E V A L U A T I O N Many media conventions that have been displayed in products all over the world live up to their

universal expectations upon being seen within my media products; without these essentials

present, my products would be hard to fathom, unrelatable to their counterparts and practically

irrelevant. In order to present my media products with a solid technical foundation, I

researched a variety of other music magazines of similar genres to garner up not only

inspiration, but a vast array of proven approaches to presenting these conventions on my own

work. For example, I noticed that many music magazines of the rock and alternative genres

decide to gift their readership in many ways, from giving them a free CD via a cover mount, or

even offering the chance to win tickets to see their favourite artists live. The front covers of

both the 6/8/11 issue of NME magazine and the August 2010 issue of Q do this via a skyline at

the top of the front cover, which contains reasonably sized, bold display font giving information

about the gift or competition, allowing the reader or passer-by to easily comprehend the status

quo and purchase the magazine if they wish, resulting in a successful convention.

But alas, some conventions should not only be followed, but also altered for the better. For

example, my front cover contains two free gifts, a CD and presale codes for a ticket vending

website, which are placed in an attention grabbing contrast coloured puff in the top right hand

side of the cover and among a buzz word in the bottom left respectively, rather than a skyline.

I decided to place advertise the gifts in areas other than a skyline, as I believed that the skyline

would take away attention that should be paid to the masthead, which is of absolutely

paramount essentiality as it attracts new readers with its definition of genre through its off-red

colour and clean, yet sharp appearance which would not be found in a metal magazine. In

addition to that, OVATION is a new magazine, so the masthead should be emphasised even more

so. The chosen presentations for the free gifts are just as effective due to their attention

grabbing features such as contrasting colours, and the bold display font. Technically, the puff

does its job very well due to the display of The Cure’s frontman, Robert Smith, which is bound

to attract any alt-rock fans.

However, it can be argued that the precursor featuring the presale codes is less effective in its

presentation due to its placement in the bottom left of the front cover and its lack of a puff,

meaning that the audience might not see it as quickly as possible, and thus they may rather pay

attention to features on the cover that are visually more prevalent, while missing out on

features that are of higher qualitative value to them and thus be less involved in purchasing the

magazine. Placing this gift in another small puff might have increased its appeal, but in turn, it

may also have disrupted the sharp, uncluttered look that I was hoping to achieve with the front

cover of the magazine.

A convention that I have successfully followed with the front cover of my magazine is the

presentation of a strapline. As seen in the magazine front covers below, straplines are common

not only in music magazines of various genres, but in magazines of different topics too; they are

like the motto of a magazine, and a solid strapline will greatly aid development of brand

identity within a magazine.

Free gifts displayed

on the front cover.

As seen above, all of the highlighted straplines manage to sum up the ethos, content and brand

identity of a magazine in a short, direct nutshell. For instance, in MOJO Magazine’s strapline,

which simply reads ‘The Music Magazine’ in an easy-looking script font implies that ‘MOJO’ will

cover all things musical and present it to the reader in the same conversational manner that a

friend would do; MOJO is a magazine presenting music, nothing more, nothing less. The same

revelation of brand identity is seen above among the strapline of Heat Magazine. While ‘Heat’ is

anything but a music magazine, the strapline reveals a short sentence of fundamental

information regarding the magazine’s content and brand identity; it will present the latest

celebrity news, and clearly, thanks to the word ‘hottest’, the mode of address will be similar to

that of a gossipy acquaintance. It is also noticeable that all straplines are placed around or near

the masthead of a magazine, as if the masthead is the magazine’s name; the strapline is the

magazine’s aptly placed ‘nice to meet you’.

Therefore, bearing in mind that most successful magazines have helpful straplines, and

adequately placed ones at that, I decided that it would be foolish to avoid using one on the

front cover of my magazine.

As seen above, the strapline of my magazine is ‘The UK’s Favourite Alt Music Mag’. Taking

inspiration from the obdurate mode of address seen in MOJO Magazine’s strapline, I decided to

use the same simplistic approach, while using an irrefutable adjective (favourite) in order to

inform the audience of the magazine’s credibility, which may then lead to a successful impulse

buy. Also, in order to maintain a brand identity, I have used the signature font of my magazine,

which is also used in the masthead and in many additional sell lines seen on the front cover.

The front cover of my magazine evidently displays its objective to attract the target audience,

which generally consists of white males, aged 15-30. The artist on the cover almost personifies a

target audience member; he looks like a convinced young man from a fairly wealthy

background, caught in flagrante displaying his nonchalant, wayward side. The mentioning of

both female artists (St. Vincent & L. Marling) and black artists (OutKast & Kanye West) at the

bottom of the cover involves the notion that these artists who are of a minority in terms of

gender and ethnicity will be focused on moderately in the magazine, which could help attract

both female and coloured audiences into purchasing the magazine, if they are a fan of the genre

but are discontent at the common misrepresentation that features in other music magazines. It

is also worth noting that religious fans of alternative music may also be attracted, thanks to the

promise of Sufjan Stevens on the front cover too. Religious artists are scarcely, if ever,

represented in the magazines of such genres, so it would be a pleasant surprise for the

unsuspecting religious alternative fan, and thus may lead to him or her to purchase the

magazine, which would then emphasise the functionality of the various representations on the

front cover. However, it can be argued that the relevance of these artists within the issue is

somewhat minor, with the main feature artists being typical alternative artists; white males in

their 20’s, and therefore OVATION isn’t as revolutionary as some may have hoped it to be.

In conclusion, the front cover piece of OVATION magazine is generally a conventional one, with

the focuses being brand identity in addition to maintenance of a sharp, alternative look, with

simple but fervent combinations of off red, white, black and grey colours. The sharpness is

emphasised via the metallic font used for the main sell line, while other conventions such as

direct address, a pug in the bottom right and a date and issue number in the top right are

presented coherently. Any conventions unfollowed, such as the lack of a skyline and a small

amount of additional sell lines are not drastic; they have just been altered in order to reinforce

the unique design of the front cover.

The contents page of my magazine, however, goes against many general conventions of contents

pages in music magazines. Generally, a contents page is expected to be packed to the very limit

with images and information regarding the articles in the magazine, in addition to the

possibility of having a small puff somewhere too, in order to excite the reader and winch them

right into reading the magazine, much like the contents pages below…

However, due to my magazine focusing on alternative music, I believed a different approach to

presentation on the contents page was an interesting idea. Taking inspiration from MOJO

magazine, I decided to present the background of the page as nothing but an image of an artist

who features prominently in the issue of the magazine, in order to intrigue the audience with a

design that is individual and outshines any conservative designs seen in other music magazines.

Seen above is a contents page taken from the inspirational MOJO Magazine, juxtaposed with my

own contents page. The only real conventions followed by both of the above pieces are the

reinstatement of the magazine’s masthead, presentation of an image, as well as numbering,

titling and description of articles. The background/main image of the piece works to fulfil the

functions of avoided conventions by presenting the audience with visual conventions of the

genre to intrigue, as well as inform the audience. For example, in the MOJO contents page, a

prominent artist within the genre, Morrissey, is presented in a medium shot image taking up the

whole page, where he is maintaining direct address, which, in conjunction with the

conventional alternative/rock font colouring of white and red, will help firmly root an audience

member into reading ahead into the magazine. In my own honest opinion, my OVATION contents

page works just as well, by featuring many key visual conventions of the alternative genre;

cigarettes, coffee and a guitar, in addition to the established brand identity in the form of font

and mode of address will convince the audience of the genre of the magazine, while the variety

of artists mentioned and the direct address from the artist will help lure in readers.

Therefore, while my contents page fulfils the utility of presenting content to the audience, it

does so in a motivating, alternative manner to other contents pages. Like the front cover that

came before it, the contents page manages to represent artists of different gender, ethnicity

and even religion by presenting them in the text, which will continue the interest of a member

from one or more of the aforementioned social groups. But alas, a useful convention that

features in the contents pages of other magazines does not feature in OVATION Magazine; the

grouping of articles.

While the grouping of articles is useful for any reader navigating the magazine, the articles and

their substances are explained clearly and presented chronologically, which, in addition to the

visual sophistication of the contents page makes for an easily readable, yet highly attractive

piece of media. Another general convention of contents pages that I have avoided with OVATION

Magazine’s version is the extended use of buzz words, as I believed that they too, would

interfere with the clean-cut visuals of the page and that the tasteful mode of address on the

contents page would deem any buzz words obsolete.

The final practical piece I created was a double page spread article for OVATION Magazine. Out

of all practical pieces created, the double page spread article was, stylistically, the most

conservative and conventional. Garnering inspiration from the double page spread articles of

magazines such as Uncut, Q and MOJO, I came to the conclusion that while a successful double

page spread article needs a startling image and a tasteful selection of fonts and colours, most of

the reader’s focus will be on the substance of the article, or in other words, the text.

As seen above, the double page spread article that I created is generally conventional; a main

image taking up the whole of the left page, copious amounts of text on the second page,

including a title, standfirst, drop cap and body copy, while the blend of simple serif and sans

serif fonts juxtaposed with black, red and grey colouring are immediately indicative of the

alternative genre. However, in addition to this, the double page spread repeatedly presents the

name of the featured artist, as they are the sole focus amidst all the presentational wizardry

taking place, and are thus of paramount importance. And finally, the artist is dressed in

conventional alternative costume, and unlike the displayed DPS articles from Q and Uncut, the

artist has a conventional alternative prop in the form of an electric guitar. Thus, if the audience

had not already been absolutely convinced that they are reading an alternative music magazine,

these conventions are the final signals. The reason why I decided to stick with design

conventions within this practical piece rather than go against them is due to my belief that the

double page spread article is the place within a magazine where style and presentation should

take the subtle backseat, and substance should dominate. For example, in my double page

spread article, I focused on developing the brand identity of my magazine by emphasising the

conversational, inimitable and tongue-in-cheek mode of address, while leaving admirable

ergonomics in the other practical pieces (Front Cover & Contents Page).

Out of the two main media institutions, I would choose IPC Media to distribute OVATION

Magazine. The reason for this is that IPC Media are a heavily successful institution, with over 60

iconic brands spanning across many media platforms such as phone, tablet, TV and radio; they

are the UK’s leading consumer magazine publisher, something that cannot be said for Bauer

Media. In terms of music magazines, IPC distribute both NME, the apocalyptically popular Indie

Rock magazine, and Uncut, the more refined, classy and subtle version of NME, focusing mainly

on classic rock. Clearly, IPC do not yet distribute a magazine that combines the modern buzz

and gumption of NME and the mature encyclopaedic class of Uncut; OVATION would fit right into

this gap, due to its distinctive combination of old and new, as well as its vast range of musical

genres. Another fact worth noting about IPC is that out of the 26 million people they engage

with, only 42% are men. While, of course, the readership of the currently proven NME and Uncut

magazines are still predominantly men, the same would apply to OVATION, but the high chance

of female readership would be a great opportunity for OVATION to adapt as a magazine,

branching out to a myriad of readers, that would result in it being a magazine of high readership

and hopefully, high circulation.

In producing my practical pieces, I have worked with many forms of technology, from high

profile cameras, to computer programs. All images used in my practical pieces were taken using

a Nikon D90 DSLR camera, and thus the end result looks professional, crisp and clear. From using

this camera, I have learnt much about elements of photography, such as aperture, shutter speed

and ISO, and how they can be altered in order to take the perfect picture. For example, in my

double page spread article, the image features a fast shutter speed and high levels of aperture,

in order to minimise movement from background objects, and to focus on the model. With this

new found knowledge, I have significantly improved my photographing skills.

Another form of technology that I used in creating my practical pieces is Adobe Photoshop CS6,

a vastly popular image editing program used by professional editors around the world. From

using it, I have found that it is a surprisingly simple program to use, where an image can be

turned from bad to fantastic in just a matter of minutes and a selection of tools. For example,

in the image used on the front cover of my magazine, I used Photoshop to improve the model’s

skin, removing spots with the spot healing tool and giving the skin a pristine and powerful look

with the various filters and colour balancing tools available. In addition to this, all text found on

the front cover is in its place thanks to Photoshop, which allows for easy layering and

adjustment of text on any image. For instance, I managed to place the masthead behind my

model’s head by using the quick selection tool, selecting and erasing any empty space around

the model’s head and then placing the masthead’s text in the layer behind the adjustments.

Due to the prolonged use of Photoshop throughout this project, I have hugely improved my skills

with the program and have given the role of a magazine editor a little test drive.

The last form of intriguing technology that I used in the process was a white screen. The screen

was used in order to configure a professional front cover image that would look at home on the

front of a genuine magazine, which I, among others believe was the case. However, due to the

lack of lighting equipment and camera filters, I worked on the image using many of the image

adjustments available on Adobe Photoshop, in order to reach a clean and fully lit image.

Although it can be argued that the white screen is not technology per se, it was something that I

had never used before and being able to use it in the project was a great help, and an overall

easy experience. In addition to the ‘untechnological’ white screen, I used a variety of props for

my images in order to give them a genuine appeal. For instance, the prominence of conventions

like cigarettes and guitars is blatant in magazines such as Rolling Stone and MOJO, so I paid

attention to the way that they are used in images, and decided to replicate that approach

within my practical pieces; the props are prominent enough to reveal genre to the audience,

without being too overbearingly striking and taking the eye away from the model or body copy

on the pieces.

Below is some general feedback with regards to my practical pieces:

In conclusion, I have absolutely enjoyed this project, and while sampling the flavours of being a

professional print magazine editor, I have learnt copious amounts of new skills and techniques. I

strongly believe that my work is of high quality and my beliefs have been somewhat echoed by

what would be a potential target audience of OVATION Magazine, and so I believe that this

project has been a great success for me as a student.

Xavier Zimnicki