Evaluation question 1 - Jake Chalmers

1. QUESTION 1
In what ways does your music magazine
use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real music magazines?

4. Form and Conventions
The forms and conventions of an indie magazine
are:
- Minimalistic writing
- Pale colours (3 main colours)
- Mid-shot Central image
- Plugs
- Masthead
- Barcode

5. Conform
I have decided to conform to using 3 main pale
colours. This is because the pale colours are very
subtle and draw more attention to the images
and text but also fill the blank space making sure
that the magazine doesn’t look bare. I have also
decided to follow the minimalistic text layout
because the audience I am aiming my magazine
at [aged 15-25] may be put off by large portions
of text.

6. Conventions such as the barcode and the masthead
are crucial for a magazine front cover however the
way they are presented are more flexible. Indie
magazines tend to have bold and larger mastheads
and I have decided to follow this and have a
red/white masthead that stands out on the green
background.
Plugs are not necessary, but fairly common in Indie
magazines and give a large amount of information
about what will be within. This is why I decided to
use them on my magazine front cover.

7. Challenge
The NME magazines tend to have a skyline, this is to
give a trip of information about what is included. I
did not think this was necessary, and when I tried, it
cluttered my magazine front cover and I prefer the
look without. Another convention for Indie
magazines are flashes. I have challenged this
convention as I preferred the look of all my info
being in a plug, and not in a flash. Also, I thought
that the flash took away too much attention from
the rest of the magazine.

10. Forms and Conventions
- Central image
- black/white filters
- Drop caps
- columns
- Pull quotes
- headings
-Graphic features

11. Conventions
Most magazines have columns, however some
decide to have text boxes instead. I decided to
follow the convention and use columns because
I feel that they make the text look tidier and
easier to read. I have also followed the
convention of using a heading. I decided this
because they make it easy to understand what
the bulk of the text is about and make it clear
about what you will read.

12. Challenges
I have chosen not to use drop-caps as it just
doesn’t look right in the column of text, I much
prefer the look of text as it is.
I have also chosen not to use pull quotes as I
think it makes the portion of text look cluttered
and messy. I much prefer a clean, simple piece
of text and think that it is much more enjoyable
to look at and more importantly to read.

15. Forms and Conventions
- Features
- Reviews
- Subheadings
- Central image
- Page numbers
- Date

16. Conventions
Subheadings are a must, therefore I feel it was
crucial to have it to clarify that it is the contents
page. The central image is a good way to create
and entertaining background whilst still being
able to read the text.
Page numbers are a must. They allow the reader
to find out what page each article is on and they
are what makes a contents page so important.

17. Challenges
I challenged the convention of having the date
on the contents page. This is because I already
have the date on my front cover page and do
not feel that is necessary to have it again on the
inside of the magazine.