This document evaluates the media product "pharsyde", a music magazine, and how it uses and develops conventions of real magazines. The cover follows conventions like an eye-catching central photo that fills space. The masthead, coverlines, and headline are placed conventionally and relate to the cover story. Inspiration comes from Supreme and Drake magazines. The contents page lists sections in columns and uses photos and page numbers conventionally to preview articles. Inspiration comes from Mixmag layout. The article page features a large central photo, color-coordinated title, and column-formatted text mixed with graphics. The magazine's color scheme, self-taken images, and bold fonts develop

1. MEDIA EVALUATION
BY ED PARKER

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

3. COVER

4. conventions of my music magazine- ‘pharsyde’.
cover photo
● Eye contact- makes a
connection to the audience.
● The artist fills a good portion of
the page.
● The headline links to the cover
photo, the headline and the sub-
heading are both gold to match
the gold watch and the lifestyle
he lives, ‘HIS TIME HAS
COME…’ also links in with the
watch.
● The background is one colour,
this creates a good aesthetic as
well as keeping the focus on the
artist.

5. Masthead-
● The masthead is located at the top of the page, as it is with every magazine, it can be
seen very clearly at the top.
● The inspiration behind my masthead comes from the Supreme box logo, I got my
inspiration from that as it is very iconic in the genre and it is so simple but works so so
well and I felt like my box logo will have the same effect.
● I chose black and white as they go perfectly together and go with every other colour
scheme.
● The masthead fills a good portion of the page, and is the largest take on the page as it
allows the audience to easily see it.

6. Coverlines-
● On the side so it does not cover up anything, such as, the
masthead, cover photo or headline.
● All is clear for the audience to read.
● They are all lined up perfectly so it does not look like they’re
falling off the page.

7. Headline-
The convention of the headline is that:
● It relates to the cover photo and story.
● It is the second biggest text on the page, which is done to assure the audience can clearly
recognise it at first glance.
● A headline generally has short phrase underneath known as the sub-heading, this is either
who the artist is or about him. I have chosen ‘OSBORNE HIS TIME HAS COME…’ as I
seen a Drake on a XXL Hip-Hop magazine, I liked the fonts and colour and how powerful
the message was so I decided to take inspiration.

8. Selling line-
● The selling line is typically by the masthead, usually above.
● I have put it above the masthead because; if you read the page from top to bottom it will
read ‘THE NEXT BIGGEST RAP MAGAZINE’ ‘PHARSYDE’, it's of a introduction. It is
also clear and not hidden due to it location on the page, the text is white with a black
outline so it stands of the page but stays subtle.

9. CONTENTS

10. “What’s inside”-
● In columns.
● Split into different categories: Cue, Features,
Fashion and Tunes. Page title is bold and
underneath is a brief description of what to
expect in those pages.
● I used one column in my contents page this
meant the page was not full of words and
keeps the design.

11. Photos-
● The photos I have used are related to the page numbers
you can see on top of the photos.
● The convention for the images on the contents page is that
not all of them will be the cover artists and in my case none
of them relate to that.
● These images add a nice aesthetic to the page but also
give a visual insight into the magazine.

12. Page Title-
● My inspiration came from a mixmag magazine. I liked the fonts and layout so I did my own
twist on it.
● The name of the magazine is ‘PHARSYDE’ is also a convention of a Contents page. I
added the name/logo in the corner as the audience will recognise it.
● The date of the magazine is a convention, it is really small text but still visible, it is there
so the date the magazine was put out can be seen without turning the page

13. article

14. Main Image-
● The main image is mainly of the featured artist and is the biggest thing on the page.
● Osborne is an upcoming artist so it's important to show different shoots than the front cover
image so people can recognise him. His face is the most clear thing on the page which is
important.

15. Title of Article-
● Colour goes well with the scheme and the font
reflects.
● The font also relates to the actual title, as it is a
blown up font.

16. Article-
● Lead in, little insight to the
article, it's the decider on
whether the audience
continues to read the article
or not.
● The article is split into 3
columns, easy to read and a
good layout, also there are
graphics in the text box.

17. forms
● The colour scheme of magazine is black, white and a pastel blue background. These colours are
very basic but sophisticated and appealing. The pastel blue keeps the page light and energised
without taking away from the main features of the page.
● All images are taken by me.
● I played about with fonts and picked ones that were bold, clear and fitted in my magazine genre.

18. developing
ideas

19. cover
● For my cover image and background I developed ideas
from ‘FADER’ I love how their design is so basic and
simple but really works, they always have a pastel
coloured background and it all really works. The cover
image the use is never conventional, what other
magazine has the model spilling orange juice down
them, they really capture the artists for who they are
and not how they are portrayed, this gives a real and
accurate look at them.
● The gold watch and black clothes (especially the black
ski mask) capture his fashion and genre really well.