In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Forms and conventions cover a wide range of media aspects in which can be evaluated shortly and precisely, these conventions are what make your magazine stand out and represent its certain genre or theme, some of these can involve; -
Mast head and Title Cover lines Graphics and other layout devices Color scheme and ‘House Style’ Kicker Drop caps Pull Quotes Column structure etc.
There are many more aspects of a magazine that can be covered, however these things all cover what happens on the front page of a magazine, and most magazines are judged by their cover, therefore it is crucial that the conventions of the front cover are taken into account and worked on to ensure that your magazine shows a unique trend that customers will like. I took into account color scheme and house style mainly when making my magazine front cover as it would all tie into the other conventions listed, as I wanted to create a much more futuristic and modern theme I used very hard clock colors like black white and yellow. I felt that a unique and somewhat uncommon feature of my magazine front cover, straight away is the mast head. Most mast heads are either centered, right aligned or cover the whole top width, with mine I then left aligned it and dropped it into the center of the top third, accompanied by graphics as well there is a lot no the eyes however your eye is attracted to it straight away. I have also incorporated my color scheme into my mast head by highlighting the first letter ‘S’ yellow. Throughout my magazine I felt as if key points that can be skimmed across quickly or highlight a significant part of the magazine or article, could be highlighted in this way to give a sense of theme and understanding of content from that text. Graphics were used to their fullest within my magazine cover as I felt the use of blank space wasn’t a very reliable way to produce something that can still interest a customer, therefore I places graphics for both the theme and effect of the background used, from things like lens flares, to textures throughout, graphics were a key convention I used to separate the look of my magazine to others.
As seen from the example of my magazine, although the layout of the general text (coverlines, kicker etc) is similar to that of a professional example, you can still see where I have taken into account how they present their conventions and how mine are presented. With the cosmopolitan example above I feel that the text and colors are too strict. The font is very bold and blocky, and there is not real addition to the front cover apart from text and the image, although this is plain and professional, I still do not feel intrigued or drawn in by it. However I have taken this convention and then applied my own in order to give the front cover much more of a feel and a lot more for the eyes to look at, in doing this I feel I have achieved a lively front cover that draws someone of this mind set or my ‘target audience’ into it. The clear contrast of color also makes it easy to read and stand out.