Evaluation part 1

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

In my music magazine, I have decided to challenge some forms and conventions, whilst generally using the typical conventions of a magazine. Throughout the course I was able to identify many different conventions in the world of music magazines, but only one really appealed to me; Indie music was a music magazine that typically had very simple yet edgy styles, which, when I experimented with, made my magazine look much more effective. The main examples of this look are magazines made by 'NME'.  This type of magazine appealed to me the most as it was easy to understand yet eye-catching at the same time, which was extremely effective. I have used this type of style in my magazine so that it allows me to create a simple cover, which is still very effective and it creates quite a mystery, whilst not giving too much away about the chosen topic, so the reader must read on to solve this mystery. I have decided to put the title of my magazine (Zenith) on a black highlight to contrast against the white background. This is so my magazine title will stand out and I have used a fairly catchy name to make it memorable to the audience, so that it is easily referable to in the future. This is effective as it appeals to my target audience and gives a sense of relativity, and to make it more aesthetically pleasing towards my audience, instead of having a lot of clustered coverings and many colours which could potentially confuse some people.

I have decided to use a similar form in my magazine to that of an Indie magazine. This is because there are some very distinctive feature in Indie music magazine which appeal to both myself and the audience. For example, the use of a background highlighting the title allows the magazine to stand out from other magazines, and it also appeals to the audience as it is potentially going to be the first thing they see, compared to other magazines that may just have their magazine title on the background of their cover, which is much less appealing and can be easily forgettable. I have also chosen to have a simplistic design of my image, and then some coverlines, (a quote and his name), which relate to my image. This is so the audience knows what the main story is and it will also appeal to new readers who are a fan of the individual's work. The quote that I have used is an edgy quote which I have seen been done during my time researching. This has proven effective as the audience will want to know more about what the individual has to say and this will trigger a chain reaction, where the reader will hopefully enjoy the magazine and continue obtaining it. I have also used the idea of making my magazine free. This idea I had picked up from the music magazine 'NME'. This has proven effective as my audience is focused on young people who, may or may not, have disposable income to use to purchase luxuries,  such as music magazines. Making my magazine  free will not only be convenient for my audience, but for new readers, who may pick it up because it is free, and so they won't be wasting any money, if they do not like it. Similarly, if they do like it then they will continue to pick up the free copy. This will help make my magazine much more obtainable and much more diverse, in the sense that anyone can obtain it.