Being able to understand the basic conventions/rules of layout for a magazine is important as a media student, learning how technical and formal conventions have an impact on your work.

In pairs, we were given a magazine cover to analysis, picking up on the different types of conventions they’ve used to make their magazine meet the audiences expectations, standing out from the crowd.

These conventions include;

• Masthead
• Cover lines
• Main cover line
• Main cover star
• Barcode
• Price
• Plug
• Pug
• Insets
• Captions

As you can see in the image above, I’ve annotated the magazine, understanding and learning about the importance of the conventions of a layout. It is ensure that my music magazine actually looks like a magazine, ensuring that it meets my audience’s expectations. For example, the main cover line is essential for a magazine as it is the formal way of telling your audience what your magazine is about, giving them an intel of what they’re buying before they purchase it.

Focusing forward, I can now take into consideration how the way I layout my magazine has an impact on the quality of it, understanding the basic conventions/rules of a layout.