RayGun - David Carson

Ray-gun Magazine - David Carson

'Ray Gun' is an alternative Rock and Roll magazine made in 1992 by David Carson. There are over 70 issues that defy the usual magazine conventions. His usual designs make to magazine well known and attracting to those who prefer alternative things.

PRO'S

• It's Eye-Catching
• Alternative
• Stands Out
• Unique
• Reflects certain type of music
• Push other magazines to become more creative
• Good

CON'S

• No Consistency
• Too Alternative
• Too Busy
• Expensive
• Trying too hard
• Too Keen

My School Magazine

School Magazine

This is the school magazine that I created for my preliminary task. For this task I decided to use Microsoft Publisher as this was a piece of software that I was familiar with as I had previously used.

When making my school magazine I decided to begin with picking a colour scheme and I decided to take the colours used in the schools logo which are red, green and white. I thought that this would be a good idea as it helped to give things together and in contrast with each other. I decided that I would use a large photo as my cover photo as I liked the look of one that I had analysed and felt that this would be a good idea when making my magazine.

School Magazine Analysis

School Magazine Analysis

Before I begin to make my preliminary task school magazine I decided to analyse some existing magazine to identify how the conventions used and the overall effect that these conventions have on the look of the magazine. This is a previous students school magazine that I found when looking at their blog. I decided that this magazine would be a good example to do a textual analysis on as it is relevant to the task as it is a school magazine and also I will be able to reflect on a past students work and this will help me decide what does and does not work with the choices that they made.



Now the thing that you are first attracted to when looking at this magazine is the 'Masthead'. The masthead on this magazine is big and bold and stands out from the magazine. The masthead of the magazine is in a different font and colour which makes it stand out compared to the other text on the cover of the magazine. Something about this masthead which makes it very different to other magazine mastheads is the way that they have used the 'W' for Wilmo, for the word Weekly as well. This makes the masthead interesting and to help it stand out.

Another feature that you are immediately attracted to when first looking at this magazine is the cover image. The cover image used is bold and stands out as there is only one person included in the image that it is not to cramped or over crowned. However the way that the publisher has made the image stand out by making the image large and taking up most of the cover is interesting and defiantly something I will think about doing when I make my preliminary school magazine and my music magazine.

The cover lines of this magazine are quite bold and they did this by making particular words in a bolder colour such as red in order to draw the readers in. This is an effective method of making the cover lines stand out to the reader and would help to draw in an audience or even a different audience to the magazine. Cover lines are important on a magazine as they help to inform and give the reader an idea what the magazine is about and what it will be including. This will be important for the reader when deciding whether to buy the magazine or not.

However there are some things on this magazine that I would change or not include when making my own magazine. The structure of the magazine looks quite rushed and cluttered meaning that the actual magazine is complicated to read and could make the reader lose interest in the magazine if the layout is not simple, therefore this will be something that I need to consider when making my magazine. When making my magazine I think that I will try to focus on a colour scheme as this magazine includes many colours and becomes very hard to focus on a particular element as all of the features stand out on the magazine. These are all things I need to think about when making my own magazine.

The Four F's of Magazine Design

1. FORMAT:
Design choices that span every issue and define a magazine's overall look and feel determine the format. These include the logo, cover lines, size of the magazine, department headers, and folios.

2. FORMULA:
The formula sums the magazine's approach to editorial content. Feature type and length, departments in the front and back of the book, photographic style, and illustrations all contribute to the formula.

3. FRAME:
The frame is the standard for outer page margins and gutters. Some magazines use the same margin width through the magazines; others vary the width, using tall top margins for features to set apart the well, for instance. The rule for using margins establishes consistency from issue to issue.4. FUNCTION:
The function is, quite simply, what a magazine is trying to achieve and the message it's trying to send.

and successful in many industries. The big font displaying her name will attract any music lovers or Madonna fans especially if her image is not known or clear to the audience/reader. The cover lines are spread around the edge of the magazine obviously trying not to cover up the image of Madonna. The Format of this is interesting but also a classic example of magazine design. The picture of Madonna stands out as important as she is very well known  is very successful and will attract any readers just by her face being on the cover. The bar-code being near the center right is unusual as normally they will be featured at the bottom. The titles in the top right corner stand out in bold colours like white and red on a black background.

The Formula of  'Q' magazine. There will be a main feature on the front cover. The masthead (Q) is also always in the top left corner. This is a constant occurrence. The cover lines are always spread over the sides of the magazine so it does not cover the main feature who is this instance is Madonna. Throughout the issues of the magazine if the is a big star like Madonna or Michael Jackson they are placed in-front of the Masthead (Q) showing the audience that the creators of the magazine view them highly and are almost too famous to be put behind the it. The overall look of the magazines is that they cover a range of musical genres and shows in impressive look that will interest all readers.

The Frame of 'Q' magazine is that they have no margin. The designers cover every part of the magazine in something and the leave no part of the pages blank. There are no gap or frames that the magazine could use to stand out. This is a consistent feature of this magazine. There are no margins throughout their magazines and there is no gaps of spaces that have been left without.  

The Function of this magazine is that they are trying to promote various things such as bands and musical artists, Cd's and albums that you could by, gigs and concerts, others magazines such as 'Women in Music'. They are trying to inform people of artists that they may not of heard of or may not have experienced in their music genre.

The Secrets of Magazine Cover Design

Poster-style cover, with minimal encroachment
on the celebrity image of Bruce Willis, for the launch
of Esquire in Moscow. Compare the way each face has 
been positioned on these covers.

The Secrets of Magazine Cover DesignLook and Feel: The way a cover looks is dictated by the publishing and editorial strategy that it is designed to put across. The poster-style adopted by Esquire for is launch in Russia is laid back and confident - with the contrast lighting giving a 'hard' feel to Die Hard actor Bruce Willis. Poster Designs are chosen by magazines that feel confident they are not facing great competition on the news-stand. However, even the top magazines will only use this style occasionally.

The men's monthly must use a face that is instantly recognizable, put the magazine in an international framework and appeal to well-off, aspirational readers. The photo of Bruce Willis for Esquire will have been taken by the one of the best photographers, it will be processed by the best repro houses and printed on very good paper by a very good printer - it will both look and feel glossy. Esquire in Russia on the hand will be sold in selected, upmarket outlets where it will usually be shown full-face on.





The Conventions of Music Magazines

The Conventions of magazine cover design: Key Ingredients
Masthead (Title, logotype, logo or nameplate): The name of the magazine displayed in a specific typeface. This is the visual branding of the title and its often done in specially designed typeface to be easily recognised and unique. The masthead - also called a title - is usually used on the contents page inside as well as the front cover, and as a logo for advertising and branding purposes.
Main Image: Example - In the case of this front cover there is a single image of the model Shania. The image is used in a classic way, the face is big enough to stand out on the news-stand, with the model making full eye-contact.
Cover lines: From the 1950's, greater competition on the newsstands resulted in more cover lines. Today , some magazines print special covers for subscribers' copies hat we use a few cover lines. Cosmopolitan magazine uses a lot of cover lines, which are distributed around the main image without detracting from it too much. A mistake often made with cover lines is that they run over an image that has a lot of colour changes, rendering the words difficult to read. This is a problem here with the red text  on the hair on the left and smaller yellow text against Shania's skin.
Main Cover Image: This is very large - taking up almost a quarter of the magazine cover - and comes in three layers, each with a different colour. Note the main cover line is positioned against the models' shoulder so it shows up clearly.


I will refer back to this when creating my music magazine as it will help me include all of the main factors and conventions needed in a music magazine. This post will help me to think about the effect that I need from my music magazine and how I can achieve this using these conventions.

Music Genres