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

The typical conventions of most magazines front covers usually consist of simple presentational devices such as a continuous colour scheme, a main image, house style which is when the same style is used throughout the magazine similarly to the colour scheme, masthead usually located at the top of the page in a rather large and distinctive font, skylines, strap lines, a main cover line (and other cover lines). As well as presentational devices the typical magazine front cover will consist of certain linguistic devices such as alliteration, direct speech, colloquial or informal speech as it allows for a direct link to the audience; all of these effect the way the reader views the magazine.

The typical conventions of most magazine contents page usually consist of a title, features or articles, similarly to the front cover it will have cover lines ( usually the main cover line will be more distinctive and stand out more against the normal text ) page numbers, images and a again a colour scheme and house style.

The typical conventions of most magazine double page spreads usually consist of a headline, an article, image(s), stand first, pull quotes and again similarly to the front cover it will consist of various linguistic devices such as alliteration, direct speech and colloquial or informal speech.


I believe that the parts of my magazine followed certain conventions that I have stated previously such as, on my front cover I chose to have the masthead located at the top left hand side of the page, I chose to do this as it think that it stands out the most being at the top and due to the fact that the font I used was the largest and most distinctive font it made the main focal point apart from the picture. As well as drawing the reader’s attention it also allowed for more space lower down the page meaning that the image and cover lines were able to stand out as well as the masthead. I also followed the convention of having a main image; the main image drew attention to the magazine as it was very vibrant and colourful. Also the main image allows the models costume to be shown doing this may mean that the audience feels they have a stronger link/connection to the magazine as it may appeal to them more. However the front page didn't follow the house style and colour scheme of the rest of the magazine, the colour scheme I chose were simplistic using very little colours apart from different shades of red and black & white. Whereas my main front cover is very colourful which contrasts to the rest of the magazine. I also chose to follow the convention of having cover lines the use of this gave the reader insight into my magazine but also allowed me to use simplistic devices however I feel as if I could have used more linguistic devices but didn't, I think that if was able to use more then it may have made the magazine seem more realistic and more professional.

I think that throughout my contents page I followed certain conventions such as the colour scheme and house style as I stated before my front page didn't not follow this however both my contents page and DP spread did, I think this made the magazine seem more professional as it followed one main idea and also made for a good link between the pages. I also decided to use small images that didn't relate to the main article, this meant that the main article didn't seem to dominate the magazine and allowed for me to have a different variety of images; I also used small images as it made the other articles seem more realistic and therefore made the magazine seem more professional.

My double page spread used some conventions such as images that link to the main article, I followed this convention as I thought it was a good way of creating balance between the amounts of text I have. I also think that having the images created a good link between the images and the text making seem more emotional therefore effecting the reader more. Following the conventions of using a variety of linguistic techniques enabled the text to seem more professional and more appealing to the audience.

The advantages of using generic conventions was that it enabled me to have some sort of basis from which I could start my magazine as it enabled me to see how certain conventions where used throughout all the magazines. Another benefit would be that it made my magazine seem more professional and realistic although due to the fact my magazine genre is alternative rock (indie) I may have been able to challenge some conventions and get away with it as my genre is very niche and therefore challenging the conventions may have made my magazine more specialist and unique.

<!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->One convention I tried to follow/interpret from one of the magazines I had chosen to look at was the convention of only having one artist on the front cover. I think that only having one artist on the front cover makes the artist seem more important to the magazine and also allows the text on the page to stand out and makes for a good balance between text and imagery. Also following this convention may allow the audience to create a link between to two magazine making the artist been the only focal point on the page just not for the visual aspect but maybe more of a visual technique, which could be the idea that having one main image on the page is possibly indie/rock related creating some sort of visual connotation.