Deconstruction Research

Overall, how has this research specifically helped your ideas?

Looking into deconstructions, the conventions have helped me with my own ideas the most. This is due to finding what a typical front cover, contents page and double page should typically include. In this case, I will be looking to my contents page, and how my ideas have developed through looking to these conventions.

It is important to have a number of conventions on a magazine front cover.

One of these main conventions is a masthead, this is the title of the magazine and informs the reader on what they are reading. Since this is one of the first things the reader will see, I want a large masthead which will follow my colour scheme so I will have a running house theme throughout my magazine which will help give a professional feel. The masthead is also important for branding, and is commonly used for things such as promoting.

The main image is the photo on the front cover, this will take up about two thirds of the page, this is commonly a popular artist that the most important article (possibly the double page spread) is about. This can help dramatically increase the number of sales of the magazine. Using a clear head shot for the front cover will make the magazine look professional and making the model look towards the camera will create the most effective cover. In my own production, although the model looking towards the camera creates a connection between the magazine and reader, I will not do this as I think the way the model is posed such as looking away says a lot about the model and who they really are.

The tagline/sell-line is the small amount of text that is associated with a certain magazine, for example popular magazine 'Q' has a tagline of 'Discover Great Music'. These taglines/sell lines will feature on every issue of the magazine, and resulting into the readers being able to find out information of the magazine quickly, from one single sentence. For my own production, I will have to make sure the sell line or tag line is related to my masthead if I were to create one. 

Cover lines provide short sentences that describes the articles inside of the magazine, this catches the readers attention and leaves them wanting to find out more, resulting to them buying the magazine. For my own magazine, I aim to include cover lines, which will also make my magazine more attracting as of the information involved.

A barcode is the key for the sales of the magazine, and not only keeps track of the amount of sales, but makes it a lot quicker for cashiers to scan the code. Using this can allow magazine companies to keep track of where the magazine is sold and what time the magazine is sold, helping them narrow down the type of audience they have and who they are targeting at. I will feature a bar code in my own magazine, resulting into a professional feel for the magazine.

A issue number helps the reader keep track of which issue they are up to in the series. A high number of issues can mean that the magazine has been on sale for a long time, which can result into a large fan-base for this magazine. I will include this convention in my own production, as this allows my audience to know which issues they have and haven't read. 

The date is similar to the issue number, and this establishes when the magazine came out. This is helpful as fans may know when a new album is coming out, and watch out for that issue of magazine so they can read about it and find out more information.