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

COVER

MastheadThe positioning of my masthead conforms to the conventions of a generic music magazine. Magazine’s such as NME, Vibe and Kerrang always have their mast head at the top region of the page, in fact I have never seen these 3 magazines deviate from this convention. By having a large masthead in such a dominating position on a page allows it to be easily seen amongst other magazines on a cramped shop stand.

REWIND NME VIBE

In regards to font and colour, my masthead challenges traditional conventions. Q magazine have a very ‘vintage’ font which is always surrounded by a bold red colour, which in my opinion makes it seem very boring. Kerrang have a very in your face aggressive title (broken glass, grunge font) . My masthead is different in the sense that I have gone for a more sleek approach with readability in mind. I have chosen to use a gradient of two browns (taken from the image to form a good colour palate) as it connotes sophistication, which is what will attract my target audience.

REWIND

Q

KERRANG

Although you can’t actively put your finger on the conventions of naming a music magazine I feel that if there was a definitive one that I’ve deviated from the standard norm. If you look at the current most popular music magazines (DIY, Kerrang) there is no relationship with music at all, arguably there picked just because they sound good. In the case of naming my magazine ‘Rewind’ I wanted to make my magazine stand out whilst still maintaining the musical element. I feel ‘Rewind’ does this justice, it has both a catchy tone to it and also has the musical connotation of rewinding a song. Furthermore, by having a musical reference in the name of my magazine it reinforces then genre of the magazine to the reader.

ColourThe colour scheme of my magazine considerably differs from conventions of most rock magazines. Most rock music magazines such as Kerrang and NME are often associated with the unanimous use of reds, blacks and yellows, with the intention of making the text stand out from the background and store shelves. My magazine challenges these conventions but still has the end goal of making the magazine stand out. Instead of using the ‘traditional’ rock magazine colours I decided that I would pick a colour palate that synergised well, much like my initial student magazine. However, it does make the magazine look a bit boring and plain, in contrast the traditional magazines bright vibrant colours make it more interesting and eye-catching.

REWIND NME KERRANG

ImagesGood quality imagery is essential in a magazine, they are at the core of reaching a target audience. The photograph I have used for my main cover image both varies and conforms to the conventions of most music magazines. My image varies from the current media conventions as it is taken in a ‘real-life’ environment, we can see this from the foliage, light rays and sunlight within the image, I feel this makes the image more interesting and original making it more eye-catching on a shelf. All the large scale music magazines have a different approach to the style of their main image, NME and Clash almost always use photographs in a formal studio setting, whilst this produces a high quality clean image it is arguably very boring and ‘mainstream’, making it stand out less.

REWIND NME CLASH

The attitude used in a photograph commonly reflects a magazines style. Kerrang is famous for it’s photo’s portraying artists in an aggressive, rebellious and an ‘in your face’ style. My image differs from this rock magazine convention in the sense that my artist has a very casual pose with a meaningful and friendly look that is complemented by the eye-contact. This portrays my magazine as a more ‘friendly’, calmer magazine than that of NME and Kerrang.

REWIND

KERRANG

FontA carefully chosen font makes the world of difference when trying to look professional or trying to target a particular type of audience. Kerrang for instance has a very gritty, glass shatter, bold font that gives it a very aggressive in your face look that helps it attract it’s target audience of heavier rock. The fonts in my magazine conform to the current music magazine conventions of a clear easy to read bold font, however I felt it was crucial to have something slightly different to make my magazine stand out. In this regard I challenged the conventions of current music magazines by using an italic style with my font, which is not commonly seen.

REWIND

KERRANG

I used font size to focus the readers attention on my cover sell lines, this would allow them to get seen more and would lead to more sales. The biggest sized font was the title of my magazine, this allowed it to be clearly seen on the shop shelf. The second biggest sized font was the sell lines, by drawing the readers attention to the key stories and artists will increase the likelihood they will find something that persuades them into buying the magazine. The smallest information on the page was the issue number, since this information won’t attract a reader (main image can be used to differentiate issue) it’s best to have it small so that it doesn’t infringe the more important information. This conforms of music magazine conventions, NME for instance use the same text size hierarchy.

REWIND NME

CONTENTS

Colour/brand imageThe front cover of a magazine is aimed at attracting the target market to the magazine, hence the style can change issue to issue. The contents page is the first part of the magazine to show some consistency in regards to forming a brand image for the magazine. I have chosen to use a brown/blue/white colour scheme as they work well together and display white text clearly, which is essential. This conforms to the typical conventions of a magazine, NME for example have a colour scheme based around three colours, red, black and yellow.

REWIND NME

Design and structureThe design of my contents page uses several different aspects of conventional magazines, but when combined forms a unique unconventional contents page. The features and regulars columns conform to the standard conventions of a music magazine contents page. Q magazine usually have a features and every month column which is positioned down the side of the page. My contents page is similar in that I have a features and regulars (every month) column on the right hand side of my page.

REWIND Q

Another standard convention of a magazine contents page is to include a large image which acts as a headline story. Q for instance (see previous slide) have chosen a photo of the band ‘the courteeners’,since the image is so large it suggests that the story is aimed at attracting the target audience to buy the magazine. My contents page varies from these traditional conventions, I decided to have a collage of several headline stories as I felt it made the page more interesting/existing and highlighted several more artists that will attract my target audience.

Similarly to the conventions of many music magazines I have enforced a design that guides the readers eye in a specific order around the page. The main headline stories are what sell magazines so it’s crucial to draw the readers attention to these first, my main headlines are in the form of pictures (accompanied by the page number/artist info in the features column) this draws the readers attention to this section of the page first as they stand out amongst the text on the page. After reading the features column the readers eye is naturally drawn down to the next information below which is the regulars column, this information doesn’t necessarily attract new customers, however helps with repeat purchase of the magazine. Finally the editors note, it has no real part in the selling of the magazine and is often not read, hence why I have tried to direct the readers attention to it last.

DOUBLE PAGESPREAD

Brand imageA brand image is really important in attracting a target audience and maintaining a magazine ‘fan base’. I have created a brand image within my magazine by using a similar colour set throughout. Q, NME and Kerrang all have created their own brand image, Kerrang for instance have a red, white and yellow colour scheme which is often associated with the aggressive rebellious style that their magazine is known for. My magazine is similar in the sense that I use my colour scheme to represent brand image, the key colours in my magazine are brown, white and blue , these colours connote a sophisticated well written magazine which is what my target audience desire.

REWIND KERRANG

ImagesThe main image of a double page spread is used to show the reader who the artist is and arguably their persona. In my double page spread I have a large main image that takes up the whole left hand page. I went for a gritty street scene style as it emphasises the reality of upcoming bands being formed ‘on the streets’, it also would appeal to my target audience as it’s not to formal (studio) nor too ‘unprofessional’, this varies from the conventions of most rock magazines. Q usually use photo’s shot in a studio environment which portray the artist as having an aggressive and rebellious persona. The eye-contact in the photo was used to give the artist a positive impression, without eye-contact the whole photo would have connoted negativity and arrogance.

REWIND Q

Language and contentThe written content of my magazine conforms to the writing style of a music magazine interview. It contains the ‘standard’ interview questions that allows for the exclusive answers that a reader will buy the magazine for. Music magazines such as Q regularly use this style of interview as it’s very simple and effective which is an appealing quality in comparison to the alternative – ‘hundreds’ of questions forming a wall of text.

The language style I have used is very professional and is purely music based to appeal to my audience, as an audience of indie rock aren’t particularly fussed about the hyped up celebrity gossip. This conforms to the conventions of more ‘sophisticated’ music magazine such as DIY apposed to the more ‘aggressive’ magazines such as Kerrang.

DesignIn my double page spread my main large image on the left page overlapped to the other to link the two pages together, this varies form the conventions of most music magazines. Q music magazine for example, always have their main image on the left hand of the page and then the text on the right. I feel my design choice links the article with the picture, whereas Q’s style makes the image seem detached from the article, for all the reader knows they might think the image and text are unrelated. The design of the written content conforms to standard music magazine conventions. Q, Clash, NME and practically all music magazine opt for a newspaper style of displaying the text – columns often starting with a larger first letter. My article design conforms to the standard convention as I have gone for the column style with the larger first letter. REWIND Q