In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of

real media products?

Abbie Roberts

Front CoverMain MastheadMain Masthead

Cover lines

Cover lines

Main Image

Main Cover line

Mai

n Co

ver l

ine

Lure/hook

Lure/hook

Initial Research- Front Cover When I began searching different magazines that were in the Hip-Hop genre, the main things that I

noticed about the front covers was that they included several different colours. The vast majority of the colours were bright, therefore making the magazine stand out, so your target audience, as well as other magazine readers would be drawn straight to the magazines. You can see this on the page before where the Vibe magazine includes light blue righting along with pink. Both of these colours go together as well as them standing out, therefore being readable.

Like other magazines, they also had a masthead, which was big and bold, making it readable, so it stood out. With the Vibe magazine on the previous page it takes up a lot of the front cover. This is so the target audience can see what the magazine is called easily and quickly.

With the masthead, they also let the main image cover it up. This is because the magazine is generally a well known own, therefore as there is a strong customer base that buy it, they will know what the magazine it called anyway, therefore not needing to see the whole of the masthead.

The hip-hop magazines, also had cover lines, but the main hip-hop brand of magazine I found was under the brand name of ‘Vibe’. These magazines didn’t include too many cover lines, but in fact the picture too up most of the space compared to different magazine genres I looked at. The lack of cover lines, as you can see on the Vibe magazine on the previous page, doesn’t seem to deter the reader from looking at the magazine as the front cover doesn’t seem bland, boring or with lack of information. This is because the picture and the masthead take up the majority of the room, making the cover lines seem less important on the front cover.

Even before I began looking at different hip-hop magazines, for the costumes/outfits I wanted my model to use were the typical hip- hop clothing such as jumpers, new era hats etc. When I looked at the different magazines, they used the typical hip-hop style clothing, which I was aiming at.

On this particular magazine (Vibe) they used the same font throughout the front cover. To me this seemed bland and boring, despite it standing out. I think that if they used various fonts it would have made certain cover lines stand out more.

How did I use the forms and conventions I found in my research in my magazine?

Firstly, with the use of different colours that were bright as it makes the magazine stand out a lot, catching people’s eye, therefore making people want read the magazine, I used this ideas with my magazine front cover. I got my artist/model stand against a colourful background. This background also connoted hip-hop as it was in the style of graffiti. Hip hop artists are usually associated with the ‘hard life’ and so graffiti usually comes under that category.

Despite my masthead being bold, and the font connoting the genre of hip- hop it isn’t the same as the Vibe magazine masthead. Unlike the Vibe masthead I have changed my font so it is different to the font of my cover lines, which will follow through to my contents page, making the house style of the fonts as well as the colours etc follow through the magazine, linking all of the pages together. My masthead also doesn’t take up as much room on the front cover as the Vibe magazine’s masthead does. This is because I still think that my masthead stands out on the page as well as it being easy to read.

One other difference of my masthead compared to the Vibe magazines, is that it isn’t being covered up by the artist’s head. This is because my magazine is obviously not well known and if it was to go public, it would be the first addition, therefore people need to be able to read the magazine to know what it is called.

My main image is slightly similar to the Vibe magazine that is shown on the first page of this power point. This is because both of them show mainly a head shot of the artist. Just showing the head, and slightly the upper body on the front cover seems to make the magazine more personal to the target audience. This is because it is focusing on the eyes, and when the eyes are looking out to the audience, once again it shows that the magazine is more personal. The artist is looking at the audience, therefore making them seem involved in the magazine and that the information that is told about them is true and that they want readers to know about it.

Unlike the majority of the Vibe magazines, I included lots of cover lines on my front cover, this is so I could engage the audience a lot more to show them what they could read about inside of the magazine. It seems a lot more informative, as well as the main image showing that there is going to be information about this artist included in the magazine.

I also included a main cover line on my front cover showing that there was an exclusive interview. I was unsure as to weather with this particular Vibe magazine if there was a main cover line. I did include on the first slide that there was a main cover line as this was the one that stood out the more when looking at the front cover.

Throughout my magazine, unlike this particular Vibe magazine, and others I looked at, I used various different fonts. This was to keep the audience interested as there wasn’t just one set text making it seem boring and uninteresting. I also included different colours for more important words such as ‘future’ and ‘more’ so once again the target audience would be drawn to this and then they would want to read into more depth about the topic.

Did I challenge any forms and conventions? How and why?

Personally for my front cover the only forms and conventions in which I challenged was the used of extra colour, and cover lines.

With the use of cover lines, as I said previously I used more cover lines than most of the hip hop magazines I previously found. With the use of cover lines it allowed me to be able to engage my target audience more as they have a more information on what is going to be included into the magazine. Due to this they will know what's actually in the magazine rather than with a lack of cover lines which don’t particularly inform the readers as to what is included straight away.

As well as this with the use of different fonts on my cover lines, it made them stand out more, making them seem more interesting, rather than the same font running through the magazine.

As for the use of colour, despite me seeing that the majority of hip hop magazines which I found when doing my initial research, I decided to brighten it up and use several different colours on my front cover. This was just to once again catch the readers eye so straight away. It would stand out amongst other magazines meaning people would pick it up straight away as it wouldn't come across as being boring.

Contents PageFeatures- Title

Features- Title

Title for page

Title for page

Several differentimages

One mainimage

Listi

ng o

f wha

t's in

clud

ed in

m

agaz

ine

Listing of what's included in

magazine

Initial Research- Contents Page When looking at different hip-hop contents pages, like the front cover the main hip-hop

magazines that came up was of Vibe magazine. This is because they are a popular hip-hop genre magazine.

For Vibe, as you can see on the previous slide, they mainly use one main image, like on the front cover. With my initial contents page, I did use one main image similar to this. Despite this I changed my idea as the image seemed to stand out too much, meaning that the main information that the page was used for didn't stand out very much, as you can tell on the Vibe contents page on the previous slide. The picture seems to dominate the page too much.

The use of the word ‘contents’ was also set out in a different fashion to the usual convention of what magazines look like. For me this made the contents pages of Vibe seem out of the ordinary and therefore stand out. This would be a positive for them as the audience would like how they are trying to be different and so read their magazines.

As well as this, with my initial research, the contents pages seemed to have a coloured background which stood out. They didn’t have white backgrounds. This once again, made the contents page stand out and seen unordinary.

I also found, that Vibe used listing of the pages. To my this seemed a little boring and confusing. They use of font they used seemed hard to read and due to the picture the layout didn’t seem, particularly on this contents page (on the previous slide) also didn't help that fact that the information didn't stand out. This seemed the case for every hip-hop magazine I found.

How did I use the forms and conventions I found in my research in my magazine?

For my contents page, I didn’t particularly use many of the same forms and convections to the ones I

found/ this is because first of all if the title wasn't on the page then you wouldn't straight away know what the page was, and also they layout and use of a main image didn't make the text stand out.

One thing I did do the same as Vibe magazines contents pages was the use of the coloured background. This was mainly to keep a house style running through my magazine as my front cover background had orange in it.

For my contents page, unlike Vibe magazines, I decided to use several different pictures on my contents page. This is so both pictures and text stood out and not one picture was dominating the whole page.

As well as this, to keep with my house style I used the same font as I did on my masthead for the title of this page. This is so they both stood out on the page.

Unlike Vibe magazines, I used several different texts, and several different colours. This is so the text stood out and didn't seem boring, therefore making the magazine seem uninteresting. The use of different colours keeps the audiences attention towards to magazine.

Another way to keep my house style running through my magazine, I used a black box at the bottom of the page, like I did on the front cover, unlike Vibe I included the email for the magazine online so then the readers could also access the magazine online if they decided too.

I did use the word ‘features’ like Vibe, which gave the readers insight to what was featured in the magazine. I also used the words ‘on the cover’ and listed what pages the information the front cover included which gave the readers a quick and easy way to quickly go straight to the page they are looking for if for example one cover line on the front page caught their eye and they wanted to read about it.

Did I challenge any forms and conventions? How and why?

I think I may have challenged some forms and conventions of the Vibe magazines in which I found. This is because their contents page, despite being attractive and unique, it didn't seem like a ‘typical’ contents page which the main reason for the page if for the readers to instantly find the page that they are looking for. As the font was small and didn't stand out and layout also didn’t help the text stand out, it made the main attraction the main image.

As well as this, I used several different fonts and colours which made the page altogether stand out and look interesting. This differed from the contents pages I come across as they only used one coloured text, as well as them usually using one font. Despite this on the contents page you can see on this slide, you can see that the subtitles they have put in bold, which do stand out more than the titles of the pages.

Following on from this, I also used several different pictures which stood out, and split the page up. They do catch the audiences’ eyes but they don't dominate the page as the text also stands out.

Double Page SpreadFollowing the same font trough for main titles- house style

Following the same font trough for main titles- house style

Page Numbers

Page NumbersLure/ main

quotation

Lure/ main quotation

Main ImageMain

ImageMain paragraph starter

Main paragraph starter

Website Website

Initial Research; Double Page SpreadWhen looking at several different ideas for my double page spread there was a variance of they layout the use of different pictures. In some double page spreads I came across, one A4 page was used for a picture of the artist/group while the other A4 page was then used for the information. On the other hand, there were also a couple of other style’s of the double page spread. For example there was a layout like the one on the previous page. Personally I think that this stood out a lot more as aswell as everything blending together, there is several different pictures of the artist, as well as there being a main image which brought attention toward it, therefore catching the readers eye’s and straight away them knowing what the page is about. I knew that I wanted to have the double page spread as an exclusive interview, this was because, as it was promoted on the front cover, people would be interested in getting exclusive information they wouldn’t get from anywhere else, therefore it was more likely the magazine would sell well. Adding to the fact that it was an interview it may have included questions in which Connor’s fans would want to be answered, and this was an easy way for them to be answered. Looking at the different layouts of the double page spreads initially gave me lots of different idea’s of how I wanted my page to look like. This enabled me to make drawing plans and give me an idea of where I was going with the page. Despite this, as I had too many different ideas and not the right pictures, I did in fact do lots of different versions of my double page spread. However this can be seen as a positive down to the fact that I was finally able to get my double page spread how I wanted it to be like.

How did I use the forms and conventions I found in my research in my magazine?

By looking at different double pages spread’s and gathering different ideas from each page I initially looked at, I used several of the normal forms and conventions which are found in a magazine. This was to enable a professional look towards the magazine, as well as it connoting the correct genre of music in which my magazine was about. First of all, like other double page spreads, I used the use of a main quote/lure. There are used to draw the readers into the article. If the lure is interesting, yet short it makes people want to read the article, or in my case interview to find out more about this quote. Therefore it give the writer more people reading the interview/article. I also used the use of the internet link of the magazine on this page like most other magazines use on their double page spread. This was to enable people to go onto the website, enabling more viewers of the magazine, therefore potentially giving the magazine more readers, and then getting more money. As well as this, it also enabled the readers to read additional information about the artist in which I was interviewing and writing about. Following on from this, I also used the use of a starting paragraph at the beginning of the article. This is used so people are able to read short overview of the article or of the artist/band to enable readers to know a little bit more about what they are reading about, and ‘initially to be setting the scene’. Like other magazines I have also used a main image of my artist. This was to enable it to stand out straight away, so people looking/reading the magazine straight away know what this page is going to be about. Similarly, I used the use of the house style running through out the magazine. In my double page spread, along with my other page’s I used the same font and font colour on the main titles of the pages (as well as other features contributing to house style). This enabled the house style to be clearly seen through out the magazine, linking the pages together. As well as this, as you can see on the professional double page spread, in the top left hand corner they have used the same font and layout as they have on the rest of their pages as it is part of a Vibe magazine. This is like a logo, when you see it, you instantly know what magazine it comes from. I also used the use of columns, like in most other magazines in which you see. This is because it makes the whole page look organised, therefore looking professional and therefore worthy to buy. As you can see on my blog on different double page spreads I created, I challenged the used of the layout of the writing to see if it would work better set out in a different way. Despite this, none of the other layouts in which I used looked at neat and professional as it does on my final double page spread, which I have used structured columns like other magazines. By using the forms and conventions of magazines which already exists, it enables readers to identify the pages straight away and they are able to compare them to other magazines in which they have previously read. If there was a completely different layout and style of double page spread to the ‘normal’ layout of a double page spread, then it would be harder to identify what page it is.

Did I challenge any forms and conventions? How and why?I did try to challenge several different forms and conventions of the usual double page spread. First of all the

use of my picture wasn’t on one side of the magazine, and my text on the other. It blended into both pages, which personally for me I think looked a lot better than a picture separate to the text. I seemed to show that they picture and the text was linked, which it was, therefore making the whole page work better together. I also included an internet link of Connor’s own personal Facebook page. I didn’t see this on any magazines I looked at, so I thought it would be a good extra to include. It enabled the reader to not only go onto the unstoppable website, but also to Connor’s own website/fan page and get closer to him through that way. Following on from this, I also used the use of a lure/hook, in the top right hand corner. This was reminding the readers that they were able to get a free poster of Connor on page 50, once again drawing them into the magazine again as they were able to get a free magazine of an artist in which they liked. Unlike most of the double page spreads I initially looked at, I included a main title onto my page. This straight away enabled the reader, both if they did and didn’t know the artist, who is was and what the whole page was about, once again ‘setting the scene’. It gave a different twist to things, as some pages looked a little bare and ‘un personal’. They didn’t quite draw you into the page as there wasn’t a main title telling you what it was about, therefore potentially making you loose interest. I also put a bold red box around the main title, which once again draws you into the page as it catches your eye therefore you want to read the title. As well as this, I used the same font I had previously used in my magazine on my contents page and front cover. This continues the house style throughout my magazine, and linking the pages. The title font also is bold and connotes the genre Hip-Hop. Unlike most double page spread’s I came across, they were plain and with lack of colour. This is why I challenged this form/convention by making my page as bright and as colourful I could with out it looking too ‘tacky’. It made the page stand out, like my other pages and it gave a little more colour into the magazine. As well this it also connoted my genre of magazine as Hip-Hop is associated with bright colour’s.