On the media product, conventions of magazines are used and developed. The front cover uses a masthead in the top left like Q Magazine, with a close-up image of the target audience. Colors, cover lines, sans serif fonts, and banners are also used consistently. The contents page follows conventions but challenges some, like subscription placement. Headings, page references, and dates maintain continuity. The double page spread includes a standfirst, headline, byline, and pull quote to introduce the article, while challenging multiple images per page. Conventions are adapted purposefully throughout to engage the target audience.

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

2. On my Front cover (V) I used media conventions to create the front cover of my magazine. Just like ‘Q’ Magazine I made a masthead which stands out to make sure the name of my magazine is apparent. In ‘Q’ Magazine the masthead is on the left top-hand corner of the page, my masthead is also on the top left as I felt my target audience will feel familiarity with this layout as magazines targeted at them follow this convention. My Image is a medium close up of a indie female aged 18 (in my target audience) and I felt this would be the most appropriate image and person to use as the audience can familiarize themselves with the magazine; as the person in the picture is of my target audience age and also is interested in the indie/pop genre therefore there is also a personal and more of a natural feel to the image. This is similar to the same way ‘Q’ used their image, there picture was of Lady Gaga and she is a woman in her late 20’s and this relates to their target audience; ‘more matured music lovers’. I used a continuous colour scheme which was dominant of the colours: black, red and white and some yellow. I used these colours because I felt these colours would attract young adult (target audience) as they’re not too bright and this would probably have a negative effect on the magazine as they’d probably take it as a child like magazine. Also, the reason why I chose these colours was because they would appeal to both genders. I used cover lines like all magazines do, this is so that it persuades people to pick up the magazine as the reason for cover lines is to give a faint insight to the content of the magazine. Like other magazines, the theme of my magazine was dominant of sans serif font so that there was a continuous theme throughout the cover. Like ‘Q’ magazine I used a banner at the top. The reason why I included this banner line was so that it appeals more to readers and so that there is a indication of the magazines ambition (“ The Ultimate Music Magazine”) I chose this phrase for my banner so that readers can realise that this magazine is a serious one because it has ambition and believes it is the ultimate music magazine. I also used rule of thirds on my cover as this is an effective magazine technique. The reason why the rule of thirds is an effective technique is because it makes readers more drawn to the subject and this is the aim of any magazine producer. masthead Cover lines Sans serif fonts Issue no/date Close up banner

3. On my contents page I also used conventions of media products so that my contents looked like a contents page. There are also conventions of media products which i challenged such as the subscription box being at the bottom left when normally they are on the bottom right, the reason why I did this was because I felt it wasn ’t the best place to have the subscription box for my magazine as it wouldn’t of suited my layout. Another convention I challenged was having 2 main columns but I still followed the rule of thirds. The reason why I challenged this concept on my contents page was because I felt there must be an alternative in drawing readers and engaging them to what they are looking at, therefore I only have two apparent columns instead of three and it works in the same way as any other contents page (it has all the things it needs to have) There is also a colour theme on both content pages: on my content page the colour theme is white, black and red with some yellow. All of these were used so there is a link between cover and content page and there is a flowing theme and not just random colours. To make each page reference bigger I used two different fonts and colour so that there is an easy distinction about the title and the brief description in black/white at the bottom. I also included the date of issue and masthead. In my research and planning I found page references in the pictures rule of thirds masthead Main image Sub headings Page references The word contents and date of issue

4. On the double page spread I followed many media conventions to make sure my magazine looks professional. In my research and planning I found many things I didn ’t know before hand about double page spreads. I included a standfirst which many magazines include so that there is a powerful insight into the magazine and who the article is about. Also I have a main headline and by lines so that readers know who the article is about and who wrote them and took the pictures. One thing I challenged from what I gathered from research and planning is that many magazines have a picture on both pages but I have one picture on the first page. The reason why I have one picture is because I felt that more emotion and feeling can be shown through this one picture and I am happy that it has turned out how I anticipated it to be. I also used a drop capital and a pull quote. Other conventions I used on my double page spread is a drop capital but instead of having it in the middle of the article I and had it at the start because I wanted to mark the beginning of the article. I also used a pull quote to attract readers more to the content of my article. title Pull quote Drop capital Page number Main image standfirst By line