What constitutes a uniform house style?

To ensure that my magazine complies to a uniform house style, I will need to do further research into what constitutes a house style.























The first magazine I shall be looking into the issue of NME I have utilized for my  contents analysis. The most notable similarity between the two pages is the  plain white background, which is apparent, due to the spacing of the pictures and text on the page. The shape and size of the font between the page numbers, and the cover-lines. The typeface between the two, along with the colouration of the text; notably the similarities between the NME title, and the page numbers. However, this cannot be said for all the text, as the text which accompanies the pictures is comprised of different fonts. Additionally, whilst the Red colour of the text is similar, the yellow and blue on the cover do not make another appearance in the front cover, and thus are less a part of the house style, and more a part of the cover article. All the text is also Sans-serif on the cover, with only the direct quotes changing this.

























The next magazine I shall be looking into is an older issue of NME, which features a drastically different style/ feel from the other magazine. Whilst the background colour remains largely unchanged, the colour taken from the title of NME, and the yellow text from the front page also feature in the contents page. The font used on front cover to denote the cover artist is also of a similar font to the one used to denote 'This week'. Ultimately, the four colours used on the front cover: Red, yellow, white and black are also the only colours to feature in the contents page. This also takes across similar fonts from the front cover, making use of the large rounded text relating to the cover artist, and slightly smaller fonts taken from the advertising/cover-lines above where the title of the magazine sits.

From this magazine, I shall take across the idea of similar fonts from text already featuring on my front cover text, and colours that can be found on my front cover; namely red and black. I shall also use a colour from my cover in my advertisement to subscribe which shall appear on my contents page.

The next magazine I shall be analyzing is the front cover to Rock Sound. This cover is far plainer than the other magazines I have looked at and along with the contents page, creates a simplistic design which I find to be quite interesting. The background, which does admittedly look like one large lighting effect, is different, as it is less of a block colour, and more graphic approach. The magazines takes across the background from the cover and appears to take across the bolded text from the feature title. The contents page doesn't really appear to take any specific colours across from the front cover, as all the cover-lines and such are either black, yellow or white, and considering the colour of the background, the black text is the only one that fits the contents page, though this hasn't been taken from any image in particular from the front cover.

Whilst there isn't much I would, or can take from this that hasn't already been shown to me from the rest  of my research, I still intend to use a similar, if not the same background from my cover, as well as a design element/graphic near the quote at the bottom of the page.





















The final magazine I shall be looking at for my house style analysis is an old issue of Kerrang! This issue is instantly a contrast to the other magazines I have been studying, as the colour of the cover image differs from the contents page. This is not all, as minus the red colour which appears to be in all music magazines currently on sale, the colour for the text inside is completely different to that on the cover. The other features that make this magazine stand out for me is the cover/ feature story, and the contents page. From what I can see, there is no link between either. Whilst I think it odd there is a lack of a house style or any real feeling of brand identity, I shall equate this to the age of the magazine, as it is slightly older than the others I have been analyzing.

From this magazine, I shall take the similar text, taken from the cover and also the red colour for the advertisement that has featured in most of the magazines I have researched.



From all this research into house styles, I shall reflect it in my work by having:

A background to my contents page being identical, or nearly identical to my front cover.
Text in my contents page taking colour from my cover-lines.
Text being reused from my front cover.