Evaluation Question 1:

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

The masthead that I have used for my magazine, 'GENERATION', I have used the font 'Impact' which is a font style that is currently installed on the Photoshop software that I have used to make the magazine pages. I chose to use this particular font for the masthead because it is large, features bold lettering and is legible and eye catching to the reader. The font stands out amongst the rest of the magazine to increase the chance of grabbing the attention of the reader. This is a typical convention because this font is similar to magazines that may be sold on highly populated streets to maximise the chance of the magazine being noticed by potential readers. In my opinion, 'GENERATION' is a recognisable brand name. I think this because this title could be used to symbolise a new breed of magazine and a new beginning. This is meaningful as my magazine is unique and is a new addition to indie/alternative music magazine industry. I think the title will impact on my target audience because they may have already read other editions and brands of indie/alternative magazines, so my magazine would be able to continue with this trend by producing the latest news surrounding the genre which other magazines may not provide. The font style used for the masthead on the cover page is similar to other popular music magazines such as Loud And Quiet and NME. The masthead is similar to these particular brands because the font style is bold and eye catching for the reader. I have also followed the common trend of placing the masthead at the top of the magazine and is also centred. I have implemented this on to my magazine because this is commonly used on current magazines and that is where a majority of the audience would look if they were trying to identify the brand of a magazine on sale. The masthead is positioned in front of a white background and above the cover image, this is to make the text striking and legible to the reader, therefore allowing the presentation of this to be effective and noticeable to the reader.

Above shows the comparison of font style for the mastheads with my magazine 'GENERATION', Loud And Quiet and NME.

The graphology of the front cover for my magazine is simple. To ensure that the cover is simple, I ensured that the cover is clean and does not contain too much information. I used the fonts 'Impact' and 'Babes Neue' on the cover page, as these are similar because they are striking and legible. I have used monotone colours for the text for the masthead and the captions as this is to allow the text to stand out amongst the other aspects of the aspects of the cover. To allow the possibility of potential readers to see the product, I ensured that the text is legible so whenever I have a white background, the text colour used will be black so that it can be easily read by the reader and if the background is black or darkened, I use a white font colour for the same purpose. By making the text legible to the reader, it increases the chance of promoting the brand name and targeting a wider audience range. One of my cover lines which features articles that are included in the issue is an important aspect of

the magazine, so to make it stand out and engage with the reader, I coloured the text layer black so that the text on the page is legible and eye catching. My main cover line, concerning the main story, is coloured in white text because this particular colour stands out amongst the darker colour of the cover image as this is in black and white. The colour for the text of 'Danny Morrison' and 'Support from my fans has helped me through this' now stands out amongst the cover image.

A white colour background for the masthead on the cover page is a powerful and essential aspect of the magazine as this particular layer attracts the attention of the audience due to the colour variations used. The size of the text on the cover depends on their importance and what should be seen at first glance. For example, I intended on my masthead to be noticed first, so I made the size of this text very large, then 'Danny Morrison' and 'Support from my fans has helped me through this' with a slightly smaller text, the other articles included with a smaller text and lastly the issue number, date and price have the smallest size text because these are the least important and engaging with the audience. The page layout for the cover page can be interpreted with the convention of 'Loud and Quiet' magazine as I think that the title and information on the cover image share similarities. However, this convention was developed on my magazine as I have placed a bar code and price on my magazine, whereas 'Loud and Quiet' who do not have a price on their products. I have positioned the bar code towards the top right corner of the cover image because this then does not draw attention away from the cover image and other information on the page. I have sized the bar code to be reasonably small and stocky so that it can be fitted slightly under the top of the image as I intended it to be. Similar characteristics between my magazine and 'Loud and Quiet' include the masthead being positioned at the top of the page and is the largest sized text, so that it is engaging with potential audiences whilst ensuring the text is bold to further increase this potential. Like 'Loud and Quite' I have also opted a simplistic style on the cover page to ensure that the cover page is not cluttered and does not contain an overload of information. I have decided to only include a small amount of information that the audience would be interested in, as these factors will allow for a simple and clean approach to the cover page.

The cover model 'Danny Morrison' was styled using clothing that can be perceived as indie/alternative clothing during the photo shoots for the pages of the magazine. Although, the

clothing that the model is wearing is the same on the page that included an image of him. The clothing that the model was wearing featured a long sleeved buttoned top with a dark green and blue checked pattern. The clothing impacts the model as they look fairly mainstream but also does stand out amongst others as these particular styles of clothing usually featured bright colours whereas the clothing used on the model is darkened and mysterious. The clothing can be purchased at common stores and could impact the audience because they may dress in a similar style, so a relation between the reader and the model can be met through the style of clothing implemented. Through my research into clothing related to the indie/alternative genre, I have discovered that trend is reasonably mainstream but stands out amongst the rest. This therefore shows that the target audience can be inspired my cover model because if they wear similar clothing, the model can be an inspirational figure that the reader can relate to. I have styled my model to look like a typical mainstream teenage figure with fashionable clothing that is relatable and so I think it stands out amongst the genre. It may not be different or unique, but the mainstream approach is more inspirational and relatable. Conventions of real media products have been implemented on my magazine as include the main cover artist wearing indie/alternative or mainstream clothing so that it fits the genre and does not appear as a cheap copy of a genre magazine. By understanding the genre further, I understood that I must keep the same style from my cover page and implement it on my contents page and double page spread. This style is keeping a continuous monotone and simple layout throughout the magazine process. By minimising the use of colour across all of my pages, I have ensured that the black and white font colour scheme is made simple and clearly stands out on a white or black background. This scheme is implemented on as many pages as possible on my magazine.

The contents page does fit some conventions as because it is printed as A4, lists the stories that are included in the magazine and contains images from those articles. The information for the stories are aligned and spaced out evenly to ensure that the presentation looks reasonably formal. Some A4 contents pages have already been created by current media brands. I have chosen to present my contents page in this format because I felt that there is only a certain amount of information needed for a contents page, so I have restricted my page to only contain necessary details that should be included. Another reason as to why I have chosen to apply an A4 page for the contents is so that I could continue to apply a simple theme whilst styling it so that the necessary information is displayed.

The colours that are used vary as I did not continue to apply a black and white approach as this can be viewed as boring and dull to the reader. In response, I have kept the colour of some of the images taken from my photo shoot. This is so that a brighter approach can come from the contents page and provides an interesting and appealing look to the contents page. The colours can draw the audience's attention away from the standard black and white text, as this can be viewed as intriguing and interesting. The layout for the contents page did not follow a particular style as I did not apply any inspiration into the appearance of this page. Instead I applied my own layout using the functions available on the Photoshop software. There are existing media products that feature a variation of colours to attract an audience towards images rather than the text.

The photos used on the contents page do follow conventions as they appear in boxes and vary in sizes. Also these are positioned next to the text which again follows conventions. However, this does challenge some conventions as only a single image can be included and be viewed as the main contents image, due to it being able to fill the entire page. Below shows examples of current media products that my magazine challenges:

I think that my double page spread does follow conventions as my page consists of a main image on one with the story content on the other. This means that when the page is folded, the information and main photo will be on separate pages. This is a common style of layout for some media magazines, such as 'Q' magazine and 'NME'.

Due to the main image and content being on separate pages, my double page spread does challenge conventions as a majority of double page spreads consist of a single image that fills both pages and leaks onto the second page. By challenging this convention, I feel that the audience can engage with the article in a different way to the common convention because this way, the audience can take in

the information form the article and then revert back to the cover image or vice versa. Additionally, my page challenges the convention as text for the main article is structured in columns rather than being layered so that it follows the shape of the model. I have chosen to apply this style because it ensures that the magazines retains its formality and maturity by structuring it in columns rather than surrounding the model as this could interpret the magazine to be informal. The inclusion of a drop capital on the first line of the article complies with conventions because most magazines begin their articles by including this to engage the reader with the article as well as producing an interesting outward appearance.

In conclusion, my magazine does challenge most conventions of a typical music magazine because they are typically filled with information and follow a strict colour scheme, compared to my magazine 'GENERATION' which follows a relatively simple and stylised layout that is interesting to look at. I think that my magazine is similar in style to current media products such as Crack, The Wire and Clash.