Evaluation One

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Throughout the project my main point of making the magazine was to make it look as real as a magazine which is being sold on the shelves at every shop. I wanted simplicity but with also an urban style which has a side of uniqueness to it. I decided to develop the convention of having both a busy and simplistic magazine by making the front cover busy and other parts of the magazine simple and stylish.

Front Cover

When creating my magazine I tried to adhere to the typical features shown in music magazines of the genre R&B. I used my similar product research and also my key concepts presentation to gather information on other magazines, particularly NME and Vibe. After closely studying these magazines, I gathered enough knowledge on the design of R&B magazines to create my own that maintains to appear professional and appealing to the target audience of the ages 16-34.

Furthermore I wanted to make my magazine stand out from others on the shelf, I felt I could achieve this by creating a bold and elaborate Masthead. I created the Masthead to look battered and rough; I did this by using a font that looks as if it has been cracked and it represents power and uniqueness. This is because displays my magazine to be risky and dangerous, indicating the content will also follow that theme therefore will be an interesting read. This is the type of magazine that will appeal to my target audience as they will enjoy reading about rebellious characters and engaging in exciting stories. However, I used the colour black to reflect the sophistication of the magazine.

I used a close up of my model which really zooms into her face and it highlights her feistyness due to the make-up she is wearing. This is typically a conventional shot for a front cover as they are typically close-ups or medium shots and I felt this was appropriate to grab the reader’s attention as she is making eye contact and her body language is suggestive appealing to the audience. The way my model is dressed and her body language also appeals to the uses of gratifications of personal identity as my model is quite mysterious and engages the audience to find out more and to aspire and admire.

With the different sell lines I used a drop shadow this is to make them stand out and imply that the sell lines are important as it looks like they are news headliners which draws the attention from my readers. The fonts I used correspond to each other as they are all bold and have the reoccurring colour scheme I have.This makes it look professional and invites the target audience to pick it up and read the magazine.

Some of the other conventions I followed for the front page was the use of a barcode, this signifies to the person reading that it is for sale and I also included a price, however I also included a European price, as research I have made shows that R&B music genre is popular in the EU and I fell that it would be necessary to publish to the EU as it has become mainstream.

Moreover, conventionally I also included a website, to follow the new technological trends, the date of issue and I also included a small strapline along these saying,’ The best new magazine for gossip’ this is to create a sense that the magazine is very exclusive and unique and promoting it this way will differentiate from my competitors.

Contents Page

My contents page is my favourite page in my magazine. This is due to the way the page has been layed out and it looks very professional. The images I have taken are from concerts and gigs and also nightclubs. This made my contents page follow the conventions of real music magazines. I wanted my contents page to have more of a visual take on the contents page to allow my readers to identify favourite artists and producers and turn to the page straight away. The images I used show a variety in my magazine and are representations of the different articles, this tells the audience that I have a diversity within my magazine. I also wanted the look to resemble a collage, this is because I felt my target audience would appreciate the acknowledgement that photography is a big interest so having a collage makes it very appealing and makes the magazine seem very suited to them.

I have further put a C underneath the title 'Contents' which highlights that where ever there is a C it means that the story is on the cover. I used the appropriate highlights for the different types of the articles and colonised them to make it easier for the reader to read and use. I also used the contrasting colours to make the fonts stand out and be aesthetically appealing. The page numbers are in a bold and often highlighted in boxes which emphasises the page number.

Double Page Spreads

My double paged spreads continue to use the theme of white, grey and purple, reflecting the mood as exciting, dangerous and inspiring, forcing the reader to feel more involved in my interview with my feature artist ‘Bora Fona and Jade McClune’. On my first double page spread I have produced a introduction page, which includes a very massive picture of the artist featured in my article and their favourite quote, allowing the audience to glance over information and decide whether my magazine, or in this case article, will appeal to them. For the single feature double page spreads they both follow some of the new conventions music magazines have, for both I included on how to keep up with the artists on social networking sites. This is appealing to the audience as they are able to satisfy their social needs and it relates to their own social networking sites. It was important for me to include them as technology is such a growing trend in the generation which my audience profile are based in. For both I also included lots of pull quotes to give a rough idea of the personality and the tone of the magazine Also I included a bold introduction in large font to allow the reader to have a taster of the article and it would be their own choice to follow on reading or not. This is important because I always want my audience to feel as if they have control and not to pressurise them.