The document describes the design and conventions used in a mock magazine cover and articles that the author created. They analyzed how their design challenged or followed conventions of real magazines like Kerrang!. Their cover used standard elements like the barcode and date, but challenged conventions by listing band names in the footer in an unusual format. Their interview article used question and answer format and visual elements like pull quotes to engage readers. The author learned skills using Adobe InDesign like adding text effects and strokes to make elements stand out.

1. Evaluation Amy Hallahan

2. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? The barcode, issue number, date and price are conventions that must appear on every magazine. I have a footer at the bottom of my cover to show a little more of what can be found inside the magazine. I have used a pull quote on the cover to entice readers I have placed my cover lines along the left hand side in the typical style of a magazine. The main image has an effect on it, and is set along the right third. The masthead on Kerrang! Is also big and bold, and also works to stand out and show that it is a rock music magazine. The masthead Is big and bold to stand out and to reinforce the idea of rock music being loud. Kerrang! uses A header, which is something I didn’t. I didn’t think it would fit very well into the cover of mine. The main image is set along the right third, and takes up most of the cover, as mine also does. Standard barcode, date and issue number. On this cover, another image has been used on the side, which I had originally planned to do. I didn’t as I experimented, but none of the images seemed to fit in place. The cover lines can be found at the bottom of this cover, with the main feature standing out in bold 3d letters. The footer contains lots of names of bands, where mine only has 3.

3. My main image is a posed photograph of the band, and is such that you can see that you can see the style of music they play – this may be because of the way they dress or the looks on their faces. In Kerrang! There is a footer to promote the fact that you can subscribe to the mag. I didn’t do this as I would have had to create more covers to promote the advert. The other image I used is of another artist, mid guitar playing. It has a different feel to the main image, but there is no clear cut definition to rock music, which is the sort of idea I was aiming for. The names of the bands involved are big and bold to help draw the attention of the audience. Underneath them is a page reference, meaning that readers can look at the picture of the band they like, and immediately see what page they feature on. I have used an unusual way of listing the pages, justifying them on the right instead of the left, and having the numbers bold and hugging the words, rather than there be some sort of order. As well as the contents of the mag, I have listed the posters that are included, to show readers early on what can be found. The logo and the date are big as to stand out. The main image is of an artist mid gig, which like mine, helps to prove what music they play. There are 3 other images present in Kerrang! Which seems to be one of their traits within a contents page. I only used one to save space. Kerrang! Have included a letter from the editor on their contents page which I didn’t do. This again was due to space issues The content of the magazine in Kerrang! Follows a more conventional approach of right justification and straight order when it comes to the numbers. The name of the page in Kerrang! Is also big and bold. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

4. I decided to use question and answer format for my article, as interviews with the artists always seem to be more popular when it comes to the audience. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? The main image takes up most of the second page, emphasising the importance of the person within the picture. I used a pull quote in the middle of the page to draw the reader in and to entice them to read the article. I have put a statement here to give some extra information to the reader The name of the band is the biggest text on the page in order to show the reader who it is about, and to attract those who like the band. The questions appear in red to help them stand out against the background and in comparison with the answers.

5. The title of the page is also a pull quote, and appears in two colours to help it stand out. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? This spread has a border around the edges. The border itself is like lights which has connotations of concerts and stardom. The fact the border disappears behind the image is important as it tells us that the image is more significant. The page number appears small in the corners. The subheading, also in two colours, tells the reader who the interview is with and which band they come from. The main image is of the main singer within a band, and he is stood in a way with portrays attitude. The tattoos also connote rebellion, which then links in to the genre of the magazine. There is a caption in the bottom left hand corner of the image. The title of the page is only small, but has details of a website present. The questions in the interview have been highlighted in white, and they appear bigger than the answers, and also in capital letters.

6. 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups? To start, there is no real stereotype to my magazine as the only image is the main one of Megan. The clothes she was wearing were black, and she was wearing a band t-shirt under her jacket. The black and the name of the band both let the audience know she is linked to rock music, along side the shoulder length dyed hair. THE magazine is aimed at teenagers predominately, males and females equally, although it could appeal to those slightly older. The use for the teenager on the front helps to show who it is aimed at. The gender is not really specific as I would like my magazine to appeal to both genders on a near equal basis. I only used basic colours on my cover for this reason, as well as the black and red linking to rock. I used a rocky font throughout the whole magazine so that the genre would be immediately known. I also placed the masthead and pull quote on a slight angle to symbolise that rock does not follow the usual conventions of society. Talking of society, my magazine is not particularly aimed at any social class, as it is open for anybody to read. Although, saying this, not many upper class people are going to want to read a rock music magazine – So due to that, I suppose my magazine will mainly be aimed at middle class citizens, and maybe some working class.

7. 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? The Best publisher for my magazine would be bauer as they already publish some magazines of the same genre, two of the main ones being Kerrang! and Q. Bauer are good as they target young adults and teenagers which is similar to what I am aiming for. Obviously we don’t shut out the older readers, as sometimes there would be a feature in the magazines about a band from times gone by… for example Queen or bon jovi from the ages. Bauer are a huge publisher firm, but they only do these two rock music magazines… the rest is other kinds of music, plus film and gossip magazines.

8. 4. Who would the audience be for your media product? Rock magazines usually seem to appeal to males slightly more than they do to women, but nothing really more than a 60:40 basis. The main age group for a rock magazine, such as Kerrang! seems to be teenagers – those between the ages of 16 and 19. The genre appeals to any ethnicity. There are no boundaries as to who reads the magazines, or who listens to the music, although it seems to be predominately white brits / americans who take more of an interest. Interests would include playing instruments and attending gigs. Why they listen to Rock… Most rockers listen to this genre because they like the messages that the songs send across, and the passion that is put into the lyrics. Rock music is a good way of releasing your angers and frustrations, as well as passing over messages of love and hope.

9. 5. How did you attract/address your audience? I have tried to cater for all of the above within my magazine by including features about many different bands who will appeal to different ages and genders. I have also used a neutral colour scheme and images. The language I used was informal and simple so as to ensure the audience included as big a range of people as possible. I tried to construct the interview in a way that teenagers would enjoy reading, the questions and pull quotes containing language that would appeal most to those of my target audience. I also tried to use bands throughout most of it that were of a similar age to my target audience so as to attract them into reading due to there being almost no age difference. (such as paramore, pictured right)

10. 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? 1) First of all, I used the text tool to create the masthead for my magazine. I then used the text effects to change the shape and size of the writing. Then I added a red stroke to the outside of the text in order to help make it stand out. 2) Next, I added the image that was to appear on the front cover. To make the image then seem a little more ‘rocky’ to tie in with my chosen genre, I added an effect which made the image look a bit cartoony and rough cut. 4) After that, I then added the next cover line, this one having a red stroke, linking back to the masthead and working to keep some consistency present. 3) Then I added the main cover line to the cover, advertising the main feature/band of the magazine. I put a white stroke around the text to help it stand out, especially when it disappears into the image near the end. The writing below the larger copy just gives more information as to what can be found within the magazine.

11. 5) Then I added a red bar along the bottom to act as the background to the footer. I chose to do it red to go with the strokes of the writing and masthead, and to help it look more ‘rocky’. 7) After that, I decided to add a pull quote to the cover in order to help entice the reader into buying the magazine to read the interview within. I made this white so that I could place it on the main image and still read it. 8) Then I had to add a barcode to the bottom as typical magazine convention. 6) I added another cover line above the others to help advertise more things that would appear within the magazine. This one I added a black stroke to, as the writing was red, and the black helps it to stand out against the background.

12. 9) In order to make the magazine even more conventional, I added an issue number, date and price above the barcode. 11) Penultimately, I used the triangle tool to create a red triangle in the top right corner of my magazine cover. 12)Upon this I added the text ‘rated 2011’s best’. A review such as this would help to encourage customers into buying my magazine. 10) I then added the writing to the footer, which consists of names of the bands featured in the magazine.

13. 2) To the side of the logo I added the title ‘contents’. 1) First of all, I inserted the logo of my magazine into the top left of the contents page. 3) Next, I put a red box with the date in it underneath. 4) I inserted the main image that was to appear on the page at the bottom in the centre. It is a picture used to try and draw the readers eye because of the colours and the pose featured.

14. 5) Above the main image, I inserted another, this one smaller. Shows there is more than one thing within the magazine worth looking at. 6) To the right of the logo and title, I composed a list of bands whose poster would appear within the magazine, According to my questionnaire results, posters are popular. 7)Then, in the top right corner, is the contents of the magazine, but with no page numbers just yet. The words ‘C#’ and ‘Plus’ are in bold to show their importance.

15. 9) After that, I added The title of one of the bands, and the page number that corresponds to their feature. I also added a small caption of the photo above this. 10) Then I added the title of the band that goes with the other picture, and the page number of importance/ 8) This is where the page numbers come into it. In order to make them look better and to stand out more, I made them thick red with a black stroke around them. I then inserted them into the program and placed them where needed next to the contents.

16. 2) Then I inserted the main image to the second page, and added a slight glow around the edge in order to help it stand out from the black background. 3) The next thing I did was write the opening paragraph for my interview. The paragraph includes a drop cap at the start to draw attention to the beginning. 1) The first step was to insert page numbers in the bottom corners of the pages.

17. 5) After that, I constructed the actual article (which was an interview). I placed this into 2 columns and carried it on so that it would fit nicely onto the second page. 6) Then I added the title on the side of the page, and rotated it so that it ran downwards. Under that I added a subheading letting the reader know who is being spoken to and which band they are from. 4) Next I simply added the by-line to the top of the page.

18. 8) After that, I added a pull quote next to the main image which should help draw in the reader’s attention. I aim for this by using a quote that seems interesting. 9) The last thing I did was add another pull quote, but this one was in red instead of white, and I placed it in the middle of the article by wrapping the text around it. 7) The next thing I did was to add another paragraph at the end which contains information about the bands next big performance.

19. 7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? At the time of creating my preliminary task, I didn’t know very well how to use Photoshop or in design. Proof of this is the background on the cover of my magazines. For the cover I made for my preliminary task, I wanted to cut out the background, but I didn’t know how to do this. For the main task, I was a little more confident, and so I played around with the tools, and found a way to do this. Without the busy background, the cover lines could be seen and read a lot more easily. I think the overall look of the magazine has improved too, with the cover lines, the pull quotes and the masthead looking a lot more professional on my main task than it looks on the preliminary one. On the most recent one, I also included a footer, which was something I did not do on the first one.