Question 1

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

When designing and creating my magazine it has been my main objective to create a magazine which is realistic, following similar conventions which music magazines typically use. I wanted my magazine to not be out of place if it was sitting next to NME or spin magazine and to do this I have used particular elements and features in my

magazine to make it look similar.Before I did this it was fundamental to my planning that I researched the conventions and elements of existing music magazines and this is what I found from my research:

As a generalization, most music magazine logos had simple memorable names which are layed out basically to make them not only easy only the eye but bold and distincitive.

the Dazed & Confused magazine is not neccassirly a particular global brand however it is fairly well known and respected.Dazed & Confused is a British style magazine,that was set up in 1992 and published monthly.Topics covered include music fashion film and literature. The magazine is named for the song made famous by English rock band Led Zeppelin. The logo is very simple and straight to the point which reflects the attitude of the magazine. The masterhead alters on almost every cover to adapt and compliment each front cover. This makes it a very versatile logo and limits the magazine in no way. What I like about this logo is that it is simple but also clever in the way that the second part of the name is vertical, giving it a , however the font and vertical design always remains the

Dazed and Confused magazine that is the unique selling point of the magazine. Cosmopolitan is not a music magazine but it has a very similar target audience in the sense that it is aimed at young females. Again it is very simple and easy to read. The colour pink makes it instantly clear to the target market and appeals to females as it is a colour often associated with women. I have also taken this concept and used the colour scheme as a convention to my magazine which is designed to appeal to my target market.

Spin Magazine logo is again very simple and straight forward and uses primary colours to create a strong bold brand for the magazine. This means that the logo can attract attention from distance and will draw readers to pick it up. The typeface of this master is quite smooth and sleek. It has a flawless element to it which suggests quality with no gimmicks. The logo itself does not suggest a particular genre of music. This allows the magazine to adapt to the current popular music, also allowing the magazine to be versatile and not to restricted. Although my magazine is aimed at the indie genre I do not want to limit myself too much as I may need to adapt the magazine as times change.

All of this had lead me to finally creating my logo:

My logo/masterhead uses all the conventions of typical music magazines. It is simple and easy to read but it's bold and attention grabbing. I have used the colour purple to appeal to my target market but I have not made it too feminine as this may restrict some of the audience who aren't. The crystal effect gives the logo a unique selling point to the logo and makes it attractive and appealing to females.I have also used the outer glow effect to give it a neon sign effect making it look like the type of sign you would see on a club/venue which links to the music and genre of my magazine.

People&Clothing




As the subject artist for my magazine I have used my friend Charlotte Bailey. I have chosen to use her as she has very good skin and is very photogenic (photos will not have to be too heavily edited). I feel as if Charlotte has a particular look which is perfect for the font of a music magazine. She has a very individual quirky sense of style and her short blunt hair cut defines her face very well and gives her a distinctive look. Often on the front of magazines the people used have a certain look, in particular to reflect the genre of music for example:





In this magazine the people are dressed very casually with their messy, scraggy hair which reflects their laid back, carefree attitude. The clothes they are wearing say a lot about the type of people they are. This is achieved by wearing bold colors and prints with a vintage edge to them- they are not the kind of clothes that go unnoticed. It is a very distinctive unique look which also reflects the genre of much which the band play- indie music. I have used this technique in my own magazine and have dressed my model in plain, bold colors which reflect the style of music she plays. However I have recoginised that I have a very different target market from NME and have adapted my clothing and mise en scene to be appropriate for my audience. I have taken the conventions of the music magazines I have researched and adapted them in order to suit my audience.

I have used a variation of outfits in my planning to achieve the particular look that I want, but each outfit was influenced by the conventions that apply to all music magazines. Magazines use images as the main attention grabber. This means the images must be bold, striking and engaging. I have attemepted this through a variety of ways by experiementing with different clothes, make up and poses.


In this image I have dressed Charlotte in a very basic t-shirt which is casual and relaxed. Another reason I have used such a simple top is so that the image is not too over powering. I want the focus of the image to be the use of paint on her hands and face. I have used paint in this image to give it a fun element which will appeal to my female and age target market. The paint also makes Charlotte appear quite arty which is also linked with the genre of indie music.

Once again in this image I have once again dressed Charlotte very simply in a white lace top with a simple silver necklace. This image has a very feminine feel to it as her make up is very soft, yet still striking and overall is generally fairly natural. This give her an effortless sense of style which again links with the genre of music that my magazine is aimed at. Her nails are painted red to add a bit of color to the image while not over powering it and also being red suggests the idea of passion and love, which again will appeal to my target audience.

Mode of address

From my research I found every magazine without exception adopted a casual friend -like mode of address. Magazines are infamous for their use of colloquial and conversational approach to writing and is essential to keep drawing their readers back. By doing so, the magazine becomes like an old friend in which the reader feels they can trust in. However despite these similarties, an important thing I have noticed is the varation of how individual magazines use language through out the magazine. Nme and Kerrang often glorify the "rock and roll" life style. This means they subtle promote swearing, drinking and "pissing about" as typical behaviour. In comparision to this, Spin magazine uses a much more eloquent sophisitcated approach to their language. This is due to huge difference in target market.

Therefore when constucting and planning my magazine it was clear to my that I must:

• Adopt a friendly, conversational mode of address
• To use language which would appeal and act as a reflection of my target market
• To make language engaging and interesting through the use of technical elements of language e.g puns, alitteration, similies etc