Question 1 to Evaluation

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

 My media product follows the conventions of a typical magazine format.  After looking at and researching music magazines I looked at what appealed to me as a young person and found information on sales figures in an online article by The Guardian newspaper.

This article highlighted that in 2014 total sales of all magazines was 21.2 million copies proving this is a winning format.  In contrast replica editions of these magazines which can be viewed digitally via a PC, tablet or mobile phone were purchased 396,000 times.

The publisher of NME, IPC Media, noted an 85% growth that year in those accessing its mobile website, with almost 40% of its target audience now reading only online. 

My magazine is aimed at young people aged 16 to 25, who are more likely to view my magazine online rather than buy a published version. 

To encourage young people to purchase the published version of my magazine I would include a double page poster of new and popular musicians.  To prevent copying of images online I would use a copyright and watermark.

However in order to challenge typical professional photographic work I would arrange for the posters to be 'selfies' as these are more personalised and rare, increasing their appeal. 

This would also reduce the cost of creating the magazine and enable me to charge less for my product. 

I chose to use the same font and colouring throughout my magazine.  This will help readers quickly identify my product on a shelf in a newsagents filled with colourful magazines.

Continuity was maintained throughout my magazine by the use of the colour scheme. I used a vibrant orange colour and a deep brown because they connote the Folk music genre well. They also match the colours of the main image on the front cover. From the brown outline edge of the guitar and the brighter orange inner colour.

The main artist has an image on each page.  Different images were used to provide a fresh new look on each page, as using the same picture repetitively would not have appealed to the reader.  

The front cover contains a masthead, feature stories, a plug, bar code, price,date and main image.

On my contents page I have included features such as feature stories, a letter from the editor and poster. The contents page highlights the features of the magazine, and page numbers were used to create ease for the reader who wants to get straight to the item they wish to view.