The document discusses the design and layout of a student-created music magazine called "The Beat". It summarizes the choices made for the magazine's title, masthead, images, fonts, and other design elements. The student aimed to follow conventions of real music magazines while also making the magazine stand out. The document analyzes several pages of the magazine, including the front cover, contents page, and a double-page spread, explaining how they develop or challenge conventions of published music magazines.

1. Q1 - In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?

2. The title of the magazine
I wanted the title of my magazine to be something to grab the audience's
attention straight away and for it to memorable so it had to be short and
snappy, so that is how I came up with the name “The Beat”. Like the
majority of music magazines, its 1-2-worded title but has impact. From my
research, I found that some music magazines such as ‘Billboard’ and 'Vibe'
have the masthead all across the cover, however, I wanted my model to be
right in the centre of the page and so I chose to have my masthead in the
left hand corner. Also to add, the masthead should be visible and easy to
notice what magazine it is, so I positioned my masthead where more or less
all of it was visible and only a portion is not but it is not hard to establish
what magazine it is.

3. The colours were something I had to think carefully about when it came to
creating the masthead, because there many aspects that I had to consider.
Firstly, the colours were very important I needed something that was bold
but different from other magazines so I decided to use white and teal.
These to colours are very distinct and not seen on other pop magazines so
if this magazine was to be publishes it would be very noticeable. So the title
of the magazine is really important and my masthead links to real forms of
media conventions as it is really similar but different at the same time as
other magazines.
The title of the magazine

4. The images
Front cover
Images are a big part of my magazine because
until the magazine becomes established, they
are going to be one of the main things which
attract the audience. The image on the front
cover is by far the most important image so it
was vital I got the look right. I had to find a
model for my front cover who acted as a sort
of representative for the magazine and
immediately portrayed the genre and style and
what people could expect in an pop magazine,
I think my model portrayed this quiet well. I
told my model to wear casual clothes that was
in style with the teenagers, with an edge that
added a more professional attractive look. He
himself is a teenage boy, which is an artist
these types of images are mostly seen on pop
magazines to attract the target market.

5. The pose he does shows a bit of an edge as
he holds his shirt a top underneath can be
seen which look a little rebellious like most
young pop artists. Also the clothes that he is
wearing really stands out from the
background which is a really good thing as
this will mainly attract the audience.
One thing I am really happy regarding this
image is the lighting, half his face has more
light this makes it more effective, and also
many other conventions of magazines use
this technique in their images. I did not have
to edit the image much when I put the image
up all I had to do was make the backdrop
slightly more blacker as it looked a little grey,
but other than that I think it looked quiet
professional. I thought it was important to
have an plain backdrop so all the text could
be visible and stand out also the image itself
should be the main attraction.
Front cover

6. Contents page
There are various images in the contents
page; I did this so the audience can know
what else they will be expecting to be in
the magazine. My main image is the
same model on the front as he is my
main attraction, the audience will be able
to sense this as the image is the largest
one there. Again the model is dressed the
same but with a scarf around his neck
this allows the reader to see another side
to the “artist”. Adding on, the pose that
the model is doing is a care-free cool
pose the photo is a long shot this creates
a much more effective pose. The other
various pictures correspond to other
articles in the magazine they are
considerably smaller and they are all
close up shots.

7. The double-page spread
There are many images on my double-page spread, however there is one main one and
three small ones all in a straight this just adds a range of variety and keeps the reader
more interested as it won’t over well them with too much text, the images links to the
image on the cover. Although now this images have an effect on them, I just made the
pictures a tad darker with an effect called “sephia”. The lighting here was good to begin
with.

8. I did not want to lighten the image too much because I wanted the effect to work
better and have a better effect. I kept the background plain and the setting ambiguous
here because the article is completely about this new artist and I did not want any
distractions that would take the spotlight away from him. The pictures portray the
“artist” doing several poses this allows the reader to see more sides to him so they
can connect with the article much more. Overall, all the images in the main task help
portray real forms of media conventions as they are really similar to other pop
magazines this will help my magazine to be more professional looking.
The double-page spread

9. People
The choice of people to use in my shoot was very important as it had to
portray the magazine as the genre I’d chosen of “pop”. I think the model
I used portrayed the genre “pop” very well as is a teenager himself and
looks like an artist that most magazines use in their magazines. This
contributes to the conventions of real media products as the pictures
are what the audience will be attracted to so the pictures I used must
look similar to other magazines.

10. Font and style
The fonts I used in the magazine I had given it a lot of thought this is
because I wanted it to be easy to read. Overall I decided to use a simple font
so it was easy to understand and read. So I chose to do the font
“haettenschweiler” this was a simple font and it looked professional as it
was very easy to read, so it matched my main objective. Also I think that the
font conforms to the conventions of the magazine because of its bold
lettering. Adding on, I made the style of the masthead so the “the” was
smaller than the “beat” this just made the beat stand out as it is the main
part of the masthead.

11. Written Content
The written content is a huge part of my
magazine; I had to ensure that I used language
that the readers could all understand. For the
content page, I wanted to make the article
headings clear and brief so the audience know
what the stories are. I also included a brief one-
line summary beneath some headings, which I
have seen done in other magazines, to expand a
little on what the article will include. The double
page spread, I found, was quiet easy to write I
got some ideas from other magazines however I
found it partially easy to write as I was part of
the target audience, this made it easy to address
the audience. I tried to make the interview
relaxed as it is about a young teenager. I made
sure that I added in all the typical conventions
that a double page spread has, e.g. most
interviews have a pull-out-quote.

12. Music Genre and how my magazine
suggests it
There are many ways a music
magazine suggests their music
genres. Costume and pose plays a
big part because firstly that is the
first thing the audience sees so the
way the models are behaving
represents a certain genre. So as
my model is young and is wearing
clothes that is in style and as he is
in relaxed pose this does portray a
“pop” magazine. Colour is
important also, because I think the
combination of teal, white and
black as the colours work well and
is a soft pallet and warms to the
target audience.

13. Layout
Front cover
The layout of a magazine is really
important as this is what the
audience is mainly attracted to. I
want to keep the layout simple but
professional looking so it would
attract the audience. I chose to have
my masthead in the corner as that is
the first thing to be read so the
reader will know straight away what
magazine they are reading. I decided
to layout the main image in the
centre of the magazine so the reader
will be drawn to him. The main article
about the artist is laid out so it is the
largest so it portrays that that is the
main article. All the other cover lines
are around the main image.

14. Contents page
I kept the contents page layout
relatively simple because I wanted
the reader to be able to understand
it more easily. I straight away split
the articles into separate sections to
make it much more understandable.
I also laid out the images according
to what section they are mentioned
in so it looks much more
professional. I laid out the central
image as the same model as the one
on the cover because he is the main
feature of my magazine and he is the
big story.

15. One other key convention which I
found in every magazine I looked in
was sub-headings to each article
heading as these are vitally important
because they act as a navigation tool
for the readers. Overall, I think that
the layout of the contents page does
use and develop the conventions of
real music magazines because I have
used my research as to design my own
contents page.
Contents page

16. Double page spread
I made various changes to the double page spread to make it the best as it
could be. One thing I was certain that I wanted was the 'film reel' which
contained different images of the artists so that there could be variety of
images to keep the reader entertained. I thought this was really interesting
and developed typical music magazine conventions because I have seen
images in a row in many music magazines. I laid out the heading very bold
and underneath I wrote a short summary informing the reader what is to
come. I made the name “Ricardo” the biggest as it portrays who the artist is
and that he is the main attraction.

17. I chose to have one full side of the double page spread dedicated to the
images of the main artist because I felt that otherwise, there would be too
much text and not enough images, and also this was a convention I came
across in my research. I split the interview into three main sections this
allows the reader to not be overwhelmed with too much text and it looks
more professional that having one big chunk of text. Overall, I believe that
having a well organised double page spread is very important as it will keep
the audience more interested in the article other than having a
disorganised article.
Double page spread