The document discusses how the student's magazine, {mymagazine}, uses, develops on, and challenges conventions from an existing music magazine, {musicmagazine}. Some key elements that {mymagazine} takes inspiration from include the masthead design, circular shapes on the cover, color scheme, inclusion of a model, cover lines, and barcode placement. {Mymagazine} also incorporates conventions like a message box, compact contents listing, and interview layout. Some aspects that {mymagazine} develops on include using a brighter sticker on the cover, repositioning subheadings, altering quote and image styles, and modifying the interview text formatting. Elements that {mymagazine} challenges include

1. Question One
In what ways does your magazine use/develop/challenge forms and conventions used of real
media products?

2. Use:
{mymagazine} {musicmagazine}
Masthead: I was influencedto tilt mymasthead slightly. I thinkthis is a good thing, not only because theprofessional magazine is similar, but also because it indicates
that the magazine is quite informal. Also, mymasthead’s font is quite similar to the one used in‘WeLove Pop’. Also the shortness of the title is something that I used – a
quick, easy title (3 words).
Circle Shape: I saw the useof a circularshape being usedto tell the audiencemore initially onthe front cover, and Ialso saw how this shape covered part of Jessie J’s body
to makethe audiencefocus more on herface ratherthan herleg. Iused this technique onmymagazine by placing thecircular shape on mymodels lower stomach and
thus causing the audience to notice mymodels face more. Theshape is also helpful as it gave methe opportunity to makeMia’s ‘exclusive’ article important.
Colour: the colour scheme on both my
magazine and theexisting magazineare
similar. Weboth use the colours yellow
and pink.
Model: both aremodels are female, and
this is significant as it reflects are target
audience as being younggirls who aspire
to belike thesesuccessful celebrity
women.
Cover Lines: Both magazines have
cover lines that relate to gossip e.g. ‘hot
inpop’ has ‘harrystyles did what?’ and
‘welovepop’ has ‘Bieber blubs: find
out why’.
Barcode: Both of themagazines havea
barcode that is thinand on its side as
opposed to wide and straight. Having
our barcodes this wayallows us more
room to use.

3. Use: {mymagazine} {musicmagazine}
Message: I felt that it was imperativefor mymagazine to look welcoming, and this is because mytarget audiencewill bequite youngfemales and theystereotypically like
to feel involved and part of a ‘community’e.g. fandoms for 1D, Katy Perryetc. Therefore,I took inspiration from an existing magazine – ‘We Love Pop’ and incorporated a
message box to myreaders. Also, at the end of the message, both myself and the existing magazinehas changedthe font to leavethe ‘signature’ look. This makesthe note
look more genuineas it appears that someone has signed it. In mycase, I have ‘signed’ MerryXmas in this handwritten font.
Contents Box: For mycontents page, I wanted to makesure that thelist of contents did not take up the whole page. To achievethis, I took inspiration from ‘WeLove Pop’
and put all of the content information into a compact box. I think this makesmymagazine look better and more uniquecompared to other candidates.
Design: Another element inwhich I used is the
subtle box shape which is placed behind
everythingelse. Youcan see that with both
magazinesthis box is tilted and pointing
upwards towards the right. This is a verysmall
but veryeffective techniqueas it makesthe
magazine look moreinformal.
Fonts: TimesNewRomanwas used inboth
magazines for the message and contents
details.
Stories: I knewthat myactual contents
had to berealistic and relevant to what
youngteenage girls would read. To do this
accurately, Ilooked at what the existing
magazine had intheir contents box and
took that as myinspiration for what I have
written in myown magazine.

4. Use:
{mymagazine} {musicmagazine}
Interview: From the existing media product, I knewthat myinterviewhad to beplaced on one half of the doublepage spread. I knewthat to cross over
between pages was not professional.
Model: Both the models are female. Also, on each magazine, theright half of the double page spread is filled with a main image of the pop artist. Both images
are large and takeup a lot o room on the page.
Title: When Ifirst began designing mydouble page spread, I struggled to create a title which looked right. Therefore,I used ‘WeLove Pop’ and was inspired
bythe title of the page being a quote from the interviewbelow. Theexample of the existing magazineis a clear example of this.

5. Develop:
{mymagazine} {musicmagazine}
Title: I feel that mytitle stands out more as it is bigger than theother magazines.
Sticker: On the existing magazine, thecircularsticker is purple. However, I wanted mysticker to stand out a lot more,and to achieve this I mademycirclea bright yellow
colour; I thinkthis looks a lot better.
Subheadings: Dueto the fact that mymodel is positioned moreover to the right side of myfront cover, Iwould havefound it difficult to havemy cover lines on that side
also as it would overlap on herimage. ThereforeI moved mysubheadings/cover lines onto the left side to give mymodel more significance and independence to the front
cover – she is the forefront as to whymyaudiencewill buythe magazineas she is the next ‘big artist’.
Images: On the existing magazine, the images onthe left are structured ina way that resembles a photo booth strip, and this is likely because the images arethat of posters.
However, myphotos are of a tour of the Xmas markets, and therefore Ihavejumbled them together on thebottom bar strip to makethem looked more connected as a
collective group of images.

6. Develop:
Quotes: I felt that the quotes from articles had to belonger and look more official than they do in the existing product. In the professional magazine, the quotes are in
bold and coloured, whereas inmymagazine they arenot, they arewritten initalic TimesNewRoman font. I did this because I feel a longerquote will intriguemy
readers more.
Contents Box: Inthe existing product, thecontents box section does not havean outline aroundit, whereas I felt that minewould look a lot better with an outline as
the image of mymodel (Jenny)could rest on it. I think that mine looks more spacious than the other.
{mymagazine} {musicmagazine}

7. Develop:
{mymagazine} {musicmagazine}
Interview Text: I, similarly to the other magazine, knewthat the interviewees questions had to be a different style to the artists answers. However, due to the fact that my
double page spread is already heavy in colour, I did not feel that havingthe interviewees questions in colourwould be a wise decision, and therefore I just made the
questions normalTimesNewRoman, and the answers bold and italic TimesNewRoman.
Model’s Pose: In the existing magazine, theartist CherLloyd’s pose is shocked and gives the impression that she is knownfor possibly sayingtoo much.For mymagazine,
myartist does not havethis ‘reputation’ and therefore herpose is different, and more welcoming. She smiles to the camera and has herhands on herhips ina stereotypical
pose used by female teenagers.
Text above Title: Inthe existing magazine, above the title it has a pink sticker that says ‘Cover Story’,I saw this and wanted to use the same type of idea (something above
the title linkingto the front cover) and this gave methe idea of changingit from a sticker to a upward tilted ‘exclusive interview’ text instead.

8. Challenge:
{musicmagazine}{mymagazine}
Clothing: Due to the fact that mymagazine is a special Xmas edition, I knewthat the mise-en-scenehad to beslightly different to the existing magazines. Inthe existing
magazines, the model (Jessie J) is wearing an exotic dress, which appears quite summery.However, this would not work with my magazine,and therefore I chose that my
model should wear a Christmassy jumperthat mytarget audiencewould beable to find/buy.
Background: On the existing magazine, there is a white canvas behind the model. On myproduct however, I wanted a light blue backgroundcolour to makeit clear that
this is a pop magazineaimed at girls. Thecolour light blueis prettyand contrasts nicelywith my other colours. This is a colourschemethat is consistent throughoutmy
product.

9. Challenge:
{mymagazine} {musicmagazine}
Frequency of sale: For mymagazine, I felt that it should besold weekly as celebrity gossip is ongoing each day, and thereforeto sell it monthly may miss out on a lot of
information for myaudience. However, the existing magazinesays ‘Insidethis Month’ indicating that they sell their magazine monthly.
Bar Strip Content: Along the bottom of the contents page, both the existing magazine and minehavea bar strip along the bottom. Theexisting one highlights posters that
are available inside the magazine. However, I felt that (due to the fact that I did not havephotographs for posters) that a competition would bean efficient replacement. I
thinkthat creating a competition makesmymagazineuniqueand also highlights that it is aimed at youngerpeople who watch TVshows like‘TheX Factor’. Italso shows
the informalityof my magazine.
Title: In the existing magazine, thetitle ‘WeLove This’ is large and bold, and is also horizontal. For mymagazine, I felt that the title should bedifferent. Therefore,I madeit
look more likea banneras it is curved upwards, and is also not as large as the existing magazines.
Photographs: I do not havea group photograph as my
main image on the contents page. I felt likea large
image of model Jennywould be more suitable as she is
a keypart of the front cover, and this links to the two
pages nicely.I was aware not to havethe largerimage
as the main model on myfront page, and therefore the
photograph of Mia is in the bottom left cornerinstead.

10. Challenge:
Background: I knewthat Iwanted to makethe split inmydouble page spread noticeable, and to do this I needed two different background colours (white and light blue).
Not only do I thinkthis helps recognise the divide, but it also links mydouble page spread with the front cover (light blue) and I feel that seeing the linkbetween mywhole
product is veryimportant. Whereas on the existing magazine, thewhole backgroundis white, and Ifeel that this makesit look quite plain – which, in myopinion, is the
opposite of what a pop music magazineshould look like.
Name: On the existing magazine, thename of the artist is ‘CherLloyd’ and this is written intext in thetop righthandcorner.However, I felt that as a pop magazine aimed at
younggirls, that it is veryimportant for the magazine to feel personal to them, and therefore I decided to write myartists name as a signature just above theinterview. I
thinkthis gives mydouble page spread authenticity and makesit look more informal and ‘pop-like’. Whereas on theexisting magazine, thenameis just written in bold text
and does not feel personal or different at all.
Design: On the existing magazine,the right handside of the double page spread onlyhas animage of the model – thereis a lot of space aroundher. Ifelt that one of the
keysigns of a pop magazineis that it looks verybusy. Therefore,I added two yellow boxes to fill inthe space aroundmymodel.
{mymagazine} {music magazine}