EVALUATION QUESTION ONE

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

products?

Front Cover Masthead I used the convention of having a large easily noticeable masthead. The masthead is up against a bright blue sky with the text being white this helps it stand out more also following the colour scheme of the rest of the front cover. As you can tell this follows the convention of all other existing magazines of where the masthead contrasts the background in order to stand out more as well as being bold and white. To make the masthead stand out more the Font I used was Sitka Heading, this used all uppercase letters making the masthead even more eye catching again following the conventions of the other magazines.

Front Cover Colour Scheme

The majority of colour schemes have white text as this contrasts the background image with 2 other colours to contrast the overall colour scheme. However my magazine slightly contrasts these conventions as the majority of my text is in black, with one other contrasting colour which is just a lighter blue. I have done this as It makes my magazine different from the others and I feel this suited my magazine better as if I used the white font I feel my text wouldn’t be as legible and therefore not be as appealing to the target audience.

Front Cover Sell Lines A main convention

within regional magazines was the use of bold numbers which related to the sell line, this would engage the audience with the magazine enticing them to read more about the article. Another convention I followed was that of competitions, I followed this as the incentive to win something will entice the audience to buy the magazine, so I saw this as a good and useful convention to follow.

Front Cover Barcodes

Every magazine I have researched has used the convention of a bar code with a price to state how much the magazine costs. This convention therefore seemed to be necessary in my magazine, as it allows the readers to quickly see how much the magazine costs, With mine being much cheaper than the others this should encourage readers to buy my magazine rather than the others as it is much more affordable.

Front Cover Image My front cover

Existing regional magazines front covers

With my image I have followed a convention of using a recognisable scenic photo on my front cover (white cliffs of Dover), this provides the readers to relate and recognise a landmark giving a direct address to the target audience. Furthermore with my image being of a landscape and not people, like existing regional magazine front covers it allows me to follow the convention of having plenty of sell lines which could appeal to a wider audience with plenty of stories to encourage them to buy the magazine.

Contents Page Images I followed the convention of using images on my contents page which relate to certain articles within my magazine. This helps the readers know more about the articles within the magazine, as well as being able to navigate their way through the magazine as the images have a page number. The common convention of images on a contents page is also very useful as it makes it more appealing to look at and can engage the reader in the magazine much easier than words.

Contents Page numbers

Using the convention of having numbers on my images allows the audience to navigate their way through the magazine to find the specific articles that they want to read much easier. This would aid the audience with navigation and entice them to buy the magazine as it is easily accessible,

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Contents page Editors Information

Having an editors information column is very useful as well as a common convention. This allows the people who contributed to the magazines to be recognised and seen in a more professional manor. With some readers looking specifically for a certain writer as they may like what they write.so with Most magazines such as kent life having established writers entices people to read more.

Contents Page Layout/Text/Font

As you can see the subtitles use bolder slightly larger fonts compared to the smaller more italic article headings. This is to separate the articles into categories for easy navigation this is following the common convention of san serif to make it well organised and practical. Having certain categories would support hall’s reception theory of having a preferred reading for example a sports fan would turn straight to the sports category section.

Contents Page Colour Scheme

Following the convention of having a white background allowed all the images and black text to contrast each other which meant they both could stand out easily drawing the audience in to read the magazine. However one conventions I didn’t follow was that of adding another colour, most other contents pages used black the and white background with another colour for certain pieces of text. However I decided not to add another as I wanted to keep it plain and simple and have the colourful pictures stand out more.

I have used short sentences in my text, this isn’t a common convention as there is normally not much text or lots of information. I feel having short sentences allows the reader to have a brief idea of what the watch is like without having to read too much or not have enough information about the watch.

A convention I haven’t followed is having a sell line, I decided not to use one as I feel it wouldn’t have gone with the layout of the magazine and I feel having a masthead, contact information and information about the watch was more than enough so a sell line wasn’t necessary.

The overall image of the watch is placed in a conventional position, in the middle of the page and has also been enlarged in order to stand out and catch the readers attention.

I have also created a large bold masthead of what the brand of what the product is, this is a common convention in a lot of magazine adverts because so people wish to buy a watch they should remember this brand and consider buying the product (good brand recognition).I have followed the

convention of having the brands logo and their website and contact information available, this will help brand recognition and provides the readers with a point of contact or a way to the website if they are interested to find out more

Fowler suggested that audiences have a preconception of what the magazine will contain and expect due to the genre therefore my advert supports this theory as my magazines aimed at males (and females) and middle aged people who would be interested in watches therefore would appeal to them.

Advert Evaluation

Billboard Evaluation A major convention I used was the use of a magazine on my billboard to show the audience how they can access my magazine in different media forms (i.e. by the phone in a digital form or on an actually paper magazine)

The magazines website and social media platforms can be found on my billboard, I used this convention as it allows the audience to gain information about the magazine and how to find out more information about what south east Kent magazine has to offer

With the title of my magazine being in white, large and all upper case against a black background it allows my billboard to be more eye-catching for the audience driving or walking past the convention of having a plain and simple billboard is it gets straight to the point and people can easily gain info about the magazine

I used the convention of Having the slogan ‘your magazine’ as it intrigues the reader as to why its their magazine and create a personal idea that the magazine is made for them encouraging them to buy the magazine

Having a red line in the corner of my billboard isn’t very conventional however I have decided to use it because If people have previously seen or read one my magazines they will know that the billboard is for my magazine without looking at the title as the line across the corner can be very eye-catching and is across all of my magazines this helps me establish my magazines brand and make it recognisable

Website Evaluation

Having a masthead at the top was a common convention in almost all magazine websites I've researched, as it provides a greater brand recognition which the target audience can easily recognise as well as it standing out in white against the background image to make it easily noticeable.

I used the common convention of having an image on the front home page as this makes the website look more aesthetically appealing to the audience, as well as showing the audience what kind of photography they are going to be looking at.

I also used the common convention of having the links to social media. This is because it would boost the profile of my magazine the more people liked or followed my accounts and therefore widen my audience supporting the reception theory of readers response

Having articles on my home page is another common convention used by magazines, uses and gratifications theory can be used here as the audience are gaining information for the home page articles which they can read up on.

Website Evaluation I Added a contact us page because I found from my research that it was a common convention to have on a website as well as being a practical one. This page allows people to contact any member from my magazine and ask any question, find where our offices are or talk to us about a new news article e.t.c. I achieved this by following conventions of having names and numbers to call, a map of where our offices are located and a quick and easy way to email about any enquiries.