Q1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge form + conventions of real media products?

My media product is a music magazine front cover, content and double page spread. To some extent my magazine challeges and develop the conventions of real media product.

Front Cover

Masthead (Logo): The convention of a music magazine is that it is placed on the top. I followed the typical conventions of music magazine, if I put it in the middle for example I could have been mistaken for the main coverline. Also the position and appearance of the masthead are important; the magazines I looked at in comparison to mine are ‘Vibe’ and ‘Q’ magazine. What I concluded is that ‘Vibe’ likes to have their masthead bold and in the middle like me, but ‘Q’ magazine prefer to have it on the top left (Left third). This is because of the way the distributors lay it out to be displayed; only the left side is shown.



Main Image: Photographic quality is accentual in making a realistic magazine as the photo needs to be of high quality. I took this into consideration which is why I took my images on a Canon EOS 400d, which gives quality to the photo taken. The convention of music magazines is to feature a medium close up, because this is more common. I decided to develop the convention because I thought I would have more room to fit coverlines, and also it would give it a more realistic outcome.

Selling Line and Puff: I decided to instead of a short description of the main marketing point, to put names of big artists. I got this idea from my analysis of a music magazine front cover. I believe this would suit my audience as it is easy to read and the big artists would attract attention. When contemplating whether to apply a puff I looked at some ‘Vibe’ and ‘Q’ magazines and concluded that although it is sometimes used in their magazines it is not very relevant.

Coverlines: Positioning, size and number of the coverlines are very important as too much could make it look messy while to little would make it seem unprofessional. To truly understand how much coverlines in the convention, I looked at ‘Vibe’ and ‘Q’ magazines. By looking at various magazines I realised not only the convention of the coverlines but also the use of the kicker and its impotents.

Contents Page

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Choice of picture: When making a content page I had to decide on how many pictures I would include. I looked at ‘Q’ magazine in comparison and they tend to use one main image. I developed the convention on pictures; as I did use one images and like ‘Q’ magazine the picture is eye catching. I iintended to do this so attention is drawn to both issues of the contents page.

Mini front cover: The mini front cover follows the convention which is used in ‘Vibe’ magazines but not in ‘Q’. I chose to do this because it makes the overall design look better.

Font style + size: To find the convention in font styles and size I had to observe professional products, in terms of design. For products aimed at people of the similar age group as mine, the font style tends to be something easy to read e.g. Serif. This is why I picked a font easy to read, and a size that you can read clearly without squinting your eyes

Double page:

Main Image: The convention for a double page main image is half a size. I conformed top that convention by making my main image half a side, I believe this gives the double page a better affect to it.

‘Pull quote’: A pull quote is commonly used in double page spreads as it is one of the most important things the interviewee says. I chose to make it in the same colour but bolder, so it catches the eye of the reader, because it is bolder and larger than the other texts and therefore it stands out.