My media product uses, develops, and challenges conventions of real music magazines in the following ways: It uses conventions like placing the masthead at the top of the front cover in bold font, including a central image and screamer words. It develops conventions by using interesting shapes for text and larger font sizes. It challenges conventions by placing the barcode at the top of the front cover and using a four color scheme instead of three colors. Through the process, I have learned important skills in using technologies like Photoshop to edit images, remove backgrounds, and create professional layouts. I have improved my skills and now understand how to construct a high quality media product using various technologies.

1. -In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
FRONT COVER – USE:
My magazine uses many forms of real media products to make it suitable for the target
audience.
1 On the front cover the masthead is at the top of the page, and is a bold font allowing
it to stand out as it is an important convention of a music magazine.
2 The main image is a mid shot and is in the centre which is the same as many real
music magazines.
3 After looking at real music magazines I decided to use screamer words on my front
cover to grab the attention of the intended audience.
4 I have also used different sizes and colours of fonts to make my magazine interesting
and intriguing.
5 My magazine also follows its colour scheme throughout the front cover, content page
and double page spread, as do many real pop magazines.
Using conventions of real media products has made my music magazine appropriate for the
audience making it appear more professional.
FRONT COVER – DEVELOP:
I have developed conventions of real media products to create an innovative design.
1. I chose to use interesting shapes to make the font stand out. Instead of just using
circles, I chose to use a star to make important text stand out which will attract the
audience and draw their attention to the freebie.
FRONT COVER – CHALLENGE:
I decided to challenge conventions of media products to make my magazine unique.
1. The barcode is at the top of the page, as that is where it looked best. This contrasts to
real media products which usually have the barcode at the bottom of the magazine.
2. Although my magazine followed its colour scheme, I chose a use of four colour
scheme of pink, blue, purple and white. This differs from real media products that
usually stick to a use of three colour scheme.
CONTENT PAGE - USE:
1. The page numbers on my content page were bold and colourful allowing them to
stand out and effectively contrast from the black text.
2. Underneath each image is the page number of the article which relates to the
image. This convention is used on many content pages to inform the audience of
which pages the feature articles are on, as they are the main pages the reader is
likely to be interested in.
3. My content page has multiple images on it to give the reader a glimpse of what will
be inside the magazine.

2. CONTENT PAGE DEVELOP:
1. I developed the idea of making key words bold, and decided to make the size of the
key words larger instead to make them stand out. Pop artists’ names were larger to
put emphasis on them as they will appeal to the audience.
CONTENT PAGE – CHALLENGE:
My content page challenges the layout of many real media products. Instead of putting the
text in different boxes, I decided to put my text in three sections to fit in around the three
images.
Double page spread - USE
1. The pop out quote emphasises an interesting quote from the interview which
encourages the audience to read the whole interview. Many real media products
use pop out quotes to grab the audience’s attention.
2. The title of the double page spread is in big and bold font to make it stand out, this
will instantly inform the audience of what the page is about.
3. The main interview text is in two colours. The questions asked by the magazine are in
blue, and the answers from the interviewee are in black. This clearly shows who has
said what in the interview to make it more understandable for people to read.
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD – DEVELOP:
1. The box of information develops the idea of having key information standing out from
the rest of the text. Putting it in a box draws the reader to it.
2. Putting important information in pop out shapes will make it stand out and grab the
audiences attention to it immediately.
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD - CHALLENGE:
1. On my double page spread I have used a purple background. This contrasts to
manyreal pop music magazine double page spreads which have white
backgrounds.
2. I have chosen to remove the background from my images to make them transparent
which makes them look more professional. This contrasts to many real media products
which use photos with backgrounds.

3. -how did you attract/address your audience?
[TAP WHITEBOARD AND READ THEM OFF WHITEBOARD]
1. The colour scheme was interesting and appropriate for the magazines genre and
audience which will instantly grab their attention.
2. The artists used within the magazine were appropriate for our chosen genre of
pop. On my content page I used names such as Beyonce and Rihanna who are
well-known pop artists.
3. I used an informal mode of address as it is more appropriate for the intended
audience of teenagers. Using informal language will allow the audience to relate
with the magazine.
4. I used screamer words to highlight important information which will grab the
audiences attention, making them want to read the magazine.
5. The interesting and unique layout I used throughout my magazine will encourage
the audience to read it as it will look like a good magazine to read.
6. From my initial target audience research we discovered that a lot of pictures is
what our audience want to see. I have used a variety of images in my magazine.
The images are all edited to make them look professional.
7. Exclusive interviews with famous pop artists will attract the audience as they want
to know secrets and personal information about pop stars.
8. Freebies will encourage the audience to purchase the magazine as they will want
to get the free item and will think they are getting value for money.

4. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this
product?
[POINT TO EACH TECHNOLOGY AND SAY WHAT I USED IT FOR]
Throughout this project, I have used many different technologies to help me create
my final magazine. These technologies include digital cameras, video cameras,
adobe Photoshop, internet explorer, blogger,1001 free fonts, slide share and
Microsoft PowerPoint, which were all useful during the process of creating my music
magazine.
For my images to look professional it was essential that I edited them. Using
Photoshop I was able to make my images look more professional and improve the
quality of them, which would make them suitable for a magazine. One of the main
and most useful things I have learnt about technology is how to remove
backgrounds from images. I used the lasso tool to remove the coloured background
from my images leaving it transparent. This made the images appear more
professional as they were placed into my magazine without a background giving
them the effect that they were popping out of the page.
Overall, I have improved my Photoshop skills and IT skills during the creation of my
music magazine. This is because I have had to use Photoshop and IT throughout my
project to create a high quality and professional final piece. As time went on, I
became more and more confident using Photoshop as I had figured out how to use
most of the tools on it. Before this project, I had very little experience in using
Photoshop; therefore this project has educated me and taught me how to use it to
create professional looking media products. I have gained knowledge which has
allowed me to successfully edit photos, create layouts and effectively put together
my magazine. From this project I have realised how important technology is, as I
have used a wide variety of technology to create and improve my final magazine.

5. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the final product?
Looking back at my preliminary task it is evident that my skills have developed since
then, as my preliminary product looks less professional than my final magazine.
When creating my preliminary magazine I used Microsoft publisher. Since then I have
learnt how to use Photoshop, which allowed me to create a more professional and
realistic looking magazine.
[READ OUT PHOTOSHOP]
My preliminary task looked unprofessional due to the font I used. When creating my
real magazine I took time searching for eye-catching font which was appropriate for
my magazine. This allowed me to have a more appealing masthead on my final
magazine, compared to the unprofessional font I used for my preliminary masthead.
I also learnt that it is more effective to have the person in the image looking at the
camera as it is more appealing to the audience.
For my final magazine I decided to use a similar content page layout to my
preliminary task; however I used what I had learnt to improve it and make a more
appealing content page.