My media product uses and develops conventions of real magazines in the following ways: 1) It features a masthead in red serif font at the top, a common location that stands out and gains attention. 2) Images of artists are featured prominently and connect the reader to the stories in a direct manner, as seen in other magazines. 3) Information like the date and reviews are placed in a top corner for easy viewing, a standard convention.

1. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT
USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND
CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?
Sophie Wall

3. Masthead
Features
Main image
Barcode
Date and Price
Anchor Text
Main Cover Line

4. Large, bold, northernly placed (common convention), above head (usually behind), bright
red – prominent – stands out – gains attention – typically located, brand awareness, eye
catching, serif font (usually sans serif)
Other
magazines:
Medium close up, dominates page, red lipstick – link bank to red of the masthead –
stands out – attractive to male gaze – Mulvey, direct mode of address – connects artist
and audience – personal relationship – uses and grats.
Other
magazines:
Q, Rolling Stone, NME
Rolling Stone, NME

5. Insight into magazine – hermeneutic question – want to know more, link back to house style,
stands out, alternated colours, not main selling points – smaller text
Other
magazines:
Artist name – entices fans – encourages them to buy magazine, insight into main story –
bold and contrasts background – stands out
Other
magazines:
NME, NME, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone, Q, Spin

6. Other
magazines:
Common Convention – stands out against background – sticks to house style – insight to
main story – positioned above anchor text to form connection
Black/White/Grey/Red/Blue. I chose these colours as they look quite nice together and
contrast each other well. The mise en scene of the model goes into the white sector of the
house style which allowed the red anchor text to stand out well.
Other
magazines:
NME, Billboard (Top), Q
(Bottom)
Q, NME

8. Images
Date
Reviews
Features
Subscription
sPage
number
Social
Media
Regulars
Numbering
Columns

9. Other
magazines:
Shows recent information, helps regular readers keep up to date, top right hand
corner – small but stands out, contrasts background
Other
magazines:
Challenges convention of 3 columns, organised and structured, no crowding or
overlapping, outlined for a professional finish
NME, Q
Q, Q

10. Other
magazines:
Bold feature titles – eye catching – different font – contrast to rest of text – breaks down magazine –
easy to navigate.
Short description of feature – entices reader – insight to feature – uses and grats.
Other
magazines:
Consistency for regular readers, entices readers to continue reading and repeat purchasing,
“This month’s news” – hermeneutic question – want to know what’s happened – keep up to
date
NME
NME, Billboard, Q

11. Other
magazines:
I found social media not to be a common convention but thought it important in
assisting to create a relationship with the readers. It creates a way to keep readers
interested in the magazine between issues and helps to communicate with the
audience. I believe that social media also helps to reach my target audience as
teenagers are very much interested in technology and social media such as Twitter and
Instagram, etc.
Informative to reader – hermeneutic question – want to know what new music to listen to
– feel included/in the know before other people
ME, QN

12. Other
magazines:
Other
magazines:
Large, bold page numbers – stands out – easy to navigate – creates shortcuts, links with images
and articles, links to house style
Thumbnail positioning – colours meet house style, links to articles –
entices readers, organised borders – professional look, no
overlapping – neat, tidy
Q, Billboard
Billboard

13. Other
magazines:
Sense of continuity – won’t miss an issue – keep up to date – creates personal
relationship between magazine and reader – cheaper than buying them
separately – feel like you’ve saved money
NME, Kerrang!, NME

15. Image
Pull Quote
Pull
Quot
e
Website Page
Number
Headline
Text
Columns

16. Other
magazines:
Other
magazines:
Common altercations to font and colour – contrasts – font stands out – bold –
eye catching – separates paragraphs and highlights subheadings.
Large, bold – stands out – eye catching, at top of page – grabs attention, hermeneutic
question – want to know more, entices reader to continue article.
NME
Rolling Stone, Billboard

17. Other
magazines:
Other
magazines:
Direct mode of address- personal relationship with reader (uses and grats), medium
close up, located to the left of article (common convention)
Insight into article – hermeneutic question – want to know more, creates engagement
Q
NME, XXL

18. Other
magazines:
Other
magazines:
I followed the common convention of having the image on the left of the text, with the article
consisting of three columns. The image is eye catching and therefore grabs the reader’s attention
as well as the pull quotes.
Neat, tidily set out – 3 columns (common convention), organised
Q, Flavour
NME, Flavour,
Kerrang!

19. Other
magazines:
Other
magazines:
Positioned at bottom hand corner of the page – common convention, easy navigation – eye
catching – colour contrasts from background, different colour to article – stands out – easily
visible
Positioned under article – next to page number, bright colour
– contrast to background – stands out – separate from text –
targets those who use the internet on regular basis – keep
readers up to date between issues.
Q, NME
Billboard, Rolling Stone