This document summarizes how the media product uses and develops conventions of real magazines. It discusses design elements like the front cover layout with image on side, masthead font, and use of photos on contents page. Headline styles and language are kept informal to match the target audience. Color schemes and layouts are consistent between pages to create familiarity for readers. While some conventions are followed from other magazines, the focus is on simplicity and accessibility to attract and engage readers.

1. Q1 – In what wars does your
media product use, develop
or challenge forms and
conventions of real media
products?
Josh Murphy

2. Front Cover EXAMPLE
The cover image is placed to the left, which is
used in several magazines made by Kerrang
(One of my rival magazines)
I decided to have the image at the side because it
allows all of the information to be placed on one
side of the page, which I prefer to the others
which is usually b bit scattered. This is
something which a lot of magazines use.
The colour of my magazine is Blue, Black and White. I like
the way that blue goes with black and white, as well as the
most popular colour chosen in my questionnaire being blue.
The masthead on my cover is using the mesquite std font, I
chose this because it looks rocky and has a gothic feel. I
decided that having it large was the best way, along with the
main headline it’s the first thing that grabs the views eyes.
The title is simple and explains everything in the magazine
in just two words. The title ‘Just Rock’ is used because my
magazine is simply just rock music, whilst a lot of other
magazines similar to mine don’t do, they feature a lot of
genres of music, I decided to only feature rock because that’s
what my target audience were most interested in.

3. Front The language used in the cover lines is
Cover simple and informal, which perfectly
applies to my planned target audience. I
used a different front to my masthead, as
that font should never be used in any
others, the font used in these is Poplar std.
Other rock magazines sometimes write too
much information on headlines and a lot of
people quickly lose interest, I decided to
use small snappy headlines to quickly
attract attention to the article.
I also have a picture of a barcode on my
magazine, this is something all magazines
use.

4. Contents page I have used four photographs in my contents page, one
of which is of my front cover for the editors note. The
other three are all relevant to the subtext related to the
image, such as a guitar for the ‘Monthly guide’ and a
picture of Sean for ‘Sean's Reviews.’ Most magazines
have pictures along with some of their headlines, but
not all and this is what I decided to also do.
I have three columns of text, each with various
headlines and subtitles with matching information with
each headline. The writing in the columns isn’t
overbearing and is nice and simple, explaining what
they can expect to find inside of the magazine. Other
magazines sometimes go into to much detail which
often deters people form reading that article.
The headings on the page stand out from the rest of the
text, this is done so that the reader will instantly
recognise the headlines, and so that repeat readers will
easily be able to find the section they could specifically
be looking for and what page it is on. I wanted the page
to be bright and stand out, other magazines often have
the pages darker than mine is.

5. The colour scheme used on the contents
Contents page page follows that off the front cover, I did
this because it is instantly recognisable
which magazine the page belongs to, and
so that views would get used to the colour
and would associate the colours with my
magazine. Other magazines tend to use
different colour styles and fonts, but I
decided for the contents page alone it
would be best to keep it similar to the front
cover, so the readers can familiarise them
self with the magazines style.
Once again I decided to use simple,
informal language for the contents page
(Just as I did for the front cover.) I chose to
do this because it welcomes people to the
magazine, and so it doesn't feel like a
lecture book, more of a fun interesting
read.

6. For the double pages spread I
took pictures of Josh Fortune
and placed it on the left side of
the page, for the coins in the
background I took a picture of
several coins and copied several
of these on top of each other to
give the effect of lots of money. I
used the coins because of Josh’s
second name, Fortune. A lot of
magazines do the same as this.
Once again I have three
columns, these are spread across
a single page as the image is
used on the other.
The heading is bring and
standout, it will be the first thing
the reader sees when looking at
the page, it mentions money
with links with Josh’s second
name and the background
image.
Unlike my contents page and front cover, the double
page spread uses slightly informal language, I did
this because the interview is informative, but at the
same time it is not to serious, so some aspects of it
are informal, so it’s still enjoyable and not a chunk of
text from a school book
Double Page Spread

7. Again I used a similar
colour scheme, but I
did not implement the
colour black onto the
page because with the
coins in the
background it would
not stand out, I use
standout colours and
images in my
magazine, so it would
not be keeping with
the tone of my
magazine.
Unlike my contents page and front cover, the double page spread uses
slightly informal language, I did this because the interview is
informative, but at the same time it is not to serious, so some aspects of it
are informal, so it’s still enjoyable and not a chunk of text from a school
book
Double Page Spread