The final draft for question one of my evaluation

1. Question One ~ In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I made a magazine called You 2. This is a magazine focused on Youtube music, whether an
original or a cover. The target audience for You 2 is people aged 14~25 and of either
gender.
My masthead is in the centre of the page and also is the main image on the front cover of my
magazine, the model is also facing the camera. These aspects are all conventions of pop
magazines such as Billboard and We Love Pop, from which I took inspiration. I was inspired
to utilise these two generic conventions because they are what customers expect especially
from a pop music magazine so it will be easier to identify my genre of magazine. My
customers will be between 14 and 25 so it is better to attract them towards my product on
the shelf if it looks like a music magazine but has its own little quirks. In addition, in my
survey i found out that people prefer a magazine that is easy to identify but is still original in
the content it possesses.
On magazines there is an expectation that all images will have a medium close up of a
model with address to the audience. It is usually a medium long shot so as to incorporate the
models outfit, typically portraying their personality and genre of music. The use of address to
the audience is to make them feel a connection to the main artist/feature in the magazine
and buy the product. I have kept this convention on my magazine because it is what
expected on the front cover of magazines and it will help me entice people to buy the
magazine.
Another expectation is that this type of magazine will be just for girls, but I dislike that idea as
I believe that both males and females can enjoy this kind of music. Therefore it is important
to address them both because they should also be able to enjoy and read a pop related
music magazine. Moreover, I used a range of unisex colours to attract both genders. This i
believe juxtaposes stereotypical pop magazines, such as ‘We Love Pop’ and “Top of the
Pops’, which are aimed at one gender only, usually the female gender. Although, my main
image did follow conventions as I was of a female in a strong pose, I used a long shot for
this image which fits with the conventions of a female orientated music magazine.
My product is quite new and original in terms of its genre and I believe my use of many
conventions of a typical music magazine make it relatable to the fanbase of this genre of
music, but by incorporating little original features and challenging and developing
conventions this will convey that it is a different product from the rest currently on the market.
For example, I include small articles to help the audience such as the ‘Top Ten Tips For
Start Up Youtubers’ and the chance for the audience to write their own reviews/articles to be
featured in the magazine alongside the professionally written pieces. I also aim to include an
exclusive article in each issue, whether that be an interview or something like tour dates.
For example, taking inspiration from the Katy Perry ‘We Love Pop’ issue, I kept the front
cover more simplistic so as not to overwhelm the potential readers with too much information
at once. As my genre was based on Youtube I used the speech bubble idea but took the old
apple Youtube logo and incorporated it to the title of my magazine to create a new logo that
would be the basis of my brand identity and convey the genre of Youtubers to the
magazine's audience. I then proceeded to use this logo throughout the magazine to
strengthen my brand identity. It is also on the contents page and a smaller version is on the
double page spread.

2. To attract audiences I included strong headlines with open questions. The open questions
entice the reader to buy the magazine so as to find out the answers and satisfy their
curiosity. This will help increase interest in my magazine and as it is the first issue it can help
build up a fanbase for the product.
I have included an editor's note on the contents page which will help create a rapport with
the audience and is another convention of magazines. I liked this idea and kept it because it
helps the magazine seem more conversational and informal which was the approach i was
taking to the tone.
In the image of my feature model on the contents page. She is stood in a garden,
surrounded by flowers. This was inspired by the Katy Perry issue of ‘Billboard’ about her
album ‘Prism’ as she was wandering through a flower field. This adds a touch of class to the
image and the flowers are suggestive of femininity and delicacy. However, the blues and
greens of the grass and sky connote nature but are stereotypically boyish colours. This
balances between the genders as the colours and nature may attract males and the flowers
may attract the females.
I have interwoven social media throughout the publication subtly. I included links to social
media for the magazine on the contents page. This is becoming an increasingly common
trait in pop music magazines and since You 2 is a social media music magazine I believe it
should keep the theme throughout. I also included these strong links to YouTube on my
contents page as I took inspiration from the Youtube video page to design this page.
Advertising the website in the magazine is conventional of all music magazines but I wanted
to put my own social media twist on this by incorporating the idea of a search bar at the top
of the page which is searching for the website. I believe this is effective as my target
audience is the technophile generation so I think they will appreciate this attribute on the
magazine.
I have challenged conventions for numbers of pages on the images as I have not just placed
the page number in the corner of the pictures in a normal font. Instead I hung the numbers
half off the corner of the picture and had a blue box with the numbers cut out in pink in the
font reverse impact from dafont.