Evaluation-Question 1

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

The title of magazine is ‘Fly’, this took me a while to come up with as I wanted to have something unusual and a title that you wouldn’t usually expect from the magazine industry. The Masthead of my magazine is written in a font called ‘Musicals’, I found the font on a website called ‘Dafont’. The reason for using this website was it gave me the opportunity to find a more unique font that fitted my target audience.

I used only 5 coverlines but I made sure that they were going to be grabbing for my target audience, the reason for this is that by only using 5 coverlines it makes the main image appeal more striking and doesn’t make the cover look messy. By doing this, it challenges the current media products already on sale as they usually have various multiple coverlines all over the magazine. This makes my magazine stand out from others and look new and unique. Being different gives it a good advantage within the market and could be possible competition for upcoming magazines. I used different fonts for my coverlines as I felt by doing this it made parts of the magazine look more dominant. I used black and pink as my main two colours, the reason for this is it reflects the girly vibes and suggests the magazine is aimed at females more so than males. I made sure my coverlines were clear visible and circled the edges of the magazine to go around the main image as this reflects the conventional way in which magazines are typically laid out.

My main image is a mid-shot image with three people within the frame. The photography is captured with everyone smiling but also doesn’t look too serious which reflects the vibe of the magazine. It suggests the magazine is both friendly and overall a happy magazine to read. The content of the image has been captured for the specific purpose of targeting my aimed audience. The image has a black and white effect which contrasts the other colours on the magazine and makes the other parts stand out. The image in which I chose dominated the page but also was quite striking, most magazines tend to-do this as this is the first part of a magazine which gets the audience’s attention and is the way the magazine sells. Overall I made sure my title page both conformed the magazine industry as well as have some key differences so that it was both daring as well as bringing a new look to the magazine industry.

The costume is stylish and casual and overall reflects the typical clothing of my target audience. Costume is the way in which you communicate with your audience. I wanted to make sure that the models and clothing was something that was easy to aspire to and continued with that idea throughout my magazine.I didn’t use any props in the front cover, however, when creating my feature article the main prop is pieces of paper with words on, this is both simple and gives a creative fleur to the work. It isn’t something you would usually see in a magazine which makes it both different and gives it a place in the market. Overall I feel my images show the youth and society in which teenagers live in and something I wanted to give from my magazine was the element of being ‘free’ and having ‘fun’.

 

I created my double page spread feature article so that it presented a clear structure. I kept to main theme of a black and pink colour scheme, however I intoduced green, purple and blue to add some colour and livliness to my magazine. I also used fonts from www.dafont.com to make the heading title look more exciting and interesting. The way i've used two different fonts challenges most media products, the reason for this is it may be recognised as being quite messy, however, I feel it works considerably well and makes the article more entertaining and appealing to look at. The body of the text is very simular to other media products already on the market. When looking at other magazines i identified some of the key questions that are likely to pop up in most music based interviews,by doing this, it allowed me to create an interview that would be enjoyed by the readers. Magazines are all about creating fandom and by giving the audience 'exclusive interviews' it allows them to fell like they're gaining an insight to the bands life.

I have also left gutters inbetween the text, the reason for this is it make it look more presentable and neat. I also gave my article a kicker, this is the opening line of an interview which grabs the readers attention. My images were all in black and white which went with the colour scheme of the magazine. I think this works considerably well as it makes the actual interview stand out. Overall I made my feature article both quirky and very much imular to real life products.

I made sure my contents page was minimalistic and wasn't covered in writing. I wanted to make it stand out and easy to follow but still give the information to the reader. I had one main image which made the contents page look quite powerful, the use of dark colours in contrast to the pink made the page quite appealing to look at, this is also like the rest of the magazine which gives it that connection and flow. I used this simple look to challenge other media products already in the industry. When looking at other magazines I realised that most contents pages are full of information and can sometimes look quite messy. I wanted to create something that was different and would have its own place within the market. I didn't want the contents page to look overpowering. I had two sub-headings 'On the cover' and 'Regulars', I thought this was a clever idea as it makes the magazine look more structured and the magazine to have a more attractive look and representation. Overall I tried to challenge other media products already in the industry and made my contents page more minimalistic. I felt this was a good choice as it made my magazine look unique and neat.