Q1. In what ways does

your media product use,

develop or challenge

forms and conventions of

real media products?

I have created a Pop magazine called ‘POW’ which is primarily aimed at younger female

adults aged between 16 and 21 years who have an interest in Solo female Pop artists,

Usually between the social grades of b and c1. (Middle class and lower middle class). The

name ‘POW’ was inspired by the stimulus of my magazine, which was girl power, so using

POW, as my masthead would imply the word ‘power’ in short. I also chose to name my

magazine ‘POW’ because it is a good representation of the conventions and codes of the

pop genre. Using a crown on my front cover helped to show the idea of girl power making it

clear to my target audience about my genre.

My magazine; “POW’ uses various difference conventions and graphic features that one

would be able to find in a real music magazine.

My front cover features conventions such as; Barcode and the website.

The barcode portrays the potential for sales and shows the customer the price of the

magazine, however I chose to be different and use the different convention of putting the

price in the barcode and chose to display the price of the magazine on top of my masthead;

‘POW’. I did this because I felt the price would look more visible to the customer in a larger

font by the title of the magazine, instead of in a tiny font in the barcode where it cannot

easily be read.

The customer would be able to find the website for my magazine in the barcode. The

barcode is required in order to allow the magazine to be scanned at the counter when

purchasing the product. I used a colour scheme of black, white, pink, and a bit of purple;

which conveys girly but sophisticated and mature colours and could potentially suggest

that POW has a sophisticated and mature tone and feel to it which could make the target

audience feel more grown up instead of using just bright colours like pink, yellow and green

which would make them feel younger. I also used these colours as they stand out very well

against each other for example my masthead ‘POW’ is bright pink, which contrasts very well

with the black faded background, which will attract the audience and make my magazine

stand out and look different against other music magazines.

I also used ‘crazysexycool’ as my main cover line as it also stands out as I have

used black, white and pink which helps attract customers to buy my magazine as it

allows the colours to bounce off each other as they contrast against each other

catching the customers eye. At the bottom of my front cover I have used a

strapline talking about the newest upcoming artists, this could also improve the

potential sales for my magazine, as my target audience who are 16-21 year olds

could be interested to find out who the newest artists are.

Contents page

I wanted to carry out my colour theme of pink onto my

contents page because it’s creating a house style and

cohesion throughout all of my work. On my contents

page, I had the page numbers on display, which are

paired with the picture of the artist who features on that

specific page. This allows the reader to recognize

specific artists and the page numbers that they feature on

without scanning through the rest of the contents page in

detail. I also carried on the significant use of the bold

pink, which will become a noteworthy colour throughout

my magazine. I used a pink faded box behind my text on

the contents page and 2 other pink boxes to carry on the

representation; likewise on my front cover the masthead

is bright pink as well as the word sexy.

I also kept the crown throughout my 3 pieces of work

showing a distinct feature that the interview with Zoe

related to and is important enough to be features on all 3

pieces of my work.

Double page spread

Moreover, in my double page spread I carried out the repetition of the bright pink;

creating the article headline in this colour outlined with purple to make the title stand

out more and link back to the front cover colour scheme as I have also used purple for

the jewels in the crown on the front cover. I also created a pink rectangle for my fan

view with a stronger pink stroke around it to maintain the strong house style and pink

colour theme without it being too over the top. I decided to maintain the idea of a

crown throughout my 3 pieces to engage the audience making them want to find out

why there is a crown attracting buyers.

I have used more than one photo on my double page spread, which can represent

perhaps the informality of the magazine and the relaxed layout. It is also enjoyable for

the readers who are fans of the cover star to be able to see more than one photo from

the photo shoot and also other stars. However, even though it lacks formality I believe

it still has a professional and mature vibe and is easy and accessible for the reader to

read and be able to understand.

Throughout the course of designing my magazine, I used other magazines to help

me as guidelines and inspire me with different ways my magazine could be

designed and presented. For example; I looked at pop magazines such as Top Of

The Pops and We Love Pop and American - Billboard magazine. Although some of

these had a younger target audience they helped me to identify key conventions

that most pop magazines use. That I could use throughout my magazine.

Admittedly throughout the process of creating my magazine, I did keep looking

back at Billboard and We love pop to ensure that I was creating my magazine in a

similar but different way to those as I wanted mine to be unique and stand out

from the rest. I needed to make sure that I was following similar ruling to them and

display my information in a similar way, however these magazines are aimed at

slightly younger teenage girls perhaps ages 11 - 15, whereas my magazine is

aimed at younger adults aged 16 -21.

I believe that it is clear to the reader and myself that I

have followed and reflected on many different

conventions of magazines, such as; the use of a

barcode on the front cover, the use of page numbers

on the pages and the repetitive use of certain colours

for example the colour theme throughout of pink.

However, I also know that I have gone against some

conventions such as the use of various different fonts

within the pages, I did not chose to stick to just one

font because I believe that the use of different fonts

emphasises the fun but also sophistication of the

magazine, and also gives the informal feel about the

product. As the reader, you should notice the recurring

colour scheme, especially the bold pink, and I feel that

this gives the magazine a more professional look and

can become a significant colour associated with my

POW magazine.