1. In what ways does your music magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of existing music magazines? Having chosen the genre POP for the base of my magazine, I decided to research further into Mixmag magazine. Having previously analysed Top of the Pops, Mixmag and Kerrang!, I was already aware of the basic codes and conventions which are used in the magazine marketing industry, these consist of, price, date, issue, main image, headlines, lures and many more. I particularly liked Mixmag magazine for many reasons, it was also one of the main inspirations behind my music magazine and therefore I developed and challenged forms and conventions of this magazine. The main aspect which I really liked in Mixmagwas the use of organisation as I believe it gave a continuous feel, it also allowed easy thorough navigation through my magazine, increasing sales and widening target audience, this is one of many elements which I re-produced in my work. This convention was particularly used in the making of the contents page. Many of the magazines I looked at used a basic yet bold colour scheme. Despite bold being a good point, I challenged colours being basic. I believe Mixmag also challenge over existing magazines at this. I experimented with different shades of pink, red, orange, yellows, yet the colour scheme I stayed fixed to was red, black and grey as it stands out and appeals widely. I considered using layout in the same way existing magazines do. I believe they do this as a way of interacting, communicating and making connections with their target audience and this is what I wanted to do. I developed this by using eye contact in my images. I also made sure text was closely placed together to visualise the way our society is whole and we should all be tightly secured by each other. I also wanted to imitate the way in which genders are close and gender inequality should not exist and it should be about gender equality. In this way I am challenging the way in which existing magazines use layout and also stereotypes of society itself. An element which I have developed is the use of typography in the masthead and the masthead itself. However, I have previously posted this and an answer to how my masthead uses, develops and challenges forms and conventions of existing music magazine in a post below.

2. This is my masthead, placed at the top of the magazine, controlling a majority of space, like how Mixmag convey their masthead. This is ideal as it will not be missed as it stands out in stores. Also being at the top clearly identifies the publication to be a magazine. Mixmag masthead is more simplistic, whereas mine rejects this feel being designed more thoroughly. Mixmag has taken target audience into consideration to a brief extent when creating this masthead, yet, I have taken target audience into a more intense extent, with two conveying fonts and background colour and bolder. Despite these differences, my magazine develops mastheads of existing music magazines further. When browsing a number of different issues released by Mixmag, a few had catchy straplines, which successful appealed to readers and therefore increased sales. I felt this worked tremendously well and went on to develop this feature in my magazine. I challenged Mixmag as I did not imitate their feature, I changed the language. I added ‘ONLY!’ which will successfully appeal to my target audience as they are a generation which love to be updated. This is emphasised by the use of explanation marks which is also a persuasive technique. The convention in itself is a persuasive technique, engaging users. I have imitated common, basic conventions of existing music magazines, such as barcodes, date of release and price. These allow the publication to be identified as a magazine. Like existing magazines, I have used a eye-catching image which makes strong eye contact with the audience. This builds on artists communication and interaction with the audience. Despite this development of existing magazines, I have challenged this feature. In the mixmag magazine present, the artist is not making strong, striking eye contact. Mine does! This creates a comfortable, inviting and friendly feel for users. Another convention which I have used is the use of lures in existing magazine. I believe this was an essential, common convention and my magazine would not be as successful without it. However, the challenging part of my lure is the use of a catchy slogan, and repetition of the slogan. The repetition acts like a shadow and as if it is being shouted loudly, like music being played loud. Another convention which I have developed is the convention of giving away free gifts in order to persuade audience to keep updated and buy the issues. I have challenged this in a unique way as with music magazines it is usually music CD’s which are being given away, however, I have given away a dance CD. This helps appeal to a wider target audience.

3. Similarities of contents page I have used the same drop down effect, inspired by Mixmag. I felt this was a positive aspect of their contents page, it reinforced the different types of media you can access the magazine on. By this, I mean, a drop down box is almost like drop downs on websites, reinforcing how widely used my magazine is. I have implied the same curve on the box corners emphasising the friendly, inviting feel my magazine offers. I have imitated the same layout style, both mine and Mixmag have a well organised layout, this ensures easy navigation for users. This is a convention I have developed as I believe it to be successful. However, I felt Mixmag never used colour as successfully so this was a form which I challenged. I experimented with a wide range of colours, using my colour pickers, shown on Photoshop skills. Mixmag use dull colours, yet this could be due to the differences in genre type. Another convention of Mixmags which I have imitated, this is the use of three images. As I have shown in my process post, I did not feel only two images worked, I then referred back to my inspiration and used three images as it is a successful amount to allow enough insight to engage readers. My contents Mixmag contents Another convention I have challenged is the subscribing of other issues of the magazine, this is something Mixmag does, yet I have challenged this further, not only have I gave readers the chance to subscribe, my magazine also offers discount when subscribing, challenging Mixmags conventions further.