This document discusses how the author's media product both uses conventions from and challenges real music magazines. Some conventions that were used include taking the boxed lettering style of the masthead from Fader magazine and the sell lines on the front cover from XXL magazine. However, the author also challenged conventions by adding the barcode and price on the front cover to make it easier to see, pricing the magazine cheaper than competitors, including two photos on the contents page for more interest, and using a column layout for articles that is different from XXL. The goal was to both draw from real magazines but also make the design stand out in unique ways.

1. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)
When I was designing my magazine I did a lot of research, this was by looking at many different
magazines, mainly Hip-Hop such as: Fader, XXL, Vibe and Paper, I also looked at other magazines
that were different genres like Clash, Billboard and MNE. I looked at these magazines to get an idea of
the style, layout and the context. I then took some of these conventions and added it to my magazine.
For example: I used the idea of the box around the lettering idea on the mast head, from the Fader
magazine and then added it to mine. However, I adapted the style a bit and choose to add the box
around the hole masthead to make it look different and to stand out more.
After I had done the mast head, I looked at many designs for my main image and looked at many hip-
hop artists doing photo shoots and on magazine covers. There were many to choose from but the one
that stood out was the paper magazine featuring Travis Scott. I decided to take the idea and use it for
my own as I really liked the way that it was basic but effective as it has Travis Scott stood right in the
middle staring at the camera looking serious. To make mine different I changed the way that Fabian
(my model) was looking and had him looking happy which may make it stand out more and the readers
may get a different vibe when reading this. As well as that I chose to use a black person for my main
image as most of the hip-hop artists are African American and I felt that using a white person wouldn’t
look right and wouldn’t go with my chosen genre. As well as that, when I was looking through
magazine ideas, I saw this Travis Scott cover and I felt I really liked that design.
Also on my magazine I added in some sell lines on my front cover to show the readers what’s inside, I
was inspired by the XXL magazine as they had their sell lines to the left of the main image. To make
mine stand out I chose to used the colours on my front cover (red and black) to make it fit in and also
used the same text as my masthead to make it look neat but also stand out and look different to other
magazines.

2. To follow the conventions of other magazines I added in a sub title and tag line which I used the same
style of the paper magazine, because I like how basic it was but It stood out, also I liked how it was
near the bottom of the page, right in the centre. To make mine stand out from the crown I decided to
use two colours which fitted with the rest of the magazine.
To challenge one of my competitors, Paper Mag, I decided to add the barcode and price on the front of
the magazine so that it is easier to see and scan when they buy it. Also I chose I price around what my
questionnaire said but also I wanted to make it cheaper than the other magazines like Paper mag which
is £8.09 and mine is much cheaper at £3.99. This makes means I am challenging my competitors as
some people may choose to buy mine because it is cheaper.
For my contents page I added in two photos towards the bottom of the page so that it may interest the
reader even more and then I left a lot of space at the bottom so it had a different design to other
magazine to compete against them. Also I chose this lay out because It is very easy to read unlike the
Vibe contents page which is very chaotic, this I feel makes mine better and more challenging as many
people who buy magazines want it to be easy to read, which mine is. I also followed the same style and
colour scheme from my front cover, as I used the same font for my masthead and sub heading, so that
the reader would notice that it is the contents page of a Coordinate magazine, due to the same font and
style. I took this idea front Vibe as they have a huge V placed behind the main image. What else makes
my contents challenge other magazine is the way my text is layed out, as I have the page number and
subheading in a different shade and size, this makes it easy to find the right page and know what’s on
it. Then under that I had a small bit of text giving away information of what’s on the page. This makes
mine different to Vibe and some other magazines as they
haven’t used this
idea and it makes
mine easier to
read which some
people like.

3. On my double page spread I chose this lay out as it different to many of the other magazines I looked at
during my research, as mine has two images on which makes it challenge others such as the XXL
double page spread featuring Rick Ross, as some people may look for more photos. When I was doing
my research I came across this XXL double page spread which caught my eye because of the plain
black and white colours. As I really liked this I thought I’d take the idea and use it myself. However I
changed it as I used different fonts and a different layout. So that it would stand out from the crowd,
which could mean I may get more people buying my magazine. I chose to write my articles in columns,
which makes my magazine different to some and more challenging, as some magazines haven’t used
them, such as the XXL one below. Also, by doing it this way it makes it easier for the readers as the
words are neat and not spread across the page. Below my title I have added in a small paragraph about
‘Lil Fabes’ album ‘Katrina’, this makes my magazine more challenging compared to others as I am
giving the readers some extra information, which I haven’t seen used in other magazines.