Evaluation Question 1

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

conventions of real media products? ‘

Masthead

Kicker

Cover LineGraphic Feature

Tagline

Feature Article Photo

Anchorage

Menu StripBar Code

Date Line

Headline

Web Link

Graphic Feature

Graphic Feature

On the front cover I have tried to achieve a relaxed, professional looking, yet striking design by using a balance of colours that represent both the digital edge and the nature of electronic music, and the natural world in autumn which is what the main article in this magazine is about. The genre of the magazine is ‘Indie Electronic’ and this can encompass a large variety of sub genres, some of them more relaxed like the music being referenced in the article, and some more aggressive sounding hence the use of some more aggressive artist names being created in the kickers and on the contents page.

The digitization of the background is used to represent the harmony between natural sounds and non-natural electronic ones, a vital element of the theme overall and the subject matter in the article.

Also on the front cover I have placed the headline in the middle 3rd section to show it’s significance and importance. The right 3rd is often occupied by a flash or running list because when it is stacked on a shelf with all of the other magazines in front of it going right to left , only the right 3rd is shown. However, this magazine is designed to work in digital and in print meaning that it would look strange in a digital format with this type of flash.

The front cover has graphic features such as the orange trees that indicate the issue season and link in with the article and main theme of the magazine, and the ‘+’ sign to draw the viewer away from the primary viewing position at the headline and continue reading. The list contains some of the artists featured in the magazine, particularly important due to the fact that with it being an Indie Electronic magazine, some of the artists will be quite obscure and people will be looking out for those more obscure artists.

On the contents page I have featured the main article at the top giving a small amount of information, and a small section talking about possible savings and deals when subscribing online as well as a QR code to take you there. Because this magazine is designed to be used digitally as well as in print, when viewing the digital versions the idea is it would be set up so that you can click or tap links to take you to the correct site. This would be used on all things applicable such as the sound cloud link in the article and the social media buttons on the front cover.

In order to reinforce the electronic nature of the genres featured in the magazine, the headers on the various sections on the contents page have been done in a digital clock style font and all of the colours are consistent throughout. One thing I’d like to point out is that the magazine would take a very similar layout every time but change the colour scheme, so instead of the grey – blue and orange colour palette used here, in the summer for example more bright blues could be used, or if the featured artist has much more digital and harsh sounding electronic music, the colour scheme would change to match that much like what MixMag does.

On the double page spread, the imagery is kept very calm and not too aggressive to back up the text in the piece. Most of the images also relate directly to the words said in the piece for example, the house in the image is referenced in the piece as the home and studio of the artist. A very bold font was chosen as the title of the double page spread with a play on words in order for the reader to understand the light hearted nature of the article and the reporter. This sort of font and play on words would not be used on an article talking about an aggressive protest band for example.

Overall, I think my magazine challenges conventions related to being focussed on digital as well as print as there are very few magazines doing this. Most of them are focussed on print first and merely export the file as a .pdf static image for download which is nowhere near as much flexibility and interactivity as you can get out of the digital format.