Ray Gun

'Ray Gun' was an American magazine about alternative rock and roll. The magazine was in business for 73 issues from 1992-1999 and stood out from the crowd as it went for a distinctive, non-conventional style. The typography of the magazine was often ineligible and the name was never in the same font or position twice. In some ways this was a bonus for the magazine. Because it was SO different it appealed to a certain audience, to people who liked to think they're different. However it also hindered the magazine as it was often hard to be recognized because the name or layout never was the same.

For example to the right you will see issue 1 next to issue 3. There is a completely different colour scheme, fonts and layout.

Both of these covers where designed by graphic designer David Carson.

Not only are the magazines covers different to each other, they are also different to every single other magazine as they subvert conventions completely. For example, issue 3's main image is upside-down. This was cutting-edge as was the actual content.

Although this is a very different music style to my chosen genre, I think it is still important to look at other styles to help find conventions as well as explore the more unconventional. This will help me see what is successful and what is not so successful. Personally, for the music genre have chosen, I don't think this unconventional style would work at all. But its still interesting to have researched another style.