Evaluation

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

Masthead- model in frontMasthead- model in front

Medium close up of model looking at the camera

Medium close up of model looking at the camera

Pull quote

Feature Headline

Promotion/freebie/competiton

Cover lines

Barcode

Date & price

Promotion

Feature Headline

Pull quote

Cover lines

Barcode, date and price

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

The first convention that I used in my media product is the masthead. Most existing products use a bold, capital font masthead that is a different colour to the background of the front cover. I found in my research that a lot of existing media products started the masthead in the left hand corner of the cover as people read from left to right so it is more aesthetically pleasing so I followed this in order for my magazine to be as easy to read as possible. I also found that existing magazines used just 1 colour for the masthead which then compliments the colour scheme of the cover. I decided to use this and go with bright orange as I have not seen it used as much on existing products and I feel it stands out well and is vibrant without being gender restricting. The same orange is then incorporated into the colour scheme of the rest of my magazine. I also followed the convention of having the model on my cover overlapping the masthead due to the fact that she is the main focus.

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

In my analysis, a common convention I found was the use of pull quotes throughout media texts. I used a pull quote on my cover in order to entice the reader and make them want to read the article so therefore, buy the magazine. I highlighted the pull quote in a different colour to the following cover lines in order to make it stand out and the colour sticks to my colour scheme whilst standing out.

Cover lines were a convention I saw on most of the covers that I researched. In some ways I may have challenged this convention as the layout on my cover is fairly simplistic so I have not used as many cover lines as I did not want my cover to be too text heavy as I want it to be as easy to read as possible however, I used them with my pull quote and across the bottom of my cover in order to show the variety of content within the magazine and therefore appealing to the widest audience.

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

I found that many magazine covers advertised a special promotion or competition on the cover so I decided to mimic this and advertise a competition to win festival tickets. I did this in order to encourage the reader to buy my media product as they feel they are getting something back by buying the magazine. I chose festival tickets as my research into my target audience showed that going to festivals was a key interest.

For my main image, I decided to use a medium close up of my model looking at the camera, which is a convention I found in many other media texts. The fact she is looking at the camera is effective as it creates a connection with the reader and the model and therefore increases the chance of the reader choosing this magazine from a stand.

Another common convention I found on magazine covers was to have a feature headline. I decided to use this as it compliments my main image and advertises the featured content of my media text. I chose a short, catchy phrase and highlighted it in orange over a black background to stand out and grab the reader’s attention. The facial expression and overall aesthetic of my model links clearly to the headline enabling the reader to understand that she is the subject of the article.

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

One of the main conventions of contents pages is to organise it in columns. I chose to have 3 columns because I included a wide range of content, due to it being a monthly magazine. I decided to keep everything in line with the columns as I feel it is easier to read and more aesthetically pleasing. It also compliments the simplistic, clean layout that I tried to achieve.

I decided to have an orange E in the same font as my mast head in order to make my magazine more cohesive and identifiable as the layout of each page will be slightly different but this helps to show the house style.

I decided to follow the convention of having images on contents pages as I feel that it helps to break up the texts. I used images of different sizes in order for it to look more appealing. I used page numbers in the bottom corner of the image in order to show which article it correlates with.

Another common convention used on contents pages is a clear link to the colour scheme. I may have challenged the usual use of colour as the background of my page is bright orange then used white and black for the content. I decided to do this because I used the use of orange fonts a lot on my front cover so decided to change it on my contents page in order to ensure that every page is different but shares the clear house colour scheme of orange, black and white.

I followed the convention of putting the title and page number of the article in a different colour the small detail underneath. I used the directly contrasting colours black and white in order for the title and page number to stand out more which makes it easier to skim read and find an article quickly.

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

My Interview follows the usual conventions of a question and answer format. I highlighted the question and speaker in a different colour to the answer in order for it to be easier to read and if the reader wants to read the answer to a specific question- for example the one relating to the pull quote- it stands out so they will be able to skim read and find what the are looking for.

A common convention used in double page spreads is to organise the texts into columns. I developed this convention by choosing a three column layout but having my subjects back to back across the middle of the page, effectively meaning that they represent two of the columns. I decided to have an orange background to the columns in order to make them stand out but still link with the house colour scheme.

I also may have challenged the conventions of fonts within an article. Serif fonts are commonly used in articles as it helps the article to flow better as the text may be easier to read however I used a sans-serif font. I used this because I felt that it looked cleaner than a sans-serif font and adheres to my simplistic, structured, modern layout. I followed the convention of having a drop cap in order to signal the beginning of the article.

I followed the convention of having a pull quote. I made it go across the columns in order for it to entice the reader to read the article and get the full story.

I created a graphic for my double page spread as it is part of a regular monthly feature so it helps the reader to identify the content. This was a common convention I found in magazine which I followed.

I followed the convention of having a main headline with a small strapline underneath. I chose a font that I haven’t used before in grey colour in order to represent the genre and aesthetic of the band.