In what ways does your music magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of

existing music magazines?

How does it adhere to existing conventions?

The features of the cover include:•A masthead•Date and issue number•Barcode and price•A strapline/tagline•Headline and lures•Cover lines•Main image

In what ways does your music magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of existing music magazines?

I decided to follow the model used by the magazine NME, having analysed it in comparison to Top of The Pops. I did further research on the publication and noticed details that I did not want to copy such as the fact that its masthead changes to match the colour scheme in every issue. NME uses a minimalist style in comparison to some other magazines such as Kerrang! and Top of The Pops which are aimed at a significantly younger audience and unlike NME tend to only cover a single genre of music.

Although my cover features less text than the magazine I modelled it on, I have not dramatically challenged the conventions of existing music magazines. Initially, I wanted to imitate the cover style of Loud And Quiet, which does not follow all the codes and conventions of the music press, using a lot less text featured on the cover than more established publications. Instead, I chose to use a more format that would be more recognisable for a younger readership. My cover includes design elements not seen in either publication, such as a bottom panel offering the reader more information about the magazine’s content.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have gained more experience in using Adobe Photoshop and using a blog to record research on the music press and to document the process of making a music magazine. I have also used desktop publishing software such as Pages which I used to set out the magazine’s feature article. In using software specifically designed for Apple computers, I have learned how to save my work in a format that would allow documents to be opened on both PCs and Macs. On my blog, I used Slideshare to upload a Power Point presentation and Scribd to present a PDF file to show information in a more dynamic way.