2. CONVENTIONS
• In my magazine, I have both
followed conventions and
challenged them in a variation of
ways. For example, on my
cover, I followed the typical
convention of having the title at
the top, with the main image
below it. I have also given some
clues as to what else lies within
the magazine, and I have included
the price. Most of these
conventions, I have followed
because they are only common
sense; the reader is less likely to
buy the magazine if they do not
know how much it costs, or what
is within it. Without these basic
conventions, the magazine is far
less easy to understand, thus the
reader is probably not going to
want to buy it.
3. CONVENTIONS
However, I feel that I have also challenged set
conventions in my cover, as the cover seems a lot
more simplistic than most magazines of this kind, with
minimal text around the image. I have also challenged
conventions by, instead of having the artist featured in
my image posing and dressing
professionally, formally, maturely, or sexually, he is
dressed casually, in a t-shirt and jeans, and although
he is posing as though he is a superstar, his
appearance does not really make him seem very out
of the ordinary. I did this as I felt that it is a far more
encouraging thing to the readership to have the
people I present as major stars also presented as
normal, average people. I also challenged the
convention of having a plain, fairly neutral
background, as my background is a sort of
mottled, black and red pattern. I felt that this helped to
draw the eye a lot more, and also helped to
communicate a sort of mysterious, whimsical
effect, as the background almost resembles smoke
and flames, thus making my model look somewhat
look like a storybook wizard. The stars over the title
also help to convey a sense of mystery and magic, as
well as being a clever play on words regarding “stars”
in the celebrity sense.
4. CONVENTIONS
I have to a certain extent followed conventions within my double page spread, by attempting to use the “Z”
formation, as the reader‟s eye is drawn along the block at the top to the darker coloured background where
the subtitle is, and then in a sloping “Z” shape down the slope of the writing to the salmon coloured
background on the left hand side, and then back to the picture on the right hand side. This “Z” formation is
effective, as it draws the reader‟s attention in a way that makes sense to the reader‟s mind. I followed this
convention, as I felt that some conventions exist for a reason, and this just generally makes the spread more
pleasing and simplistic to the eye, therefore making the reader more likely to read on.ye
I kept the background simplistic, as I
felt that not only does it echo the fact
that the music is not presented in a
complicated manner, and also the far
more straight forward and simple
common sense reason that it just
makes the words easier to read.
5. FEEDBACK
Most people felt that my title did an
accurate job of conveying the meaning of
my magazine, particularly this person
here, who picked up on the “Rising stars”
theme, i.e. the celebrities of the future.
6. FEEDBACK
Similarly, most felt that they would like to
read more about the star on my
cover, simply because the front cover
creates curiosity and mystery, thus proving
that I was correct in my assumptions as
stated on the third slide.
7. FEEDBACK
This person here managed to read some of
the themes I was trying communicate, i.e.
the thoughts and emotions that go into
music, as opposed to just the
clinical, material, system of producing it.
This person also picked up on the other
main theme I attempted to
communicate, that todays young generation
has a brand new breed of rising talent.
8. AUDIENCE
I felt that my magazine represented a certain
social group, the social group of teenagers who
prefer a sort of non-mainstream, indie rock and
rock and roll sort of music. I attempted to show
this in the visual features of the magazine in a
variety of ways. For example, I openly avoided
the types of colours commonly found in music
magazines aimed at teenagers and centred
around modern genres of music such as modern
pop or hip hop, which, from my
research, seemed to be lighter
colours, whites, blues, and purples. I have gone
for the other end of the spectrum, using a key
colour scheme of black and red. I felt that this
would be effective, as it would also attract a
teenage audience, these being very
bold, obtrusive colours, as opposed the
stilted, neutral, formal colours found in
magazines directed at adults and older citizens.
My focus group that filled in my survey in
general seemed to think this worked, one saying
it was reminiscent of both modern and “old-
school”, music trends, thus hopefully meaning
that the indie-rock, “hipster” crowd would be
drawn to it for it being both relevant, but also
“retro” and non-mainstream.
9. INSTITUTION
I feel that the magazine publisher most likely to
publish my magazine would be EMAP, as they
already publish “Q”, “Kerrang!”, and
“Mojo”, similar music magazines with similar
audiences, and so my magazine would easily fit
in with their existing scope and line up, and not
at all alter their already existing „image‟, so to
speak.
10. TECHNOLOGIES/skills
learned and used
Over the course of producing this magazine, I have learnt a lot more about the workings of Photoshop. I have
gained more and more skills and confidence in Photoshop, and, at the end of it, I was able to produce something
that I would hope looks fairly professional.
I also learned to use Survey Monkey in order to accurately gather the thoughts and opinions of my audience, as
well as a few people who are not part of my target audience, simply that I can gather a wide range of opinions and
viewpoints. In this way, I was able to directly connect with my audience, and know exactly what they want and
what they think, almost immediately, whereas without this technology, one would have to either do a little a little
research into already existing popular magazines and simply hope that my own magazine matched up to them, or
I would have had to physically meet with a selection of my audience in the same place long enough to get them to
do a physical survey, and would them have had sort through the results of the surveys myself, and this would take
up far too much of my time, and would basically be long, cumbersome, confusing, and complex.
Another important thing I have learned to use is WordPress. I have used this throughout the making of my
magazine to document my progress. This was extremely useful, as it meant that anyone could see my
magazine, and could give feedback, as thus, in the same way as Survey monkey, it helped me to directly connect
with my audience, receive feedback, and just generally gather opinions on the standard of my work. It also helped
to document my work and my progress in an organised way that makes sense to look at, as this generally just
makes it easier for myself and others to see my progress and developmental progress.
I have also (obviously) learned to use PowerPoint to the best of its ability, such as in the making of this very
evaluation. PowerPoint, and other Microsoft applications such as Word, although simple, are very useful in the
basic and easy to understand presentation of words and images, and it is hard to do any sort of written work
without programmes and word processors such as these.
I also feel that I have learned a lot more about the magazine industry, the music industry, the media world, and the
social conventions of media products.
