! Evaluation Question 1: ! !
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !A magazine is a media ! product used to ! communicate information ! to a specific target ! audience. ! ! ! ! ! Different codes and !conventions are used to !effectively make these ! products informative and ! appealing. These elements ! primarily attract potential ! ! readers, but are also used to!help identify the genre of ! a product.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? In my music magazine I have both conformed to and challenged these conventions in order to make my product look realistic and appeal to my target audience. I believe it is important to vary whether a media product conforms to conventions or not; a magazine needs to be recognisable as such, but each must be different from another.
Here I have pointed out some specific elements of my front cover that I believe to be either typical of music magazines or notably unconventional. ! !
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Masthead Style
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Masthead Positioning
! ! Date ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Buzz/ Puff! ! ! ! ! !
Issue Number
Direct Gaze
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! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Main! ! Cover Line! ! ! ! ! !
Colour Scheme
Cover Line Font
Cover Line Placement Barcode
Main Image: Medium Close Up
Masthead Positioning - Placing a masthead at the top of a page is what is expected from magazines generally. Having it !anywhere else on the page would be unconventional !and nonsensical as it is the one element a company ! wants people to see and recognise. Typically !magazines are stacked in shops so that either the top !or left hand side is visible; having an eye-catching ! masthead placed in the most visible area makes !sense as consumers are more likely to register it !there. For these reasons, along with the fact that I !constructed my magazine according to the rule of !thirds, I decided to place my masthead where it is. !
! ! Style - From my primary research I found that mastheads are Masthead ! simple, bold fonts that stand out on a page and are a recognisable typically ! the brand identity. I decided to invert this expectation in order to make part of ! a statement and appeal to my target audience in particular. As I discovered ! from my ! audience research, the indie-rock genre is compiled of people who tend to ! subtly rebel against social conformities. I decided to reflect this in my masthead ! design by choosing a kooky font that isn’t overly bold. It does, however, ! stand out on the page and I believe it would also become iconic and ! immediately associated with the magazine, ‘Noise’, after a period of time. !
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! Scheme - The use of bright colours to entice an audience is a Colour !conventional feature. The vibrancy of my front cover !in particular is attractive and appealing, meaning !people would be more likely to purchase the !magazine. When analysing some existing !magazines, ‘Clash’ and ‘NME’, I found that gender!neutral colours were typically used to ensure that the !widest possible audience was welcomed. Although ! my magazine is predominantly targeted at females, I !decided to use the same concept when designing, !and therefore chose quite earthy colours; these are !neither stereotypical to males or females and will ! attract the largest readership. I also noticed in the ! existing magazines that a house style was ! maintained throughout. For this reason I ensured that ! colours were carried through my magazine, as well as fonts.
Main Image - Medium close ups are the most common type of photographs used on magazine front covers as they allow a ! rounded view of the model whilst containing lots of !detail. They also allow a sufficient amount of space !around the model for other conventions, such as a !masthead and cover lines. I decided to use a photo !that was slightly further away than one typically ! used ! on ‘Clash’, for example, because I wanted my musician to be represented as a whole; the ! !purpose of the article is to introduce a new ! ! ! !! ! ! ! personality rather than to look artistic.
! ! Buzz/Puff - Although these are a brilliant way of advertising information !effortlessly, due to the fact that they’re eye-catching ! and ! break up a page, most indie/rock magazines !don’t contain them. This may be to make the magazine look more professional, however I think a ! buzz/puff is attractive and would entice an ! audience. They are also a well-renowned design ! ! feature, which convinced me it would be worthwhile !to include. ! ! Font !- Although a few different fonts have been used throughout my magazine, !I have tried to keep them similar and consistent. In !both magazines I analysed, a mixture of serif and !sans serif fonts were used. Serif fonts are seen as !more traditional, whereas sans serif fonts are !generally used on more modern publications. !Because my magazine is aimed at the younger !generation, I decided to use serif fonts throughout. ! This ! helps to represent my audience and implies that ! the magazine is aimed at teenagers specifically.! ! My ! use of an unconventional main cover line font is also ! notable because none of the magazines analysed had anything similar. ‘Clash’ used a ! ! different font for the cover line ‘Soul Bearer’ which ! sparked the idea, however the handwritten style was one that I felt tied into my magazine specifically.
These are some aspects of my contents page that I felt either effectively used or challenged conventions. !
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Columns:! Regulars & Features
Main Image
Title Text Wrap
House Style
Folios
Images and Folios
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Image Placement
Chronological Folios - In most magazines, not least amongst those of the indie-rock genre, the articles are all ordered !chronologically within their categories. This helps !to keep the magazine ordered, organised and !uncluttered. I decided to conform to this !convention rather than invert it as I want my !magazine to look as professional as possible. I !didn’t want any disorganisation to be perceived !as laziness or a lack of knowledge and therefore ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ordered my folios conventionally.
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Text Wrap - Making the text wrap around the artist’s body is definitely an ! !unconventional feature for a contents page. This !is proven in the magazines I analysed. I decided !to use it nonetheless because I thought it was !innovative and would appeal to my target !audience of ‘indie’ teenagers. I believe that !making the text fit around the shape of my ! !model’s body shows how my skill of InDesign ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! has improved as well as my knowledge of when ! ! ! ! ! ! ! to break conventions for a particular effect. !
! Image! Placement - For my contents page I have positioned the main part of !my image over to the right so that the model !is looking into the page. Of the two existing !magazines that I analysed this is !unconventional as neither of the contents !page images conform to the principle. I !know from previous experience and !research, however, that for an image of this !style, it is always placed so that the model !is looking into the page. This is so that the ! !page feels as though it’s being brought ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! together as opposed to all aspects being ! !! ! ! ! ! ! segregated.
! ! Style - I have tried to keep a consistent house style throughout my House ! This is clear in the contents page by things such as: the style of the magazine. ! the fonts used, a consistent colour scheme and the same setting/ the image, lighting style used in other photographs. I feel that these elements all help to consolidate the individual pages of my magazine into one publication.
Finally, here are some aspects of my double page spread that I felt either effectively used or challenged conventions. ! ! ! Title Main Image ! !
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! !Folios !
! ! ! ! Pull-Quotes
Standfirst Drop Cap
House Style Columns
Columns - In the vast majority of magazines, the text is organised into columns. This is a conventional feature as it keeps !the page looking neat and tidy. Although some are !more structured than others, columns in general are !a well-renowned way of subliminally guiding a !reader through the text as well as being visually !appealing. I decided to conform to this convention !as I don’t think it would look right if the text ran !horizontally across the page. It is also a good way !for fitting in more interview questions without having !to use a lot of depth and a small amount of writing !looks like more when condensed into a column. ! !
! ! Drop !Cap - These are a typical convention of magazine double page spreads !as they stand out and give a clear indication of where the article !begins. I decided to use the same font as that of the title to further !consolidate the individual elements and bring the article together. !Both of the magazines I analysed also used a previous font for !their drop caps as it’s in-keeping with the house style and !therefore makes the magazine look more professional. !
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Main Image - Each magazine producer photographs and dresses their model ! differently depending on how they want the the person, ! !the genre and the publication in general to be presented. !I decided to use a long shot of my artist standing !outside; the setting once again ties in with the rest of the !magazine. I believe that although some features of the !photograph are typical - such as the camera angle being !a long shot and the choice of clothing in general - overall !the principle of it is unconventional. I have represented !my model as a strong individual by carefully adapting !her pose to look fierce. She is very firmly planted in that !position and her neutral facial expression suggests that !she has a careless attitude. This is very atypical of !women portrayed in magazines as they are usually shown as being passive or weak. I wanted to make a statement with my magazine and show the true character behind the artist.