EVALUATION QUESTION # 1

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

To help me design my own magazine I did a research on the other magazines to give me an idea of how things would be done. I took some of the conventions from other magazines and put them in my front cover. The front cover of my magazine includes a catchy title that could grab the audiences attention. It then consists a range of cover lines which will give the audience a taste of what’s inside. My cover is quite bright which can be eye catching so the audience spots my magazine from across the room. I like my masthead not only due to the fact it is unique and lures in the readers it is both conventional and unconventional of a typical music magazine, it combines both of these aspects to develop a product which is effective and more impressive.

My magazine challenges the regular music magazine like VIBE and XXL! both mainly focus on Hip-Hop in their magazine. I have decided to work on Hip-Hop as well because I did a questionnaire for my target audience and found these were the favorite or most liked music genres. There were less number of magazines that focused on Hip-Hop so I thought that my magazine would stand out from others. My front cover perfectly matches Hip-Hop genre as my background, font and model all were particularly designed for a funky look.

The contents page uses all the codes and conventions of a music magazine. The images are located typically by the side and beneath of the title ‘contents’ with a short brief of what the image is discussing. The image included is based on the double page spread, the layout of the contents page is effective and easily accessible with the page numbers making it simple to read. It has a effective and uniformed layout.

My music magazine represents my target audience of teenage boys due to the content and style of my magazine. My magazine shows what teenage boys like, for example graffiti used in my front covers background and a touch of funky colors which are mostly used throughout my magazine. The pictures I have used in my magazine are of teenage boys therefore my target audience can relate to them.

My contents page represents my youthful Hip-Hop listeners due to the models used in the contents page. All the models are teenagers from the age range of 17-19. The main cover model is wearing glasses, clothing and some accessories. These are all clothing that my social group would wear. The models also have a lack of makeup. This represents the social group as people who are not really interested in makeup and wear very little of it.

My magazine is targeted at a large and wide audience as I have chosen teenage boys as a whole group who will be attracted to my magazine if they have an interest in fashion and hip-hop. In my opinion a large percentage have an interest in fashion and the hip-hop genre, because of this I believe that my magazine will attract a large audience to read it due to the representation of teenage boys.

My double page spread is fairly stereotypical of a music magazine. It has an image and some quotes , an introductory paragraph to the article. My double page spread represents a particular social group as people who need to recover or need a time alone. This is shown through the article as the person explains his life.