AS Media evaluation

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

2. Masthead
I feel that my logo does follow certain conventions of magazines I have researched. For example, I used the colour
red in my logo, similar to NME’s logo as they used red and with Mojo’s logo. Throughout my research I found red to
be a very popular colour with magazines, mainly because it’s eye catching and therefore extracts the reader; I
highlighted the “A” in “ALT” to extract the reader. Also, by using the colour red it presents the magazine to be
gender neutral, and so does the font. A number of magazines have quite short titles so the magazine is
recognisable and the name isn’t hard to forget (for example NME), this is something I wanted to follow as I wanted
my title to be snappy and short. I also have a tagline to inform the reader about the magazine; this is something a
lot of magazines do as well for example Mojo with “The music magazine”. Overall, I think my logo design is
effective as it is simple but easily recognisable due to the block “A”. Additionally, I think my logo follows the
conventions of magazines due to it having a tagline, simple colours and fonts.

3. Images
In terms of front cover images I feel that my magazine follows the conventions of magazines as I got my model to
look directly at the camera, that way they’re connecting with the readers and catching their eye. I also used a white
background, this is so the reader wasn’t distracted and so they focused on the artist and the text on the page. There
are some shadows on the model’s face, however this only adds realism to the shoot and doesn’t make the image
look over edited (this is seen in NME). Additionally, for the frontcover shot I chose a medium close up, as seen in
NME, to create a connection with the audience. In conclusion, I do feel that my front cover image follows the
conventions of magazines due to the eye contact, plain background and the closeness of the shot. However, I do
think that the way I edited this image challenges conventions as I think that this type of editing isn’t seen as much as
the crisp edited images in a number of magazines. Additionally, I do feel that I challenged the conventions with the
choice of clothing because hoodies are stereotypically associated with hip hop music but I do think they overlap into
indie/alternative music sometimes.

4. Magazine layout
With my double page spread I don’t think I challenged conventions of magazines as I stuck to stereotypical column
size for a magazine (as seen in NME) because I think if you didn’t keep to that size it wouldn’t look like a magazine.
Also, I had a large title “no.1 top new artist for 2016” on the left hand side which gives the reader more information
about the artist, and this is seen in the NME example e.g. “In good health”. Additionally, I gave the reader more
information by putting a large “Lukas” title on the opposite page. As well, under the large “Lukas” I have added a pull
quote which is very common in magazines because it gives the reader a quick insight into the article and tempts them
to buy it so they can read it. Moreover, the layout of the columns is used in every magazine because it’s simple to
follow and is pleasing to the eyes. However, I do think I challenged conventions by having a pattern in the background
on the right hand page. This is because I haven’t seen a lot of magazines use a pattern in the background, they mainly
have props, large text or a large image filling the page. I decided to use a pattern because I didn’t want my page to be
blank.

5. Magazine layout
For my contents page I didn’t take inspiration from a magazine for the layout of the articles but it still follows
conventions. For example, I had a large image above the articles to make it look more visual and this is seen in Q
magazine (right), this is to make the reader more interested in the magazine without actually reading what the
magazine has to offer. Additionally, I included a box in the bottom right corner to advertise subscribing to the
magazine, this is seen in a lot of magazines and the example that I’ve got is from NME. I added this as I thought it
would make the contents page look more realistic, and therefore follows the conventions of magazines. Moreover,
the layout of the articles is common in magazines, they use quick headings and a little commentary on what it
includes to tempt the reader into buying it and reading on. Also, the way I’ve categorised the articles is common to
because it makes it easier for the reader to locate a specific article and it also looks more organised and pleasing to
the eyes.

6. House style
My house style is seen throughout my magazine; red, white and black. By keeping to a house style I am following
conventions of magazines because without a house style I think magazines would look messy and unprofessional.
For example, Q magazine keeps to a white and red scheme throughout all of their magazines, this also allows the
readers to identify the magazine. Additionally, I edited all my images the same, therefore I am keeping to a theme
with my images. I didn’t want to edit my images all differently as I don’t think that would look professional.