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

Music magazine evaluation question 1

Front cover

MY PRODUCT

The forms& conventions:- Masthead - -banner- Central image- Brief summary

of article- Featured

articles- Rule of thirds- Eye contact - Barcode- Publisher- Text relating

to central image

- Studio shoot- Representatio

n of- Artist in

centralImage.

Masthead

I have created a masthead for my product as all magazines have a masthead. It makes a magazine recognisable, with a masthead on the front cover it is easy to tell the difference between different magazines. This is picture of an already existing masthead for Kerrang magazine, and there is also a picture of the masthead I have designed for my media product. The real masthead is for a magazine with a younger target audience than my product. The already existing masthead is bold and exciting as it is to suit a young audience, for my masthead I decided to go the opposite way and use suttle colours as it is for an older target audience.

BannerI have used a banner in the design of my front cover as my case study magazine also uses a banner on their front cover. A banner is used to give a short overview of the magazine, for example in my banner I summarised the content of the magazine. Where as in the banner of Q which is my case study magazine it summaries the magazine as a whole and highlights it’s popularity. I used a banner in my front cover as I felt that it would grab the attention of my target audience as it includes the content of my magazine, which is about music. The content in the magazine I have created is aimed to suit my target audience in the way that they want to read educated articles about music, in particular acoustic music, which is the genre my magazine is based on.

Central image

The central image is an important part of a front cover, in these two pictures I comparing the central image that I photographed and the central image on the front cover of ‘Billboard magazine’. While I was photographing my central image I concentrated on getting the conventions to match those of already existing, real central images on the front covers of real magazines. I have done this by using a background to my photograph that looks like a ‘studio image’, a studio image is taken professionally in a studio and is the style that most real magazines use for their central image. I have included the rule of thirds within my central image, evenly splitting the page into 3 ways lining important information within this to assure the audience reads it. For my central image I concentrated mostly on my models eyes, it is in every magazine front cover that the model has direct eye contact with the audience. As I was developing the conventions of other media product’s central images I made sure that my model’s eyes are clearly captured within the image, creating a sense of eye contact.

Featured articles

I have stated the featured articles on the front of my magazine as I recognise that all music magazines also do this. From researching into real media products I understand that the main featured articles are printed on the front cover of the magazines so that the audience are able to see the content inside the magazine, and therefore the target audience are able to be attracted to the magazine. I have made note of the layout that my case study magazine, as shown in the image I have used on this slide. From studying the layout of my case study magazine I have based my design around this form, I have stated the featured articles in a list, I have also used a small line to separate each article. By doing this I have understood the layout of real media products, and used tis within my own designs.

barcodeI have included a barcode within my front cover as I can see the importance of the fact that the magazine is a product that will be sold, in order for it to be sold it must have a barcode. All music magazines have a barcode and as I created a music magazine I included a barcode. I put the barcode at the bottom of the page in the corner as that is where barcodes usually are on real media products. Another reason for the placing of the barcode is that if it’s in the bottom corner it does not effect any of the content, especially covering the central image.

Highlighting importance

Having a central image based on a main article shows the importance of the article, but I also added the name of the person in the image in big, bold text. This highlights the importance of this article within the other content of the magazine, it makes the audience aware straight away what the article is about. From these images I am showing that I have used this form from real media products, and that music magazines also highlight the importance of the main article in the same way as I used for my own design.

Double page spread

HeadingSubheadingBy line Drop capitalPull quote Main imageExtra image Body textHeader & footerPage number Coloured text , according to importance.

Heading & subheading I have used a heading and a

subheading in the double page spread I have created as I have recognised this as a form in real media products. At the top of all double page spread articles in magazines there is a heading and a subheading. These conventions tell the audience what the article is about which allows them to decide if they are going to read the page or not. It puts emphasis on the importance of the article by having big stand out words. The subheading gives a brief description of what the article is based upon which again makes it clear to the audience of what they are reading.

By line

A by line is used in magazines to summarise what the article is about which would avoid any confusion of the audience. They also give an awareness of who has written the article. I have used a by line so that I can show I have developed the form of the by line in real media products, I have created my own related to the article that I have written for my double page spread.

Drop capital letter

I have used a drop capital at the start of the article in my magazine as it is a form that is more or less always used within magazines. A drop capital gives the article an all round professional style, it fits into the template and space provided within the article. The drop capital that I have used is the same colour as the title of my article, this highlights the importance of where the letter is placed, which is at the start of the article. This attracts the reader’s eye to the start of the article, and therefore persuades them to read the text.

Pull quote

A pull quote is a section of the main body text that is selected and made visible and contrasts to the rest of the text. I have used a pull quote to guide the audience’s attention to that direct part of the page, through doing this I have provided the message of the pull quote which will intrigue the audience to read the article. I have also made my pull quote the same colour as the other sections of importance throughout the magazine which will again attract the audience’s eye.

central, full bleed image

I have used a main image within my article as it creates a visual picture for the audience, based on the text in the article. The image I have used is full bleed, meaning that it covers the entire page. Having an image breaks up the amounts of text within the article which allows the reader to have a break from reading, which would avoid them getting bored and skipping the content of the article. A full bleed image would be of interest to the reader making them stop on the certain page to notice the image, therefore they would notice the article that goes with the image.

Layout of body textI have recognised that within real magazines the text is set in neat columns, I have found that this makes it easier for the audience to follow and therefore read. I have studied the layout of real media products and used it within my own, for example for the body text of my article I have set it out in neat columns which allow my audience to avoid confusion and have an easy access to the text.

Header, footer & page number

I have included these conventions of media products as they give a professional finish to my product, they tie the whole magazine together. Having the date and the magazine name as the footer at the bottom of the page gives a clear understanding and acknowledgement to the audience of what they are reading. The page number allows the content to easily be found according to the contents page, which avoids confusion within the product. Also having a header allows the reader to have an idea straight away of what the content is about.

Contents page- A banner - Contents title - Magazine name/logo- Featured articles - Page numbers - Images with page for

main articles.

Title and magazine logo

I have added the magazine logo on my contents page as I have discovered that all media products use this form. It is a way of continuing the recognition of the product throughout. The contents page needs to have a clear title so that the audience know where to find it and therefore where to look for what articles.

Featured articles

I have listed the features within my magazine on the contents page as it reassures the importance of them. It makes it easy for the reader to allocate where the features can be found. I have found that in real media products the contents page only states the featured articles as most of the other pages are advertisement. This is a way of getting the audience to search for the main articles but also see the adverts throughout the product.

Images of main articles

I have included images of the main articles within my magazine on the contents page as I want them to stand out amongst the other features. The main articles have an importance over the rest of the content in the magazine. By adding an image that highlights the content of the article and also adding the page number with it I am attracting the audience’s attention to read the main articles.