Foundation Portfolio Evaluation Question 1

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

Use- Front Cover• My product uses forms and conventions of real media products by following real pop music

magazines. I looked at lots of different pop music magazines and found lots of similarities in the forms and conventions. I used my research to adhere to the codes and conventions. For example, I found in my research that many pop music magazines have barcodes on the front cover. I then added a barcode to my front cover.

Research on pop front covers- all use rule of thirds and include a barcode and price. My product

• In my research, I found that many magazines put a few features down one side of their featured artist. This shifts the artist to one side, using the rule of thirds to enhance the reader’s interest in the magazine. I followed this convention too.

Use- front cover• I also used a central image of an artist

using direct mode of address. This is what most magazines use as it increase the sense of a relationship between the reader and the magazine.

• I think that if I could have done anything differently, I would have used a logo to increase the loyal readership of my magazine. It would also create a USP which would increase attraction to my magazine.

Examples of pop music magazines My product

Having a logo increase the amount of loyal readers and creates a brand identity.

Use- Contents page• Another convention that I followed was that in some music magazines there were two categories in the

contents; features and regulars. I incorporated this into my contents page to adhere to this convention. I also found that the main featured artist was usually the biggest picture on the contents page so I used one of the pictures that I had taken for the main picture on the contents page. This helped because instead of having a central image, the image was moved to the side. This enabled me to organise my features and regulars down one side, like in other pop music magazines.

Research on pop contents pages- NME uses the features and regulars method.

My final product

This is completely opposite to my preliminary task, before I had done any in depth magazine research. I was unaware of conventions of contents pages and there is a comparable difference between my preliminary task and final product.

My preliminary task

Use- Double page spreadOn the double page spread, there are many codes and conventions that I adhered to. For example, there has to be space for six columns across the page. I used InDesign’s tools to create a template so I could see where I was placing my content in regards to the six columns. I also used this to know where to put my copy on the double page spread.

Another convention I followed was that I put the picture of the featured artist on one side of the page with the copy on the other. This was something I wanted to do as I had seen this style in my research of double page spreads, and I really liked it because it draws attention more to the picture, and you can see the copy clearer.

Research on double page spreads My product

I created a document with pre-set columns so I could see in perspective how I should arrange my double page spread.

Develop I developed conventions on my music magazine by further adding social media links at the bottom of the front cover. This is where a lot of pop music magazines put more features, such as fashion tips. However, since social media has developed and grown in popularity in the last five years, my target audience are the most likely social group to be using most social media platforms, since they are digital natives. This would increase number of people buying the magazine, and the amount of promotion the magazine got through the amount of people interested in following the magazines on its social media platforms.

Challenge• I challenged conventions within my product because of my target audience. I chose to

aim my pop music magazine at slightly older audience than a typical pop music magazine audience, who are usually around 12-15. • This meant that I had to change a few things within my magazine, such as the colour

palette. I used colours such as black and red, which are more suited to an older audience, whereas typical pop music magazines feature pinks and purples to attract a younger audience. Research of pop music magazines- pink and purple are the main colours featured in pop music magazines.

My product

Challenge continued• Also, as my target audience are less likely to be interested in gossip surrounding

the artists, and more interested in information about the artist’s career. I featured these types of articles on the front cover and contents to attract more of my target audience.

These are different to my magazine because they focus on information not directly linked to the artist.