Evaluation Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

 Prior to me creating my media products, I observed many professional magazines to make myself more accustomed to what the conventions were and what standard was expected.
My textual analysis also helped me in creating these media products as I was able to understand how a professional magazine should look and it allowed me to visualise my own design.

In my media products I have used several of the forms and conventions so they can be identified to the audience as professional and attract them by the recognisable format.
Firstly my masthead is positioned in the top left hand corner. This is a typical convention in a magazine so the title is recognisable and clear when in display. The masthead is larger than any text on the magazine and is written in a different font to make it standout, grabbing the reader’s attention. Also the font used is bold which is another convention relating to the masthead.



My Magazine - R&R



Since I was focusing on the genre of Rock I decided to use two existing magazines, ‘NME’ and ‘Q’, as case-studies to help create my media products and also help to distinguish my magazine from them, as realistically they would be my competition. Similar to the Q magazine, my coverlines are placed in the left hand corner framed around the model to not detract the audience’s attention from the main image.

 

Q Magazine



My magazine also follows the convention of having a colour scheme. During my research of current Rock magazines I saw the same colour scheme throughout: red, black and white. I decided to follow this as I think that these colours complement each other and also are recognisable of the genre of Rock.  The idea of having my barcode vertical similarly came from my research as in both ‘NME’ and ‘Q’ magazine this is the design. I think by doing this my magazine would stand out as the design is different from any others. Furthermore with the added information of the prices in other countries on the barcode, I think this makes the magazine seem more professional and realistic.

Additionally I have included a selling line in my front cover. I think that this is a good feature to include because it is the title’s main marketing point that states what type of magazine it is and their viewpoint. Placed beneath the masthead I have used “FOR THOSE ADDICTED TO REAL MUSIC!”

By using this as the selling line I feel this establishes what the magazines viewpoint on music is and who this magazine is aimed for – people that have a strong opinion about music.

Throughout I did follow the forms and conventions but I also decided to develop some details.  On my magazine cover, one typical feature of a magazine is the dateline that includes the date and also the price but I decided to separate these features and instead pair the price with the barcode as I think it looks better in terms of presentation.

Also I challenged the convention when it came to the background. To diversify my magazine from others I decided to have my background itself be an image whereas in professional magazines they would usually have a background that was just of one colour. I believe that by challenging this convention it added more excitement to the cover and concept of rebellion.