Question 1

Evaluation Question One

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

I think my magazine overall looks very professional and stylised for a typical music magazine. It looks like this because I have used many typical and also atypical conventions throughout my design.

MASTHEAD:

As you can see here I have used a bold and recognisable masthead as I found throughout research and other magazines you need to have a bold masthead that will catch peoples eye. On the front of clash magazine, they put minimal cover lines, but the big and bold masthead, showing that the magazine is established and professional, substitutes this.

Both mastheads are in a sans-serif font connoting a modern vibe, showing them as clean and crisp against the image. I have also atypically placed the masthead behind the head of my model, further telling the reader

that my magazine is established and recognisable enough for you to not see the masthead in its entirety. I have positioned my masthead within the top third of my front cover so when it is stacked on a shelf with many other magazines the recognisable and established masthead will be noticed easily and quickly. Also making my masthead black contrasts completely with the white background beneath it. Both Uncut magazine & Clash magazine have used a colour that contrasts with their background image, therefor making the masthead stand out even more.

BARCODE: Throughout most magazines the barcode is typically placed in a corner with the issue number, date stamp and price. So to comply with typical convention I used this on the front cover of my magazine, as did uncut magazine. Something that I did not fully comply with was the positioning of my barcode; whilst I placed it landscape both of my analysed magazines places their barcodes in a portrait position therefor making this aspect of my magazine unconventional. Whilst I placed my barcode in the right hand bottom corner of my page (the same as Uncut magazine), Clash have placed theirs on the left hand side of the page following the spine.

END SYMBOL: Within Uncut magazine and many others that I have looked at, they have included a symbol at the end of their interview to either indicate that it has finished or if it is continuing onto the next page. I decided to do this, but unconventionally I used arrows for this. Usually the arrows would be facing in the opposite direction to tell the reader to move onto the next page for the rest of the interview, whereas I have placed them facing the two pages. Showing this opposite tells the reader not to move onto the next page as it implies that it is the end of the interview.

FONT:

Within my publication I have used 4 different fonts and throughout they all flow.

For example for my cover lines I have used the same typeface as the article names and descriptions on my contents page – carrying this font through shows continuity and looks professional and neat, tying the magazine together. I have also used the same font – Lemon/Milk for my masthead as well as my header and subheading on my contents page and double page spread. I have done this to show that ‘RUSH INTERVIEWS’ is a regular feature throughout the monthly issues, meaning readers will enjoy the commonality and standardisation in this publication. I have done this so the header on the double page spread can be re-used with the only change being the subtitle – in this case ‘SIOB LOVE’.

Throughout the pages of the limited edition Uncut magazine, all of the double page spreads were laid out the same, and used the same text each time supporting a different pull quote or header – it showed continuity and brought the magazine together which is why I chose to use this typical convention.

DROP CAP: Drop caps are a conventional aspect to have within a magazine – usually at the start of an article/interview. This is why I included one at the beginning of my interview, as it also shows the reader where to begin and adds an interesting viewpoint to the page, making it look less boring. Clash magazine also used a drop cap at the beginning of their interview, whereas Uncut magazine decided to not include this feature – possibly as their issue was a special edition, and therefor felt they could include unconventional features such as an image at the beginning of an interview instead of a letter.

PULL QUOTE: A pull quote is typically seen throughout all genres of magazines as it is a conventional feature – again this is why I chose to include this within my magazine to show standardisation and continuity, as people often like to see things that they’re familiar with and can identify.

A pull quote is used to grab the readers attention, and I placed mine in the middle of the right page, as there is a theory that people view the page of a magazine in a ‘6’ or ‘9’ way, meaning that they start in the middle of the page and work their way around. Placing my pull quote here means it will easily grab the readers’ attention and entice them to read the interview. Uncut used a pull quote for their header on the double page spread that I analysed, they also did this throughout the magazine, as seeing a quote from the artists makes the article feel more personal, rather than a header written by someone else.

COLOUR SCHEME: During my research I found that monochrome and bright colours were the two most popular colour schemes for me to include within my magazine. I decided to conventionally follow the monochrome colour scheme, but I wanted to make my magazine stand out from the others as it is aimed towards ‘indie’ individuals – who are looking for something unconventional anyway. I combined the monochrome colours with a light pink colour to represent another popular choice of pastel colours to be the colour scheme. I carried out these colours throughout my magazine to tie it all together and show continuity.

Whilst I followed a theme throughout my magazine, Uncut magazine seemed to not do this – instead they used 7 colours alone on the 3 pages I looked at. This is an unconventional feature that they have included and they have done this, as their magazine is a special edition, so they want to make it different to their usual monthly issues.

As you can see Clash magazine have used a colour scheme throughout - that being monochrome, this ties the whole magazine together making it more attractive and appealing for the reader.

SOCIAL BUTTONS: Both Clash & Uncut didn’t include social buttons within their magazine, but they did include a website address which still targets the same audience. I decided to include this feature as I felt it would appeal to my target audience of 16 to 24 year olds, as people of this generation tend to visit social media sites daily, therefor making it easy for them to find out information about my magazine online. One reason I can think of as to why Clash & Uncut haven’t included this feature is that they want their magazines to be exclusive to just print and not mainly based online.

ARTICLE FORMAT:

As you can see here each magazine has completely different layouts concerning each page of the magazines. Each layout suits the genre of the magazine. As Clash is also an indie magazine, its layout is unconventional, by placing large amounts of text over an image and mainly on the right hand side of the page represents this genre. Whilst Uncut magazine is mainly a rock genre magazine, and the layout shows this, by the rigid lines and exaggerated text. Although my magazine is of indie genre, I have decided to include both atypical and typical conventions to widen my audience. For example, I have placed my interview in two columns so it is easier for the reader to digest - which is a fairly typical feature you see in magazines, I also haven’t placed any text over the image, which is often conventional to make the image stand out. Whilst my double page spread is fairly conventional, my contents page is not. I have placed all of my articles in shapes that fit together in a jigsaw fashion – this is a feature that I have never seen throughout magazines before on a contents page. I did this as it is unconventional therefor representing my indie genre and also my indie target audience. Both Clash and Uncut have presented their articles in chronological order in columns, I have also done this, but in a more atypical way, as the shapes don’t line up under each other in order of the numbers, but I do have columns to present the articles.

Unconventionally I have used my magazine masthead within my magazine on my double page spread. I have done this, as ‘RUSH INTERVIEWS’ will go on to be a regular feature, therefor making it established and recognisable for the reader.

MAIN IMAGE:

Here you can see the main front cover image of each magazine, and each showing the main feature artist, as this is conventional throughout all magazines. One thing I noticed on the front of most music magazines, was that the artist is making direct eye contact with the camera and therefor the reader.

This makes the magazine feel personal and helps the reader to connect with the artist. Both of the main images on Clash and Uncut have both been edited, and I realised that this would benefit my magazines also, as images are always edited on the front of the magazine to seem more attractive and eye catching for the target market. Conventionally there isn’t usually a border around the front cover of a magazine, so both of the images on the front covers of Clash & Uncut both bleed off the page. I have also decided to include this typical feature as it complies with the expectation of magazine front covers, therefor making my magazine more attractive.