EVALUATION

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA

PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE

FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL

MEDIA PRODUCTS?

CO

MPA

RIS

ON

OF

‘IN

FLU

EN

CE’ A

ND

Q

MA

STH

EA

D

Both mastheads are conventional as they are attention

grabbing and will interest the reader. Their similar colour

schemes (black and red, white and red) are gender

neutral and so indicate they are designed for a topic that

both males and females would stereotypically be

interested in. I took inspiration from magazines like Q

and NME when creating my own magazine house style

because I liked how big and bold the text within the

masthead was, making it stand out on the cover page

and drawing you in to look at the rest of the features. To

make my logo different I made the colour of the words

red, as opposed to the background, to make it stand out

against the light colours on my front cover. I then

changed the outline of the text so that the words were

framed with black. This further makes the bright red

colour stand out and matches with the colour scheme of

the rest of my magazine. Q Magazine was called Q in

reference to the ‘cueing’ of a record. My idea for my

music magazine was that it would be based around both

new and established pop/indie artists who both the

primary and secondary target audiences would find

interesting. The definition for the word ‘influence’ is the

capacity to have an effect on the character,

development, or behaviour of someone. This is how I felt

the artists featured in my magazine (and their music)

should appear to the target audience so I chose the

name Influence.

INFLUENCE

MIS

E E

N S

CEN

E

As my magazine was based within the pop/indie genre I

wanted all aspects of my magazine to correspond with

this. Through research of existing magazines of the same

genre I found that most magazines feature either a

medium close up or a close up on their cover page. I also

looked at the type of location and lighting used for these

images. It was important for me to have brightly lit

images as I wanted them to be clear and attractive to the

reader – the cover artist being the focal point of the

page. I found that a plain background generally goes best

as it provides total focus to the image. Magazines such

as Q and NME choose white backgrounds for their images

which helped me to make my decision, as their target

audiences are similar to my own and so provide an

indication of what appeals to the target audience. I took

my images based on this research and I feel they give a

good representation of both the artist’s music and the

interests of the target audience. The image for the front

cover was a medium close up, taken against a white

background. The images inside the magazine were a

close up and a medium close up, also taken against a

white background. I later edited the photos on Photoshop

to give them a more polished, professional appearance,

for example by removing shadows from the background

and airbrushing the models face. This not only makes the

images more attractive to the target audience but makes

them more credible as images being used in a magazine.

CO

SR

UM

ES A

ND

PR

OPS

The theme for my magazine photo shoot was for it to

be quite basic and simple, yet still look professional so

that it fit with my magazine and appealed to the target

audience. I looked at existing magazines for inspiration

and found that the costumes artists wore in magazines

such as Q generally tied in with the colour scheme.

From this I came up with the theme of black white and

red for both my model’s costume and make-up. I set up

a Pinterest account and searched for ideas to help me

decide what the artist was going to wear. I decided on

a white shirt and black jeans because they make her

more relatable to the target audience – these are

clothes that they may wear themselves – and also they

wouldn’t clash with anything else on the page for

example the background and sell lines. I chose to keep

her make-up simple aside from red lipstick. Her mainly

natural face makes the lipstick stand out and is more

eye-catching for the reader. It also matches the colour

scheme so therefore matches the conventions of the

magazine. I chose to use a guitar as a prop. Using a

musical instrument conveys the person is a musician

and therefore matches the conventions of an existing

music magazine. Q, NME and many others often use

musical instruments as props. The guitar will also show

the target audience the kind of music she plays and

would therefore be appealing to them in this way. My Pinterest board for my magazine

PEO

PLE

All of the artists featured in my magazine

are of the pop/indie genre to match that of

my magazine. The artists specifically

mentioned are Sam Smith, Haim, Ed

Sheeran, FKA Twigs, The 1975 and James

Bay. These are a variety of musicians, both

soloists and bands, both male and female,

who I think would be popular with my

target audience. They are artists likely to

feature in magazines such as Q and all are

artists that are very popular at the

moment. They are all either British or

American, because the target audience

would mainly be interested in bands from

these areas as they will have music in the

same language etc. Also most of them play

an instrument, which relates to my own

cover artist who is holding/playing a guitar

in the photos. The target audience are

likely to be interested in the music itself as

well as the singers.

TIT

LE F

ON

T A

ND

STYLE

S

I chose to use a range of fonts that I felt

would match the house style of my

magazine and appeal to my target

audience. Most of the fonts I used were

sourced from dafont.com. I chose to use

more bright and bold fonts for titles and

mastheads to make them stand out and

more traditional, generic fonts for longer

pieces of text. I used the same fonts

throughout my magazine to make it look

more credible and professional.This font is Royal Acid from dafont.com. Unlike my other fonts, I used it only once; for the main subheading on my front cover. I felt that the style used on its own stood out and made it the most important thing on the page, especially when written in white and outlined in black.

These fonts are Nouvelle Vague, Franchise and Primetime – all sourced from dafont.com. I decided to use a range of different fonts and colours here to make each person stand out and attract someone who may be a particular fan of theirs.

This font is Franchise, from dafont.com. I used it frequently throughout my magazine. I chose to use it as the title of my DPS because it is bold, eye-catching and easy to read. I also felt that by structuring the text to make it different sizes it made it interesting for the reader to look at.

CO

PY/W

RIT

TEN

C

ON

TEN

T

The majority of the language in my

magazine is informal and friendly,

because I wanted the target audience

to find it easy to relate to. The use of

personal pronouns, e.g. ‘Could YOU be

our winner?’ reaffirms this as it speaks

directly to the reader and makes them

feel that the magazine is concerned

with their interests. The magazine is

designed for grown-ups and therefore

the double page spread interview has

lengthier paragraphs, as the target

audience are more likely to want to

read more content than a younger

audience. This was evidenced by my

research, for example Q Magazine

regularly features long articles that

take up pages of text.

HO

W IS G

EN

RE

REFL

EC

TED

IN

YO

UR

M

AG

AZ

INE?

As previously mentioned, I reflected genre by

using current popular musicians of my chosen

genre, for example Sam Smith and James Bay. As

my target audience is made up of people

interested in the pop/indie genre they are likely to

enjoy these artist’s music.

I was heavily influenced by magazines of a similar

genre e.g. Q. I used these magazines to help me

make a structure of my magazine, for example the

layout and the colour scheme. Red, black and

white are all gender neutral colours to reflect my

target audience and also stand out on the page. I

looked at the layout of current pop/indie

magazines which helped me to create a structure,

for example the ‘features’ and ‘every month’

categories on my contents page.

The props I used reflected my genre. The cover

artist is shown holding a guitar as if she is playing

it on the double page spread, which creates the

impression she is a pop/indie artist – the guitar is

a popular instrument played by people of this

genre. This makes her instantly recognisable and

interesting to my target audience.

FRO

NT C

OV

ER

The image is the central part of my front

cover, as reflected in magazines such as Q.

I have a arranged the content around the

image so that they frame it. This makes

them interesting in their own right without

distracting from the main feature. My aim

was to create a front cover that reflected

the interests of my target audience, and I

feel I have done this. Their socio-economic

code shows they have money to spend on

their interests, and so they will expect good

quality for the price they are paying. My

main image is of a good quality and

matches the conventions of an existing

magazines front cover – for example it is a

medium shot, commonly seen on music

magazine covers. Also I matched

conventions by using shapes to create an

effect o the page – the competition sell line

is in a bubble, setting it apart from the rest

of the content. This makes it seem

important and exciting and should draw the

target audience in.

CO

NTEN

TS P

AG

E

My contents page is very conventional. It is in

categories and in chronological order which makes it

easy to find what you are looking for. I drew

inspiration from Q Magazine and NME who use

images to make the contents page more exciting an

attractive. The use of images further reflects the

content represented on the front cover making it

seem more professional, as well as providing the

reader with information on where they can read the

article they were attracted to on the magazine’s

front cover. Each piece of content has a sub-head,

which elaborates on the title and can help to attract

the reader to that particular piece of information. I

think my magazine’s contents page is conventional

as it features social media and contact information,

allowing the reader to interact with the magazine

through alternative forms of media and showing they

are up to date with what is in popular culture. My

contents page is also slightly unconventional due to

the ‘This month in…’ feature. It is not something

music magazines contents pages normally feature

however I felt that it made the contents page more

interesting overall to the target audience as well as

showing the magazine is well educated and informed

on their genre.

DO

UB

LE P

AG

E

SPR

EA

D

My magazine’s double page spread is

quite conventional in terms o the layout.

It is an interview with clearly set out

content, making it clear who is speaking.

It also features a promotional plug for

the artist’s album ,something that is

commonly found in music magazine

interviews. What makes it different is the

layout. I used the position of my model

and the prop (guitar) to create a layout

for the the double page spread which I

think it interesting and different. Various

pieces of information are placed around

the model, for example a sub-head in the

space behind her head and a pull quote

underneath the guitar neck. This creates

a different look for the reader and makes

it stand out from other magazines of the

same genre, e.g. Q and NME.