In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music

magazines)

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music
magazines)
My media product uses various conventions of original magazines as well
as challenging these as I adapted my magazine so that it appealed more
to my target audience.
The title of the magazine For the title of my magazine I didnt get any inspiration of any original
magazines. I came up with my magazine title because it relates to
Electronic Dance Music in the fact that the songs are generally loud and
the word relates to this sound volume, and the bass in the songs. I
decided to spell it with a z instead of an s because it gives the word a
unique edge and it will target my younger audience better as it makes the
word sound cool and interesting. In the design of my title, I decided to use
a fairly thick and bold font so that it stands out on the page. However, the
title looks clean and professional which is my intention for the magazine. I
added a slight piece of page furniture in Issue 2 Jan 2016 as this added
to the masthead and made the front cover look more professional and well
designed.

Graphology/page layouts
The graphology of my front cover is very simple; I use one font in Xpress
XF. I felt there wasnt any need in using a different font as because of the
variation in using capital letters and applying the bold text style to the
writing it, they appear to be quite different on the page so there was some
variety in how the text appeared on the page. I was still able to make
different parts of the page stand out more than others because of this as
well as manipulating text size, which is needed. This can be seen as
unconventional, as typically a front cover would include different fonts.
But I felt there was no need. For my cover line, DJ Greeno Exclusive, this
isnt your typical cover line as it makes the reader believe that the
magazines all about him. Whereas it is not, it features a variety of
elements within the Electronic Dance Music genre. I decided to have this
as the cover line as it is the main story within the magazine and what the
double page spread is based on. Therefore, the reader needed to be
aware of this and that this should hopefully be eye catching for them as
well as they are intrigued to see what he has to say in his interview.
However, on the other hand, Mixmag and EDM weekly do have this type of
cover line on their magazines also, which is another reason why I
incorporated into mine also. It just isnt typical to other genres of music.
For the layout of the front cover, it was inspired by Mixmag. I felt the
design looked very professional and neat and that was the intention of my
magazine also. I wanted it to be professional while also being exciting for
the reader. So I incorporated the style of having the boxes to have text in

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music
magazines)
them as this complies with the Z design style of a front cover which I
feel looks good. For my contents page, I again liked the way the mixmag
magazine design the page. I incorporated this design into my own design.
However, I developed the page into having the concept of having three
images on the contents page. As I felt this made the page more engaging
and interesting at first sight for the reader in having more graphical
images to look rather than having one larger image and another image.
However, I did abide by the classical conventions of having a two column
system within the contents page. Having images creating one column and
another block of text to create the other. I felt this was the most
professional and best looking way in creating the page. As I did try
splitting the page into three columns and making the image slightly
smaller and adding more text for the features section. But I felt this didnt
look quite as good as the classic two column design. For this page, I
changed the font style for the masthead of the page to have a slight
variety in fonts across the magazine; the font I picked was Century Gothic.
This font looked cleaner and more professional for this page. I did keep
the name of the magazine Bangerz the same as I felt there needed to
be a consistency in the actual name of the magazine, but January 2016
and Contents were in Century Gothic as this looked better. This concept
follows the stereotypical conventions of a magazine, in keeping the
magazine name the same but changing other elements to have a variety.
Which I agree with, and therefore applied to my own magazine. For my
double page spread, I didnt really follow a particular design, I just stuck
by the general features that are applied to double page spreads e.g drop
cap, pull quote, page furniture etc and implemented these into my design.
I did abide by the convention of many magazines of having one half of the
page being filled with a large image and the other half of the page being
filled with the article. The article was based on an Exclusive interview as
indicated by the cover line on the front page of the magazine. I would say
that this isnt a conventional way of designing the double page spread as
typically they focus on a topic within the genre of music, whereas I have
got an exclusive interview with a DJ start on mien which makes the
magazine seem like it is one of the best within the genre as they are able
to get interviews with big DJ stars. I also stuck to the stereotypical three
column design for an article as this is the most professional and neat
looking design I feel for an article and therefore I applied that. I decided
to add another image into the article to make it more engaging. As the
image links to the article and just makes the page stand out more to the
reader. They see the image, become interested, get attracted to the drop
cap and then begin reading the article. The font style throughout his
double page has been kept consistent in Xpress XF. I felt through the use
of the various colours and sizes with text being bold and not bold another
font style wasnt required as the page doesnt look all the same and
boring.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music
magazines)

Costumes, props, iconography used to reflect genre

For the front cover, the model of the page is James Green (DJ Greeno). I
tried different types of clothing to see which piece looked the most
appropriate for my magazine. I chose to have him wearing a black silk
jacket on the front cover. As the material appears to be quite expensive
but not too expensive that the target audience cant aspire to wear
clothes like him. I also decided to have him wearing black shades along
with black/blue beats ear phones (fit with the colour scheme). Through the
use of this he appeared to look cool fitting the music genre. The beats
headphones were used to make him look like a DJ. The fact that they are
wireless as well makes him appear to be a cool DJ. This can be seen as
being a conventional element of someone being a DJ, as other DJ
magazines used shades and earphones which I though made the model
look cool, so I wanted to implement that into my own design, as I wanted
the same intention for my magazine. For the contents page, for the
image representing page 62. I picked out clothing that fitted with the
genre. The model on the left is wearing a pink crop top which is the
common clothing for girls that go to music events/parties. For the model
on the right, I chose this piece of clothing as it looks cool and fits with the
Electronic Dance Music genre. Coupled with the fact that she is wearing
bright lipstick and large earrings it makes her to appear to be at a party.
For the model representing page 71 (SANG), I chose this top for him to
wear as it is unique and stylish. This represents the audience research as
it showed than many people within the genre also like to be unique. This
element of clothing is and is not something everyone would wear on a
daily basis. For the image representing page 84(DJ Greeno), I decided to
make him wear a fashionable piece of clothing. Ralph Lauren being a
recognisable brand for many people that read the magazine. This gives
the magazine a professional element which is what I wanted to achieve. I
decided to change the props for this photo in using earphones instead of
overhead ear phones. The reason behind this is because for the audience
reading the magazine, it shows that they dont have to go out and buy

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music
magazines)
expensive beats headphones to be able to be a DJ and that a variety of
equipment can be used. Allowing people to still aspire to be like him if
they dont have enough money. For my double page spread, I decided for
him to wear the Ralph Lauren polo as I feel it looks neat and professional
which fits the design of the magazine. It also portrays him to be a
successful DJ if he has the money available to buy this clothing as well as
the beats headphones. Showing that he is one of the best DJs in the
world. For the image of SANG on the double page spread he is also
wearing an inspirable brand in Palace. This jumper he is wearing looks
very cool and fashionable, as well as the jumper being black and white
fitting with the colour scheme on the page.

Genre and how the magazine cover, contents and spread suggest
it
I feel my magazine design represents the Electronic Dance music genre
very well. The magazine represents the genre well as the designs are
bright and exciting which is what the genre is like. As this corresponds to
bright colourful lighting within clubs. I have used colour effects on all of
my pictures also to give them these exciting colours to them to represent
the genre also. The colour scheme used of blue, white, yellow, purple and
black for the majority of the magazine I feel looks exciting add
professional in the way I have incorporated these colours. I decided to add
the colour effect of pink on the contents page just to add to the eye
catching nature of the page. But mainly through the types of clothing and
props used in the magazine indicate that it is based on the Electronic
Dance Music genre. As the pictures include beats, shades, and frames of
dance moves portraying it to be in this genre.