1. AS Media Studies- Music Magazine Evaluation - By Jess Gordon
In what ways does your media produce use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
2. Masthead The masthead of my magazine has the generic top,
centre positioning. By positioning the masthead here, it allows the
audience to see and read it clearly and easily, which is vital as
this is a new magazine which I want people to become familiar with
and hopefully purchase each edition. The title dominates almost the
whole width of the total magazine, allowing definite identification
with the audience as they can see the entire name of the magazine.
It is a prominent convention as it is not covered by the image of
the featured artist, something which many of the well-known
magazine brands tend to do. The process of choosing the title of
the magazine was extremely hard and time consuming, however I
needed to prevent myself from over-complicating the name and
instead made it as simple as possible. 'Soul Nation', the word
'Soul' in it therefore there will be no confusion of the genre and
the reader will have expectations as to what should be included in
the magazine. I have followed the design of the masthead on the
right but have challenged this convention by ensuring that my
magazine masthead was following the classic monochrome colours of
black and white which supports the idea of it being a soul
magazine, personally I think that my masthead looks more
professional and definitely represents the genre of Soul well.
3. Tagline The tag line on my magazine is also simplistic and
effective, it gives a brief outline of what the music magazine
provides to the reader as a whole, avoiding confusion. On top of
this, the wording of the tag line itself is much more formal,
targeting my ideal market perfectly. I personally think that my tag
line is more approachable to Soul music lovers who I would imagine
would listen to to radio stations such as SmoothFM, unlike the
other magazine presented below which I do not believe will attract
the correct audience for this particular genre as it is very
informal. To add to this, the font styles are completely and
utterly different, following what I have previously said, the
formal approach from my font style is illustrated through the
elegant look, whereas the other font style is sharp ad edgy, and
could very much be described as funky- not the approach I would
take with my target audience.
4. Central Image The central image has the ability to catch the
reader's eye before they even have the opportunity to look at thee
printed text. The image uses direct address as the featured artist
is looking directly into the camera lens, something in which the
audience will definitely notice. The image on the left- hand side
does not us direct address, however it is a photograph of Stevie
Wonder, a famous musician who is actually blind. As well as this,
the photograph of Stevie is in fact a close up shot which really
captivates the audience's attention, unlike my photograph which is
a long shot. Supporting this, the expression of the model on the
left is one of enjoyment, this would also reel in readers, however
my model is quite moody, possibly making the audience feel as
though the magazine could be unapproachable.
5. Puffs There are no puffs on the front cover of the magazine,
however there is one on the contents page which promotes a
different element which is included on the double page spread- an
exclusive interview. On the front page of 'Clash' magazine, which
says Clash is monthly, this is obviously going to catch the
reader's attention however, I don't think it is an important piece
of information to put on a puff, unlike on top of my puff which
reads exclusive interview, I think this is definitely something
which will make the readers want to purchase the magazine. The
problematic thing with my magazine is that the puff is on the
contents page, meaning the audience won't see it until they
physically open up the page whereas the puff is on the front cover
on 'Clash' Magazine.
6. Puffs There are no puffs on the front cover of the magazine,
however there is one on the contents page which promotes a
different element which is included on the double page spread- an
exclusive interview. On the front page of 'Clash' magazine, which
says Clash is monthly, this is obviously going to catch the
reader's attention however, I don't think it is an important piece
of information to put on a puff, unlike on top of my puff which
reads exclusive interview, I think this is definitely something
which will make the readers want to purchase the magazine. The
problematic thing with my magazine is that the puff is on the
contents page, meaning the audience won't see it until they
physically open up the page whereas the puff is on the front cover
on 'Clash' Magazine.