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

2. Title of the magazine
For my masthead I chose a title that would relate to the genre of the
magazine. I used the ‘Levi Brush’ as my font for the title ‘Indie
Kicks’. I wanted my title to show the rebellious side to the indie
rock genre. I had my masthead in black because I wanted my title to
be eye-catching and I felt it would be a classic colour associated
with the indie genre of my magazine. I feel my masthead reaches
the conventions you need to make a successful magazine. I feel I
share the rebellious styled masthead with ‘Kerrang!’ in the sense
our masthead’s aren’t as neat as other music magazines.
Comparing my masthead to other existing music magazines I feel
my masthead challenges the code and conventions. Most music
magazines have their masthead fitted into boxes to allow the title to
be more eye catching to the reader. As I wanted my magazine to
show a rebellious side I felt by allowing my title to not be boarded it
would challenge the code and conventions existing magazines stick
to. By challenging the code and conventions it allows my magazine
to show a unique side and therefore to look more exciting.

3. Layout
My layout throughout the magazine is conventional, as I
have analysed other existing magazines to help me create
professional looking layouts. I feel my front cover displays
the key ingredients to a music magazine by surrounding
the central image with cover lines and by keeping the
masthead at the top of the page. In addition I have
displayed a website address and the date of the issue was
released at the top of the page. My double page spread
shows the conventional terms a double spread page
features. I have spilt the page into half allowing the portion
of the image and the text to be equally spread out. To keep
the code and conventions I displayed the interview in
columns like a typical double page spread interview.

5. Contents page
When designing my contents page I followed the codes
and conventions of existing music magazines to help me
create a professional looking contents page. For
example I have featured an ‘Indie Kicks Review’ in the
bottom right corner which I got the inspiration from ‘Q
magazine’.
I created a neat basic layout which contains the
elements that follow the codes and conventions of
existing music magazines. However compared to other
existing contents page I only used one image which is
slightly unconventional. By having one large image on
the contents page it allowed me to push the boundaries
and challenge the code and conventions.

7. Written Content
My written content of my magazine uses
informal language which follows the code and
conventions of a real music magazine. By using
informal language it allows me to have a
friendly and chatty vibe allowing it to appeal to
my target audience. My double page spread
written content uses the key ingredients that an
existing magazine uses. For example I asked
what artists inspired her, how’s it feel it make it
this far, filming videos etc. All of the questions
I asked are the questions I came across when
researching double page spreads. My double
page spread written content has a chatty and
friendly vibe feel to it.

8. Images
My images I took follow the codes and
conventions of magazines. I took a series of
photographs in one location allowing me
to use different styled poses for each
photograph. I wanted to use one location
because I wanted to focus on the ‘Indie’
style poses instead of the background. The
location fit in well with the theme of my
magazine because it reflected the laid back
feel to Indie style. The images display the
artist as relaxed and friendly allowing the
audience to have a good feel towards the
artist. This was captured by the artist’s
direct mode of address as she is looking
directly at the camera.

10. Text font and style
I created the title ‘Caitlin Ingram’ by
downloading a font from Dafont.com and
manipulating it in Photoshop. My title is
conventional as most music magazine has
the artist/bands name positioned across
the central image. I positioned the text
straight across the image because I wanted
to follow the key ingredients of a Music
Magazine. I followed the code and
conventions as I made the title in a large
font making it bold and appealing to the
audience. In addition to this the title is
simple and bold which reflects the Indie
theme.

11. Music Genre
My genre of my music magazine was Indie
rock/pop. I made the genre clear
throughout my front cover, contents and
double page spread. An example of this
would be the colour scheme on the front
cover. I used the colours purple, white and
black to represent the chilled and relaxed
atmosphere. The images I used
emphasized the Indie genre of the
magazine. Existing music magazines
reveal their genre through their images
and colour scheme. Therefore my
magazine has used the codes and
conventions.