2. Question 1 In what ways does your product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products My media product(s) are typical in some respects compared to conventional magazines such as Q magazine and NME. With the products I created, I tried to keep them as conventional as possible because convention is what people tend to look for in a magazine for reasons such as professionalism and identification; if the covers were differing every time a magazine was released people wouldn’t know what to look for. Additionally, this is why my products will have a similar theme throughout them. (Colour, font etc) The front cover for example, My Logo is located in the top right hand corner of my page. This is usually what professional magazines do so readers are available to look for their magazine and instantly recognise it. I aim to make it look different to other magazines because the individuality of the magazine is what will single it out from the others, but it won’t be a radical change from other magazines because most readers won’t like the look of it unless it looks extremely good. My contents page is designed with the look of the front cover in mind. Most obviously is the colour scheme, I created it with similar looking characteristics because if it differs too much it will look like part of a different magazine. I thought of adding my front cover to the page because quite a lot of magazines do this. Examples of which are the top gear magazine. I also took inspiration from other magazines such as Q and NME, not only is this because they target my audience so their layout is what attracts them, but because I like the way the pages are styled with a main feature dominating the page and other features such as a shot of my front cover, main page numbers and monthly competitions etc. My double page spread again takes convention from other magazines but I made it visually different from them in order to make my magazine unique. Firstly, I have added the pages main title but made it the most eye catching thing on the page so readers will know what the article is on about. This is a convention found in most magazines, however some magazines do choose to have a dominating photo instead but I don’t think this works with my page, this is because there is a large amount of text on there, I would find it difficult to make the main feature the photo and fit all the text on so it is readable at the same time, but I think with a smaller picture and a larger masthead it suits the page well. When I took the picture I had to keep in mind the articles story, so I took a picture of the member (that became temporarily outcast) further away from the rest of the group to show divide. However this picture differs from the front cover because that shows unity and power between all four members, I thought that having a difference between each picture was key and by making the photo similar to the story, it becomes more realistic and believable. Another conventional feature used is a small caption from the entire article which could sum up what the article is about if somebody wanted to briefly scan the page, it could leave them guessing making them want to read on or it could simply inform them of the article, either way this works for both audiences who want to read the article all the way through or only a small caption. Additionally I have noticed through researching magazines front covers, contents pages and double page spreads is that the logo is found throughout. Like in the top hand corners of the pages and at the bottom next to the page number, this is something that I have replicated on my double page spread and my other products. I tried to feature the logo in both conventional places and some areas on the page of my own. This shows recognition and it also makes the products seem a little more professionally layed out.
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6. Question 7 Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? Over the course of designing my products, I feel I have learned a lot in terms of designing and communication. As early developments show on my blog, my front cover for a school magazine was awful, simple things like layout and colour schemes weren't addressed at all. I think this was because I hadn't had enough time and experience to think about what its outcome would look like. Not only this but I hadn't done much research at this point so I didn't know what people would particularly look for in a magazine. However now, I feel a lot more confident in making my own decisions to change appearances for the better on products I produce like the front cover etc. I am also able to identify conventions on magazines more easily, I could only identify such things as the logo’s position, the logo itself and the title of the magazine as a conventional feature on a magazine but now I realise that despite the fact the are in fact conventions for most magazines and always will be, I don't necessarily have to produce products with the conventionally like other magazines but it does look better if I learn from thee experts and try to incorporate that into products of my own.
