Evaluation 1

1. EVALUATION 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
(i.e. of music magazines)

2.  Double page spread inspiration
 My main inspiration for the magazine double page spread was
from the magazine ‘FADER’, initially I did attempt to create a
double page spread that was similar to a graphic design magazine
however I realized that the splitting of the page, and the column
style text from fader with two images, one large one small
splitting up the text was my favourite layout to use. I think this
styling suits my magazine because it is so simplistic yet so
effective, the theme throughout my magazine has a simplistic
minimal tone to it, which is a contrast to my earlier designs which
were full. I decided that one side would feature a large photo of
my model in a bright top, then have a really simplistic text on the
other side. I made the title the same size the headings and kept
that throughout, this is because I knew the page would stand out
due to the image in the centre of the page with the article on, so
having a large title would take up room unnecessarily, and I would
rather have more room for my article.This is similar to FADER
magazines as they do not enjoy having a lot of room taken up by a
title, and mostly use a pull quote.

3.  Title of the magazine
 The title of my magazine was inspired from magazines like
FADER,THE FLY, CLASH, this is because these are all magazines
with a masthead that takes up most of the width of the page.
Because of this I felt I needed a one-word title, with 5 or more
letters in it. My original name was BLURRED however I believe it
was too close to the famous indie band BLUR and therefore I went
for something different. I wanted to have a word that fits with the
indie theme, which is to be individual/different, and then I thought
of the word DIFFER, and the definition of to differ, is to be unlike
or dissimilar. I also recognised that most magazines feature 2
syllable titles, FADER,THE CLASH,THE FLY, and a lot of artist also
feature 2 syllable names, JAMES BAY, RATBOY,TAKETHAT,
GREEN DAY, BUSTED, etc. so I recognised that this is a key
convention in names in the music industry.

4.  Graphology/layout
 In terms of graphology for my magazine I have chosen to keep it
extremely stripped back and made sure that everything made sense.
My layout was inspired by FADER who use less layers, but keep every
layer making sense, so every blank space is there for a reason and
every image is placed in that place to make that affect. Despite my
layout being so simple, it was still extremely difficult to line things up
with others to make sure that it all made sense and didn’t challenge
the aesthetic design. For example, my contents page has 5 images on
it, however does not look crowded at all and instead completely
modest, this is due to the fact I allowed my images to breath and have
their own area on the page. In terms of conventionalism my
magazine, is inspired by a magazine that has quite a lot of un-
conventions, my magazine follows this because it has images that
may seem oddly placed but they are all placed perfectly. My double
page spread also may appear unconventional as there is an image
right in the middle of the text, however I believe this adds to the
aesthetics of the piece. My front cover, is unconventional in the way
that it displays little information and just features the issue number,
title, barcode, artist name, and issue name, where on more
conventional magazines there is a lot more going on with the front
cover.

5.  Costumes, props, iconography that represent that genre
 In terms of costumes my magazine follows all the conventions set
by other indie/alternative magazines. For example, my models are
all dressed in unique clothing that could see them categorised as
‘indie’, this was an integral part of the magazine because having a
model that does not fit that category, yet having an article, and all
the research being about an indie magazine would undermine the
whole thing.

6.  Camera work and framing of images.
 For my camera work and framing I believe my magazine followed
many conventions.With the plain white background they followed
conventions in the fact that the model was always the main focus,
was centre on and looking at the camera, this had a good effect as
you could intrigue the audience, while using other facial
expressions to highlight the artists personality. However with the
photo in the outdoors setting I had to be more creative with my
framing, making sure that the model was the clear distinct focus in
the image, while assuring the background was still relevant and
had the right affect.This is a conventional method, with photos of
artist outdoors the background is usually blurred out or out of
focus.

7.  Colour scheme
 For my magazine I would say the colour scheme was mainly white,
light blue, and then some more neutral colours like grey, sandy
brown etc. On paper this may seem like a contrast however, my
model was styled in light blue, so that it matched the D in differ,
with a light background, the other colours were not a major part in
the colour scheme however added vibrancy to the page. I believed
this was an unconventional method as the magazine didn’t have a
set few colours, and instead, had small amounts of colour with a
large contrast of white, this allowed the colours to stand out,
whilst keeping the minimal, stripped back tone to the magazine.