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

2. My magazine uses the forms and conventions of real media products such as The Fader and
Dazed and Confused. Both of these media products have a very simple layout with just the
masthead, image and little text on the cover. This is because the image alone engages the
audience into buying the magazine as eye contact is used in the facial shot. Although the
artists name isn‟t on the cover, my target audience should be able to relate to the artist
without reading any information or details. I think this makes my magazine look neat and
professional and straight to the point; the reader doesn‟t need the extra information to be
attracted to the magazine. From the draft to the final magazine I changed the name of the
magazine from „PURE‟ to „LABEL‟, this is because I didn‟t think the word „PURE‟ sounded
like a music magazine. Also because it has only 4 letters it wasn‟t long enough to have a
fixed width across the page. I therefore chose LABEL because it suited a strong font of Arial
Bold and because the word label is „an item that is used to identify something or someone‟;
my magazine is constantly identifying and labelling new unique artists. Originally I had
challenged the conventions of a „handcraft‟ style by arranging the masthead „PURE‟ as
scattered letters. I also placed scrabble letters on the cover and the double page spread but
as the text on the cover, contents and double page spread pages are well structured I didn‟t
think this would fit in with the theme so I decided not to have the artists name on the cover
and to just use the image of her to grab the audiences interest instead. I also thought that
my artist would want to be represented in a clean and elegant way and by choosing this
certain layout instead of the handcraft, messy look it sets a good impression of the artist
herself. I feel that I have challenged the conventions of other media products because most
other music magazines such as NME and Q seem to be quite busy with the colours, images
and text which stand out, where as I have gone for a very orderly layout. This is something
you wouldn‟t expect from a music magazine but I think that it works quite well and achieves
its aim of engaging my target audience.

4. The neutral colours have also been
appropriately used to go well with the
cover image because if a brighter
background was used it wouldn‟t fit it
with the indie-pop/folk genre. Artists
that use this neutral colour theme is
Birdy and Lykke Li. I stuck to the
colour theme of black, white and a
washed out blue so that it looked basic
but eye-catching and also because
other magazines such as Dazed and
Confused used three simple neutral
colours. Also on most contents pages
that I had looked at not a lot of colour
had been used and this is the main
reason why I kept mine basic by using
the two colours of black and white.
Even though these colours sound
conservative they make the page look
smart and elegant and go with the
structured theme. The double page
spread colours match the cover colours
which show that there is a running
theme through my magazine.

5. I have placed the magazine‟s website on
the bottom of each page so that it used
the forms of other magazines; it also
makes the reader aware that there is a
website that they can read through as
well as the magazine. There is quite a lot
of information on the contents page that
not only tells the reader exactly what is
on the other pages of the magazine, but
it also gives them an insight to each page
in detail, “Their album took 3 years to
make, but what else did we expect from a
band with such a clear vision of how they
want to sound?” On the double page
spread there are also details about the
image and the names of the designers
etc. I think these details on the bottom of
the page makes the page look
professional as it gives the reader an
insight to how the artist has been
dressed for the shoot.

6. With the costumes, style and iconography I ensured that my
artists wore exactly what I researched into. I wanted her to look
innocent but quirky to fit with the genre of indie-pop. This is why I
put in her air max trainers and a floaty white dress, however on
the images I had chose in the end the shoes are not to be seen but I
still feel like her dress goes with the neutral magazine colours.
Furthermore when taking my pictures I made sure my model used
quite natural poses and not too forced unlike other magazines
because I thought this would make my magazine look quite subtle
and not to overpowering. It also goes with the colours and my
colours are not too strong and overpowering either. Taking the
pictures was the hardest part of using convections of other media
products but was the most important part, as the pictures are the
main attraction for my audience. I had to ensure that they looked
professional, which meant the shots had to be accurate and
thought deeply about. I achieved this by using other pictures as my
inspiration as these had a similar representations as the way I
wanted to represent my artist. I thought Lykke Li had been
represented quite innocently in her pictures and this is why I have
done the same for my artists, Lucy. I wanted the cover image alone
to grab the audiences attention, and this is exactly what it has
done in my opinion. I also think the images that I took would help
the audience relate to them because of the simple way they have
been represented.