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

I wanted to create a magazine which would not only look good but also try and challenge contenders which are already on the market. I tried incorporating some ideas which I thought was missing from magazines which I personally buy myself. I decided to go for a Metal, Rock theme for my magazines styling, I chose this because I am interesting in that genre of music and also frequently purchase weekly issues of Kerrang! A popular magazine focused on that type of music. I also wanted to be creative and try new ideas to help get the most from my magazine; I changed colours, fonts, sizing of images to help me get there. Sometimes technology hindered this process but I managed to correct these problems and also without it I wouldn't even be able to create the final front cover or double page spread in such high quality. I wanted to also create something eye catching and different but still keeping all the conventional colour schemes which will be found on this type of magazine.

School and Music Magazine Covers, how do they relate to existing examples of these media forms?

Similarities

My school magazine relates to existing examples because it has contrasting and large colorful font's which attracts the reader to the cover. Also I have placed pictures of the school grounds and also art pieces which were made in the art department, this compliments the fact that the magazine is about school life and the main news surrounding it. The use of taking on site school pictures is also used in other previous school magazines. My music magazine is similar to existing examples of the genre, I have included a free poster section which is used on many magazines to make the product stand out from the competition, also a easy to read and interesting title in a contrasting colour from the dark background, headlines at the top and bottom which outline the content of the magazine inside which appear in many existing magazines. I also added raging fire at the side to help frame the large main image and to also make the magazine more themed in its genre which is metal/ hard rock music. The band name is also clearly in the middle, in bright and edgy font which makes it stand out on the cover and the large image is situated in the centre taking up the majority of room of the cover, this technique is used to help make a personal connection to the reader and is used in previous magazine covers. The music cover has a price, bar code and issue number as all magazines are required to have.


Differences

Now the differences, my school magazine is situated on one part of the school, the art department this can be clearly seen by the heading 'Art Edition' in the middle bottom. School magazines tend not to focus on just one part of the school but more focus on the school as a whole. The reason i decided to pick an art edition theme was to appeal to two audiences, people who attends or is interested in the school and also people who are into the arts. Also previous school magazines have used techniques to make there covers seem professional; I just used pictures of art orientated objects and used the images I took for the background. I didn't even scale the images so they fit perfectly side by side; these major details are not missed on the existing professional covers.

My music magazine has many differences from existing examples on the market. The reason i did this was to grab the eye of the reader before any other magazine cover has a chance to. My magazine features bright vibrant titles and headers to help it stand out from the dark background, i used these colours to help make the main parts of the magazine stand out such as the heading 'Apocalypse' in bright yellow and the main title 'Amplified' in piercing white. I put alot of detail into how the featured band names are shown, on existing examples the font used on this genre of magazine tends to be straight forward and easy to read, but i tweaked it a bit so it stays in theme with the magazine's look. I also used flames up the side to help frame the central image, on existing covers this space would be filled up with other band names or more 'exclusive' information the magazine contains. My motto for my magazine 'Turn It Up' is also clearly visible, which usually is covered up by an image on existing magazine covers which could then maybe transfer to the reader that the other competitor has more to offer the reader. Another difference is that my main image isn't overlapping the main title of the magazine, this is mostly due to just technical difficulties on my hand, this type of image placement is used on a wide variety of existing covers, to help make the band members raised from the band and more realistic.