Forms and Conventions

My magazine Grimey Society, is a magazine about an English type of music called grime. Grime is an urban genre of music which originated in East London, England in the early 2000’s. It is almost a development of the music genre garage, but is also associated with rap or hip hop. Grime is generally associated with teenagers from urban backgrounds and stereotypically popular amongst “chavs”. My magazine consists of interviews with music stars, updates on the latest gigs, and reviews on all of the past gigs and festivals, also it will advertise latest albums from the grime stars.
Generally I feel my magazine flows well with the conventions of magazines layouts in general; as my front cover really consists of one main image and cover lines, with a large masthead, and advertisement for what’s in the magazine. Also I feel my magazine fits in with the conventions of Grime as a complete genre. As it is a fairly dark feeling magazine but however has bright and vibrant parts to it, which I feel brings out the so called “bling” and “gangster” side off grime. As the lyrics are commonly associated with money, jewellery, women, and gangs.
I choose the name Grimey Society for my magazine title as it is almost a play on words, as it has a double meaning. As Grime is the type of genre my magazine mainly focuses on the genre Grime. So I thought I would associate this into the title of my magazine. But the word grime also is known as a fungus or a layer of dirt that occurs when something is not cleaned properly or enough, and as my target audience is for people who live in run down and urban areas of Britain, I thought I would name my magazine Grimey Society. But this can also be interpreted as in that the music genre is becoming so big that it is everywhere thus creating a Grimey Society. But however I generally called it Grimey Society as I feel it clearly gets across what type of music is focused on in the magazine, and it is relevant to my target audience.
My front cover Consists of a big style masthead at the top of the page. With an almost spray painted effect, due to the stroke I put around the writing, and how I created the effect off paint dripping down from the writing. I feel the font I used is big and clear and easily read, and does create a representative logo for my magazine. Also my magazine has one main image on the front cover, what is off a rapper, in stereotypical clothing for a rapper; a hooded jacket and a beanie hat. I have edited the colouring of him into a dark blue colour, what is fairly dull and grimey looking. I have deliberately done this to my front cover too connote the whole urban feeling; as it is aimed at an audience from an urban background I feel they will be able to relate to this. Also the background to my front cover is a street with overflowing wheelie bins: and the way I have placed a successful rapper on this suggests he may have came from an area where this was a common site, and how you can break through and make it big in what ever, connoting success is achievable from these urban areas. I also feel the colour scheme of dark blue white and quite a vibrant bright blue represent my target audience as my magazine is aimed at young youths from quite rough areas and run down parts of cities and towns. So as I have chosen mainly quite dark colours it has represented that this music in this magazine is there own and has come from another area like theirs and easy to relate to for the readers. Also I feel as it is dark and a dull colour scheme I have chosen it represents grime as a genre because it makes everything look kind of grimey and un-glamorised look for my front cover. Also by the way I have laid out my front cover it goes along with the conventions of how magazines are generally laid out. Another magazine in this genre is one called Woofah and I feel I have followed the conventions pretty well although I have made a few adjustments.

As you can see the magazine Woofah is mainly made up of one main image, so is Grimey Society. But however my title is not placed horizontally to the left of the page. I feel I have challenged this magazine but making it more focused in on one genre of music.
My contents page pretty much follows the same set up as my front cover, but however my main image of which is of a female artist is on the right hand side of the page. However she is in a different style to the front I feel this image helps to represent the all of teenagers in a fairly “yobish” as my caption underneath says “Grime just got a little bit more Indie” suggesting that all sub-cultures throughout Britain are all similar. But however this image is the original colour and not a dull blue colour, connoting that the person in the image is a new bright star? Or something special and original. Although the young female in my image is in a lightly different attire to my demographic audience I feel this still works and may perhaps widen my audience. Also my title for my page is in a similar place to my masthead for my front cover. But however this is in a dark blue with a baby blue background allowing it to stand out much more. I also aligned all of my cover lines to the left hand side all with a similar affect with a lighter background.
My double page is similar in layout and conventions to one from Hip Hop Connection, as it has a main image of the artist interviewed on one page and the story on another

Here is an example of the page. My double page spread however Is still following the same house styles of the front cover and contents page in my magazine. With the dark blue representing the dirty grimey looking side of my magazine But however on the right handed page in my double page spread, has brought out some new colours in a bright vibrant blue, pink, and green, connoting that something glamorous can come from urban areas and backgrounds. Also these could be represented as some sort of stage lights. My writing consists of pull quotes to break up the interview. I feel my writing is very clear and easily understood.