Evaluation Question Number 1

By: Amna Shahzad

Q1. In what ways does your magazine use,

develop or challenge forms and convention of real music magazine ?

Cover Page of My Music Magazine

I think that the cover page of a Music Magazine is the most important part of any music magazine. It is because it gives the audience the know how of what to expect from the magazine and interests the reader into buying it.

Which is why I have paid a lot of attention to what goes into the cover page of my music magazine. Consulting various examples of magazines such as Billboard, Rolling Stones, Vibe etc. I used, developed and challenged various codes and conventions of a music magazine.

Cover page of an existing music magazine

Considering that I kept “Billboard” as my ideal in the process of development of my music magazine it is only just to prove my uses, development and challenges of the codes and conventions of a magazine by comparing it to one of the Billboard's own magazine.

Points of discussion

Mast HeadFeatures

Left Side ThirdCover Line

Barcode and Issue Date

Main ImageDirect Mode of

AddressColor Scheme

Mast Head

In this particular comparison between the mastheads I have to say that I have chosen to CHALLENGE the convention of an existing music magazine. The difference is clear. The mast head of my magazine’s cover page is much more centralized as compared to the Billboard’s magazine's cover page. The font chosen is obviously different but the one of the most important convention that I have challenged is the placement of the mast head with respect to the main image on the cover page. As a sign of professionalism I decided to take the mast head of my magazine’s cover page behind the main image. And one other convention that I have challenged is the color scheme of the mast head. It can be seen that the Billboard magazine’s mast head follows the color scheme as per their logo, where as I decided to keep my music magazines mast head fairly simple and one colored.

Features

In this particular comparison between the features of the magazine, I have decided to DEVELOP the conventions of the existing music magazine. As it can be seen, the arrangement of the features remain the same, however the quantity of features are lesser comparatively. Also the additional features such as bonuses are also present in both the magazines however the placement is something I CHALLENGED. The placement of additional features of an existing music magazine are placed in the top right corner of the cover page where as in my music magazine they are a little above the center of the cover page.

Left Side Third

In this particular comparison between music magazine, I have chosen to USE the left side third concept of an existing music magazine. Most of the written material is on the left side of the cover page.

Cover Line

In this particular comparison between the cover line of the music magazine, I have decided to CHALLENGE the convention of an existing music magazine. In the existing music magazine the cover line towards the right of the cover page whereas the cover line of my music magazine is more centralized.

Barcode and Issue Date

In this particular comparison between the placement of barcode and issue date of my magazine to an existing music magazine, I have decided to USE the convention as it is i.e. towards the lower left of the cover page to occupy less space and does not appear prominently to the reader.

Main Image

The main image of a music magazine cover page is the main attention grabber and one of the most important convention of a music magazine. Although the placement of the image is the same in this comparison however I have CHALLENGED the camera shot of the existing music magazine. The camera shot used in the existing music magazine cover page is a close up where as the shot I decided to take is a mid-shot, and without replacing the natural background with plain white background as done in the existing music magazine cover page.

Direct Mode of Address

In this particular comparison between the convention of direct mode of address in the magazine, I have decided to USE the convention as it is. However one of my models is wearing shades preventing the reader to know exactly where he looks but I have positioned his in a way (behind the other to models) to make it less attention grabbing point.

Color Scheme

In this particular comparison of color scheme between my music magazine and an existing music magazine in term of consistency, I have decided to USE the convention. As it is a sign of professionalism to keep a color scheme consistant.

Contents page of my music magazine

This here is the contents page of my music magazine. This page hold a lot of significance because it lets the reader know what there is in the magazine.

Which is why I have paid a lot of attention to what goes into the contents page of my music magazine. Consulting various examples of magazines such as Billboard, Rolling Stones, Vibe etc. I used, developed and challenged various codes and conventions of a music magazine.

Contents page of an existing music magazine

Considering that I kept “Billboard” as my ideal in the process of development of my music magazine it is only just to prove my uses, development and challenges of the codes and conventions of a magazine by comparing it to one of the Billboard's own magazine.

Points of discussion

HeadingSubheadingsTextImages (main and subsidiary)Page numbers

Heading

In this particular comparison between headings of the two magazines I have chosen to CHALLENGE the convention. In an existing music magazine the heading “Contents” is a little more toward the top right of the page where as in my music magazines contents page the heading “contents” is a bit more toward the top right corner of the page, in a background color of red to make it more prominent. However the color of the heading is the same in both the magazines.

Subheadings

In this particular comparison between the subheadings of an existing music magazine and my music magazine I have chosen to USE the convention. Firstly the color of the of the subheadings is different than the rest of the text. The placement too is somewhat the same i.e. toward the left of the page.

Text

In this particular comparison between the text of the existing music magazines contents page and my music magazines contents page. I have chosen to CHALLENGE the convention. Text is one of the major things when it comes to the formation of any contents page so there are many aspects that I will be discussing here. Starting of with the Billboard’s list on the left of the page, I chose to not have it in my music magazines contents page. Secondly, since I wanted to base my magazine on the ideology “less text and more picture” so the amount of text in my music magazines contents page is far less then that of an existing music magazine. Thirdly, detailed information is not something I have written under the subheadings which again is a challenge to the existing music magazines convention. Due to which I think the font size of my text is bigger comparatively. Also another challenge when it comes to the placement of text is that I have written the heading in a different place (as discussed before) and also the name of my music magazine is above the heading rather than away from the heading. I also added a slogan to the magazine at the bottom which isn’t present in an existing music magazine.

Images

In this particular comparison between the images of an existing music magazine and my music magazine I have chosen to CHALLAHGE the convention of placement whereas I chose to USE the convention of the number of images present on the contents page. I too have placed the subsidiary images in a line but rather than vertically, I put them horizontally. Secondly the main image, rather than putting it away from the line of pictures, I put them along the line differentiated by the outline and size of the image. Also I have used a larger variety of camera shots and angles in my images.

Page Number

In this particular comparison between placement of page numbers I have chosen to CHALLENGE the convention of an existing music magazine. The page number of my music magazine is in the bottom left corner than the right corner and in a bubble to stand out.

Double spread of my music magazine

This here is the double spread page of my music magazine. This component of the magazine is really important as this is the main highlight and main attraction, in terms of text, in the magaizne.

Double spread of an existing music magazine

Considering that I kept “Billboard” as my ideal in the process of development of my music magazine it is only just to prove my uses, development and challenges of the codes and conventions of a magazine by comparing it to one of the Billboard's own magazine.

Points of discussion

HeadingBy LineImage TextPull QuotePage Numbers

Heading

In this particular comparison between the heading of the double page spread on an existing music magazine and my music magazine I have decided to CHALLENGE the convention. Firstly the obvious difference is that along with heading the entire placement of the double spread page is different i.e. the text of my music magazine is on the right and image on the left where as that is not the case in an existing music magazine. And the heading of my music magazine is straight and in colors compared to the inverted and black heading of an existing music magazine.

By Line

In this particular comparison between the by line of an existing music magazine and my music magazine I have decided to Challenge the convention because there is no by line in an existing music magazines double spread page where as I have included this convention in my double page spread.

Image

In this particular comparison between the image of the double spread page of an existing music magazine and my music magazine I have chosen to CHALLENGE the convention. The first difference being its placement, image in my magazine is on the left page and not on the right. Secondly the image I put up is of a band and not an individual artist. Thirdly, the editing of the picture is completely different as I have kept it more realistic compared to the black and white (negative) effect on the image in an existing music magazine.

Text

In this particular comparison between the text of a music magazine of an existing music magazine and my music magazine I have chosen to CHALLENGE the placement where as USE the way of placement of this convention. I have chosen to place the text on the right page of the double spread rather than on the left plus I have not added any text behind the image. However I paragraphed the text in the same way as it was done in the existing music magazine.

Pull quote

In this particular comparison between the pull quote of an existing music magazine and my music magazine I chose to CHALLENGE the convention in terms of placement and color. I chose to put the pull quote aside from the rest of the text to make it prominent and also in different color to make it more visible and attractive for the reader.

Page numbers

In this particular comparison between page numbers of an existing music magazine and my music magazines double spread I have chosen to CHALLENGE the convention. The page number are on an existing music magazine are both in the left corner of both the pages where as in my double spread I put then on the opposite corners to make it different and less attention seeking.