Q1 In what ways does your media product use develop

or challenge forms and conventions of real media

products?
The media product created is a music magazine of the rap genre.
During the research process, I learnt what was conventional of magazines, and specifically those of the rap or hip-
hop genre. I did this by analysing music magazines before beginning the design process.
With my own magazine, I used a range of conventions, as they are what attract the buyers, when they see what they
want to read more about.
In rap front covers, there are always mastheads. The masthead was an important convention as it helps to show the
magazines style; the name chosen was Beats as it connotes to music. This compares to VIBE magazine, where their
masthead is memorable due to the music connotations it has and also the typeface; the letter V is slightly italic,
making it stand out. Influencing my magazine's title, the masthead was chosen from the
audience survey where different mastheads were put towards a vote for the best one and BEATS won. Therefore, I
used this based on the audiences wants.
The use of colour is important for the masthead as well as it begins the theme for
the magazine. For example, if I had left the magazine title all white, it wouldnt have been as
memorable as it is with the gradient of the A so the blue and red helps it to be easily recognised and memorable,
inspired by VIBE and the italic V.
The placement of the masthead is also important as conventionally, it will be at the top of the page. It can also be
either behind the main image or in front of the main image. I conformed to this convention as the masthead is central
and towards the top of the page. Additionally, the masthead should be the largest text on the page and my magazine
conforms to this, making it eye-catching. Out of the following masthead placements, I chose to have the masthead
over the main image as it would be classed as a new magazine, therefore, not well known enough to be overlapped by
an image.
My Masthead Overlapped Masthead Masthead on Top
As well as a masthead, the front cover also included Additionally, my main image is conventional as I took the mise-
conventions such as a main image, cover lines, a puff, date, en scene into consideration with the photoshoot plan, before
price, issue and barcode and a banner. My cover lines were taking the photo. Therefore, the setting and clothing,
written in smaller text in comparison to the masthead as the especially, are conventional for the rap genre. This is evident
masthead is what should be read first so the use of smaller in most rap magazines where the clothing they wear is often
text means that the attention is not diverted from the main baggy and casual and they represent branded clothing. The
focus of the magazine. Respect magazine shows this clearly as he wears a King cap
which is branded, hence the name.
Another example is of the Rap Us
magazine where the cover model is in
baggy clothing, again branded by the rappers
own clothing line. This was then represented
These cover lines are placed around the main image so that through my own magazine as shown
they do not overlap it. For the cover lines, I took the here as the cover model wears
approach of putting in a background colour to the word the
EXCLUSIVE so that it stood out more as this too, is Ellesse
conventional. Evidence of this is from the Vibe magazine, brand, along with
where they alternate colours for the text of the cover lines, Adidas footwear.
as well as including the exclusive graphology as shown
below.
For my magazine, the puff has smaller line spacing than the cover lines. This
is typical as it makes it look like the text belongs together, rather than being
separate. Only a little bit of information was given away in the puff to make
sure the audience was intrigued and they still had something to look forward
to and to discover inside. This is conventional as shown by this edition of the
XXL magazine, where the puff is a yellow circle and includes tight line
spacing.
For my contents page, I
organised the contents into
themes, which is
conventional. For example, in
VIBE magazine, the themes
are displayed in this way:
Features and Fashion,
whereas mine are Monthly,
Discover and Exclusives so
it has a similar way of
organising the pages.
The categories help to make
it easy for the audience to
find what they want to read
about. In addition, next to
each page name, the page
number is displayed in a
different colour so it is more
visible. Again, this was taken
from the same contents page
as the page numbers here are
in bold so they stand out, as
theyre visually different to
the titles. This is an important
convention as it acts as a
guide for the reader and
allows for smooth and stress
free navigation throughout
the magazine.
I also followed the convention of
having the magazines letter in the
background of the page. The B in
the background was used for
identity as it reminds the audience
what magazine theyre reading
and creates a common
expectation in later issues,
therefore, making associations
and increasing recognisability.
Vibe alsoconvention
Another uses this technique,
was the colour scheme
shown by the image to the will
as commonly, the colours left.flow
throughout the pages of the magazine and they stick to a
small palette of colours to work with in creative ways.
Therefore, here, I continue the theme from the front cover
using the blacks, reds, blues and whites for text and main
background colours.
To improve my contents page, I would have wanted to make room for an editorial somewhere
but because of the layout I wanted, there wasnt the space for this. The idea for this layout
came from VIBE magazine as they often have a long shot of an artist alongside the contents.
Editorials arent conventional, however, but it helps to add a personal touch to the magazine so
the writer and audience can feel connected.
The double page spread of my music magazine is conventional as Following on from the layout, it helps to divide the page up
the layout of photos and text is in columns so it follows the rule so there is an equal ratio of text to pictures, which is
of thirds. This can also be seen apparent in rap magazines. An example of this is in the XXL
in rap magazines such magazine where an entire page of the double page spread
as those is dedicated to a photo whereas the other page is just text.
This divided ratio
below.
helped there not
be too many
pictures or too
much text so it is
an easy read,
rather than the
audience looking
at the page and
My double page spread is also ignoring it due to
conventional as shown above. This there being a high
is because a pull quote was used Also, Iofincluded
volume one the social media links convention
which is a very common as the
over it is other.
common for links to be provided for the
convention as the interviewed audience to keep up to date with the artists post
artists tend to appeal to the publication.
strugglers and so their Additionally, on my dps I included writing and
inspirational or motivational photography credits which you tend to see as it
quotes are made to stand out helps give the people the recognition they want.
against the rest of the text on the This is conventional as it is apparent in the above
page. For example, my pull quote picture,
Overall, where
aimedalong the spine,
to conform the credits in
to conventions andmy
stands out due to the black photo
product caption
as thisiswould
present.
help my magazine look more
background against the white text. realistic and professional.
I chose this because the
background of the page is grey,
rather than black, resulting in the
quote being a lot more noticeable.