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

3. Front cover
Throughout my magazine I have tried to include generic conventions. I had learnt
about these conventions during my conventions task which I had completed at the
start of year 12. http://taliagaye.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/blog-post_20.html
During this task, I had chosen a magazine called „Classic rock‟ and begin to make
an analysis of all the codes and conventions which had been used on the front
cover of the magazine. I had chosen this particular magazine as at this time I
already had an idea of what genre of music I was going to choose (Indie/rock).
This task enabled me to identify generic conventions which were used in magazines
and particularly in Indie/Rock magazines so that I could quickly become familiar
with the way in which a magazines presentation works.
After completing this task, I then tried to put these conventions into context myself. I
had used four magazine templates from existing magazines as a basis for my work. I
then added myself various conventions I had learnt about such as main cover
lines, cover lines, left thirds etc. http://taliagaye.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/codes-and-
conventions-of-magazine-task.html
These tasks helped me to quickly gain knowledge into generic conventions of music
magazines but also the way in which I should apply them when creating my own
magazine.

4. As a result of the two tasks I had gained a clear understanding into generic
conventions and the layout of a front cover as shown below in my own magazines
front cover.
I took into consideration how each convention
should be typically displayed and followed the
rules of conventions within a music magazine.
I had used the left third rule for my masthead. I
also used a cover line within the left third of my
magazine so that I was following the
conventions.
I also made sure that the main cover line took
over the attention compared to the cover lines.
I decided to merge the URL and date line
together with the masthead to add to the
design of the magazine further giving the cove
more interest into the design.
I had also added other important conventions
such as the barcode and price in a familiar way
on my cover featuring them both together.

5. Challenges and developments
Some of the conventions I learnt about a music magazine I had challenged and
added my own ideas so that I achieve my own identity for my magazine.
Unlike most Indie/rock magazines which I had
researched such as NME, Kerrang and Q, I choose
for the front cover of my magazine to be plain. I
found that with the magazines which I made
research into, their front covers often featured more
than one piece of original photography. The front
cover of these magazines commonly had a main
imagine and also photography within cover lines
etc to promote what was inside of the magazine.
Where as with my magazine I has chosen to only
use one piece of original photography challenging
the typical codes and conventions of an Indie/rock
magazine. I did this as I wanted the target
audience to focus on the main cover line which
had relation to my main imagine of my main artist. I
think that for my magazine this worked well for
promoting my main article within the magazine
itself.

6. Challenges and developments
On the front cover of my magazine, I
have also choose to add my own
identity into the conventions through
the main cover line. I had chosen to
underline and write in Italic font the
artists name. This isn‟t something which
is normally used on a magazine cover
and from my research I hadn‟t seen it
been used in any of the Indie/rock
magazines I researched either.
This feature in the main cover line gives
a uniqueness about my magazine as
well as providing an emphasis on the
main cover line in relation to the main
image of the artist behind it.

7. Influences
The choice of layout for my magazine came from a number of influences including Q,
NME and Kerrang. I had chosen these magazines for influence as it matched the
genre of music which I had chosen for my own magazine and they helped me to
develop my own ideas of now I wanted my own magazine to look like.
Using the influence of NME‟s and Kerrang‟s
masthead I came up with how mine was going
to be designed. For both magazines I liked how
the masthead was in white font. I thought that
the colour stood out over both backgrounds of
the magazines drawing in the
readers attention. This is exactly what
I wanted for my magazine. I also
liked the fact that NME had a short
masthead on the left hand side of
the magazine. I also took inspiration
from this for my magazine as I
thought it made magazine sound
catchy and it didn‟t look too „in your
face‟. This is a feature I wanted my
magazine to also have.

8. Influences
Another influence I got from NME was their style of cover lines.
When looking at this NME
magazine, the cover lines
really stood out to me. I
liked how the had
backgrounds which
contrasted well with the
overall colour scheme of
the front cover.
I was influenced by the
way that they designed
their cover lines and
therefore inherited in within
my own work. I purposely
made sure that the colour
scheme of the text with the
background all matched
the conventions of my magazine so that the colours were consistent and the magazine
stood out.

9. Influences
Q magazine
influenced me
into the
positioning of
my cover lines.
I liked the way
the cover lines
were
positioned
Were positioned around the out side of the cover
making the magazine look professional and not taking
too much attention off the main image. I decided to
also only position my cover lines around the outside of
the cover.
I also liked the use of direct address from the cover star
used on the front page. This provides a relationship
between the cover star and the audience.
The backgrounds of both of the magazines are plain
using a single colour. I also did this within my magazine as I thought it gave emphasis to my
cover lines and main cover line as they stood out over the background. I also decided to
do this throughout the whole magazine making it a part of my colour scheme.

10. Contents
The layout of my magazines contents page was inspired by some aspects of Q
magazine and NME. Then began to draft my contents page using these inspirations.
http://taliagaye.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/magazine-layout-draft.html
The use of images relating on the contents page with page
numbers over them in Q magazine inspired me into using this
in my own magazine. I liked the way they had done this as it
looked different. I also found it a lot more eye catching
seeing familiar artists rather then reading a familiar artists
name on the page.
I also liked the fact that in both
magazines they had used the
colour scheme of white, red and
black which had which I had later
on adapted into my own
magazine.
I found that the variation between
between images, the sizes of them and the text made my
magazine a lot more stimulating and attractive. I also
decided to include the same features within my own
magazine.

11. Purposely I chose to carry on the colour scheme of
my front cover to my contents of Red, Black and
white. I chose to do this as I noticed that in many
of the Indie/Rock magazines I had researched
their colour schemes were kept consistent. I think
this was important to me as it gave my magazine
an identity and professionalism which I wanted to
be able to stick to.
I also chose to carry on the cover star and story
into my contents page. This enabled my magazine
to have consistency and make it clear that this
was the main article of my magazine.
In the magazines which had influenced me, their
contents pages featured advertisements. This is
what made my magazine slightly unique
compared to my influences.
The use of the magazines name „ROIT‟ was also
featured on my magazines contents page. This
was inspiration which I had taken from both Q
magazine and NME. I thought that it was
important that the magazines identity was carried
through to the contents page.

12. Double page spread
My first influences for my double page spread were NME and Q magazine.
http://taliagaye.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/research-and-planning-of-double-page.html
I planned for my double page spreads to looks similar to these as I liked the layout of the
pictures alongside the text.
I was also inspired by these particular magazines as they were from the same genre music
as I planned my magazine to be. I took inspiration from the way they looked and wanted
to add these ideas eventually into my own magazine.

13. My main influence was the NME double page
spread.
As with this double page spread I also decided to
use a quote for my main focus of the title for the
article. I thought the way that the text was
presented stood out on the page and
immediately grabbed the audiences attention. I
wanted to be able to created this same effect
within my own magazine.
I was also influenced by the artist which was
featured on the right hand side of the page.
I thought that it fitted in well with the article
on the left hand side and gave a nice
relationship between the title, main artist
and article.
I also decided to keep the colours of red,
white and black consistent throughout the
whole of my magazine. I did this as I thought
that it brought together the front page,
contents page and double page spread
nicely.

14. How does your media product represent
particular social groups?

15. My magazine was mainly aimed at teenagers, old and young, who like Indie/rock
music. For me I found that NME and Q magazine helped me into forming this identity
for my own magazine. They also helped me into understanding how to fit this genre of
music into my magazine as well as appealing to the correct target audience.
Cover star
The cover star „Aubry Banks‟ in her
original photography demonstrates
someone who doesn‟t give away a lot
about herself based on her appearance.
She looked very „straight faced‟ which is
what I wanted to be able to portray for
my cover star. I did this because as a part
of my artists background I explained how
she had been a victim of bullying and
how she always expressed herself through her music. The fact my
artist was shown in such an straight faced way was to portray this
background which she had that from the outside she looked
normal and kept all her problems inside. Music was the way she
got rid of all her problems which is talked about within the
interview.
I thought it was important that I gave this representation as it also
portrayed my typical target market of teenagers.

16. Teenagers typically are seen as having „problems‟ within their
lives but keeping them bottled up.
This was the same image I wanted to be able to portray
through my cover star so that my target audience would be
able to relate to the article within my magazine.
Other photos used in my magazine also gave my magazine a
„cheeky, rebellious, youthful‟ trend which comes from the
Indie/Rock genre. The two boys represent this trend as they were both captured laughing
which reflects the genre of music as again being „mischievous‟. Indie/rock is also
represented through the band photo on the stairs. The emotions in all of the artists face
reflects typical teenagers. On the left hand side, the boy pulling a face represents them as
being „silly‟. The girl in the middle shows a representation of „seriousness‟ and the boy on
the right looking away being „care free‟ all representing traits of a teenager but also
representation of the genre of music itself.

17. What kind of media institution might
distribute your media product and why?

18. The genre and audience of ROIT magazine is very similar to NME‟s and Q magazine
which are major distribution companies. I can see ROIT working well as a major
distributor as it is a fresh type of magazine displaying a lot of new faces. It is also a
similar magazine to both Q and NME, therefore a top seller.
I researched into major distribution companies including Bauer
media.
http://taliagaye.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/planning_13.html
I found that may popular music magazines had been
produced by them. These magazine including Kerrang, Q
magazine and Mojo.
They were also involved in a range of media such as
TV, radio, internet, phones, magazines etc. However, even though the company was
involved in a number of magazines I didn't‟ feel as though it was the right one for my own
particular magazine.

19. The distributor I had chosen instead for my magazine was IPC media -
http://www.ipcmedia.com/
I have chosen them as my distributors based on their
range of magazines which also includes NME, a big
inspiration of my own magazine. They also have a
variety of ways in which to advertise on different
platforms including websites, printing and modern
technology such as mobile phones and tablets.
I think that ROIT magazine will be able to
merge well with this modern company as a
new magazine for young music lovers.

20. Who would be the audience for your
media product?

21. My magazine is aimed at teenagers and young adults from
ages of around 16 – 21.
I had created a questionnaire for my target audience to
complete based on the content of my magazine.
http://taliagaye.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/questionnaire-on-
content-of-my-magazine.html
This helped me to find out what my target audience
wanted to see in my magazine so that I knew what it was I
needed to include to make it relevant for my target
audience. I recorded this information and then presented it
in the form of pie graphs.
http://taliagaye.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/female-
questionnaire-analysis-for.html
The result of this helped me to develop my magazine so
that it will suit my target audience. NME also has a similar
target audience as my magazine as their audience ranges
from around teenagers to the age of around 21.

22. How did you attract/address your
audience?

23. Masthead
I think that the name of my magazine is
very catchy. The name „ROIT‟ reminds me
of „riot‟ which references noise and
banging. This is also a similar way of
describing the genre of Indie/Rock music
as it is sometimes very loud and heavy. I
think this is good for my magazine as the
name has reference to the genre of music advertised within the magazine and gives
the magazine meaning.
I think that the simplicity of the name also works well for my target audience as it is
easy to remember in teenagers hectic lives.
The use of CAPTIALS within the name and the white font makes the magazine stand
out to the audience.
I think that my choice of colour for the magazines name is also a good feature as it is
easy to work with in terms as making it match the front covers background in future
issues.
The magazine name is catchy but also looks eye catching for the audience because
of the use of fonts and colours I have used.

24. Colours
From the research I had made into magazines, I had came up with a
colour scheme for my own magazine before beginning to design it.
http://taliagaye.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/planning_22.html
Similarly to NME and Rolling stone magazine, the colours I have
chosen
For my magazine suit my target audience because of their clarity,
Contrasts and uses.
For a Rock magazine, Black provides a dark „sinister‟ meaning to my
magazine.
White gives a purity as well as a nice base colour.
Red can also be used for text needing special attention plus to give
a sense of romance or even warning.

25. Cover lines
The cover lines are used to draw in further my
audiences attention.
Quotes from artists have been used such as “OUR
FANS ARE AWSOME” to draw in my targets audience
attention to the magazine. I displayed a quote on
the front of the magazine as I knew it would be a
point of interest for the artists fans. It also leaves the
audience interested to what is inside of the
magazine.
I have also gave emphasis to certain words on my
magazine such as „Aubry Banks‟. I chose to use
italic, bold white font so that out of all the fonts it
stood out on the page. The fact that it was the main
cover line also supported this to be most noticeable
to my audience.
The language I have chosen to use on the
magazine also fits with my target audience being
easy to read and a down to earth tone which is
easy and enjoyable to read.

26. Images
Most of the images used throughout the magazine of my
cover star look strong, proud and confident. They can also
relate to the fact that she isn‟t giving too much away about
her emotions through her straight facial expressions relating to
her childhood when she was bullied and kept everything
bottled up.
I made sure that my cover star was making eye contact with
the audience in every photo to build a relationship with the
audience. However I also did it to relate to the fact that she is
over her bulling from a child and now releasing her music to
the world.
Other images used in my magazine such as the support artists
I tried to portray them in a cheeky, fun way so that it
appealed to my target audience and in some ways to the
genre of music.

27. What have you learnt about technologies
from the process of constructing the
product?