Evaluation Question 1

Q1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Throughout the creation of my product, I did research on conventions of hip hop magazines. For example, I looked at the layout and what content was on a contents page. However, as it didn’t look like a mainstream music magazine it was suggested I didn’t conform to this convention. Instead it was recommended I challenge the convention of a hip hop magazine and make the magazine more mainstream. Below are examples of contents pages. The left image is of a hip hop magazine, and the right is from a more mainstream magazine.

By trying to make my magazine look more mainstream, it would make it appealing to a wider audience, but could also alienate the audience who don’t want the magazine to be mainstream.

Also, I conformed to the conventions of real media products in terms of content. The main feature of my magazine is featured on the front cover, the contents page, and the double page spread is an interview with him. By doing this is gives continuity throughout the magazine and clearly shows who the main focus of the issue is.

Furthermore, I conformed to the conventions of a music magazine in terms of layout of the front cover. I didn’t put too much writing on so it didn’t look cluttered, but I did include the magazines features. I used the aforementioned image of my feature of the magazine, to clearly show he was the focus of this particular issue. I also used typical magazine features such as a barcode and QR code (so it can be accessed via mobile devices, which is beneficial in the technological age), the issue number, price and of course the magazine title in a large font as to make the title recognisable.