In what ways does your media product use, develop

or challenge forms and conventions of real media

products?

Masthead

Cover Image

Cover lines

My cover page uses, develops and challenges the forms and conventions of magazines in different ways.

It develops and uses the typical conventions by including the key concepts of the Pop genre such as:

Blocks of colour behind text in order to make titles stand out

Barcodes, prices and issue numbers

Bright, bold fonts for cover lines and the masthead

Bottom bar (I also included a top bar, as many other magazines do)

Contrasting background, text and images

Interesting cover lines to evoke interest

Colour theme to create a house style (three colour theme)

My magazine uses conventions of magazines in the way that both mastheads are left aligned and slightly overlapping the main image to give the magazine’s title dominance and importance in the cover page- this is useful for advertising and marketing as the more obvious a title is, the more familiar and popular it becomes and the more people buy the product.

In my magazine and others of the same genre, most cover lines have a block of contrasting colour behind the text in order to make it stand out on the page and therefore catch the eye of the audience. I also used thick bold fonts especially for part of my masthead and my main article cover line ‘Nicki Minaj’ as these are the most important pieces of text on my cover and I wanted them to stand out- similar fonts are used to create this effect in many similar style magazines (e.g. We Love Pop).

I have also stuck to a three colour theme (pink, blue and white) predominantly as I noticed that other magazines do this often. (for example, We Love Pop used pink, black and white on the issue above). I found that this created a unique house style for my magazine which would become familiar to my target audience when my magazine was marketed and advertised. The colours blue pink and white developed the conventions of other pop magazines aimed at younger girls as colour themes are created in response to the target audience of the magazine- you would not see Kerrang or NME using these three colours. The light colours create a very feminine, girly mood which helps my target audience to recognise that this magazine is targeted at them.

In what way does your magazine cover develop and/or use conventions of real magazine covers?

In what way does your magazine cover challenge

conventions of real magazine covers?

My magazine cover challenges conventions of real magazines in a couple of ways. When creating my cover page, I thought that it was important to challenge typical conventions so that a magazine has it’s own unique style and look although I also considered that if I was to take it to an extreme and change too many conventions, my magazine would become unprofessional looking and wouldn't look like a real magazine therefore I had to be careful not to cross the line between unique and unrecognisable.

My magazine challenges the conventions of other Pop magazines in the way that my masthead is left aligned whereas usually mastheads are central on the cover. This is not only unique to my magazine though, We Love Pop (a magazine of the same genre) also challenges this convention. I think this creates a modern look and makes the title stand out more than if it was in the middle. The slight overlapping of the title over the main image also gives the magazine’s title dominance and importance in the cover page- this is useful for advertising and marketing as the more obvious a title is, the more familiar and popular it becomes and the more people buy the product.

I also challenged the conventions by placing the barcode, issue date and price on the right hand side at the top. Again, my magazine is not the first to do this, but it goes against the majority. I did this to utilise space and to make the magazine look neat and tidy.

Having my tagline above the title on the top bar challenges the conventions also, as taglines usually appear below the title.

How does your masthead develop, use or challenge the

typical conventions of a masthead?

As I said previously, my masthead challenges the conventions of a typical masthead as it is positioned in the left corner of my cover page, not spread across one line in the top centre as most are.

It also challenges the conventions as it uses two fonts whereas most mastheads only use one. I wanted my masthead to act as more of a logo than others do therefore I wanted it to be interesting to look at- I think including a sparkle, a stave & music notes and a lollipop swirl for the dot above the ‘i’ created this well. I believe this created the start of a mise en scene – a girly, floaty, relaxed feminine pop magazine.

The colours are a product of my three colour theme (blue pink and white). The black stave and notes challenges the house style colours but makes the title stand out more than the other titles.

How does your contents page develop, use or challenge the

typical conventions of a masthead?

My contents page challenges the conventions of a typical contents page as it has two columns of the page numbers and articles whereas most music magazines only have one. I also included sketchy style arrows and lollipops (which emphasise the title and theme) to create a hand finished, personalised look to the magazine which is not a typical convention. My contents page also challenges the conventions as it doesn’t include a letter from the editor as a lot of magazines do. I didn’t include this purposely as I felt that my audience wouldn’t appreciate reading lengthy text from the editor, whereas other magazines include this as they have a different audience who would like to read it. I also developed the conventions by continuing the house style and colour theme- I included the title, tag line on the top bar and the colour theme.

My contents page does follow and use the conventions of other Pop magazine contents pages as it includes the page numbers and an interesting cover line for each article. Words such as “New”, “Exclusive” and “X-Rated” are eye catching and appeal to my audience.

I also included an advertisement for subscribing to the magazine which I think looks professional and fits in nicely. This develops the idea of subscribing to magazines which would appeal to the people in my audience who prefer to subscribe. Offering a lowered price also attracts younger audiences who don’t have a lot of money to spend and therefore their parents like the idea of a bargain and saving money overall.

How does your double page spread challenge the typical conventions of a double page

spread?My double page spread challenges the conventions of typical double page spreads as it is not taken from the magazines main cover page article- the Nicki Minaj interview. I felt that creating the ‘Tours of the month’ page would allow me to show my creativity in other areas as I had already spent a lot of time and effort on the photo shoot and article ideas for the cover shoot (Nicki Minaj interview) and wanted to direct my attention to another area and idea of/for the magazine.My questionnaire results showed a strong interest in the top tours and therefore I thought this would be a great idea which, again, challenges typical conventions as most magazines have an interview as their main article.

I challenged the conventions in the way that I didn’t carry the colour theme through completely (as mentioned in blog post “Creating my double page spread”) which I think this worked greatly to my advantage as it made the page much more eye catching and it stood out from the contents and cover page. I also challenged the conventions by including a gradient background as I haven’t seen this on many magazines before.

Although, in a way, the article follows the conventions as many magazines use tours as article ideas but I have developed and challenged these ideas as I have added images taken from the individual tours which most magazines don’t do.

How does your double page spread develop or use the typical

conventions of a double page spread?

My double page spread follows the conventions of other double page spreads as it includes quite a lot of text- it is an in depth article. It also includes images which I arranged in a collage style to again emphasise the hand finished look (similar to the arrows on the contents page).

It follows the conventions by including key information such as tour dates and prices for tickets which is a help for younger teens who may need their parents to help out with buying tickets if they intend to go and see the artists.

The text columns and layout follows a typical double page spread as the columns are equal and therefore easy to read. The page follows conventions in the way that the page has a theme- I split each tour up and added a colour theme – red and blue for Jessie J and light blue, yellow and pink for Katy Perry. These matched the logos for the artists and helps the audience to recognise the artists.