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

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

Clash Magazine

Title of magazine
Bold, white, Sans serif font for the masthead clear and easy to read.
Masthead is a short and simple word is somewhat onomatopoeic,
rendering it more memorable to the consumer.
Title (Soul Bearer) is of a short length - minimal space used, punchy. It
is eye catching to the reader and provides intrigue.

Graphology/Page layouts
Barcode is small and located in the bottom-left of the cover page; it
doesnt distract from the main feature. There are approximately three
featuring fonts in the magazine: reduces confusion and allows for
simplicity, but keeps reader engaged and interested.
Overall simplistic layout for the cover specifically in a Z shape, so that
the consumers eyes are drawn to the main features of the magazine.
Columns in the double-page spread are even, as well as the guttering
between each one. Drop cap is used to gain readers interest in the article.
Simple pop of colour draws attention but isnt overwhelming.

Costumes, props, iconography used to reflect genre

The simplistic clothing worn by the artist reflects the relaxed mood of his
music. His clothing is also unique and intriguing linking to the genre that
Clash Magazine associates itself with.
Orange tone of both the cover and double-page spread link to a main focal
point of the artist: his hair.
Camerawork and framing of images
In both the cover and the double-page spread, a medium length shot is
used to depict King Krule. His face remains central and is the prominent
focus of each image.

Title, article, header etc font and style

Article has a simple layout with bold headings allowing for a clean and
simple look. The font is also simple and easy to read. Overall, the styling is
relaxed in its approach.

Genre and how the magazine cover, contents and spread suggests it
Clash Magazine considers itself to be an alternative music magazine, and
so it is often unique in its appearance. It has a cool/indie styling
throughout and so it is clear what genre the magazine is. The photographs
used are interesting and unique yet again fitting with the alternative
genre.

How are the artist(s) represented?

King Krules orange hair is exemplified within the images through the
magazines colour scheme the reader becomes intrigued by him, as he
appears incredibly unique (this fits with the indie/alternative consumers
that clash is appealing to).

Colour scheme
The colour scheme of the magazine features reds and oranges, which are
contrasted through shades of black and white. This creates a stark and
eye-catching appearance to the magazine and so draws the consumers
attention.
My magazine: Gush
Title of magazine
My title/masthead follows similar conventions of other music magazines in
that it is short and memorable. Gush also has a similar onomatopoeic
quality as Clash, making it more noticeable and memorable to the
consumer.
The idea behind my title is that it links to the passion/sensuality that is
linked to music and art. I felt that this was appropriate to the alternative
genre of my magazine, since its audience are likely to be passionate about
music.
The font of the title is bold and spaced out I feel that this mitigates a
claustrophobic feel to the magazine and allows the masthead to be more
noticeable. I have taken inspiration from Beat Magazine in terms of colour:
red is bold and stands out, which I feel would benefit the magazine.

Graphology/Page layouts
I decided to use a minimal number of fonts within my magazine to prevent
it from being overwhelming to the audience: a large number of fonts
would result in a magazine that isnt clean, consistent and simple. The
fonts I chose were: Novar, Delicia and Piers Sans. I felt that by
choosing a small amount of fonts would aid in my magazine conforming to
its alternative genre especially since my chosen fonts are simplistic.

These pieces of text are both taken from my magazine: the body of text on the left
uses Novar and the one on the right uses Piers Sans. Piers Sans is certainly softer
and more rounded than Novar, however it still fits nicely with my overall magazine
retaining a clean look and fitting with magazine conventions.

Like most magazines, the font size of my masthead and other pieces of
texts decrease with importance; the masthead is considered the most
important piece of text on the cover (since it is what the audience use to
distinguish between magazines) and so that is largest in size. The issue
number, date and price are the next largest pieces of text I felt that it
would be important for the consumer to see them clearly, but not so they
distract from the masthead. The cover line depicting the artists name is
surprisingly the smallest: I feel that this is somewhat unconventional, as
 the artists name is usually drawn attention to via large text on the cover. I
felt that, by having the artists name presented in a fairly unique way, the
audience of the magazine would be more enticed to discover more.
For the second two pages of my double-page spread, I gained inspiration
from Apartamento magazine I liked how the two bodies of text werent
arranged in columns and were divided by the title of the article. I
attempted to replicate this, so that I could remain within magazine
conventions and still have an intriguing page layout.

I feel that I have challenged the traditional conventions of a magazine by

having a double-page style contents page as opposed to the traditional
portrait format. Since my magazine is catered towards alternative/indie
consumers, challenging certain conventions allows my magazine to attract
its desired audience.
Roger Black stated that a cover should be a poster and that it should
feature a single image of a human. I decided to conform to these
conventions, as I felt that they would help me to achieve a minimalistic
magazine. I only have a single person on the cover located directly in the
centre; the audience therefore has their attention drawn quickly to the
featuring artist.
Costumes, props, iconography used to reflect genre
I asked my model, Lily Eve, to dress casually for my magazine as if it
were any other day at home. This was important for my magazine, as my
chosen artist (Lily Eve) creates bedroom pop music; I felt that this is
commonly associated with being chilled and relaxed. Therefore, Lily being
styled in clothes that she is comfortable in was highly important in
achieving the right look to my magazine. In terms of modelling, I wanted
Lily to be presented as slightly stoic meaning that I didnt want to include
smiles in any of my images. This was purely down to that fact that I think
it would fit her character more appropriately and would create an edge of
seriousness to the article/feature. On the cover of my magazine, I had Lily
smoking; I felt that it represents an almost teenage rebellion, suggesting
her attitude towards life and growing up. In order for my magazine to be
more conventional, however, I had to cover up the cigarette Lily was
smoking with her name.

Clearly, another major prop featured in

my photos was the guitar: this guitar belonged to Lily and so I thought it
would suit my magazine nicely adding to the personal and natural
approach I desired for the cover/double-page spread.
Camerawork and framing of images

The images featured in my magazine are predominantly mid/close-up

shots: this conforms to traditional magazine conventions as it is often
considered key to feature the models face clearly. Despite having
conformed with my shot types, I have attempted to be more unique with
the process of my photography: I have experimented with shutter speed to
create intriguing images where movement is involved (such as Lily playing
the guitar), and I have underexposed some images for a mysterious edge
to my magazine as a whole.
I think that my camerawork has aided in attracting an alternative/indie
audience since they provide an intriguing appearance to my magazine:
those who associate themselves with the alternative genre are likely to be
interested in unique photographs.

Title, article, header etc font and style

I decided to make my article more interesting and engaging to the reader by
laying it out across four pages in two different formats. The first two pages
feature my article in an unconventional format, whereby there is an absence of
columns. I felt that this would be a good introductory format to the reader since
it is fairly simplistic and minimal, yet intriguing. The second two pages of the
article are an interview and so I decided that the use of columns would be more
appropriate: readers can navigate and read the page easily since it is orderly
(due to the gutters in between each column of text).

have styled my magazine by having a

slight motif throughout; on my cover and double-page spread I have included
hand-drawn sections within my magazine (this was achieved via scanning). I
think that this is highly unconventional and allows my magazine to standout from
other products that are currently on the market: this would therefore possibly
attract my desired alternative audience, as it isnt common in a lot of magazines.
Having the motif run throughout my magazine is important for continuity and
styling resulting in a more professional appearance.

Genre and how the magazine cover, contents and spread suggests it
Similar to Clash Magazine, my magazine retains a cool, alternative/indie
styling throughout and so it is clear what the genre of my magazine is. My
cover and double-page spread have the alternative motif of hand-drawn
sections linking to the magazines genre and my contents breaks
typical magazine conventions. Therefore, I think that my magazine
suggests its genre successfully.

How are the artist(s) represented?

I decided to represent my artist, Lily Eve, as a somewhat rebellious
teenage artist: this was achieved through her clothing and mise-en-scene
the fact that I depicted her smoking is highly suggestive of her teenage
angst, linking to the alternative genre of the magazine. I also wanted to
retain the naivety of Lilys character; this was achieved by using her room
as the setting for my photographs, as it suggests that her bedroom is an
almost recluse. Since my magazine aims to be up-to-date in fashion and
music, I wanted to ensure that I represented Lily in a cool way her
clothes are in style with current indie trends.
Colour scheme

The colour scheme of my magazine is mainly warm: featuring a number of

reds and oranges. I purposely chose this colour scheme to contrast with
my artist: she is dressed in blue and purple clothing, so that she appears
more important to my audience. I felt that having a consistently warm
tone to my magazine would aid in professionalism and would help my
magazine achieve an alternative genre.
Cover inspiration
I took a lot of inspiration from Beat Magazine, as I liked how the masthead is
positioned in a somewhat unique style I also like the bold red colour used, since
it draws the attention of the audience to the magazine. I also like how, in the
words of Roger Black, the Beat Magazine cover looks like a poster it is simple
in that it only features a single person. I wanted to adopt this into my magazine
as I felt that I would achieve a clean/realistic look.

Contents inspiration
My cover is inspired by Juxtapoz magazine. Despite the fact that Juxtapoz
focuses on art/culture, its contents page still fits with the alternative genre of my
music magazine I like how it adopts an unconventional double-page format and
so decided to take inspiration from it. I felt that having this style of contents
page would help attract my indie/alternative audience.
Double-page spread inspiration
My double-page spread was inspired by another non-music magazine:
Apartamento Magazine. It is unique in that the to bodies of text are divided by
the title of the article. I thought that this would work well in my music magazine,
since it is an alternative approach. Adopting this style allowed me to apply
magazine conventions, but remain somewhat unique.