My media product has both challenged and conformed to convention, one way it has challenged it is by having an image which doesn’t fill the page, and also having very minimal type on the cover. Whilst this isn’t unheard of, it is the general consensus to have a larger image and more text. The masthead of a magazine is also usually the largest text on the page, whereas the artist’s name was the larger type on the cover of my magazine.
I largely followed convention in terms of page layout, as I had the masthead beginning in the top left of the page, and the rest of the type in the lower 3rd. For the general look of my magazine I took heavy inspiration from “the gentlewoman”, which could be considered to be unconventional in its design and ideals. I liked the idea of it being a print publication, similar to Loud and Quiet, as opposed to a glossy magazine. This being another way in which it has challenged convention as the vast majority of magazines are glossy and not print. The background is a kind of off-white colour, which I wanted to mimic the colour of a print publication like a newspaper.
The barcode and price are in a conventional place on the page, I kept them small so they would fit the margin better, and also because a barcode shouldn’t be a large feature of the page anyway. The masthead/branding of my magazine is conventional in many ways, the text inside a coloured box is a frequently used style by magazines, such as "i-D" or "Q". However, whilst I used this convention I would argue that I also developed it, as the typical "text inside a box" logo is usually much larger whereas I tried to create a minimalistic logo.
For my Double Page spread, I also believe I both largely followed convention, whilst in some ways challenging it or developing it. For example by making my magazine a print publication, it allowed me to have a picture spanning across the spine of the page. This wouldn't be possible on a conventional "glossy magazine" because of the way the pages fold inwards at the spine.
The rest of the page is pretty conventional in its layout, with it divided into 6 columns and featuring an enlarged quote from the article and the bulk of the article filling up the remainder of the page. Whilst following convention might sound boring conventions are usually there because they are effective.
I also followed convention with more of my double page spread, one example being that the page has page numbers and features branding from the magazine. In terms of the general look of the double page spread in terms of how the masthead looked and was layed out, I was inspired by a double page spread from alternative magazine "Loud and quiet" which featured a similar serif font for the masthead, similar picture positioning, and the colour scheme of the page (loud and quiet double page spread) as a whole is very near to the one used .
The ultra-simplistic look of my contents ways challenges convention slightly in the fact that it is so simplistic, as opposed to a lot of pop music magazines that have far more "going on" on the contents page, with a lot more features, sub sections etc.
However among modern alternative music magazines it is becoming a style in itself that the simpler a page, the better. For example i-D magazine has very little on the cover, and that which it does it very small, simplistic text. so whilst simplicity may challenge mainstream convention, it fits the convention of the sub-culture into which I was aiming my magazine.
In terms of the models used I think I largely followed convention with their appearance and clothing, in terms of modern alternative musicians. For the cover picture I followed convention in terms of having a more "studio" look photograph taken against a white background with 4 filter lights to eliminate shadows. With the picture for the double spread, i took the picture outside with natural lighting and a different background. I wanted my magazine to have a bit of a more varied appearance, as I felt that having all pictures took against a white background would not only would this be a bit boring, but also unrealistic as it is rare that magazines would stick to only one picture format. So I believe I followed convention by utilising a variety of different backgrounds.
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