Media Evaluation-Forms And Conventions

Qu 1. In what ways does your media product use,develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Media conventions refer practises which have become acceptable and commonplace over time. In the magazine industry it refers to how a magazine is laid out and presented according to its genre and audience. For example the masthead is nearly always placed on the top left corner. The reason for this is because, in our culture, we read left to right. Our eyes are initially attracted to the left side of the page normally, so we read the masthead, the magazine's title, first. The convention follows through the magazine for example, the double-page spread is also read from left to right in a Z shape. All mainstream magazine publishers follow these conventions to because they want potential readers to instantly recognise their magazine for what it is and therefore encourage them to buy it.

The majority of people don't like too much change or uncertainty when it comes to enjoying media texts, so magazines follow genre conventions to aid identification by the audience. It would not be a good idea for a media text, such as a magazine, to be identical to another, they all must have a unique selling point, a USP, however they must also follow certain codes and conventions too.

Some magazines, particularly art-themed ones tend to disrupt conventions in an effort to stand apart from mainstream ones in order to attract niche audiences who equally like to stand out from the crowd and be a bit more edgy and unpredictable. Alternative culture is becoming so popular among youths that ideas and styles which were once considered unconventional are becoming the norm. This means that there is a growing demand for a hybrid edgy-mainstream magazine for young audiences who want something different but with enough familiar conventions that they can recognise its form.  

With FM I wanted to be conventional but not too conventional. My target audience likes to be different but doesn't like a lot of change so I tried to keep the standard layout for a magazine but made the cover image, text and body type different. I was heavily influenced by Wonderland magazine which manages to look like a magazine whilst adopting non-conventional elements. I was seeking to appeal to a similar demographic as Wonderland readers, only younger. 

Throughout my magazine I chose a traditional colour scheme of red, black and white. Through these colours I wanted to connote a traditional design but the red I chose is red/pink which also conveys a slightly feminine style which reflects my target audience. Whilst the colour scheme is traditional, like Rolling Stone magazine, it is also contemporary because of the minimalist layout. I chose a bold,strong font 'Segoe UI' which I think allows the text to stand out. I wanted the font to reach out to the audience in a similar way as the text on the cover of Wonderland. 

The genre of my magazine is a hybrid of fashion and music. This combination is increasingly popular as magazines have to offer their readers a lot these days to attract them. I wanted to hit the chart followers but also fans of underground bands.

I took influences from Wonderland and the Rolling Stones magazines.



With these two magazines the focus of the cover is the main image. Both wrap the cover lines around the singular image which also inspired my production. Although these magazines don't promise freebies or competitions to help their market strategy I thought I would consider having freebies as a loyalty to the audience, encouraging them to choose mine over other similar publications on the selves.

A magazine whose form and style appealed to my plans is GQ. The layout of the magazine is very similar to what I wanted to achieve with FM. GQ is also an acronym, two-letter named magazine with the masthead being displayed in the top left hand corner.


I have demonstrated how I have followed magazine conventions when designing my pages on Flickr. Click on the links below to read my analysis.

FM Cover: http://www.flickr.com/photos/87603535@N06/8471282518/
FM Contents: http://www.flickr.com/photos/87603535@N06/8471285092/
FM Double-Page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/87603535@N06/8470189397/