1. Evaluation Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?

2. P rior to creating our own magazine's
we viewed pre-existing work which had
scored well in previous years and the majority of these
used the conventions of magazines (as these are already
proven to be successful). However, although it is more
challenging, some magazines neglect these conventions
and opt to create more obscure covers. This is usually an
attempt to attract a niche target market, or a distinct
group. When creating my own magazine I mainly focused
on minimalist magazines like Inventory and Homme as I
wanted my magazine to seem simple and classic- which
was appropriate for my target audience of teenagers/
young adults who were interested in the indie folk music
genre (also willing to pay for quality).
T he masthead on the cover of my
magazine was produced using a font
called 'Felix Titling'. After having researched various
different magazines I found myself drawn to covers with Above is my magazine (right) and Inventory. By
fairly clean and basic fonts (such as Fantastic Man, Studio putting them side by side it’s obvious that there are similarities
and The Germans). I felt it helped make my magazine between them as they both adopt the same distinct style.
appear more expensive and refined. I placed it at the top As I mentioned previously the masthead of my
of the page which is a conventional feature of magazines magazine was hugely inspired by others I had seen, this is evident
which ensures it's easily readable. This simple font here.
matches the whole theme of my magazine which hopes to
look effortless. I feel it suits my genre also which revolves
around simple acoustic music. I chose the title
Compendium, having taken inspiration from Inventory-
with the idea that the magazine is a collection of musical
features. I used thin black lines to frame my title as I felt
that it drew more attention to the masthead and helped to
structure my page- making the layout look more formal
and sophisticated. This is also something I had seen other
magazines use, yet again another way in which I
conformed to conventions.

3. T he contents page of my magazine was also inspired by ones I had looked at in my research and planning. It was particularly
influenced by Esquire magazine as I liked the 'less is more' feel to their contents. After having viewed quite a few other
contents pages I decided it would be sensible to adhere to the conventions of their layout. Much like in esquire I used thin black lines to
separate the page into different sections, this makes different features appear clearer to the consumer and easily legible.
I used a colour scheme of the three colours dark purple, lilac and black, which is another conventional feature (most
magazines use a palette of three basic colours). I felt these shades still had an impact without being overpowering or
startling, which wasn’t appropriate for my magazine as it’s intended to have a more subtle and understated approach. I placed the heading
down the right hand side as I felt this was aesthetically pleasing and helped to configure the page's text nicely. Although headings are
traditionally at the top of the page, reading from left to right (or otherwise central)- it's not necessarily a convention of contents pages. It's
not as crucial that 'contents' is at the top of the page as it is for the masthead on the cover. This is due to the fact that the masthead needs
to be visible when stacked on a shelf, this feature isn't so important for a contents. Esquire magazine typically lay the heading down either
the left or right hand side of their contents page which was a feature that appealed to me, so I decided to incorporate it onto my magazine.
I also continued the same elegant and classy theme from the cover onto this page as the fonts remain simple and clean. I only used two
images on the contents as, unlike Q or NME, most of the magazine's I'd taken inspiration from didn't aim to clutter the page but rather use
the simple design to make their magazine's seem luxurious.
On the left is
Esquire magazine’s contents
which was the page I took
most inspiration from. As
you can see, I have
conformed to some of the
conventions of their
contents, such as the layout
which I fairly similar. I
adopted the same circle
shape on their magazine and
used it to attract more
attentions to my magazine’s
features.

4. T he images on my magazine were a crucial and also a fairly difficult aspect. Not only is it almost impossible to replicate images in
magazines (as they have been professionally taken, using hugely expensive sets, props, clothing, cameras and equipment) but it's
also tricky to select people who will fit your genre. As I had chosen an 'indie' genre for my magazine I selected two of my friends who I thought
looked the most distinctive, Emily with her vibrant ginger hair and hazel eyes and Alice with her wide eyes and innocent look. Having
considered female artists which can be categorized in the genre I'm focusing on, I feel both Alice and Emily were appropriate choices. The indie
genre revolves hugely around natural looking girls with distinguishable styles. And although at first it was difficult to make both girls appear
comfortable and confident in the pictures, after having attempted to take images on four different occasions they became more relaxed in front
of the camera and my pictures turned out more convincing each time.
I chose to put two girls on my cover as I wanted my magazine to mainly attract a female audience and felt that the 'girl
next door' look that both of my models portray would be relatable to other teenage girls who feel they are the same as them. It
was important that they were photogenic and were able to look pleasing in front of the camera. My first attempt at taking pictures of them was
largely unsuccessful as they hadn't planned to be in my photographs that day and therefore were in clothing which didn't correspond neither
with one another, nor my genre. Also my lack of experience was evident in the photos. The styling of the second photo shoot wasn't successful
either, although they appeared rather simplistic in black and white clothing, I felt that the make up on Emily was too harsh and on Alice too
natural as it became tricky to edit out blemishes and skin discolouration. I thought that it was important that they looked relaxed and
approachable to readers, so decided to style them in casual clothing consisting of a white lacy top for Alice and a white buttoned up shirt, pastel
yellow jumper and gold chain for Emily. This also made them seem respectable as they were covered up and this is something I had noticed
amongst indie artists as oppose to more mainstream artists who often wear revealing clothing (such as Niki Minaj or Katy Perry). In this sense I
opposed existing conventions of ‘pop’ magazines but adhered to conventions of Indie magazines.
I also purposefully chose muted colours which weren't going to dominate any of my pages as I think the actual girls
themselves, as musicians, were more the focus than what they were wearing (although I wanted their outfits to be attractive to
readers also). The makeup of female artists in this genre is very simple, usually a small amount of mascara and a bit of face makeup which is
something I replicated with Alice and Emily. I didn't want them to appear too polished because this goes against what my genre usually
promotes and therefore kept their hair fairly tousled and wavy- but made sure they didn't look messy or ungroomed. An aspect of my cover
which isn't necessarily conventional is the fact that it features two females which isn't something I had commonly seen throughout my research
and planning, often there were covers displaying a single female or male or a group of boys but almost never two girls. However, I think this
aspect of my magazine is effective as they coordinate with one another well and both look equally as interesting in the image.

5. T he double page spread of my magazine may
oppose conventions as the images on the left
hand side are perhaps not typical. This is due to the fact that one
picture displays Emily alone and the other shows both of the girls.
I did this as I felt the image of Emily on her own was one of my
most successful pictures, however the ones were Alice looked the
best were in shots with Emily also. It's significant that in a real
magazine, featured artists often have a few pages of a photo shoot
that the magazine has done with them and it's quite possible that
on subsequent pages there could have been images of Alice on
her own without Emily. I think it was a sensible decision to
choose both of these images, although perhaps not conventional,
I didn't think it was worth jeopardizing the appearance of my
double page spread to conform strictly to conventions.
H aving experimented with a huge variety of
different shots, many of which were more playful
and amusing, I found that the images that actually worked most
effectively were the ones in which both of them appeared fairly
relaxed. These simpler images are often typical of magazines such
as Fantastic Man and Inventory which were hugely the inspiration
behind my own magazine, their photographs don't look staged and
give the magazine a classy finish. From my research and
planning, the photography which interested me the most was from
LOVE magazine which used fairly basic close ups most of the
time. Although my images consist of four mid shots and one close
up, I felt that the personal feel which LOVE magazine's photos
capture was replicated to some degree in mine- through their eye
contact with the camera and sincere expressions. This encourages
my magazine to seem more intimate.
T hroughout I alternated my colour scheme from the contents page (dark purple, lilac and black) to the double page spread (teal,
grey and black) both of which I felt were subtle and professional looking. I also thought the colours worked well together. Most
elements of my magazine are based around using and developing conventions of magazines as I felt confident experimenting with
them, considering they have already been proven effective by pre-existing magazines. I felt that challenging conventions would have been a risky
choice and I didn't feel I could convincingly pull it off. Having said that, I adapted many conventions to suit the style of my magazine, having
taken into consideration all of my prior research and planning, which was very helpful.