Final Evaluation Question 1

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

My magazine masthead 'Hipnotised' I feel is original as it is a play on words. This is because I have used an 'i' instead of a 'y' when spelling it. The reason I took this decision is because my magazine is based on Hip Hop and Rnb and not just RnB. I chose this as my brand name as it is not too long to remember or say and I thought that it will be recognisable and as it contains the word 'Hip' from Hip Hop. Also another reason why I chose this name is because I feel that people might be 'hypnotised' into the content of the magazine.

The font I used is 'Elkwood' which I downloaded from the website DaFont.com. I felt that this font was relevant for my magazine as it is loud, bold and stands out from the rest of the magazine. I want it to come across as a magazine which people can compare to others and enjoy when reading. As I set the price to £3.99, I wanted it to be more of a premium magazine which is a type of luxury for people to have. They can catch up with the latest music related news. I wanted to keep my magazine simple and clean as it gives it a more premium look and feel, and I didn't want it to be complicated and 'flooded' with information on the cover or contents. This is because the reader might be overwhelmed with all the information on the cover and lose interest due of this. It is clean crisp and easy to read, this is because the font is big and clear so that it catches the eye of the reader. I feel that my magazine title is similar to the ones one the market such as 'NME' & 'THEFADER' & 'LOUD AND QUIET', as it is bold and stand out.

I used the same font for the cover line which featured the main artist who where going be in the magazine, this was aligned along the top of the masthead. I made sure that it was visible but also made sure that it didn’t detract from the masthead, this is because after customers have looked at the cover they might be curious to what is in the magazine. I used the colour white which is the same as the masthead this is so that it gives a clean look, and so it doesn't take away any attention from the Masthead. By doing this the masthead would stand out from the rest of the magazine, and will be easily identifiable against other magazines on the market. For the main cover line I used the same font 'Elkwood' this is so that there would be consistency throughout the magazine. I used the same colour (white) so that it also gives it a clean and simplistic look. I kept the cover line quite short as it just says 'Dev the Producer' which was quite important because it was the main story/interview which will be featured in the magazine and therefore it should stand out because he in on the cover. The white colour of the main cover line is powerful and stands out like the masthead because the artist is also the main part of the magazine. I used a black font for the price, date and issue number in the bottom left hand corner. I think that my magazine is quite unique as it isn't the 'standard' size of a magazine. For example most magazines which you find in the shops are the same size roughly A4 size. My magazine is 23cm wide and 27.5cm high, this ratio follows 'THE FADER' magazine as it used the ratio as well, and it isn't the typical size you would find for a magazine in a shop. The reason why I used this ratio for my magazine is because I think that it adds to the experience as it is wider than normal. I think that this adds to the premium feels and suits the price as there isn't a magazine in the UK that appeals to the premium market for this kind of music genre. With the barcode I made it simple, as i like the way 'FADER' presented their barcode, I measured one of their magazine barcode which was 3cm x 3.5cm, I used this style of barcode with the same measurements because I think that it suits magazine as it is a similar size to the 'FADER' magazine. I used font 'Calibri light' on the text above the barcode because it is a minimal font that suits the approach to my magazine. It doesn't detract any attention from the main image or the masthead either.

I wanted to go for a simple but effective overall appearance for my magazine and so the colour ‘white’ gave me a simple yet “pure” look to my magazine. As there where no bright colours which detract from the main image, or lots of text which the reader could get lost in. I chose the white backgrounds through my magazine it allowed the important information like artist names, article titles, and sections of news to highlight themselves. In my contents I chose the size of my fonts depending upon the importance of the information. So I broke the new and other information into sections. By doing this I am able to order and break things down so that it would be easier for the reader to digest rather than reading a massive list of information.  I decided to keep my magazine very simple and basic like other magazines in the market ‘Loud and quiet’ &‘THE FADER’ & ‘Vice’, ensuring that there is not too much on the page. With my contents page I challenged current music magazines by keeping a flat design instead on making it more 3D, for example 'V' magazine has focused their contents page more on the artist by making the whole contents page the image and then placing all of the information around the artist, and also making the font smaller so this results in more attention focused on the picture then the actual information the contents provides. I wanted to keep my contents page simple and by using the monotone colours and the filter on the pictures, this is because I didn't want a central piece for the contents page. I feel that this would detract from the whole content and therefore it defeats the objective of a contents page. This is why I included more than one image on the contents page to break up the text from the picture and so that it has a clean setup. By making 'Dev the Producer' a little bit bigger on the contents page I was able to emphasis that he is a big deal as he is on the cover, also because we have an interview with him. Whereas the other images are hinting what he magazine will be about, which the reader will understand as the have page numbers at the bottom of the pictures. I think that this fits my audience as they like simple things because it is more premium then the standard magazine.

I developed forms of a real media product as some music magazines like 'THE FADER' & 'CLASH' & 'DAZED AND CONFUSED' have simple layouts. But I wanted to take this further and create a central piece which could catch the readers attention immediately. I did this by moving text away from the main image, any text which wasn't related to the cover artist I would have to move it. Magazines such as the 'FADER' have a cover image which takes up the whole front, it has the type of issue next to the tittle and also the issue number below the title. I thought that this was not simple enough as the text is quite big. So with my magazine I put the date and issue number above the barcode which was aligned on the left hand side. Also some magazine include artist which will be featured in the magazine, as a cover line/s, I developed this as well by moving it to the top of the magazine above the title so that it wasn't next to the cover artist face or the main cover line. I didn't want to change the colour of it as it would detract attention from the main image which is the focus of my magazine. When I initially did the second photo shoot I knew what I had in mind, as I have learnt from the first photo shoot, I wanted to make my music artist different so when people look at the cover of the magazine it will immediate be catch their eye and draw them in as it is unusual cover photo to have on magazine. I think that this is an effective way of presenting artist as it draws the reader in and make then think. When we were doing the photo shoot I had the artist pull different expression and I also took some natural shots when Dev wasn't looking this is so that he didn't have to try as hard because smites it is hard to get the right photo when telling the model what to do. But there was something about the unexpected unusualness of this photo which I took, that I really liked and drew me in. Also because most Hip-Hop magazines are similar as they have the artist look intimidating or striking a pose, and they all have to artist with neutral faces, sometimes this can get boring, but by having a cover photo like this is immediately draws attention to itself as it isn’t ‘normal’. I feel like my model fits the magazine age range, and target audience well, as he doesn’t seem out of place and suits the role well as I am producing a Hip-Hop magazine. The genre is clear throughout my magazine as it is presented through the cover, contents and double page spread. I feel like the simple monotone layouts like ‘THE FADER’ suit this type of magazine as it is more ‘premium’ and sets itself apart from the rest of the magazines on the market in this genre.