Evaluation

Part 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge formas and conventions of real media products?

Codes and conventions of hiphop and R&B magazines.

Theme: The theme of my magazine is HipHop and RNB aimed at young female teenagers. I therefore used quite qirly fonts and a pink based colour scheme to maintain the feminine theme. I laid my magazine quite conventional, conforming to a wide variety of conventions as well as using my own touches to personalise it. I kept it quite attractive and eye catching rather than simple as I believed it appealed more to my audience, however I also kept it quite structured rather than messy. My model also conformed to the stereotypical conventions of the female expectations within the hiphip and RNB genre.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Codes and conventions of hiphop and R&B magazines.

Masthead: This is the title/name of the magazine which usually uses a well known or stereotypical typography such as Arial or Sans Serif. I challenged this convention as I used 'Minion Pro' and added a bold and italic effect as it appealed more to my audience. I made it large and stretched it vertically using tools on InDesign. I also added a drop shadow effect to ellaborate the name, conforming to it's purpose of standing out. However I conformed to the conventions of using pink ,because it is stereotypically girly, for my typography as my magazine is aimed at young females, therefore this colour is conventional. I also found it made my magazine brighter and therefore more attractive and appealing.

Main Image: My main image is of a teenage girl dressed appropriately for the hiphop genre as she's dressed in a tropical print shirt and white jeans which are in fashion at the moment. I conformed to this convention as I used the appropriate mise-en-scene to appeal to my targetted audience. The model I've chosen is a pretty, clear skinned 16 year old, East-African and Caribbean girl that attends my school as I thought she's a good representation of the typically dressed teenage girl in who shows interest to the latest fashion and music. I believemy decision was well thought as my model conforms to the stereotypical expectations of pretty teenage girls as she has clear skin, a nice figure, natural curly hair and other attractive features.

Pug: The pugs used were the price and barcode which I placed closely together, as they are both used in the purchasing process. I priced my magazine at a quite decent cost of £1.50, keeping my targetted audience's budget in mind as a majority of them may not have a stable financial income to afford my product if the price was higher. I also used a 'chance to win' to entice my young readers further. I chose my freebie quite well as I offered a 'FLAWLESS' iPhone case, as it appeals to my audience, having relation to the famous hiphop and RNB artist Beyonce and her international single 'Flawless', a particularly favourite song amongst young females due to it's feminism. I conformed to this convention as I linked all my pugs to my genre and target audience.

Tag: Using the phrases "Exclusive" and "Win" engage a reader's interest especially if the phrase is used to draw attention to the main story. This is effective as readers will then feel the need to buy my magazine. I also used the phrase "Exclusive Interview" to draw attention to substories which I know will interest the reader, for example, an exclusive interview with Nicki Minaj would engage a young female especially if the interview reveals secrets, gossip and tips. 

Selling line/Strapline: I placed my strapline above my masthead as I found the layout looked better and I avoided spoiling my main image with text. Using "Best HipHop and RNB Magazine Since '14" created reassurance for my readers as they would feel more comfortable to purchase my magazine if it is labelled as the best since 2014, meaning it is widely read by other young females.

Substories: My chosen subheadings conform to the genre of my magazine as they all focus on popular  hiphop and RNB celebrities who will interest young female teenagers especially, such as Nicki Minaj, Beyonce, Kanye West and J Cole. These artists all attract different audiences, which widen my targetted audiencem, enticing a wider variety of readers. I conformed to this convention of targetting my genre.

Language: I used quite colloquil language that would engage my targetted audience, using words such as addressing my main model as the "Queen of HipHop" and describing her journey Fame". These words appeal more to my targetted readers as they understand the words. However, I avoided using street slang as I believe it would degrade my magazine's standards as I've chosen to make it quite a classy and well-written magazine.

Typography: I used 3 different fonts throughout my magazine. "Minion Pro" was used for my masthead and main internal text as it stands out, and maintains the style of the magazine. I also used "Imprint MT Shadow"  for my contents page title, double page spread title and main coverlines on my front cover to also maintain the style of my magazine, and used "Bernard MT Condensed" for my converline text subheadings as it is quite bold and eye catching.