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

Funmi Folayan

Masthead- This a convention of every music magazine. I decided to call my magazine ‘UrbanJungle’ as the genre is new music and Africa is associated with the jungle and wilderness, so I thought it was easy to remember. I used the patterns in my mast as I thought it was unique and eye catching. Many magazines wouldn’t use the same pattern on the models costume in the masthead, it is normally big bold and black so it’s clear, the pattern may confuse some people or it could be overwhelming, however I feel this makes my magazine look unique and helps to differentiate it from others.

Main image- this is very important as it’s the first thing you see, my model uses direct address to engage the audience.

Slogan- I used this for something the audience could remember my magazine by, showing there is a growth in African media, a new way to communicate and here about artist ect …

Price and Date and Barcode: these are two basic but very important conventions of a magazine, updating your audience is key.

I have competitions, award dates, and tips, to grasp my audience attention, when speaking to my target market thy said this what they would like too see. Professional magazines this, helping them to gain a larger audience. My consumers will put something in and get something out. This could lead to them telling friends this is known as word-of-mouth marketing.I have the twitter account for my magazine to have online interaction, as my target audience said they want to have notifications, as they don’t always want carry a magazine in their back, they want something quick and easy.

I have artist that are in genre to help communicate who my magazine is aimed at. For example ‘ Hot right now’ ‘Tiwa Savage’. I chose a bright colour scheme, and used African patterns, as this is related to the genre. This prints and colour are both for male and females as worn by males and females. A development would to be to use both male and female models to make sure the audience knew it was attracted to both sexes.

Comparing my magazine to real sold magazine I feel I have the same conventions.- Clear text- Main image- Sublines- Date price barcode- Interviews- Main article - Face of new artist - Clear colour scheme- Social attraction

However looking at their text it looks more attractive and clearer, this would be a development. I feel my text is boring and doesn’t convey my genre.

Contents- I used the same font from front cover, to carry on the house style, however I distorted the text a bit, I saw something similar on ‘VIBE’ magazine, but I didn’t want to copy it completely I wanted my magazine to still look unique. I did the text in white to stand out on the background. I placed it on the top left corner cause if it was in the middle it would look random.

I both of my pictures my artist are looking away I feel this adds mystery to magazine, and makes the audience want to know what their doing. The one with ‘Asia’ in the studio helps to convey it’s a music magazine. I did a white border around the top image to help it stand out and to carry on the colour scheme. Looking at R&B magazines like ‘VIBE’ they use one main image and have text around it, but I wanted to show different artist to draw more consumers.

I added the website of my magazine, so audience have reminder to check it out, where I have placed it is unusual as it’s normally at the bottom of the magazine, but I feel it makes the reader to look closer, at the magazine and concentrate on smaller things. I also added the date, however this is normally seen at the bottom of the word ‘content’ however, I didn’t want to much in that are, it could seem overwhelming.

I made a small logo for my magazine to constantly remind the audience what magazine they are reading

I also added a quote to tease the reader, so they want to read on to the article, I placed it at the bottom of the page, next time I will place it somewhere at the top so its one of the first things the reader sees.

Next time I will write editors notes, add a page number and subscription service, as all these are conventions of a music magazine, and would help magazine seem more professional.

I did features as they are conventions of magazine, telling the reader the content of the magazine. I wrote about well known Afrobeat artist to draw in a audience.

Looking at my contents page I feel it has conventions of a professional magazine

- Clear image - Features- Fashion tips - Key info

( interviews, singles)

- Colour scheme - Logo- Date

From the top of my article, introducing my artist, I decided to place it over my image. I carried on the  theme of opac boxes from my front cover. The font is' beba neue'. Looking at many R&B magazines there’s always section where you introduce you artist just incase people don’t know who she is.I also added basic

conventions of a magazine, the page number. I decided to use white font as it was clear and easy to read.

I designed a logo for my double spread page, I used the same font from the masthead from my front cover. 'Bebas Neue' from dafont. Its the same on my contents page but I decided to use the print from my mast head to carry on part on the colour scheme from the other two pages.

Title-this is a quote from my article, I decided to incorporate it into my magazine, while looking at music magazines this was a key convention, something to engage the reader. I used the font 'Cartoon' from dafont, I think it is cool and has fun look to it, I don't want my magazine to look boring.

Standfirst-While looking at magazines like ‘Q’ they use this to as an introductory paragraph in an article, which summarizes the article

‘Interview’ & the artist name in big bold capital letters to tell the reader what the page is about.

Main image- I did s mid-shot of my model turned away from the audience enticing them, making them wonder. Her face serious showing maturity. I didn’t use the two pages of images as I wanted to the background of the print.

Looking at may R&B magazines they use quotes, mostly to break up text, so I also used this convention.

The main article is about my made up artist, but to make my article seem realistic I watched many interviews to inspire me to make sure it seemed professional. The main article is a key convention of a double spread page.

I decided to change the pattern of my magazine, as it seemed to overwhelming many magazines do this, to add excitement to their magazine, so I did the same. I still went for the same theme of a African pattern.

I did a drop cap as it’s a convention a music magazine telling the reader where to start reading. I did the questions in red and answer in black, to make sure the reader wasn’t confused.

My double spread page has the same conventions of a R&B page

- Main image- Main article- Title - Quote- Logo- Page number- Colour scheme

- However on my page I have a pattern under my text, this is a challenge as people would argue can your consumer read your text? I feel it makes my magazine look unique and adds a feel of my genre. However next time I wont do a Q&A article as I feel its basic and boring.