1. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
I think the layout of my front cover wasn’t too complex. The social networking icons were all
aligned and put together. Also the cover lines were all aligned with each other so it looks
neater and I also kept it within a margin. What I mean by margin is that I didn’t place the text
at the very edge of the page; I left a gap so it looks neat. I also used a barcode as vibe used
barcodes on their front covers. The image I used, I think, was a suitable image to use for my
front cover and to represent the genre of the magazine. The model gave direct address to the
audience and his facial expressions suggest what kind of magazine this is. Whilst taking the
pictures in the photo shoot room, I had to bear in mind how the model should pose and what
expressions should be on his face. When I thought I had finished creating my front cover, I
realised that there was something missing, it did not look complete. I felt like I had to develop
it even further. I changed the title of my magazine because I started to dislike it and I wasn’t
sure if it would suit the genre of my magazine. Also the position of how my model was
posing, it would have been difficult to see the masthead of the magazine therefore I had to
choose a different title for my magazine which was short. I also included social networking
icons so the audience will know where to find more up to date details of my magazine. As we
all know, teenagers do not really go onto the internet and search for what’s in store for the
magazine, they usually have social networking apps and find information through there.

2. The only thing I am disappointed about is that I felt like I didn’t challenge myself as much
because I was trying to relate my magazine to Vibes’ and copy some of their techniques
they used but I ended up not doing anything unique with my front cover which was a
shame. However, I still stuck to the rules of when creating my magazine. For example,
including cover lines, making sure they are aligned, including the masthead making sure it
comes behind the model, and including barcodes. I realised that Vibes’ font used in their
front covers were different to the font they used in their contents page. So I decided to do
the same thing. I also liked the fact that we had to create our own logo and we had to place
it on every page. The font, in my opinion, was suitable for the contents page because I think
it looks very professional and formal. For my contents page, I didn’t want it to be like Vibes’,
I tried to copy what NME do with their contents page. I know that NME and VIBE are a bit
different to each other (genre wise), however I thought that he layout of NME’s contents
page looked appropriate for my magazine. I also included suitable pictures for my contents
page which related to grime. When I looked at Vibes’ contents page, I noticed that usually
use one huge image. I did not want to do that so I challenged myself and used several
images. This is because I wanted the audience to engage with the contents page more and
by looking at different images, they would engage in different stories. Usually, images are
the main key to attract the audience’s attention. So using one image would not have caught
their attention as much as using several.

3. For the DPS, I liked having the massive bold quote where the model was
because the big font is what will attract the readers. And by reading the quote,
the audience would want to read the journalism. I stuck to a simple task which
was to have the image on the right side of the page and the journalism on the
left. I developed this by having three long text boxes on the left side of the
page and I also added the logo on the top of the left page. Because most of my
texts were interviews, I wanted the audience to know straight away it was one.
So I had to use colour coordination red for the questions and white for the
answers. I challenged myself by just using a question and answer structure,
vine did not do that.

4. How does your media product represent particular
social groups?
The social group that my magazine represents are similar to my target audience. This is because
the artists I have included in my magazine are roughly the same age as my target audience. A lot
of the grime artists are blacks but that does not mean only black people listen to grime. Many
other races listen to it too. The majority of grime artists came from a struggle they were in their
past life and for all the people who are struggling in life, they can relate to these tracks. Again it
does mean that only people who are struggling in life should listen to it. Now as the genre grime
is to do with struggle and pain, the model of my front cover gives direct address to the audience
and the facial expressions he makes suggest he is serious. Also in the DPS, the clothes he is
wearing is not smart, it is casual and most likely what people wear in the ‘hood’. My magazine is
trying to represent a positive vibe to show that anyone can make it if they try. And as grime is
stereotypical as people say majority of the artists are black, well my model is Asian so this will
gain the audience’s attention and think, why there is an Asian artist in the grime industry?

5. What kind of media institution might distribute
your media product and why?
When researching to see what publishers should publish my magazine, I had to bear in
mind what kind of genre they publish and how successful they are. I finally decided that
I will choose SpinMedia to publish my magazine. They currently publish VIBE, Celebuzz,
The Frisky, Idolater and more. Vibe represents R&B and hip-pop and it relates to grime
because R&B and grime are quite similar. When I was researching SpinMedia, I saw that
they did not only publish magazines in shops, they also publish magazine online. This is
an advantage because my magazine will be accessible online and gain the popularity of
the magazine. Also the layout of Vibes’ website looks more attractive as it contains a lot
of big pictures on the main homepage with minimal text. As teenagers are not into
reading, they including big pictures with minimal writing on the front page to grab the
audience’s attention straight away.