1. 1. AS Media Studies- Music Magazine Evaluation - By Jess Gordon In what ways does your media produce use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
2. 2. Masthead The masthead of my magazine has the generic top, centre positioning. By positioning the masthead here, it allows the audience to see and read it clearly and easily, which is vital as this is a new magazine which I want people to become familiar with and hopefully purchase each edition. The title dominates almost the whole width of the total magazine, allowing definite identification with the audience as they can see the entire name of the magazine. It is a prominent convention as it is not covered by the image of the featured artist, something which many of the well-known magazine brands tend to do. The process of choosing the title of the magazine was extremely hard and time consuming, however I needed to prevent myself from over-complicating the name and instead made it as simple as possible. 'Soul Nation', the word 'Soul' in it therefore there will be no confusion of the genre and the reader will have expectations as to what should be included in the magazine. I have followed the design of the masthead on the right but have challenged this convention by ensuring that my magazine masthead was following the classic monochrome colours of black and white which supports the idea of it being a soul magazine, personally I think that my masthead looks more professional and definitely represents the genre of Soul well.
3. 3. Tagline The tag line on my magazine is also simplistic and effective, it gives a brief outline of what the music magazine provides to the reader as a whole, avoiding confusion. On top of this, the wording of the tag line itself is much more formal, targeting my ideal market perfectly. I personally think that my tag line is more approachable to Soul music lovers who I would imagine would listen to to radio stations such as SmoothFM, unlike the other magazine presented below which I do not believe will attract the correct audience for this particular genre as it is very informal. To add to this, the font styles are completely and utterly different, following what I have previously said, the formal approach from my font style is illustrated through the elegant look, whereas the other font style is sharp ad edgy, and could very much be described as funky- not the approach I would take with my target audience.
4. 4. Central Image The central image has the ability to catch the reader's eye before they even have the opportunity to look at thee printed text. The image uses direct address as the featured artist is looking directly into the camera lens, something in which the audience will definitely notice. The image on the left- hand side does not us direct address, however it is a photograph of Stevie Wonder, a famous musician who is actually blind. As well as this, the photograph of Stevie is in fact a close up shot which really captivates the audience's attention, unlike my photograph which is a long shot. Supporting this, the expression of the model on the left is one of enjoyment, this would also reel in readers, however my model is quite moody, possibly making the audience feel as though the magazine could be unapproachable.
5. 5. Puffs There are no puffs on the front cover of the magazine, however there is one on the contents page which promotes a different element which is included on the double page spread- an exclusive interview. On the front page of 'Clash' magazine, which says Clash is monthly, this is obviously going to catch the reader's attention however, I don't think it is an important piece of information to put on a puff, unlike on top of my puff which reads exclusive interview, I think this is definitely something which will make the readers want to purchase the magazine. The problematic thing with my magazine is that the puff is on the contents page, meaning the audience won't see it until they physically open up the page whereas the puff is on the front cover on 'Clash' Magazine.
6. 6. Puffs There are no puffs on the front cover of the magazine, however there is one on the contents page which promotes a different element which is included on the double page spread- an exclusive interview. On the front page of 'Clash' magazine, which says Clash is monthly, this is obviously going to catch the reader's attention however, I don't think it is an important piece of information to put on a puff, unlike on top of my puff which reads exclusive interview, I think this is definitely something which will make the readers want to purchase the magazine. The problematic thing with my magazine is that the puff is on the contents page, meaning the audience won't see it until they physically open up the page whereas the puff is on the front cover on 'Clash' Magazine.