The media product uses and develops conventions of real magazines and travel magazines while also challenging some conventions. On the front cover, conventions like the masthead, issue number/date, and dominant image are used. However, the barcode is not included and the layout is simpler than typical travel magazines. Throughout the product, a monochrome color scheme is used rather than the bright colors commonly seen. The website includes conventions like galleries, navigation bars, and about pages but challenges conventions like multiple hyperlinked pages on the home page. Social media links are included to attract audiences across platforms.

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

2. • Overall In my magazine I followed many codes and conventions that are seen
throughout regional magazines. For example on my front cover I featured a
dominant image, a mast head and the date and issue number or the magazine.
The issue number and the date is typically found in the corners of the front cover
of a magazine, so I decided to place mine in the top right corner. The audience is
familiar with finding the issue number and date in the corners so It made it easy
for them to find. I decided to place the mast head which was the name of my
magazine at the top of my page in bold writing so it was clear for my audience to
see, I used this convention as it is common on most magazines not just regional
magazines. I also decided to have my dominant image cover the whole of my
front cover, I used this convention as it makes my front cover stand out to my
audience. I wanted to make sure that my magazine stood out to my audience by
using simple codes and conventions which made my overall product look
professional and fitted in with magazines already on the market.

3. • I challenged some of the codes and conventions that are typically used in a
regional magazine and also codes and conventions that are used in a travel
magazine. For example on my front cover I decided that I didn’t want to use a
barcode and I wanted my front cover to be modern and simple. When
researching travel magazines I found myself drawn more towards magazines that
had the barcode featured on the back of the magazine not on the front. One of
the most biggest travel magazines in the Uk is Coast magazine however when
researching them I found that I didn’t like their layout and that I preferred the
layouts to be more simple. Typically the layout of a travel magazine has a lot of
subheadings and information on the front cover, however I decided that I wanted
to challenge this by making my magazine layouts very simple and modern a I had
a young target audience.

4. • When researching travel magazines I found that most typically had bright colour
schemes, there colour schemes usually involved yellow, blue and pink. However I
decided to challenge this convention throughout all of my final products, I
decided to have a monochrome colour scheme which mainly featured black,
white and different tones of grey. The only bright colours that were used
throughout my final products were used within my photos that I had taken.
However the travel magazines that use the bright colours like blue and yellow use
them do that the audience can automatically link the colour scheme to an object
or emotion. For example the audience link the use of blue to the sea or the sky
and then the colour yellow to the emotion of being happy and also the sun.
However when I asked my audience what colour scheme they preferred they said
that they would prefer a monochrome colour scheme as it was more aestically
pleasing

5. • When creating my website I used many different codes and conventions that are
found on a regional website. For example included a gallery section which
allowed my audience to have a look at different locations that are featured in my
region. I incorporated the convention of having a tab also known as the
navigation bar at the top of my website which makes it easy for my audience to
find articles and information on my magazine. I again used the same colour
scheme as my magazine on my website as it showed a clear link between all of
my products and again the only bright colours used throughout my website was
on my photos. On most websites not just regional magazines a convention that
always occurs is the about page, this page allows the audience to find out more
about my products. For example I created my about page and wrote a brief
description about my magazine.

6. • I made sure that when I was creating my website that I stuck to my modern and
simple theme. When looking at regional websites I found that there was a lot of
hyperlinked pages featured on the home page. However I didn’t want to have this
on my final product, so I decided to challenge this convention by just have three
simple hyperlinked pages, that were easy and simple for my audience to find. I
also made sure that they linked with my magazine, so for example each link was a
different issue of my magazine. However a convention that I did follow was the
contact/ follow us page or button, as technology has become more advanced one
of the conventions now featured on a regional website is a follow us button
which features different social medias, like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. I
wanted to use this in my website as I wanted to attract my audience to different
platforms for my magazine. It also fitted in with my modern theme.