This document evaluates the author's music magazine media product in terms of how it uses and develops conventions of similar media forms. The cover follows conventions like masthead, cover lines and barcode. It differs by not including a pull quote. The contents page includes secondary images anchored to articles. It differs by including multiple images rather than one main image. The double page spread includes elements like byline, headline and picture credit. It keeps the style clean with three colors. The masthead is larger to build recognition. The final cover and contents page kept the same color scheme but included more advanced elements, like two cover models and social media accounts. The overall design stuck to the draft basics but used new skills.

1. By James Borland
EVALUATION FOR MY MUSIC MAGAZINE
QUESTION 1.)

2. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP
OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF MEDIA
PRODUCTS? SIMILARITIES-COVER
Masthead
Main
Image
Direct
Address
Cover
lines
Barcode/
Edition
Puff
Main Cover
line
Colour
scheme

3. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE,
DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF
MEDIA PRODUCTS? DIFFERENCES-COVER
This issue of Q included a grab quote.

4. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE,
DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND
CONVENTIONS OF MEDIA PRODUCTS?
The main differences between my cover and the Q cover is that they feature a pull quote
with their main cover line. I didn’t do this on my cover as I thought it would cover even
more of the photo and distract from the more important parts such as the main image and
main cover line. I follow the rule of thirds to show what is important on my cover. I also
have a large masthead like Q does but I do not cover mine at all as this is the first issue of
my magazine so it has no brand recognition whereas Q is a popular indie-rock magazine
and is well known by fans of that genre. I made sure to use direct address as this
interests the audience and was used in the examples I looked at, being Q and some NME
issues.

5. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE,
DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF
MEDIA PRODUCTS? SIMILARITIES-CONTENTS
Masthead
Anchorage
Secondary
Images
Cover
lines

6. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE,
DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND
CONVENTIONS OF MEDIA PRODUCTS?
My contents page featured no big differences as I followed codes and conventions and
kept it like magazines that I had analysed like this issue of Q. I made sure to feature
secondary images which would link to the cover lines I had mentioned. I did this by using
anchorage to show exactly which image refers to which page. My contents page is
similar as it features things all contents pages include. The cover lines are labelled with
page numbers and also all of my pictures are anchored to an article in the magazine. The
main difference is Q features one main image whereas I feature multiple secondary
images to give a wide range of artists. This is the first issue of my magazine whereas Q
has been going for a long time and has an audience, this meant I did not do everything
the way they did as I am trying to create an audience. I feature the magazines whereas Q
does not. This is because I am trying to build some brand recognition.

7. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE,
DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF
MEDIA PRODUCTS? SIMILARITIES-DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
Drop Cap
Stand first
Byline
Headline
Picture
credit
Pictures
Picture caption

8. Byline
Picture
credit
Headline
Image
Picture caption
Stand first
Drop
Cap: N/A
Pictures

9. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT
USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND
CONVENTIONS OF MEDIA PRODUCTS?
I follow the conventions of a Double Page Spread especially in my genre. I followed examples
like NME and Q so overall I have followed conventions of media products. I kept my main
image on just one of the pages, as my examples did to keep my overall clean style and
design. I wanted to keep the style clean and straight as I was trying to appeal to a slightly
older audience so I did not want to play down to them. I didn’t want to distract the reader too
much so I kept the colours the same as before with just three colours, red, white and black.
This gives my magazine a more mature style as it is not too in your face. I featured my
masthead quite large whereas Q magazine does not. This is because they already have an
audience whereas this is my first issue of my magazine. My image featured direct address
which was also used for three of the band members on the Q magazine double page spread.

10. SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MY
FINAL COVER AND MY DRAFTS.

11. SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MY
FINAL COVER AND MY DRAFTS.
My draft and my final design ended up being quite different, this is because I became
more confident with Photoshop which allowed me to make better designs then I could
when I made my student magazine. My cover features the same colour scheme and a
very similar layout however I included two models on my cover as I had learnt how to
remove the background which allowed me to make them large and keep them together,
to give me more space to use on my cover. This is similar to my contents where I also
used the same colour scheme and a kind of similar layout but in the end more was
different with the contents. I got rid of the editors note from my contents as I did not need
to cover and white space as I had now added the social media accounts which I thought
would be more important for a first issue of a magazine. I also had more images on my
final design. Also, with my double page spread I kept the same colour scheme and a
similar layout but I did change the layout partially. Whilst making my drafts I did not have
as much knowledge about articles for the double page spread. Once I wrote my article I
realised that this would take up most of the right page of my double page spread. The left
page I kept almost exactly the same as my draft as I had based it off examples I had
already seen. Overall I stuck to the basics of my draft but tried to use more advanced
skills to make my final design look better and how I would really like it.