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

Front Cover

Before designing my product, I carried out an in-depth research into the music magazine industry. A main focus of my research was analysing music magazines design elements, and applying its design to my own media product. Above I have my final magazine design and example of Q and NME magazine, the image I have chosen to use meets typical codes and conventions of music magazines as I have complied to the 'rule of thirds' to meet my target audiences eyes and this is a reflection of Q and NME magazine. However my main image is of a gradient red colour which composed via layers in photoshop, when comparing this to the likes of Q and NME  I have deviated from typical conventions as both Q and NME have no filter on the design, and this is where my front cover differs. Having looked at NME and Q as my inspiration, I combined both text elements to feature on my design.  I liked the listing of cover lines on Q magazine and incorporated this onto my design, as well as making my main cover line emphasised through text sizing and a slightly transparent box. I noted that the issues of Q and NME Magazine I was mainly influenced by didn't feature a puff and plug element, but this was something I had wanted to include on my design as I felt this would reach a target audience quickly. By layering two polygon shapes onto one another, I was able to create a puff and plug which made a highly anticipated impact against my design  I have made an emphasis on my cover-lines by incorporating very slight transparent boxes, this brings out the textual element without their being a distraction from my image.

 

Contents-

For my contents page, I had  tried to mimic the conventions of Q magazine. I had looked at a number of contents designs and took on board the elements used to construct a meaningful contents. Having analysed the connotations of red within music magazines, I noted that it is commonly associated with a rock genre and this was something I had developed to challenge conventions by using red to convey an indie pop genre. I had really liked the layout of Mixmag, and I had took this design as a basic structure for my contents design but I have developed its layout to suit my genre of music. I have incorporated transparent boxes in my contents to reinforce a style idea that was reflected within my front cover, I also mimicked both Q and Mixmag's magazine box to the bottom right of my design but again made its transparency very slight so it worked with my other conventions.I feel as if I have challenged conventions found in contents designs, as I have added graphic elements such as the red lines and triangles to emphasise my design.

                  

Double Page Spread-

I found creating my double page spread the most challenging out of the three designs. The double page spread required a lot of research into existing products before applying elements of design to my final piece. Initially I found the Lady Gaga double page spread very useful and based my design around the same basic layout, however I intended to use a interview style article and this was something that the Lady Gaga piece didn't have. This meant I was changing the design element to fit my double page spread. When choosing an image for my double page, I had wanted the image to be black and white as this complimented my research. However after having placed the black and white image onto my design, I felt the piece didn't fit together because it was too monotone. I then decided carried an ongoing theme of a red gradient image  through onto my double page and this uplifted the overall look of the final design. Having done this I chose to in-keep my red lines and triangles on my double page as I believe this showed consistency throughout my design.