The document compares the author's magazine mock-up to real magazines. It analyzes the conventions used in magazine design and layout, such as prominent mastheads, cover lines, images, fonts, and other design elements. The author evaluates their mock-up pages against examples from real magazines, noting what design aspects they incorporated successfully and areas that could be improved. Overall, the author determines that their mock-up follows normal magazine conventions and would be appealing to their target audience.

1. Evaluation

2. Comparing the conventions of my magazine to a real
magazine. I chose a magazine of very similar colour to
compare mine to because of the way they have used all the
pink on the page as well. I think my magazine (on the right)
has a better masthead than the Rollingstone magazine
because mine is much clearer where as the magazine on
the left pretty much has no masthead as the image is
covering a lot of it up. I don’t think this is a good idea to
attract new customers to the magazine because if someone
has never seen It before, they wont know what the
magazine is called. Looking at the cover lines, there is a lot
packed in to the one on the left, this makes me think I
should have moved everything up and tried to fit in some
more information and coverlines on the cover as there are
a few gaps.
Both magazine covers do have a variety of pinks on the page so it doesn’t look flat and boring. Both of them also have only
used three colours. Even though the magazine on the left has a lot more writing on than mine, I think its quite difficult to
read being that size. Also because of the quite messy font I have used, I needed to keep my writing quite big so its still
readable. I have put the most interesting coverlines on the left of my page because if it was on a magazine rack, these
would help to lure the customer in. Also when they have picked the magazine up, I have used a badge to promote a
competition that the customer could get involved in. Whereas on the magazine on the left, the only clear lure on the page is
the fact that ‘Lady GaGa’ is in it, however it does not say why. I also have information at the bottom of my magazine for the
customer to contact my magazine where as the Rolling stone magazine doesn’t have anything like that. I cant see a variety
of fonts on the Rolling stone magazine, which I purposely tried to incorporate into mine so it does not look boring and too
organised. I also made some words bold and highlighted the word freebie, because even though you can deny it, everybody
loves a freebie. My magazine also has a price and barcode on the front, which the Rollingstone magazine doesn’t. Overall I
think my magazine does have all the conventions of a normal magazine and a few added like the tagline at the bottom. I
tried to keep the badge I added, looking 3D so my magazine will stand out and jump of the page at the viewer than being
flat, I think it was worked well. I was worried that my black and white image would not work at the beginning but once I had
done some research about other magazines with black and white images, I gave it the pink hue to make it more interesting
and less flat and I think this worked well.

3. • The normal forms and conventions of a magazine is, the masthead very large at
the top, lost of coverlines on the left because of the placing on a magazine rack in
a store and sometimes coverlines on the right aswell. The image would usually be
placed down the middle and be well thought about
including, colour, clothes, hair, the model, and posing position. As all these things
must go with the genre of the magazine. Also the fonts, sizes and designs of them.
I think my magazine portrays these well as I have thought about all of these things.
Even though this is not a music magazine, I decided to include it because it also has
very spaced out coverlines as my front cover does. This one also has the barcode
and price unlike the Rollingstone one. This one also has a lot of the masthead
covered up, which as I said I don’t like as its not easy to attract new customers by
doing this. I have made the models head on my front cover interact with the
masthead/logo of my magazine but not cover it up as the main image of my
magazine is not as relevant as the masthead. Because my magazine would be much
less known than the examples I have used, I think I did the right thing not having
the main image cover the masthead. Not all magazines have logos but they do all
have mastheads. I wanted to challenge this by using my masthead as my logo
aswell, I have also used the heart logo for page numbers on my other two pages. I
think my magazine does connote pop music very well as it is aimed at teenage girls
and this is obvious, and teenage girls are known for listening to pop music.
Although the stereotypical girls pop magazine would have a lot of pictures of boys
for example ‘One Direction’ I have also challenged this by making mine about a
successful new singer Frankie jones, who appears on the front cover and on the
double page spread. To create some variety in my magazine I died my hair purple
for the contents picture to look like someone else. This is because a normal
magazine would not be all about one person.

4. My contents page is on the right, I will be comparing it to
the one on the left from vibe magazine. The background
on the left has black and grey saturation as there isn’t
much on the page, I feel the page needs the background
to be interesting. My page has no background as there is
a lot of colour and things going on in the foreground.
Compared to the vibe contents, I think I could make my
writing much smaller, and add some more information
on the page, this is because once it has been printed off
a4, I think the text may look too big. I think my image is
not as interesting as the image on the vibe contents as
there is less to look at. Although I think the amount of
colour I have used, balances it out, as it is unusual to
have purple hair and a heart in your eye. I used the heart
in the eye because it is the same as my page number
theme, I think this helps to link all the pages together
because this page is purple and looks different to my other two pages, therefore I used the hearts to help
link them together. I used music notes down the side instead of page numbers or bullet points because
without them, the page did not connote that it was from a music magazine, whereas if the page was to be
seen on its own, the viewer would know its from a music magazine. I also used three colours as I did in my
front cover, but with purple. I used black boxes to highlight important words that I think my audience would
most like to read about, for example ‘gossip’ and ‘Exclusive’ interview. I also highlighted the website for my
magazine, which is in the same place as the website is on my front cover. I have only used one font on this
page, but I have tried to vary my text by using capitals, changing colour and highlighting. In comparison to
the vibe contents, I think my page is much more fitting to my audience, and the vibe page must be aimed at
an older audience due to the sophisticated colours and fonts. Also due to what the model in the image is
wearing. I like the disjointed title on the vibe contents page, I think I could have used this in my page, and
not having it overlapping the models head. Although I still think it looks good, I could have experimented
further.

5. Most magazines
split there pages in
half, for their
double page
spreads having
writing on one side
and a large image
on the other. Even
though this must
work, I decided to
challenge this
method by using two small images, on each side, shaping round my text.
I used a whole photoshoot I did and put all the images onto a film background . This is because I think it
helps to show the fun personality of ‘Frankie Jones’ who is the new pop star my magazine is about. I also
used a slightly bigger, full body image, of Frankie Jones. I dressed the model in a pink skirt to match the
colour scheme of my magazine. Also like the opposite DPS page. I used a lure in my page, which is the large
quotation in the middle, from the text of the interview. This is very commonly used in magazines. The viewer
will read this first and if its interesting, it will make them want to read the whole article. I took inspiration
from other DPS while making mine. For example the pink shapes around the page, help to give it splashes of
colour and help to make the page interesting. I got this idea from another DPS page, I have put on my blog. I
have yet again used the heart with the page number, to help link my three pages together. I have also used
the font on my contents and cover, for the title of my DPS. I have personalised the interview, by using a posh
handwritting font almost as if Frankie Jones has signed the page. I think this is a good quality that the other
DPS page does not have. I also think the other DPS could look boring to some people as the only colour on
the page is the girls sunglasses and the matching blue question mark. In my opinion, I would therefore
say, my page is more successful for my target audience. I have also used the large first letter technique that
all magazines use for their DPS. I think this attracts attention to the first paragraph of the article. I have
exadurate this on my page by highlighting it with a pink box.