1. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR
CHALLENGE FORMS AND
CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA
PRODUCTS?
Question 1.

2. MY MAGAZINE IS SIMILAR TO
‘Q’
Masthead
‘Awards’
Pun in the
anchorage text
Puffs
Similar layout
Main image
Barcode, Price, Date

3. FRONT COVER
The layout and use of general codes and
conventions is very similar to those of
other music magazines who are both
established and of a similar genre. I have
challenged a rule of ‘left third side’ which
involves most of the cover lines being on
the left side of the page, whereas most of
my text is positioned on the right side.

4. The masthead includes the
title ‘NG’ which stands for ‘New
Generation’. This can be
inferred by the tagline/slogan
which acts as a skyline,
running across the top of the
magazine which reads ‘The
New Generation of British Rock
Music’. This also establishes
the genre for the reader,
although the genre is ‘indie
rock’. The logo is very large
and stands out because of the
white font against a red
background. This logo is
similar to the ‘Q’ magazine logo
because I thought that it was
very eye-catching. in the
I have used a pun
anchorage text ‘blows us
away’ and the models hair
is blowing. This link can be
effective in attracting
readers.
I have used 2 puffs,
which boast about
other content of the
magazine. These also
stand out with a
coloured boarder
which I created on
Photoshop. The artists
portrayed on my front
cover all relate to the
genre of my magazine
and will therefore
attract readers also.
Social networking site icons
are shown at the bottom of
my magazine which relate
to my target audience and
encourage readers to go
online and search ‘NG’.

5. The barcode, date and
price are important codes of
information that should be
present on the cover of a
magazine so that the reader
is aware how much the
publication costs. The
barcode makes it look like a
professional cover and the
issue date may encourage
readers to ‘collect’ the
magazine as it is a monthly
issue.
The cover lines ‘Win tickets
to V Festival’ will attract many
readers as they will want to
buy the magazine for this
chance. As my target
audience video shows, my
target audience are interested
in festivals and concerts,
therefore this is a useful
incentive to include.
The trophy connotes
awards which links to
the cover line ‘NG
Music Awards’. Also it
says ‘Vote Now’ which
is directly addressing
the audience.
This text also directly
addresses the
audience because it is
in the form of a
question.
This puff can be known as
an incentive as it suggests
that there is a ‘free poster’
inside the issue which will
attract readers since they
may feel as though they are
getting extra for their money.

6. CONTENTS PAGE
I have used many general conventions of
music magazine’s content pages on my
own magazine contents. However, I have
challenged part of the layout, as it is
unusual for a contents page to consist of
one large image as the background, and
to have random text on the page (I have
used superimposition of the model in front
of some text).

7. The artists shown on my
contents page relate to
both the genre of the
magazine and my target
audience. The largest
image is of a female artist,
although there are two
smaller images, one of
Jake Bugg and one of my
made up male artist
‘Mikey’. This reflects the
ratio of female to male
readers (70% : 30%).
Lot’s of magazine
contents include a short
message from the
editor, therefore I wrote
my own one. It increases
the interactivity between
the publication and the
reader, making them feel
more involved.
I have included a masthead
on my contents page which
includes the colour scheme
of the magazine (red, purple,
white & black). The
magazine logo is also there,
as well as the slogan/tagline
‘The New Generation Of
British Rock Music’. This
creates a house style
throughout my magazine,
since the colours are
constant, as well as the
magazine logo (on my
double-page spread these
codes are also present). The
background of the masthead
is a photograph of a concert
(also shown on the DPS)
linking to the values of the
magazine and relating to my
target audience.

8. The puff ‘Subscribe Now’
gives information to the
reader on how they are
able to subscribe to the
magazine. The text is an
incentive as the reader
can ‘receive the first issue
free’ which will make them
think they have a good
deal.
The twitter symbol
relates well to my target
audience as they are
known as ‘digital
natives’ meaning that
technology is a large
part of their lives,
including social
networking sites.
Therefore it is important
to interact with the
The bold boxes are used to
split up the sections of the
magazine into categories
including features, news,
reviews and monthly. This
can be good for readers to
find a specific article that
they are looking for. The
boxes are black filled with
white writing making them
stand out and easy to read.
There are page numbers
next to each article title so
that the reader can flip to the
page they want.

9. DOUBLE-PAGE SPREAD
Like in many other music
magazines, I have used the
general convention of three
columns of text for the article.
You can see that this is a code
from this example from an NME
double page spread.
I have included page numbers in each bottom corner so that readers can navigate easily through the magazine
and also, so that they can easily skip to certain features or articles if they would like to. Furthermore, in the top
two corners the magazine name (in the same typography, therefore adding to the house style of the magazine)
and the topic are displayed to help navigation further. Not all, but on many DPS’s there is more than one picture,
as this makes the page more entertaining and breaks up large chunks of text. On my own DPS I have inserted 3
images, one of which is the front cover (which I created myself http://bethjmoss.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/planning-cd-cover.html) to the album which the article is about. I
included this because I thought that the readers would be interested to see something ‘extra’ therefore it also
works as an incentive, or an exclusive to the magazine. I also have a puff on the right page which boasts about

10. I have decided to use a layout
which is not too often used,
although I found an example
when I analysed Country
Music Magazine. However, I
have challenged conventions
of indie magazines like NME
and Kerrang, who usually use
a plain white background.
Instead, I have used a shade
of colour to match the
photograph, which covers the
full right page. The break
between the two pages can be
very easily identified by the
split between the article page
and the image page.

11. HOUSE STYLE
Having a house style was a very
important convention so, I have used
a very consistent colour scheme of
red, purple and black and white. This
style can be identified throughout
each page of my magazine and will
encourage the readers to be able to
recognise ‘NG’ through its house
style (colours and logo and fonts)
rather than just the magazine name.