Evaluation question 1 (1)

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

‘Q’ is a rock/mainstream music magazine which doesn’t fit my genre, however the layout and house style is what first drew me to analyse the magazine. Aesthetically I will analyse the differences between ‘Margin’ (my magazine) and ‘Q’, as ‘Q’ is a classic music magazine, it sticks to the codes and conventions and I will be able to compare the house style and general look and themes in my magazine against the codes and conventions that an audience would expect from a regular music magazine.

The house style is carried through the magazine effectively, the colours red, black, and white are used thorough out the cover, contents and DPS. In my magazine although I used different colours within the pictures like ‘Q’, I used monochrome colours which contrasted to the images allowing them to stand out. I believe that ‘Q’ has effectively used red to make the mast head and other aspects such as the drop cap on the DPS stand out. Another way in which colours are used differently between the two magazines is white space, within my magazine I used white space to find a balance and make the magazine seem calm and sophisticated whereas ‘Q’ has barely any white space...

The lack of white space I believe will reflect on the difference in audience and feel of the magazine ‘Q’ has achieved the balance of no too cluttered however it is visually exciting and will pull the reader in with its images and colours. The images in ‘Q’ and the images I used contrast greatly as the images in ‘Q’ are of males which is purely due to the artists they have use in this issue however it does contribute to the audience they will receive. My image is of a female and does concentrate on fashion as well as music because I found that this is what my audience were interested in. This contrast however doesn’t challenge codes and conventions as our genres are different. The position of the mast head on the cover of ‘Q’ is in the top left third however mine is breaking the conventions and is in the top right, this is because of the theme of my magazine ‘Margin’ on the edge I wanted to break some of the conventions to present this. However I didn’t want to break too many as to put off readers and potential target audience/custom.

The layout of the contents page contrasts to mine again as it follows a conventional structure that is designed to fit together and uses different colours and boxes, whereas my magazine is vertical and simple however effectively and interestingly presents the information. On the DPS there is a border which is a design that I used in my magazine and I found a good way of presenting my cover and contents page.

‘NME’ is an alternative/indie magazine which is the genre which my magazine is however the layout out is different to the style I was going for with my magazine. ‘NME’ I would say is between my magazine and ‘Q’ it can fit with the mainstream indie/rock scene as well as just the indie/alternative. ‘NME’s’ colour scheme is white, red, and black which you can see on the cover and contents however they have just used black and white on the DPS. These colours are neutral and create a flexible basis for layout and content, as red is a primary colour it stands out and is a colour that connotes danger which can be used to grab the attention of the reader and make them look at the title or a piece of key information. I did not use a primary colour to make anything stand out within my magazine the font was either black or white and the background was always white this was because of the white space I wanted to create and the simple look I was going for.

The image on the front cover is not in the centre third but the right third which breaks the codes and conventions of magazine layouts. This is apparent with my magazine image; it off centre taking up the left third and centre third it breaks this convention.

However I did this to make my reader focus on the image and the mast head and that is what I wanted to draw my audience in with.

Again ‘NME’ has a contents page which fits with music magazine conventions and has a box like structure similarly to ‘Q’. However mine is structured in a different way and doesn’t fit to the conventions which again sticks to my genre of indie and different it doesn’t follow rules and doesn’t have a rigid structure.

On the front cover the cover lines are mostly in the left third par one which is in the bottom right third; ‘NME’s’ cover mirrors my magazine cover as my cover lines are mostly on in the right third par on which is in the left third...

Traditionally the cover lines are in the left hand third and the main cover line is through the centre third over the image. The cover of ‘NME’ has a structure however it is loose; the cover lines frame the image which is effective. My cover lines are in the right hand side and like ’NME’s’ they are under my masthead which leaves the centre and left third for my image to be seen and stand out.

‘Clash’ was one of the main inspirations I used for my magazine the house style is similar and I went for the same type of design and feel.

Similar to my magazine ‘Clash’ has used three fonts that it has used throughout two of them are son-serif and one is serif, which is the main cover line which allows it to stand out. I used son-serif fonts for my front cover and contents; however a serif font for the text in my interview as it is easier to read in bulk.

The colours that ‘Clash’ has used which are black and white like I used for my magazine, I was inspired by the use of white space and the use of bold black lines to separate sections of both the DPS and the contents. I wanted my magazine to have a similar art deco feel to it.

The general simplicity to the design is the effect I was aiming for with my design and believe that I have achieved this and you can see the ascetic similarities between my magazine and ‘Clash’ The cover lines are in the left third however achieve a similar effect to mine as simplistic and ordered which create a calm feeling .. ...to the front cover with the image standing out and drawing the reader in.

Our images differ as the image ‘Clash’ have used is with a background where as I have maintained my original images background. It is conventional to change the background within the magazine conventions which here ‘Clash’ has abided by whereas I have not.

I did not like the way that the contents page was set out and didn’t take much inspiration from it, however the house style again is maintained the black lines and the articles are set out in an order way similar to ‘Margin’.

The use of white space is effective and something that does relate to my magazine. The way that the contents page has been presented, like ‘Margin,’ is not conventional of a music magazine the way in which it is presented is different and stands out from different magazine like ‘Margin’s’ does...

‘Clash is similar to my magazine ‘Margin’ as it does break conventions as a way of presenting different music that doesn’t conform to society’s expectations The DSP is similar to ‘Margin’ in that they have both used white space and simple layout. However I have chosen to present my image more conventionally by overlapping on to the second page which I believe connects the article and allows it to visually flow from one page to the other in an easier fashion.