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

On my front cover, I used some well-known conventions of a magazine.

The masthead is placed at the top of my magazine where it is clear for the reader to see and makes it obvious that it’s the name of the magazine.

I chose to use a bold font, in order for it to stand out and fit in with the name which was ‘ICONIC’.

I got this idea from the music magazine ‘wonderland’, even though it is a music magazine it doesn’t share the same genre as which I chose to do and I liked the way that as soon as you see the front cover of a wonderland magazine you can immediately know the name of the magazine. I changed the idea of having a block colour as a background because I don’t believe it fit the colour scheme of my magazine however it was a good way to try different features and see what fit the magazine best.   

I created the masthead and then decided to add a tagline to my magazine. I wanted to challenge the normal conventions of a magazine by having the tagline based above my masthead. I placed it neatly in between the top of the letters on my masthead.


Once I had decided to create a tagline I wanted to insure that it was as effective as possible and gave an insight as to what the mat head signified. By having a magazine that was based on house music which is an up and coming popular genre, using a tagline such as ‘breaking traditions’, I think I have tied in the meaning of my title and the relevance of it too my masthead. By breaking a convention of having the tagline placed above and not below the masthead, I have also somewhat broken a tradition of a magazine. Making it highly effective as an overall first impression of my magazine.

The images I have used on the contents page are to do with the stories that are included inside the magazine, I used three different images that all relate to music and festivals. I have included page numbers on the images to make it look more organised and the reader would be able to look at the image and go straight to the page without having to scroll through the entire magazine. This fits in with the magazine.


I enjoyed experimenting with the text used in the double page spread as I felt it was a good way to reflect the fun-feel of the article.  I felt that it connected best with the audience. It was placed under the main image as I had a good bit of feedback from my target audience explaining that it would add a more interesting element to right hand page.


I wanted to engage readers but insure that I didn't over use the size of the texts and it’s not massive and bold. Also, I wanted to minimalize the bright colours in my article as I didn’t want to take away from the background colour and image I used. The text works well at the bottom of the image of my magazine as it breaks up the image and eliminated any empty and wasted space.

Also, I have insured that I used a good range of well-known celebrities to my age group. This is because stars are admired and are aspirational for the target audience I chose.

Celebrities and famous musicians are conventionally included on music magazine covers to sell the magazine and therefore by using a wide variety of different DJs and music producers I can hope to fit the convention and also make a good profit on my magazine from its sales.

Double Page Spread Analysis

Final contents page

Final Double page spread

Front cover final design

After listening to the feedback from members of my target audience, I have adapted my magazine to be more desirable for my audience as it is important it fits their criteria.

The colours I have used compliment each other more then the previous pink background. The light blue colour now highlights the pink and black texts and compliments the red masthead. I incorporated interesting topics on my front cover in order to appeal to my audience and insure that it has a stand out effect when getting sold against competitors.

I changed the text size and font whilst also alternating the colours of the writing along the right side of the magazine.

This is a convention of magazine covers as they usually include a range of styles and colours within the text. I believe it is more exciting to read and makes sure that the text is not dull to read or blends in with any other information on the magazine. The change in colour highlights the importance and significance of all the different artists listed.

Double page spread contact page

For my double page spread I took the photos in a festival environment. My main cover model can be seen on the right dressed in a typical festival outfit with her friends. I edited one of the pictures to more of a sepia tone and changed the warmth of the photo so that it was more retro looking. A dance tent is visible in the background and the crowds of people are similarly described in the article making the text and image link clearly. The laid back and fun tone of the picture is also reflected through the description of festivals in the article. I wanted to chose an image showing a group of girls rather then one as festivals are described in the article as groups of people having fun to the music.

Contents Page contact sheet

This is my updated contact sheet for my contents page. I had two of each style to chose from and I have decided to chose all the ones on the left hand side. I have done this because I believe they are the best at portraying the fun and youthful image that my magazine promotes.
When choosing these photos, I looked closely at the colours within each picture and insured I could edit the pictures effectively to go on my contents page. It is important that the photos i chose to go on my contents are interesting and grab attention to make the reader want to view the article the picture is associated with. This is why choosing my final images was crucial in the success of my contents page.