1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and

conventions of real media products?

\

The first magazine cover that I feel has certain similarities to mine is this media product from Vibe on

the right of mine. There are a number of conventions that both magazines follow such as the

masthead, cover lines and main image. Firstly, the masthead for both magazines is positioned

towards the top of the magazine right in the centre, taking up a fairly large space at the top of the

magazine cover. The fonts are very similar with the exception that the size of it for the Vibe magazine

is slightly bigger in a red colour with a slight gradient applied to it. In addition to this, both mastheads

are partly masked by the model’s head.

My magazine masthead is the one circled in orange with the red arrows diverging out from it. The

reason I have chosen all Vibe magazines to compare the masthead with is because this is the

magazine I gained the most inspiration from during the production of my magazine and I have

followed many of the same conventions in terms of layout and format as well. So it can be seen that

my magazine follows the same layout in this case with the similar font of the masthead and it being

partly covered by the artist’s head or in some Vibe editions it is the hat he/she is wearing. This shows

a sense of dominance and power as the artist is in front of the magazine name so they are superior

as hip hop artists. I have used this positioning of the main image over

Another similarity in the conventions of these two magazine covers is the use of a skyline, stretching

across the top of the page above the masthead. There are differences in the actual content of the

skyline however – mine is used to further market the product and encourage the target audience to

buy the magazine and mark it out as better than other hip hop magazines. The skyline for the Vibe

magazine is presenting their audience with a question that would spark some serious debate and

almost definitely make people want to read on which is a very successful technique. I have used the

same colour for my skyline whereas Vibe have used red and black to emphasise the significance of

the question about who is music’s number one genius, Kanye West or R.Kelly. My skyline is a

statement that in terms of the actual content of the magazine is of less importance in comparison with

that of the Vibe magazine and this is expressed through the use of punctuation in Vibe’s skyline

causing the audience to pause and absorb the information they are reading, getting them more

involved and interactive with the magazine as they have to decide which artist they prefer based on

their personal judgement.

The positioning of the cover lines is also a convention that these two magazines have in common.

Both media products have the majority of the cover lines located around the face of the artist with a

few lower down the page but on alternate sides. The font used for the Vibe magazine looks a lot more

sleek and neat as it is thinner and consists of a more common and professional colour scheme of red,

white, grey and black. My initial thoughts were that the cover line ‘Rick Ross’ was of a suitable size as

it was bigger than the other cover lines but once I compared it with the artist’s name on Vibe, Miguel, I

realised that in order for it to be noticed more, it needs to be bigger. So, although we have the same

Above is an example of a hip hop magazine

cover that possesses a very similar skyline to

the one on my magazine cover. Both skylines

are aiming to promote their magazines as being

the best in the country they are being distributed

in e.g. mine as the best hip hop magazine in the

UK and this magazine from King as being the

best hip hop magazine in Russia. The difference

between the two magazine skylines is that with

the darker background, my skyline stands out

more than this example. However, the

masthead King is very big and bold and

consumes most of the target audiences’ interest

and focus making them see that and the main

image first.

format and idea of layout, the connotation it gives off is a lot more different in comparison to mine.

Vibe is showing Miguel as an artist who is talking about sex, drugs and his genre of music R&B and

so have printed his name very large whereas I have stuck to a more consistent font size. So, the

convention of cover lines is similar in both magazine covers but there are certain di fferences that

would mark out the magazine and make it more appealing to their target audience.

H

Here there are three more conventions that these two magazines show however there is one that is

not common in both so there is a difference in this particular convention. Firstly, the use of a barcode

and price is present in on both covers which are two extremely common conventions of magazine

covers, let alone music and hip hop magazines. With my magazine I have put the price above the

barcode as separate text whereas the price has been physically printed on the barcode for Vibe. It is

more common for the price to put on the barcode but this task was not within my capability,

considering my experience in using Photoshop.

Another convention that is used in both magazines effectively is the main cover line but the mere

presence of it is the only similarity between them. The size to start with is a lot bolder and bigger on

my cover and I think the reason for this is because I wanted to promote this artist more so than you

would with a well-known artist already such as Kendrick Lamar which is why possibly why Vibe

haven’t gone quite so bold with the main cover line.

The last convention that is going to be discussed is only included on my

magazine. This is the issue number and can be seen at the bottom right

corner of my magazine cover. This convention is not as common as the

other ones mentioned but is still important as it informs the audience

It may be not so evident in this image

but the main cover line and pull quote

underneath it have had an extremely

subtle gradient applied to it on my

magazine cover. I believe this makes it

stand out more as it isn’t as bland and plain as a lot of cover lines on hip hop magazines nowadays. It also shows this new artist’s

emergence into the hip hop industry as they are coming from darkness into a bright future.

Another difference between my cover line and the one on the cover of Vibe magazine is that the

cover line ‘Kendrick Lamar’ is located on the left hand side near the artist’s face. My cover line

of ‘Ad.ios – restored faith in hip-hop’ is positioned right in the centre towards the bottom of the

page.

about what issue they are buying because the majority of people who buy magazines would want to

read them in chronological order, similar with reading a book series or watching a film series.

Again I have compared my contents page with a contents page taken from a Vibe magazine issue. .

This was chosen as there a number of similarities and differences with the conventions of these two

pages. Firstly, the name of the magazine is situated in the top corner but on alternate sides but it is a

similarity between the two and it distinctly lets the audience know what magazine they are reading.

Another convention that can be seen on both pages is the heading ‘features’ which is introducing

what it is included in the magazine. Although my heading is much bigger and bolder, which means

that it is more noticeable, it still serves the same purpose and is another common convention among

the two. However, upon close inspection I have seen a number of hip hop magazine contents pages

with the heading ‘features’ in small text, just bigger than the text stating the actual features which I

found rather bizarre and so I’m unable to explain why this is. I decided to take a different approach

and have the heading bolder and considerably larger than the text underneath which I believe looks

much neater and more organised as it distinctly separates the heading and features on the contents

page.

Another convention that has similarity between the Vibe magazine and mine is the positioning and

layout of the artist. Although Usher on Vibe magazine is facing towards the reader and the artist on

my contents page is looking off into the distance, the layout and positioning is fairly similar as both

artists have roughly a third of the left hand side of their body cut off from the page. This allows there

to be more space for features. The main reason I chose to position the artist there was purely down to

opinion as I feel it just looks better slightly cut off rather than having the artist’s full body on the page.

The features are also laid out similarly on both pages with the subheading bolder and the text under in

normal font. The only difference is that with Vibe they have used the same colour for all the text

whereas I have used white for the subheading and black for the actual features. This was decided to

present the page as professional and classy, reflecting the hip hop genre.

The main difference in conventions is the fact that the headline for my magazine page is printed

vertically rather than the typical layout of it being horizontal. I wanted to adopt a unique way to present

the headline ‘contents’ and I feel that I have achieved this. Vibe haven’t used a headline for their

contents page in this case but they normally have it presented in a different way and so I wanted to

also create a way of displaying my ‘contents’ which would make it a distinctive style for my magazine

and so the target audience would be able to recognise it.

Here are two examples of how Vibe contents pages with their distinctive and unique way of

presenting the word contents. I attempted to invent my own way of displaying ‘contents’ and this

would be one of the ways in which the audience would be to identify my magazine as U.T.I.

Here are two example which have some

similarities and some differences in

comparison with my double page spread, in

terms of conventions. Firstly, with the Rick

Ross magazine on the right, I was deeply

inspired by the clever use of flipping the

headline upside down in order to create a

reflection. I found this is very hip hop related

as a lot of artists and their music out there

are extremely reflective in their songs and

there is no exception with the artist Phase.

The main difference between the three is the positioning of my main image of the artist Phase. With

the other two double page spreads, the artist is on the left hand side of the article, this is more evident

on the Rick Ross article as there is a clear divide between the two pages. I have chosen to place the

main image right in the centre of the page in order to draw the target audience’s attention to that as

he is a new upcoming artist who no one has heard of. Also, it is Phase’s first moment in the spotlight

as he has been unknown and isolated to society up to this point so he deserves to be noticed more so

than these artists who essentially everyone is familiar with.

The layout of the text is also varied amongst the three articles with one being a single column of text,

the other in three separate columns and my one having three as well but around the image rather

than on one side like the one directly above with Eminem featured as the artist.

Also, I have included a pull quote in the middle of two columns whereas the Rick Ross double page

spread just have continuous text which I feel is discouraging and unappealing from the target

audience’s point of view. The Eminem article is an exception as it has the quote right at the start of

the article which gets the audience in the mood to read on as they would be enticed by what the artist

has said. In addition to this, there is also a pull quote located in the top right corner of my article,

slightly above his head. This again helps the audience to stay engaged with the article as they are

able to see what the artist is really saying and feeling.

My article and the Rick Ross article also has a headline under the main one informing the audience

on what the article is about which is seen in a number of music magazines including hip hop.

Finally, my double page spread also has pagination in the bottom corner of the page which allows the

reader to know what page they are on. Also, I have included the name of the magazine in the top

corner so that it further makes it more obvious what magazine it is that is including this article about

the new artist Phase.

Overall, my media product follows many of the conventions of the front cover, contents page and

double page spread but there are also many differences which I feel would help to make my

magazine seem original and different from others, giving it a USP which is important when appealing

to the target audience.