is good for a magazine of this style as it is not meant to feel relaxed and spaced out and should instead appear fast and exciting. I had to make sure all the columns where the same width otherwise it would of appeared slightly odd and unprofessional. I used headings to break up the article making it appear less of a huge load of writing. Headings also help readers to read certain parts they find interesting
I also used pull quotes of small parts I thought the reader would
find particularly interesting or said something important about the band. I used a shape as an end sign as it is a common convention and is obviously useful for the reader. The writing style is interview with questions in italics. This is a very common form and like the subheadings also the reader to read small sections at a time and the questions they find interesting, it also works to split up the text. The image I have used for the double page spread is a group shot, on an even level, connoting that the band are on the same level as the reader which is something they will like. I shot the picture in a music studio with a keyboard in the background to give it more of a band feel, as it connotes that they just paused work to do the interview. The image is tilted and given a shadow so it appears to be messy and more like a scrapbook, which worked well considering the rest of the article, looks smart. My first cutaway box is a list of the ten artists that influence The Prodigy the most, the cutaway is a common convention and by bringing in a separate style for the page it looks quite good as well. It works to give the reader more choices about what to look at, the list goes from one to nine and gives the reason why underneath it, this makes the reader feel as though they know the artist better which is great. The second cutaway box is a gig review. It first states the supporting band and the date and location as well as the rating. For
the rating I used a technique I have seen in a few other magazines which is to take the first letter of the title of the magazine with the same font and colour and use that as a rating system, I think it works quite well here to demonstrate the magazines cohesiveness. 
used primary colours for the front 
cover as it will be more eye-catching and hints at the house style of yellow and black, and blue and red. The image I have used for the front cover is quite an energetic photo and connotes live rock music due to the amp and drum kit, it’s a group shot and has had the contrast altered and the background removed to give it a futuristic look. The last thing to see on the front cover is the barcode which is a common convention of magazines. The next finished product is the contents page, which follows the house style brought in on the front cover. The contents make it easier for the reader as it gives them short descriptions of each article and page numbers with photos. It makes the house style a bit darker, with more black to make it slightly less eye catching and smarter looking and easy to read. I added the masthead to give it a sense of continuity. I had a large picture of the cover band with a tag line showing the page number of it, this makes it really easy for the reader to find the article they want and also make the cover look more professional as writing the page numbers of articles on the front cover isn't a convention and looks 
unprofessional. I wrote the word contents in a smart semi techno looking font to go in with the genre of the magazine. I used it because this fits in with the ideas of the magazine and fans of the genre enjoy it. The contents is split into regulars and features each with their own title and black outline, I gave all them all descriptions below the page number and article name to make it sound interesting. These were written in an informal way to connect with the reader more, even using some of their slang. I tried to make the contents appear 'hi-tech' a theme that I am trying to use throughout my magazine. All the photos I have used have models in them that are connected to the club culture or more rocky drum and bass culture. I left most of the photos unedited as since they are part of the youth culture the backgrounds of stages and clubs are interesting on their own. The only photos I did edit were to make them look more hi-fi or eye catching to stay in with my themes. Another conventions I used was page number on the contents and double page spread, this makes it easier for the reader to locate specific parts of the magazine and makes it look more professional. My last finished product was the double page spread, and I went for the convention of an interview for it. My mast head says 'Prodigy is back!' in eye-catching fonts and colours, this suggests that the prodigy is something great that has returned, they are also known as a huge electronic/rock band which is really what my magazine is about, so this will appeal to my audience. Below that is a by line which shows who the article is by and also offers a peek at what’s going on. I used italics as that style is an obvious convention as well as the drop cap which is another convention used a lot to smarten up writing and make it slightly more eye-catching So I used it twice in the double page spread. The gutters in my writing are quite small which connotes busyness which is good for a magazine of this style as it is not meant to feel relaxed and spaced out and should instead appear fast and exciting. I had to make sure all the columns where the same width otherwise it would of appeared slightly odd and unprofessional. I used headings to break up the article making it appear less of a huge load of writing. Headings also help readers to read certain parts they find interestingI also used pull quotes of small parts I thought the reader would
find particularly interesting or said something important about the band. I used a shape as an end sign as it is a common convention and is obviously useful for the reader. The writing style is interview with questions in italics. This is a very common form and like the subheadings also the reader to read small sections at a time and the questions they find interesting, it also works to split up the text. The image I have used for the double page spread is a group shot, on an even level, connoting that the band are on the same level as the reader which is something they will like. I shot the picture in a music studio with a keyboard in the background to give it more of a band feel, as it connotes that they just paused work to do the interview. The image is tilted and given a shadow so it appears to be messy and more like a scrapbook, which worked well considering the rest of the article, looks smart. My first cutaway box is a list of the ten artists that influence The Prodigy the most, the cutaway is a common convention and by bringing in a separate style for the page it looks quite good as well. It works to give the reader more choices about what to look at, the list goes from one to nine and gives the reason why underneath it, this makes the reader feel as though they know the artist better which is great. The second cutaway box is a gig review. It first states the supporting band and the date and location as well as the rating. For the rating I used a technique I have seen in a few other magazines which is to take the first letter of the title of the magazine with the same font and colour and use that as a rating system, I think it works quite well here to demonstrate the magazines cohesiveness. 
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