Evaluation: Question 1

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

In the process of creating my music magazine I made sure not to copy/ imitate any famous music magazines that I know. I wanted my magazine to be completely different to any other conventional magazine seen in the media today. I wanted my magazine to stand out and be a stand out piece that is easily recognised and well known. To convey this message I made sure to make my magazine very elegant but edgy, perfect for the modern day 16-25 year old. I made sure to make it classic and elegant but also rare and unique, a sort of juxtaposition of itself. To make it well rounded and simply an easy read. I also have a very strong passion for all things pop culture, fashion, art, music, nightlife and film. For this reason I centred my magazine on all these topics making it more interesting for readers interested in these fields. I also believe that because not many magazines use this technique, they end up falling behind and losing their readers to more well rounded, open minded magazines.

I have taken great inspiration from magazines such as Billboard, Complex, Paper Magazine, Clash and many others. These magazines inspire me to read more magazines and invest in the magazine industry. In this day and age, the magazine industry is one of the oldest industries that made it through. I mean we've made it a long way since the 'Gentleman's Magazine', that being of course the first ever magazine published in 1731 in London. Although this industry may not be the most popular form of advertisement and print media around the world it is still one of the most popular forms of sharing information in the world currently, it may even be one of the oldest industries that has survived thought all these years and is still succeeding in this digital world.

            

 As a millennial, I am part of the minority of people that has stopped reading magazines. Although I still greatly admire certain magazines I just simply don’t have the patience to read them and the funds to afford one of them every month or week. With my magazine, I wanted to make it cheap enough to afford monthly and very much want-able, in the sense that my readers will feel a need and a want to buy it. This is the effect I want my magazine to have on my readers. Magazines such as Billboard and Paper Magazine also inspired me to take on, not just, music but lifestyle, film, art, and many others as well as music. This is something I think should also be done more in other magazines as it means more people are reading the same magazine and having different interpretations and maybe even getting to know the different views people have on things they are not particularly drawn to. I believe simplicity is also something that these magazines have taken and used to their advantage, it may even be one of the things they are most known for. I also tried to emulate this great characteristic and make it as simple and clutter free as possible. I did not like the idea of having several headlines all over the cover as I felt it cheapened the magazine and made it look and feel more like a business and less a share of views and information. I decluttered my cover and only added the writing that was necessary. I did not want to have any unnecessary clutter on the cover and I wanted the viewer to concentrate more on the image and the quality of it rather than concentrating on the tempting headlines.

I tried my best to make my magazine as controversial as possible in the sense that I made it a sort of opposite of what most people expect from the typical music magazine. I wanted it to be simple and elegant, with a reputation like the famous fashion magazines ELLE or VOGUE. I also wanted it to look very high end but totally accessible. By adding vivid colours, a simple title, interesting photography I recreated a version of these magazines but except turned it into a music magazine and make it more appealing to a younger crowd. I also tried to add a vague title to make the reader more intrigued to see what is in the issue