media work

1. Evaluation Activity 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
Marakesh Jarvis

2. Cover/ Title
My magazine was based around the genre of ‘indie-pop’. I wanted to capture the look of a stereotypical indie magazine, but mix that
with the look that pop magazines own. Magazine like ‘Billboard’ that feature music that is top in the charts. This is why my magazine is
monochrome with only the colours coming from parts of my band’s clothing and then use pops of colour with for example, in my title.
The main inspiration for my masthead came from the magazine ‘Little White Lies’. I copied the circle idea and this is one way my
magazine uses forms and conventions from media products that already exist. I also took the idea of the barcode being in the circle,
because I really liked the look of it and I felt my target audience would also find it inspiring and quirky.
A way I challenged the regular conventions was using the two circles. I liked the structure of this as I used a gradient effect. I thought this
effect would capture the attention of the public.
My colour scheme was blue and I liked the look of these blue shades on the page. I thought this shade was the most attractive and
also the most recognisable as lots of companies and institutions already use blue circles as logos to advertise their work. This will
make my magazine more comforting to look at. The ‘Odeon’ company have a blue circle that represents their company and this is
also where I took my inspiration from.
For the font type I took inspiration from ‘Little White Lies’,
‘NME’ AND ‘Dazed and Confused’. You’d probably already have
noticed the ‘N’ appears in both my magazine (‘New Tab’) and
‘NME’. I was aiming to go for a font similar because it is big and
clear and stands out. If the title stands out then the magazine
will be more eye catching then hopefully other magazines will
look on the shelf.
The barcode in my mast head runs across
the two circles rather than just the one,
which differs from my inspiration of ‘Little
White Lies’

3. Cover/ Layout
The actual model for my cover takes a ‘Z’
model approach, rather than an ‘F’ or an ‘H’.
This is because I tried to replicate a
‘standard’ layout of a magazine. The
majority of magazines go for the ‘Z’ model
because the eyes are trained to look over a
cover of a magazine in that direction in their
mind.

4. Just like the magazine ‘Little White Lies’ I
kept all the relevant information inside the
circle shape. Instead of ‘Truth and Movies’ I
had the issue number and the month of
release inside my ‘NEW TAB’ circle. I felt it
allowed the photograph to be unique and
stand out on its own too.
I also followed the idea of having the artists’ name as the only other piece of text on the
cover. I felt this made the design simple and also gave credit to the artist in an attractive
way. The text font I chose was clear and I made the word ‘AEONIAN’ very large in a white
colour so it contrasted with the rest of the cover and stud out.

5. Cover/ Photography
This was the group photo of the band that I decided to use for my final cover of
‘NEW TAB’. I had taken lots of group photo test shots before deciding which one
looked best. I tried different formations and positioning and felt this photo of
the band represented a better look, because each member can be seen fully and
clearly and the look of them together seems to fit well. I particularly wanted the
whole band on the cover because they are my cover artist and I wasn’t a big fan
of having two members simply on the cover to promote them. I tried this the
first time I made the cover magazine in my draft and didn’t like it.
With girl bands and bands in general there is usually a certain
formation the photographer follows when including them in a
photoshoot. The staggering of people is common and with a band
like the band I have included (who have a main singer etc.) will
have the most recognisable to the public members at the front.
Sometimes, for obvious reasons the smallest members are put at
the front and this is the case with the majority of band
photoshoots because then the positioning is easier to work with
as all members of the band can be seen clearly.
I decided to opt for
this mid-long shot I
snapped of the
girls.

6. I felt I challenged some status quos that other magazines follow as the photograph
I chose in the end had been edited to my liking, in order to create a more indie
vibe.
I put a slight edit of ‘posterize’ on my photo to allow it to seem
more faded than crystal clear.
With the camera work, I opted for my photos to be
taken inn natural light away from the studio light and
the studio location. I felt taking the photos in a
natural light and in different location gave the band
more personality. It added to the unique sense of
style that runs throughout the indie genre of music
and I felt the band suited the outdoor locations
better, because it represented them as a natural,
down to earth band. I felt the audience would relate
better and it also challenges the studio light. The
outdoor location photographs allows the magazine to
stand out against other music magazines.
Bands in general have stereotypical photo poses and this is something I actually
wanted to capture. I wanted to experience taking photographs of a band of 4,
which is obviously a lot more difficult than just one singer striking a pose. One main
artist may also have their own unique poses they perform. Sometimes
photographers will purposely put a band in a ‘stereotypical band position’ in order
to grab the reader’s attention, as that is what they recognise and are comfortable
with at looking at.
Hinds were an example girl
band of who I was inspiring
to copy when taking snaps of
my girls.

7. A band shot like this one above symbolises professionalism
and seriousness in the business. I decided to go for a lot of
group photos that showed staggering, as in lead singer
positioned in the centre and guitarists behind with the
drummer in the back. Also, this way it is easy to recognise
members roles in the band. Not only will that, but fans and
people who already know about the band relate to the
shots when reading. This shot here is a standard ‘band in a
line’ structure formation. I wanted at least one of these
photos to appear in my magazine because it is a simple
pose. The shot is a long shot so the girls can show their
great styles and also I placed the girls wearing denim jackets
beside the girls wearing the black jackets. I thought this was
a smart move as not only does it show the girls and their
differences in personalities but it allows the photograph to
be eye-catching and it will seem set up. Again,
professionalism for my magazine
The ‘canon’ effect.
I thought having a mixture of both
serious looking photographs and
photographs that resembled parts of
the girls personalities would be good,
because there is no fun in reading an
article about a band if the photos that
go alongside it are boring.

8. Contents
I used the October 2013 issue of
CLASH as inspiration for my contents
page. I liked the look of the separated
sections and columns and figured this
would be clear and easy to understand
on the page. It is easy to locate things
and the layout is extremely neat and
tidy.
CLASHNEW TAB
Something that I did to
change this was obviously
put my information on a
white background and this
was because I thought a
running colour of white
made the magazine seem
new and clean. I liked the
way the CLASH magazine
had been done, however I
wanted to include a
difference in the way I
used the font type.
This was the way my title of ‘CONTENTS’ looked on the page. There is a very faint
blue line that runs across the bottom of the text and this is something I also
copied from CLASH, (as the rest of my sub headings have lines under them too).
However, CLASH doesn’t appear to have a line running under their title of the
contents page, instead it has a bold straight line underneath the title with a bigger
gap between the two items; so this is something I changed up a little in order to
create a unique look for my magazine.

9. Contents
Because my cover was a fairly simple design, I
wanted to carry on with that representation by
creating a simple design for my CONTENTS
page. The structure of the CONTENTS page is
organised and clean. I kept all the photos at the
top of the page and all the text at the bottom
half, so it is clear for my audience.
Just like this MOJO magazine, my magazine
owns a simple layout. The photo owns its
own spacing regarding the photos and the
text and then the title. I wanted to keep the
indie genre running throughout and this is
why I opted for a simple design as many indie
styled magazines have a clean layout. The
thing that is slightly different with my own
magazine is that the page number is on the
left hand side of the page rather than the
right hand side.

10. Contents / Photos
The photographs that I chose for the this page of my magazine were inspired by the photoshoots I had
looked at by the bands HAIM and HINDS. The individual close-up head shots of the girls were inspired by
the individual shots of the band HAIM. I felt it gave more personality to the band and created a fun piece
of media product for the audience to look at. Focusing in on each member was something I wanted to
do, because it showed how they were down-to-earth, happy people. This represents the genre even
more as they are an ‘indie-pop’ style girl band.
The group photos that surround the headshots are all taken
against a graffiti wall. This location was one of my favourite
locations to shot in, because I felt it represented the indie genre
more than ever. I was firstly inspired by the photo I saw of HAIM
on Pinterest, so decided to take my own cover band to a graffiti
location to take some shots. The photos are very faded and have
that ‘edgy’ effect on them, so they are more ‘indie looking’. I felt
the audience would be attracted to these kind of photos too. The
use of the 4 similar images being used in a cluster was something I
thought of myself as I felt this staggering of them seemed unique
and quirky.

11. Double Page Spread
With my double page spread, I was inspired by lots of different things all together, meaning this page shares similarities
with many other media products, yes, but challenges many products also.
The two pages do not merge as one, so basically I have two obvious separate pages an this is because I spilt my double
page spread in half when editing on it in order to make it easier for me. So, my magazine doesn’t take the layout of the
NICKI MINAJ example, but rather shares similarities with the layout of the DAVID BOWIE double page spread example. I
feel that the layout that takes two separate pages almost, are a lot easier to read.
Instead of having a photo one
side of the double page spread
and having text on the other
side I opted for having both on
both sides. I felt this made
things different and quirky. I
wanted the audience to feel like
they were experiencing
something different. I also did
this because there were a lot of
things I wanted to include
about the band, therefore it
made the double page spread
about them seem rather busy.

12. Double Page Spread
The blocks of text
and photos were
inspired by the
‘NME’ magazine
piece that HAIM
did. Especially the
quote that is in the
centre of the
article.
I decided to block some of my sub-headings
on my double page spread in black boxes and
this was inspired by the magazine ‘DAZED
AND CONFUSED’. The first thing that appears
at the top left hand corner of the page is
‘#INCOMING…’ and this it what I liked in the
indie style magazine ‘DAZED and CONFUSED’.