The magazine uses conventions of existing magazines through its font choices, layout, and stylistic elements. Helvetica font is used throughout to mimic popular music magazines and create a clean, simple aesthetic. Models are styled in mainstream pop fashion to appear realistic. Photos and text are arranged for maximum visual appeal to attract readers. Overall conventions are followed but adapted, such as using pink lines instead of blue, to create something unique that stands out from other magazines.

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

2. • The master head of my magazine ‘CURRENT’ was written in
‘Helvetica Bold’, which was already downloaded, on PhotoshopCC
2014 on my MacBook. I chose this font because it is bold, large and
eye catchy for the audience. This is also the typical lettering that
you would expect to find on existing magazines in the shops. I chose
the title ‘CURRENT’ as my eye-catchy name for my magazine; this is
because I felt that it links with the music style of ‘pop’ chosen. I
thought this because up-coming pop music are also current and
played on many radio stations across the world and so it will appeal
to these listeners. This is also the biggest genre of music that
people listen to, and so more people are likely to buy magazine like
mine. My master head is also very similar to the style of NME,
CLASH and Loud and Quiet as this too are written in a bold lettering
to help stand out when on a white background. I also tired to make
my magazine as simple as possible to meet the demands of the
target audience and so that it is suitable for a wider age-range.

3. • The graphology of my magazine was very simple, using ‘Helvetica’
pretty much all the way through. This font was already pre-
downloaded on my mac, however when playing I used
‘www.DaFont.com’ to look for more unique fonts but I felt Helvetic
was the best as it was simple yet very effective. I used the colour of
black for all my writing, this is because I felt that it worked best and
fitted with everything. I also used it because it was highly revealing
on the white background that helped it to stand out and will be
appealing to future potential customers and help to promote my
brandname. For the other text the colours are monotone, this was
because I used mainly black, with the occasional light pink, this was
because I felt that this looked the best when placed on a white
background and was easier to read for the audience. I used this too
because it helped to enhance these words and make them stand
out, as these would be some of the key features to why customers
would buy my magazine over the pre-existing ones in the high
street stores.

4. • I feel that the writing on the right hand side of the page is the most effective and
powerful text of the cover. This was because it was the most important text to
really attract the attention of potential buyers. I chose the sizing of the text
depending on how key it was for it to be seen at first sight, this meant that the
most eye catchy text was the largest in order to ensure that it is appealing to my
target audience as this way they’re more likely to invest in my magazine over the
others that already pre-exist today. When creating my magazine I based it around
the layout of loud and quiet, this was a different way of coming at for a pop
magazine. However I felt that this worked and I used this idea, because there are
already many pop magazines out there today, and so mine would be different and
unique, helping it to stand out which will result in people being curious and
interested in buying my magazine. I used a simple page layout throughout my
magazine, because I feel that after doing my research and planning nowadays
that’s what people want and are more likely to buy. Also creating a pop magazine
for the up-coming artist, that are played on radio 1, rather than stations such as
capital FM, creates a wider audience range, because it’s seen as ‘cooler’ and so I
wanted to attract the audience of not only the people interested in upcoming pop
music but also those who like different genres too, and by creating a simple layout,
will enable this to work as it will be more appealing to everyone. However due to
the fact it was a pop magazine, I also used some ideas from billaboard magazine,
in order to bring about a pop feel to it. I decided that instead of using the blue
lines that they use in theirs, I’d use pink to bring colour to the magazine and stop it
from looking boring. This will also make my magazine eye catchy and different
from those already available today.

5. • The styling that I used for my models Molly and Patrick
was a very important part to my magazine. They were
styled in a number of different ways to fit in with the
current Upcoming pop fashion. Firstly Molly wore a
grey dress and then a grey, blue and black top, both of
these were very simple, however I felt that they were
effective and enabled her to fit in with the current
more mainstream fashion. Her hair and makeup were
both done which made her look like a natural pop
artist as it was very basic makeup and natural hair,
which is the look that most pop stars go for today. I felt
the clothing that she was wearing would be what you
expected upcoming artists to wear, and it wasn’t tacky
or unattractive.

6. • Patrick was also dressed in a number of different
outfits, from jumpers, to a shirt and a denim jacket. All
of what he wore too I felt portrayed the cool pop
fashion that the males wear at this moment in time. I
felt that he helped to bring attention to the contents
page and attract the reader, as it was a different face
from the front.
• Having attractive and fashionable models too will
drawn attention to my magazine because people will
want to be like them & look like them, and so they will
be interested in reading and buying the magazine.
• Also with Patrick being 20years old, it helps to make
the magazine look more realistic because he is similar
age to pre-existing male artists/bands.

7. • For my double page spread I used a very simple layout, with the
focus being on Molly as she was my main artist. I felt that this
helped draw attention to her, and fitted with the simple styling
chose that I used for both the front cover and contents page. I also
used the simplistic style that both ‘CLASH’ and ‘Loud and Quiet’
have on their magazines, because I feel that this is more appealing
to the audience, and it doesn’t play with their eyes as much as a
busy double page spread would.
• My genre of pop used is shown on my double page spread, not only
in the article, with the Q&A being standard questions that are
usually asked when interviewing artists, but also by the spread of
the page. My photos are big, helping Molly, the artist to stand out,
this will be more appealing to the audience and will attract them
into reading it, as it’s more aesthetically pleasing. The pink lines
again run throughout my magazine helping all the pages link
together but also stopping them from being boring and less
appealing.