In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (1/7)

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

I believe that the front cover of my music magazine conforms to many conventions of magazines as it consists of similar features such as the masthead, slogan, issue number, price and sell lines. However, I have developed some of these conventions by having the price of the magazine not only in GBP but also in Dollars and Euros. This gives my magazine a more universal appeal, meaning that it ill attract urban fans all over the world. Furthermore, some magazines have other images on the front cover to support the different sell lines however I to deter from this convention and only used one main image on the front cover to support the main sell line. In addition, my magazine does not have several sell lines on the cover, but just three sell lines that are described below the sell line itself. I believe that this would show readers that my magazine is detailed and gives few exclusive pieces of information rather than several stories that are not as exciting for the audience to read. I decided to do this as my magazine is monthly, meaning that it is more stylish and formal than other magazines and audiences would expect to get more detailed, informative articles about the artists' careers.

Before creating my contents page, I researched other contents pages of existing magazines in order to understand how to lay it out. My magazine conforms the convention of having separate sections of the contents page by partitioning the regular features from the main 'exclusive' article and other features in the magazine. I have developed this convention by adding small buttons next to the cover stories in order for audiences to be able to identify these easily. It could be argued that my magazine challenges some of the forms of a music magazine contents page as it does not have a 'band index', however I decided against putting this onto the contents page as Urban musicians are usually solo artists or groups and are never referred to as bands. Also, the band index is more a convention of pop or rock magazines rather than Urban and R&B music magazines.

The first of my double page spreads is a full bleed image of my model, Jade that covers both pages with an introduction to explain what the article that follows will be about. This is not conventional of all music magazines ad the introduction is usually written on the same page as the article, however I believe that having it on a separate page means that the readers are able to know more about the artist before they start reading the article. Also, the fact that the article is about Jade's entry into the Urban industry is reflected by this page as the readers are slowly introduced to her themselves as the article progresses.

The second of my double page spreads is  where the article actually begins. The pages are split into three columns per page therefore the layout uses the conventions of a magazine article. Furthermore, the images I have used have been text wrapped in order to ensure that the text fits around them. I also have pull quotes that are easily recognizable however they do not use quotation marks, but can be easily seen due to the larger font size and the lines above and below. In addition my magazine does not have several photographs placed throughout the article, but a few on the far right column without captions. I believe this gives the article a more stylish and professional look which justifies the higher price and reflects the fact that it is a monthly magazine.

Lastly, the final page of my magazine still conforms to the conventions of a music magazine by having the text in three columns and the pull quotes in a larger font, however it also develops the conventions of having extra information by including a review by the magazine of the artist's live performances and her album. This feature makes the reader feel like they are getting extra information that they would not have found in other magazine articles that have been written about Jade, adding to the exclusive feel of the magazine. Moreover, the page on the right has a full bleed image of Jade covering the page, with three boxes at the bottom. In these boxes are reviews that Jade has written about other Urban artists, which challenges the forms of a music magazine as it is not expected in all articles. This other extra information conforms to the Uses and Gratifications Theory as it makes readers feel as if they can relate to Jade by gaining her own personal opinion, making them feel as if they have a connection with her which has allowed the artist to open up to them, revealing even more exclusive information, which pleases the readers as the article is labeled as 'Exclusive'.