Question 1 ;In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The main conventions of a magazine are; the masthead, splash, coverline, central images, barcodes and price, articles trailed, pug, puff, mode of address, brand identity and house style. A front cover of a magazine has to include the masthead, splash, central image and barcode or price as a bare minimum.

A typical contents page will have a masthead to reinforce the brand identity, a list-like format of the actual contents, which makes it easy to read and follow, page numbers, as well as relevant images which help make it more visually appealing.

A common double page spread (DPS) usually contains a main image, the masthead, page numbers, a title, pull quotes, drop caps and large amounts of text formatted into columns. It also tends to be an article or interview with an artist or band relevant to that particular genre.

Coverline Masthead

Pug Splash

Central Image

Barcode & Price

After looking into the genre of indie-pop, and researching magazines such as SPIN, I found that a range of images were used, ranging from studio set photography, to live images taken at a gig. The central image on the front cover is usually a studio shot image, and tends to be a close up, or medium close up of the main artist featuring in the magazine.

IMAGES

My own central image for the magazine challenges this convention because although the image is a medium close up, it is not a studio shot. It is an image of my featured artist against a brick wall and she has a very neutral expression on her face, but she is looking directly into the camera. This is a direct mode of address and this makes the reader feel part of a community whilst reading the magazine and they therefore engage more. I further edited the image to make the background black and white to put even more focus on the artist. I decided to challenge these conventions as it connotes a sense of being individual, which helps to reinforce my brand identity, as well as being artistic which my audience can relate to.

All of the magazines that I researched had a clear, bold, memorable masthead. This is a vital aspect to have in a magazine, because it needs to be made clear to both repeat and new customers, what magazine they’re buying. The actual masthead also signifies and says a lot about the magazine – it has to have connotations with the chosen genre in order to be successful. I often found that the majority of magazines opt for mastheads comprised of one or two words, e.g. ‘SPIN’ or ‘THE WIRE’.

MASTHEAD

I wanted my masthead to follow the basic conventions of a typical masthead so that it would be very easily identified as well as looking professional, but I also wanted elements of it to be very unique. The masthead itself was in a sans serif font which is very typical of a masthead and I thought was the most appropriate type of font to use as it was very clear and simple to read. I then edited the kerning on it so that the letters were basically touching. I think this is what made my masthead very unique as I haven’t seen many others that have such tight tracking.

In my magazine the masthead is featured very regularly, as it was of course on the front cover, but I also used it on the contents page and the double page spread. I did this to embed the brand identity into the readers head, and to make it memorable.

Here are some screenshots of my masthead on the front cover, contents page and double page spread.

For my magazine I created a barcode on a website called ‘Dafont’, which is found on all magazines. I made the barcode quite small in comparison with all of the other features on my front cover, as well as placing it in the bottom right of the page, so that it didn’t draw a lot of attention. I also rotated it 90 degrees anti-clockwise, which is a common feature that I found in my research. The price of my magazine is £3.60, which I think is reasonable, firstly because my target audience suggested that price, but also, because in the magazine itself, there is enough content to justify that price. Just above the barcode I put the edition number, as well as the magazines website, which were important features to include as it informs the reader how to contact the magazine, what issue it is, as well as the actual cost.BA

RCO

DE &

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CE Side by side comparison of my magazine and a real life

product, showing the placement of the barcode

and price

I made sure that my splash closely followed the conventions of a typical magazine because I wanted this feature to be easy to recognise as well as having an immediate intriguing factor about it, which a good splash always has. It’s placed in the centre of my front cover to draw attention to it and I have used a simple, bold sans serif font so that it’s clear and easy to read. My coverline also follows the conventions as it’s still clear to see what it is but it does not detract from the main image or splash.

However, one feature that challenges these conventions is my pug. Pugs tend to be in the top right corner and in a circle, however, I decided that this was not appropriate for my magazine as it looked unprofessional and out of place. In the end I placed it along the very bottom of my front cover.

SPLASH, COVERLINES & OTHERS

SplashPug

Coverlines

Overall, I would say that my contents page follows typical magazine conventions very closely. I have clearly used page numbers and headings that I found were common features on a contents page. They are there mainly for navigation purposes but I also think that it makes the page look very organised and professional. I decided to include my masthead right next to the title ‘contents’ at the top of the page because during my research I saw this included on a few various magazines and I liked how it tied together a simple, somewhat boring title. As well as this, it makes the reader repeatedly see the masthead and therefore helps reinforce brand identity.

CON

TENTS PAGE

My double page spread features many of the conventions typically used in magazines. This includes a large medium close up image that fills both pages and acts as a background, pull quotes and drop caps. The picture to text ratio was about 50:50 which is another common convention used. I used quite an informal and chatty yet quite mature style of language on this page as I wanted the reader to feel included. I also think that this is another unique point for my magazine that separates it from other magazines that are similar. These features were included in all of the magazines that I researched, so in order to have a successful double page spread I decided it would be best to follow those conventions.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD