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

By Emily Joslin

I followed the convention of making my masthead stand out. I done so by adding a drop shadow to it, I also made it a neutral colour that could be used on every issue of the magazine, I based this on Absolute Magazine Brighton. I also added ‘kent’ and the magazine’s slogan underneath. ‘Kent’ is in red as the colour scheme for this issue is red, this is keeping in style with Absolute and the slogan white.

I followed the convention of using an attractive model and then airbrushing her. This is so the front page will appeal to the target audience of young women. This conforms to the ideology of Hegemony.I smoothed out my models skin to even out her skin tone and removed any blemishes she had. I also reduced her under eye circles. I also made sure my model was looking straight at the camera so there is direct mode of address (uses and grat).

I followed the house style of Absolute Brighton as it was the magazine that appealed to me the most. I followed their black and white style and the positioning of the cover lines and the bottom strip. I chose black and white as I wanted to challenge my self and I thought it would appeal to my target audience and grab their attention as it is not a usual convention. I positioned the text to the left, as it is in Absolute, as it fits well around my text and follows the convention of the magazine I am basing mine off of.

This is a bottom strip that gives the reader an idea of the content of the magazine. This is common on Absolute magazine.

I added these little shapes on to the page as they look like little snowflakes and I felt this added the fact that it’s a Christmas issue. I got this idea from Absolute magazine as they used similar shapes on the front of some of their Christmas issue’s.

I went against codes and conventions of Absolute magazine and placed my model in front of the magazine name as I felt this would make my magazine look more established.

I made sure the cover stories are interesting to fulfil peoples need of Surveillance (uses and grat). The sell lines are a form of Hermeneutic Code as they create a narrative enigma.

I followed the convention of having the contact details of the company on my magazine to appeal to the target audience. It gives the target audience the resources to find out more about the company by going in store or online. This links with the Surveillance component of Uses and Gratifications theory.

I followed the convention of the company/brand logo being big on the page to catch people’s eye. The sans serif font I used is more appealing to the eye and looks more modern which will make it appear to my young target audience of 17-30 year olds.

I followed the convention of my images being brightly lit so people focus on them more. It also helps the audience have the preferred reading that the rings are pretty and something they can afford to buy.

I tried to make the logo of my company look laid back and not too ‘high end’ as the target audience of my magazine are more middle/working class people rather than upper class.

1/2

I took inspiration from Kent Life Magazine for the top section of magazine as I felt I could incorporate into my contents page well. I also thought it would help readers remember the name of the magazine more.I kept the convention of putting my magazine website address underneath as well. However I went against the convention of putting the date and decided to put the Issue number instead as I thought this was more important information.

For the rest of my contents page I took inspiration from Time Out London magazine. I followed the convention of having a paragraph from the editor as it helps build a more personal relationship between the audience and the product.

I followed Time Out’s conventional layout of the Features and Regulars, I also made sure I used a sans serif font as it is easy to read and is more visually pleasing than a serif font.

I also kept the convention of having pictures from the articles as it helps break up the page making the whole thing more visually appealing. It also appeals to my target audience as they get a preview of the articles; this is a type of Proeretic Code.

I made the writing under Regulars red as this is the convention in Time Out, I also feel that it helps the writing stand out from the page.

2/2

On this half of my contents page I again followed the convention of having images to represent articles in my magazine to appeal to my target audience and give them a preview of what the rest of the magazine will be like.

I also stuck with the convention from Time Out of having the page number large and easily visible on or underneath the image as this makes it easier for the audience to find the article they want to read.

I decided to follow the convention of having my magazine’s social media links on the contents page as my target audience is females age 17-30 and they are in the age bracket that are most likely to be active on social media. It also shows that my magazine up to date and trendy.

I mostly used this billboard as inspiration for mine as I like the layout and style of it and thought it represented my magazine well. The first concept I used was the magazine being shown on different devices as I felt this looked professional and made my magazine look well established. It also makes my magazine look up to date and trendy as people can view it on different technology.

I also added the app logo buttons underneath but added a couple more than the original, this show’s the magazine’s diversity. It also makes my magazine look up to date and trendy as people can view it using different apps.

I then used the left side of the magazine as a template for what I wanted to write. I changed the positioning of the text as I wasn’t keen on the big gap.

I made sure my magazine’s website was on the billboard as well so people know where to go to view the magazine.

I followed the convention of having the masthead of my magazine on the homepage of my website.

I also followed the convention of having a page bar.

I followed the convention of having news stories on my home page as well.

I also added a mail subscription box.

I followed the convention of having a recent posts/latest articles list down the right hand side of my home page.

I also followed the convention of having my magazine’s social media links at the bottom of my pages. This appeals to young people as it shows that my magazine is up to date.

On my website I have a page just for stories. This is a common convention of magazine websites as it allows for more articles to be posted for readers to access.

I also added a competition to appeal to my target audience as they can win something free.

It is a common convention for magazine websites to have a ‘Contact Us’ page so I made sure I added one to my website.

It’s common for magazine websites to have a shop/store as this allows them to make more money as it allows a wider range of readers to access the magazine e.g foreign readers.