The document compares the design of a music magazine cover and double page spread created by the author to real magazine examples. For the cover, conventions like the masthead, bar code, and cover stories were used, while also adding elements like a pug logo and shadowing to make it more eye-catching. The double page spread featured a full-page photo across both pages, pull quotes, and a question/answer interview format to mimic real magazine styles. Design elements and positioning of text, images, and colors were developed based on inspiration from magazines like Q.

1. Question 1: In what ways does your product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?I decided to present this question as an annotated comparison of my design work with equivalent pages from an actual music magazine.

2. The Front Cover Mast-Head Pug Logo/Slogan Main Image Cover stories including pull quotes Main Cover Story Bar Code

3. For the front cover of my music magazine it was vital I used and developed certain conventions of a typical music magazine front cover: such as a heading, main image, slogan, bar code, dateline, price and so on. I wanted the front cover to be simplistic as I felt this looked more stylish and sophisticated yet the overall result turned out to look rather dull. Because of this I included a pug inspired by the pug on the example I used on the previous page; to add more depth to it I added another ring in white to make it stand out more, I feel it also looks more professional. I wanted to use direct pull quotes on the front cover as I felt it was capture the attention of potential readers, making them want to buy the magazine and read the articles which have been advertised on the front cover. The main background image is one of the most important aspects of this front cover, I wanted the subject to have eye-contact with the camera as it more direct and eye-catching. Her fists creates a depth of field within the photo making it less simple, adding more variety to what could be a plain photo. I have added a shadow to the mast-head for the same reasons, to make it less flat. However my front cover is different to many examples of Q front covers as it is much more simple because there are not as many cover stories and graphics yet this is the look I wanted to achieve.

4. Double Page Spread Title/Heading Main image over both pages Interview/text Page number Image caption

5. For the double page spread of my magazine I decided to use one photo as the main image across both pages for the background: there are many other layout styles I could have chosen yet I decided this would be the most successful style to present this page as it clearly links the two pages together, the photo is also larger and more defined. I wanted to make the double page spread a feature article as these are common in music magazines. It is individual as the image is from a live event which is where the interview took place. The language is colloquial to make it seem more real and informal considering the context of the magazine, this particular article and the intended audience. It also contains pull quotes which is a stylistic feature of a magazine article yet it is not included in the example on the previous page which I used a style model. The text in the bottom right hand corner alike the example yet the lexis takes the form of questions and answers making it simple and clear to the reader as opposed to a large chunk of text. The title/heading of my text is in the top left corner, as it will be the first thing the reader will see, the name of the musician is the largest size font in bright red so it stands out and is clear what the article entails. In the example I have used all of the font is in one colour (white). I feel this makes the double page spread quite flat therefore I have incorporated a colour scheme of red and white to add some depth to the double page spread. I have develped certain forms and conventions in the double page spread such as the structure of the page and positioning of certain elements like the heading, pull quotes and introductory paragraph. I decided to view a number of double page spreads from Q magazine as a basis for my ideas, here is a link to one which I used for inspiration.

6. Contents Page Logo Date Title Features Main Image Page Number Smaller Images page

7. Alike the contents pages of Q magazine they have included the logo for brand recognition and I have decided to do the same to keep a re-occurring theme. I have used a number of images for the front cover, keeping one images larger using it as the main one with a further three smaller supporting images. In some of these images I have put the page number in a different colour inside the actual photo to save room and because I think it looks professional: in the example of Q’s contents this has not been done. I have used a colour scheme of red and white keeping the font colourblack; I feel this is more sophisticated and is similar to the form of Q magazine’s contents page and also are the colours used in the front cover and double page spread. I have chosen these colours because they are simple and they are uni-sex colours therefore appealing to both male and female readers. In the left third I have put a ‘features’ column which is the same as Q magazine; I feel this is helpful for the reader so they know what each magazine contains and which is an important article, suggesting certain features I think are relevant and will be interesting to the reader. In the bottom right corner I have incorperated a page number, this has also been done by Q magazine however I have developed this idea by adding the V logo next to it which I think is successful.