The document discusses how the author's media product uses, develops, and challenges conventions of real music magazines. Specifically, it summarizes how the magazine's cover, contents page, and double page spread draw from conventions of magazines like Mixmag while also adapting and challenging conventions to better suit the target EDM audience. For example, the title uses an unconventional spelling but bold font for visual appeal. Layouts draw from Mixmag but add more images for engagement. Clothing and props portray an aspirational lifestyle while reflecting EDM iconography. Overall, the design aims to look professional while exciting readers with its genre representation.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)
My media product uses various conventions of original magazines as well as challenging
these as I adapted my magazine so that it appealed more to my target audience.
The title of the magazine -
For the title of my magazine I didn’t get any inspiration of any original magazines. I came up
with my magazine title because it relates to Electronic Dance Music in the fact that the
songs are generally loud and the word relates to this sound volume, and the bass in the
songs. I decided to spell it with a “z” instead of an “s” because it gives the word a unique
edge and it will target my younger audience better as it makes the word sound cool and
interesting. In the design of my title, I decided to use a fairly thick and bold font so that it
stands out on the page. However, the title looks clean and professional which is my
intention for the magazine. I added a slight piece of page furniture in “Issue 2” Jan 2016” as
this added to the masthead and made the front cover look more professional and well
designed. In terms of the look of the title, I have used conventions similarly to mixmag of
using a bold white font style as I feel this looks professional and neat which is the intention I
wanted through my title.
Graphology/page layouts –
The graphology of my front cover is very simple; I use one font in Xpress XF. I felt there
wasn’t any need in using a different font as because of the variation in using capital letters
and applying the bold text style to the writing it, they appear to be quite different on the
page so there was some variety in how the text appeared on the page. I was still able to
make different parts of the page stand out more than others because of this as well as
manipulating text size, which is needed. This can be seen as unconventional, as typically a
front cover would include different fonts. But I felt there was no need. For my cover line, DJ
Greeno Exclusive, this isn’t your typical cover line as it makes the reader believe that the
magazines all about him. Whereas it is not, it features a variety of elements within the
Electronic Dance Music genre. I decided to have this as the cover line as it is the main story
within the magazine and what the double page spread mainly based on. Therefore, the
reader needed to be aware of this and that this should hopefully be eye catching for them
as well as they are intrigued to see what he has to say in his interview. However, on the
other hand, Mixmag and EDM weekly do have this type of cover line on their magazines

3. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)
also, which is another reason why I incorporated into mine also. It just isn’t typical to other
genres of music. For the layout of the front cover, it was inspired by Mixmag. I felt the
design looked very professional and neat and that was the intention of my magazine also. I
wanted it to be professional while also being exciting for the reader. So I incorporated the
style of having the boxes to have text in them as this complies with the “Z” design style of a
front cover which I feel looks good. For my contents page, I again liked the way the mixmag
magazine design the page. I incorporated this design into my own design. However, I
developed the page into having the concept of having three images on the contents page.
As I felt this made the page more engaging and interesting at first sight for the reader in
having more graphical images to look rather than having one larger image and another
image. However, I did abide by the classical conventions of having a two column system
within the contents page. Having images creating one column and another block of text to
create the other. I felt this was the most professional and best looking way in creating the
page. As I did try splitting the page into three columns and making the image slightly smaller
and adding more text for the features section. But I felt this didn’t look quite as good as the
classic two column design. For this page, I changed the font style for the masthead of the
page to have a slight variety in fonts across the magazine; the font I picked was Century
Gothic. This font looked cleaner and more professional for this page. I did keep the name of
the magazine “Bangerz” the same as I felt there needed to be a consistency in the actual
name of the magazine, but January 2016” and “Contents” were in Century Gothic as this
looked better. This concept follows the stereotypical conventions of a magazine, in keeping
the magazine name the same but changing other elements to have a variety. Which I agree
with, and therefore applied to my own magazine. For my double page spread, I didn’t really
follow a particular design, I just stuck by the general features that are applied to double
page spreads E.g drop cap, pull quote, page numbers, cover line, websites etc and
implemented these into my design. I did abide by the convention of many magazines of
having one half of the page being filled with a large image and the other half of the page
being filled with the article. The article was based on an exclusive interview as indicated by
the cover line on the front page of the magazine. I would say that this isn’t a conventional
way of designing the page as typically they focus on a topic within the genre of music,
whereas I have got an exclusive interview with a DJ star on mine which makes the magazine
seem like it is one of the best within the genre as they are able to get interviews with big DJ
stars. Magazines such as mixmag and DJ mag do have stars such as David Guetta and Tiesto
in there magazines but this is just information generally on them, they don’t manage to be
able to get an interview with the stars, this is an area I have developed through my
magazine. I also stuck to the stereotypical three column design for an article in the double
page spread as this is the most professional and neat looking design I feel for an article and
therefore I applied that. I decided to add another image into the article to make it more
engaging. As the image links to the article and just makes the page stand out more to the
reader. They see the image, become interested, get attracted to the drop cap and then
begin reading the article. The font style throughout his double page has been kept
consistent in Xpress XF. I felt through the use of the various colours and sizes with text being
bold and not bold another font style wasn’t required as the page doesn’t look all the same
and boring.

4. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)
Costumes, props, iconography used to reflect genre
For the front cover, the model of the page is James Green (DJ Greeno). I tried different types
of clothing to see which piece looked the most appropriate for my magazine. I chose to have
him wearing a black silk jacket on the front cover. As the material appears to be quite
expensive but not too expensive that the target audience can’t aspire to wear clothes like
him. I also decided to have him wearing black shades along with black/blue beats ear
phones (fit with the colour scheme). Through the use of this he appeared to look cool fitting
the music genre. The beats headphones were used to make him look like a DJ. The fact that
they are wireless as well makes him appear to be a cool DJ. This can be seen as being a
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5. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)
conventional element of someone being a DJ, as other DJ magazines used shades and
earphones which I though made the model look cool, so I wanted to implement that into my
own design, as I wanted the same intention for my magazine. For the contents page, for the
image representing page 62. I picked out clothing that fitted with the genre. The model on
the left is wearing a pink crop top which is the common clothing for girls that go to music
events/parties. For the model on the right, I chose this piece of clothing as it looks cool and
fits with the Electronic Dance Music genre. Coupled with the fact that she is wearing bright
lipstick and large earrings it makes her to appear to be at a party. For the model
representing page 71 (SANG), I chose this top for him to wear as it is unique and stylish. This
represents the audience research as it showed than many people within the genre also like
to be unique. This element of clothing is and is not something everyone would wear on a
daily basis. For the image representing page 84(DJ Greeno), I decided to make him wear a
fashionable piece of clothing. Ralph Lauren being a recognisable brand for many people that
read the magazine. This gives the magazine a professional element which is what I wanted
to achieve. I decided to change the props for this photo in using earphones instead of
overhead ear phones. The reason behind this is because for the audience reading the
magazine, it shows that they don’t have to go out and buy expensive beats headphones to
be able to be a DJ and that a variety of equipment can be used. Allowing people to still
aspire to be like him if they don’t have enough money. For my double page spread, I
decided for him to wear the Ralph Lauren polo as I feel it looks neat and professional which
fits the design of the magazine. It also portrays him to be a successful DJ if he has the money
available to buy this clothing as well as the beats headphones. Showing that he is one of the
best DJ’s in the world. Compared to other DJ’s in the genre DJ Greeno and SANG are
wearing similar clothes. Iconic, smart brands that suit a clubbing atmosphere, this is where I
used conventions of other magazines from seeing these stars in magazines such as mixmag
and DJ mag. For the image of SANG on the double page spread he is also wearing an
inspirable brand in Palace. This jumper he is wearing looks very cool and fashionable, as well
as the jumper being black and white fitting with the colour scheme on the page allowing the
colours to reflect the genre in an exciting way.
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6. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)
Genre and how the magazine cover, contents and double page spread suggest it
I feel my magazine design represents the Electronic Dance music genre very well. The
magazine represents the genre well as the designs are bright and exciting which is what the
genre is like. As this corresponds to bright colourful lighting within clubs. I have used colour
effects on all of my pictures also to give them these exciting colours to them to represent
the genre also. The colour scheme used of blue, white, yellow, purple and black for the
majority of the magazine I feel looks exciting add professional in the way I have
incorporated these colours. I decided to add the colour effect of pink on the contents page
just to add to the eye catching nature of the page. But mainly through the types of clothing
and props used in the magazine indicate that it is based on the Electronic Dance Music
genre. As the pictures include beats, shades, and frames of dance moves portraying it to be
in this genre. The front cover suggests that the genre is EDM through the use of the bright
colour scheme and the model I have used has beats headphones on suggesting that he is a
DJ who are known for playing EDM music in parties and festivals. For my contents page, the
three models used on the page represent the genre well through the use of the clothing
they are wearing, as they are fashionable which are common for party/festival wear. For my
double page spread, it represents the genre very well as the main image used shows DJ
Greeno with his headphones as if he is djing, as well as Sang who is pursuing a dance move
as if he is raving to the music which is common in Electronic Dance Music as that is the type
of dance moves that are used.
These images suggest how mymagazine is representedina similar wayto existingEDMmagazines. Throughthe use of
a bright colour scheme andthe models usedinthe magazines including clothing that suits the genre allowed my
magazine to suggest it was from the EDM genre.