Evaluation Question 1:In what ways does your product use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real media

products?

Front CoverMasthead – striking red colour, stand out from other music magazines. Conforms to conventions through simple one letter and simple colour. Challenges through the use of shadow – depth on the page, no border or box which is different to most magazines such as Q.

Cover lines – positioned on page in a conventional way – easy to read, eye catching and relevant to today’s music artists attracting my target audience. I got the idea for my bullet points from Q magazine as I think they are eye catching and contrasting colours with the black colour of the text.

Plugs on the page – there are two plugs on the Q magazine from cover which I think are a very effective way of drawing the reader’s eye to a certain aspect on the page. For example, the ‘+’ sign at the bottom left, and the stamp-like feature on the right hand side. These are just added bits of detail on the page which are relatively unconventional and original.Added cover lines at the bottom – this is a pretty conventional technique for any type of magazine, not just music magazine, as this helps draw the reader in and persuade them to buy the magazine. Having the text in capital letters makes it even more eye catching and enhances the persuasive element to buy the magazine.

Main cover line – perhaps the most conventional feature on my front cover. The large font size causes this to be the first thing the audience will see so I had to make sure it doesn’t tell too much about the article inside the magazine as this would deter the audience from buying the magazine. It is pretty central on the page, with the other text positioned around this so that it is the main focus on the page, other than the cover model. The black font seems more professional and with a white outline and shadowing on the text, it makes it stand out more on the page.

Cover model – this is a very conventional aspect on the page as the cover model, much like on Q’s front cover, is central and looking at the camera. This is to make them the main focus on the page and they must be attractive to the audience for them to be drawn in to read the rest of the cover. Unlike Q ‘s front cover, by cover model is in more of a casual pose in every-day clothes so that perhaps the audience can relate to her more.

Barcode – it is difficult for this to challenge conventions so, this is just a standard barcode on the page, positioned similarly to Q magazine’s barcode.

Contents Page

My magazine

Q magazine (existing magazine)

I employed a similar layout to what has been used in Q magazine. I think it looks very professional and neat with the different sections on the page. The title is bordered, which is very conventional for magazines as this helps if stand out on the page. I have challenged traditional conventions by both of the images being in black and white. This was unintentional at first, however, I think it looks smart and professional as the main colour scheme throughout my magazine is black, white and red – similar to Q magazine. I have used a similar style of page numbering to Q magazine as it is simple, easy to read and continuous in each issue. The lines and colours used at (1) are similar conventions to what are used in Q magazine as this looks tidy and gives the page some structure.

(1)

Double Page Spread

(1)

(2)(3)

(4)

(5)(6)

I have employed many similar conventions to that of Q magazine for my double page spread. I particularly like the layout of the double page spread (1). I liked the layout of the pictures, as they are joined together with no breaks, and it looks like they flow together as if they are one image. I have used columns to structure the text in the traditional magazine layout. Again, I employed the page numbering technique (2), which is a required convention for any magazine. I liked the item (3) in Q magazine of the ‘Q Now’ articles being symbolised with the arrow effect next to the title. I think this is simple convention which and small detail to the page. This also helps to draw the audience’s eye in the that part of the page, before reading on. The ‘T News’ aspect on the doubles page spread (4) would challenge normal conventions found in a magazine as they are smaller ‘articles’ which would typically be seen in a newspaper, rather than a magazine, however, I think this is an effective technique to relate certain articles together, for example, I linked some festival news together. Another convention which is similar to that used in other magazines, such as Q magazine, is the enlarged quote (5). I used this with the intention of it catching the reader’s eye and perhaps they would read this before the whole article itself, therefore, hopefully drawing them in even further. An aspect on my double page spread which is used continuously throughout the magazine, on every page is the bold line at the bottom of the pages (6), separating the page numbering from the rest of the page. This is to give the layout of the page some structure and continuity on each page.

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(#) = refer to previous slide