My media product was inspired by existing magazines like The Crack and INDIE. I took conventions from their designs like color schemes, target audiences, and styles to appeal to my own audience. However, I also made changes to make my product unique. For my magazine front cover, I took inspiration from The Crack's simplistic style but made subtle changes to attract my specific regional audience. I also challenged conventions from INDIE magazine by manipulating features and making it more focused. For my website, I was inspired by The Crack's navigation bar, pinboard layout, and social media inclusion. But I developed the design to be more contemporary and regional than The Crack or INDIE by adding my own features and imagery. Throughout

1. IN WHAT WAYS DOES
YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT
USE, DEVELOP AND
CHALLENGE FORMS AND
CONVENTIONS OF REAL
MEDIA PRODUCTS?

2. When creating my final products, I had a lot of
inspiration from existing magazines. Through my
research and planning, I found that The Crack and
INDIE magazines had similar target audiences,
genre and colour schemes that I wanted to
approach. Looking into this further, I liked the
outcome of The Crack the most therefore used The
Crack's conventions to inspire my own products
and adapt to my own magazine. At the same time I
wanted my magazine to be able to compete with
the real media products therefore I made subtle
changes based on appealing to my audience to
challenge the current market.

4. On the left is my final front cover product and
on the right is an example of a front cover
published by a national magazine named The
Cricketer. As a magazine aiming at a similar
audience, genre and region, I decided to use
and adapt conventions of The Crack which is a
regional magazine in co-ordination with the
Cricketer in order to be able to appeal to my
own audience. Although I used some similar
conventions, I also manipulated features in
order to make a unique and successful
magazine of my own. In this evaluation, I will
be making comparisons of all the features on
my front cover to analysis how I was inspired
by The Crack and why I have subverted certain
features. I will also make reference to INDIE
magazine as this is another media product I
used for inspiration, specifically in terms of
achieving a contemporary and quirky design
however I developed the design to make it
more regional

5. RESEARCH AND
PLANNING
• My research and planning stages really helped me to analyze real media products and find both the
strengths and weaknesses to which conventions should be developed or challenged. This included
deconstructing existing front covers, finding out generic conventions and analyzing what makes a front
cover successful. I came to these conclusions throughout my research. Firstly, I believed my front cover
needed to be creative in order for it to be memorable which I feel it has achieved by looking
minimalistic yet incorporating a unique double exposure image. It achieves simplicity due to it being
image led and not relying on too many cover lines to overcrowd the page which is what I found on
some existing products which I disliked and therefore challenged. I feel my front cover is modern due to
the contemporary style, young model and short, snappy cover lines. I feel that by sticking to these
conclusions, I have been able to follow real media techniques that are most popular and those that I
have found to be most memorable in order to make my front cover successful. After deconstructing
front covers, I found that The Crack was the biggest real media product that I took most inspiration from
and therefore influenced many of my creative ideas throughout the production of this final product. As
you can see, the main things the Crack inspired me to do was have a simplistic style, limited colour
scheme and an unstereotypical model that added a sense of quirkiness to the magazine. These are the
main things I planned to take inspiration from however further inspirations were offered during the
production stage which I will be analyzing for each individual convention of the front cover. I also
challenged The Crack front cover in terms of layout, information and regional link. I also challenged the
amount of detail to being more specific but focused. I wanted to include a sense of ambiguity so that
the reader would stop and notice the cover. A lot of inspiration was taken from INDIE magazine also. I
found INDIE to be my biggest creative and visual inspiration due to their quirky style. I did however
majorly challenge their information and topics which were not really relevant to my chosen
magazine. Evidence of the inspirations and challenges from my initial real media explorations are
evident throughout all the conventions of my front cover.

6. MASTHEAD AND STRAPLINE
When deciding on what to call my magazine, I wanted to focus on something that would be
short, snappy and catchy but also representative of my regional community. I analysed my 3
favourite names which were Sporting mad, Batting Out and Sporting life . I then carried out a
target audience survey and Sporting mad was voted the most popular which verifies it will attract
consumers when positioned on the front cover a magazine. I liked how the Crack used
consonance sounds as well as onomatopoeia in their masthead as this allowed for the name to
resonate with the reader. I used this convention and I feel the pronunciation of "CLEEK" is a
successful trait. I also took inspiration from the crack for the uniqueness of their title. Even
though it has no regional relevance, it makes me stop and wonder what it is and therefore I
would be likely to pick it up in a shop. I have adapted this uniqueness in my own magazine
however I feel I have developed a title that also has a community feeling and therefore is more
successful in terms of being regional. Ultimately, sporting mad can be categorised as a modern
audience word with a resonating sound and linking to a community and therefore I feel it is a
successful convention of my magazine.

7. DOMINANT IMAGE
• During my photoshoot, I used male models because it was a male sporting magazine and
therefore wanted all of my audience to either be appealed or feel inspired to try and
achieve the same look. During my research, I found the type of model used on the front
cover depends solely on the content of the page and what the main feature advert is.
As my advert is about sport, I feel that either gender would have worked.
• My model is 24 years old and therefore fits into the target audience range of my
magazine which is 18 - 25 year olds. This means that the front cover will attract the right
kind of people due to this use of a familiar and relatable model. In my planning, I found
out specific details about my model, Liam, and matched these specifically to my audience
so that I could have a valuable representative of who they were with similar interests and
a similar style to advertise the product. Most front covers adapt the model to fit the
subject of the main feature article or to promote the celebrity or star who appeals to the
audience due to their relatable features. For instance, KERRANG magazine is likely to use
a middle aged male, rock style model with tattoos and piercings to promote their
audiences interests. A magazine like We Heart Pop on the other hand would use a female
model aged between 18 - 20 and wearing the bright colours of pink or red. I feel my front

8. OTHER TEXT
When researching Front Covers, I noticed that there is a divided opinion between the amount of
text that should be present on the page. Some front covers offered a very minimalistic style such
as The Crack and INDIE magazine which only include cover lines or even just one line. I feel this
super minimalistic look is successful in creating a contemporary style however can look quite bare
if not designed correctly. I felt I wanted the same contemporary style however also wanted to
challenge it and my own conventions to bulk up the page a bit more. The next type of front cover I
found was the likes of Spark which was highly detailed and full of text. I felt that the design of this
was nice however it looked very overcrowded and maybe would put people off, especially my
audience who have a low attention span. Due to this, I decided to develop both forms of real
media products and create a front cover with a media amount of text, neither too detailed or too
bare. I wanted my front cover to be short, snappy and straight to the point whilst also having an
attractive design which I feel I have achieved by my medium but minimal use of text.

9. ESSENTIAL INFORMATION
• In the bottom right of my front cover is the essential information. This includes the issue
number, date and price of the magazine. I decided to include this information because I think
they are the most vital facts about my product that would encourage people to buy the issue.
~They are also needed for returning customers so they can see what issue it is and whether they
have read it yet. The price is a contributing factor which would encourage people to want to
read more into the brand as free things are often most appealing to my young audience. I was
inspired to include this information by magazines such as Spark which includes the issue
number, issue type, price and website. I feel this is effective for someone who hasn’t seen the
brand before as they instantly have the essential information to find out more. One of the main
reasons I decided to include the web address on the front cover is to encourage people to
become active audience members rather than passive. It hints that my magazine will be modern
and up to date but also promotes my other platforms which is beneficial.

11. RESEARCH AND PLANNING
My research and planning stages really helped me to analyse real media products and find both the strengths and
weaknesses to which conventions should be developed or challenged. This included deconstructing existing
contents pages, finding out generic conventions and analysing what makes a content page successful. I came to
these conclusions throughout my research. Firstly, the inspiration that I took from INDIE magazine is that my age
needed to have a visually creative design that was well framed by text so that the page was appealing. My
inspiration from The Crack was that the content needed to be witty and topical, have a simplistic background and
text design and include regional conventions such as acknowledgments. I feel my creative look as been achieved
using the image gallery and the minimalistic style is up kept with the fresh and clean background. The page is
image led on the top half and then text led on the bottom which shows influences from both INDIE and The Crack
on both sides. The top half is generally influenced by INDIE and the bottom by The Crack magazine. I feel the
contents page is modern due to the contemporary style, youthful images and the language that I have used. By
sticking to the conclusions that I made during research and planning, I have been able to follow real media
techniques that are most popular and those that I have found to be most memorable in order to make my contents
page successful. After deconstructing contents pages, I also found a lot of features that I could challenge for
instance, I wanted a lot more image diversity as I felt The Crack and INDIE were both very limited by only using one
image. I also think the layout of The Crack was not very creative and then the content in INDIE was far too
minimalistic even though it was designed well. I therefore feel I have challenged certain aspects of both magazines
through by research which is evident in my final product. I had to majorly challenged the content and topics of
INDIE due fashion only being a sub-genre of my magazine and my magazine being regional not national. I feel my
overall design and product is a combination of my inspirations of The Crack and INDIE but also is unique due to the

12. IMAGES
I only used one main image on my contents page as I didn’t want it to look overcrowded or for the effect to be taken
away from the contents that I was trying to get across. I liked The Cracks simplicity of this as they didn’t use many
images for their contents pages and just kept the actual information short and sweet so the reader didn’t get bored or
become dis-interested. All of my images are effective in being unique and using certain features/ graphics to make
them stand out. I spent a lot of time deciding on the order of the images as I wanted them to look diverse and for at
least one image to appeal to everyone which I feel I have achieved. I was inspired by The Crack to include a range of
different image styles as they have incorporated images, illustrations and graphics on their contents page which I feel is
a convention that shows diversity. To make my gallery successful, I had to crop the images down which means that only
certain aspects of each can be seen for example the half a face. I feel this creates a greater sense of mystery which will
encourage someone to turn to the specific page in order to find out more. The Trend magazine also did this as you can
see this in the first image which only has the nose of someone in and not the entire face. I think this looks successful as
it makes people want you find out more and therefore look further into the magazine. I therefore feel that by enhancing
the range of images that INDIE used but using a similar diversity to The Crack, I have both challenged and confirmed to
real media conventions. I think however the design of my images matched with the style is very unique and therefore a
development from any other product I have looked at.

14. During the production of my website, my main inspiration was The Crack magazine which
influenced many of my design ideas. It also inspired my content ideas due to it having a similar
audience, genre and region therefore I decided to adapt and use its conventions. Although I used
some similar conventions of The Crack in order to appeal to my own audience, I also manipulated
features in order to make a unique and successful website of my own. Also, I took a few design
ideas from INDIE website as I felt it offered a very nice contemporary style which I loved. For my
3rd linked page however, i feel I have created a design and page that is completely unconventional
to what I have found in my research however will appeal to my audience due to its regional and
community link. In this evaluation, I will be making comparisons of all the features on website to
analysis how I was inspired by The Crack and why I have subverted certain features. I will also make
reference to INDIE magazine as this is another media product I used for inspiration, specifically in
terms of achieving a contemporary and quirky design however I developed the design to make it
more regional and the content more focused on my specific audience.

15. RESEARCH AND PLANNING
My research and planning stages really helped me to analyse real media products and find both the strengths and weaknesses to
which conventions should be developed or challenged. This included deconstructing existing websites, finding out generic
conventions and analysing what makes a website successful. I came to these conclusions throughout my research. Firstly, I believed
my website needed to be instantly visually appealing as soon as you enter the homepage to encourage people to look further into
the site. I feel I have achieved this due to my contemporary and modern design which looks very professional but pleasing. I also
planned to have a website that was direct, easy to navigate and well designed. I feel by using features such as navigation links,
music, interactive images and social media, I have been able to have a modern and appealing style. I feel that by sticking to these
conclusions that I made during planning, I have been able to follow real media techniques that are most popular and those that I
have found to be most memorable in order to make my website successful. After deconstructing websites, I found that The Crack
was the biggest real media product that I took most inspiration from and therefore influenced many of my creative ideas
throughout the production of this final product. As you can see, the main things the Crack inspired me to do was include a
navigation bar, have a pin-board style layout, include social media and have simplistic typography. These are the main things I
planned to take inspiration from however further inspirations were offered during the production stage which I will be analysing for
each individual convention of the front cover. I also challenged The Crack front cover in terms of the header bar that I have created,
the images that I have used and the more vibrant colour scheme. A lot of inspiration was taken from INDIE magazine also. I found
INDIE to be my biggest creative and visual inspiration due to their quirky style and therefore planned to have an aesthetic
homepage which subverted mainstream websites with the pin-board style. I did however majorly challenge their information and
topics which were not really relevant to my chosen magazine. I also challenged their use of imagery and added features which I felt
INDIE website lacked such as a navigation bar. Evidence of the inspirations and challenges from my initial real media explorations
are evident throughout all the conventions of my website and therefore my research and planning contributed immensely to the
production of my website in ensuring it confirmed to real media conventions.

16. HEADER
A header is a typical convention of a website and is used on almost every site to hold the masthead of the brand and
any other potential information that may deem most important in immediately attracting the audience. The header is
located at the top of the site and therefore needs to look appealing in order to draw the reader to the information
below. My main inspirations for my header design were from INDIE and The Crack. The conventions I have included are
a navigation bar, masthead, strapline, radio station and social media links. I decided to feature my header on all pages
of my website and to keep each convention the same throughout. I did this by pinning each feature which is a easy
technique that wix site allows you to do. It is very conventional for a website to use the header on each page and keep
it the same which is also seen in both INDIE and The Crack therefore I feel this shows I have used real media
products. Unlike my inspirations however, I decided to make my header a more focused and detailed feature. I wanted
my header to be a lot bigger than conventional headers as I feel the navigation bar is the most important aspect to
advertise the full range and variety my magazine offers. I therefore decided to make the widths of my header quite big,
so that it was instantly eye grabbing and more noticed than the likes of The Crack which just features a small header. I
will now be deconstructing my header further to evaluate which conventions were used, developed or challenged
throughout..

17. The Masthead is the main convention in my header and therefore sits central to the page. I feel this allows it to take the
dominant role and therefore the audiences eye-line leads directly to it. I was inspired by INDIE magazine to have my
masthead in the centre as it leads the page and allows all the supporting information to follow below it. I liked INDIE's
masthead a lot better than The Cracks which is positioned in the top left corner as it is not as likely to be noticed in this
position. Like my other ancillary task, I wanted my website to be a form of online advertisement for my magazine and
therefore it is important that the brand image is promoted. My masthead serves as a logo to my house style and brand
identity therefore it was most important that it was present on every page and in the centre of the content. I have used
the same typography design that I created on Photoshop and that I have featured on my magazine and billboard. This
allows the website to be directly associated to my other products and therefore shows they all work as a combined
piece. I was inspired by INDIE magazine to have enlarge the size of my masthead so that it was the biggest font on the
page but also quite large to stand out and take dominance. I feel I have achieved this look successfully and therefore
my header looks more bold and dominant than that of The Cracks. I also feel I have challenged INDIE however as my
logo has a drop shadow which creates a much greater contrast against the white background and is therefore much
more dominant. I have also moved my masthead more central to the header instead of just central to the page. INDIE
have their masthead in the middle of the page but touching the very top of the site. I feel my development here just
allows for more attention to be immediately drawn to the magazines name and therefore promotes the brand to the
fullest extent.

18. A convention that was inspired by INDIE was my social media bars. In the top left corner
of INDIEs header are links to twitter, facebook, pinterest, tumblr and email. I decided to
use this real media convention and therefore have created social media links in my own
header. I used the same layout idea as INDIE by positioning my links in the top left
corner of the header which helps to frame the main masthead. I have challenged INDIE
however by making my links more a graphical feature. Instead of just including the logo,
I have created a shape tool which helps them to stand out more. I have also decided to
only include 3 media accounts instead of 6. This is because my audience chose twitter,
Facebook and snapchat as their favourite sites in a survey I conducted therefore I
wanted to personalise my header to fit my audience. I feel in this modern era, social
media is extremely important therefore my including it in my masthead it allows the
audience to find new branches of my product which boosts its advertisement factor.

19. My homepage also has further interactive features that will appeal to the audience and
therefore uses real media techniques. For instance, when you hover over an image it fades
slightly. This is to show it is a clickable link and therefore will take you to another page if
clicked on. This is an easy form of navigating which is used throughout websites and
therefore makes it easier for the reader to go directly to the content they want. I also have a
navigation button at the very bottom of the page which reads "See More." When clicked
this would open further images and a larger moodboard therefore it is a development that
shows the content of my website is diverse and therefore there is something for everyone
which is appealing.

21. The main regional and national culture magazines that I have taken most inspiration from such as The Crack, Spark and
INDIE don't have billboards available that I could find online. This suggests that a billboard for a regional magazine in
my area will be successful at standing out from competition and therefore likely to get more attention. It also however
meant I had to look at more wider scale inspirations. During my research, I noticed that billboards contain some generic
conventions such as masthead and dominant image however each Billboard varies in content completely. Some focus
solely on the image to lead the page whereas others are highly detailed. I feel I had a lot more freedom when creating
my billboard due to this and therefore I wanted to make advantage by making something that is quirky and unique and
therefore will stand out. It did however take me many drafts to get to this point and numerous existing billboards
encouraged my process. It was mainly inspired by billboards from youtube, forever 21 and Empire Cinema however I
think the most obvious inspiration is this image from Bona Fide which is a culture magazine in America. Throughout, I
used, adapted and challenged the conventions of this billboard alongside those of fashion, music and film billboard in
order to create an overall culture appropriate billboard. I used similar stereotypical billboard conventions including
dominant image, masthead and contact details however I manipulated them in a way that is unique to my specific
brand and offers a design I have not yet seen on existing products. This is most important as billboards are a
competitive industry and often the most similar ones go unnoticed, which is what I had to take into account during
production. I also used my findings and inspirations from my research and planning such as my deconstructions and
conventions to help make the following decisions.

22. RESEARCH AND PLANNING
My research and planning stages really helped me to analyze real media products and find both the strengths and weaknesses to
which. This included deconstructing existing billboards, finding out generic conventions and analyzing what makes a billboard
successful. I came to these conclusions throughout my research. Firstly, I believed my magazine needed to be creative in order for
it to be memorable which I feel it has achieved as there is no other design like it. It achieves simplistic due to it being image led
and not having too much text to overcrowd the page which is what I found on some existing products which I disliked and
therefore challenged. I feel my billboard is modern due to the color scheme, young model and links to social media. It also offers
a contemporary and quirky style which would be much more appealing to the audience. I feel that by sticking to these
conclusions, i have been able to follow real media techniques that are most popular and those that I have found to be most
memorable in order to make my magazine successful. This second image shows some comments I have made about on of the
billboards I deconstructed. As you can see, the main things I took inspiration from was a simplistic design which I have followed
efficiently as my page uses minimal text. I was inspired by the limited color scheme and I feel my text almost become their own
graphic feature due to the way I have warped them on Photoshop. These are the main things I planned to take inspiration from
however further inspirations were offered during the production stage which I will be analyzing for each individual convention of
the billboard. Features that I planned to challenge are also featured such as social media links which were a development from
just using a website link and therefore more appealing to a younger audience. I also challenged the amount of detail to being
more specific but focused on the product. I wanted to include a sense of ambiguity so that the reader would stop and research
the product to find out more. Evidence of the inspirations and challenges from my initial real media explorations are evident
throughout all the conventions of my billboard.

23. MASTHEAD
Throughout all my products, my Masthead has become the representative of my brands image and
identity. From using it in my magazine and website, I thought it was only fitting to also include it in
my Billboard construction. The main purpose of a Billboard is to advertise a specific product,
company or event. In my case, I am advertising my magazine and therefore it is obvious I needed
to include the masthead in order to promote my brand. Also, in all of the billboard examples I
looked at for researching and planning, they included the convention of a masthead. This shows I
have used real media features to aid my own success and therefore to allow my Billboard to
achieve its form of advertisement. The presence of my magazine name will allow people to find out
more information about it online or to share what they saw with their friends. It also attaches an
identity to the rest of the billboard. For instance, the image and content can all be linked and
associated to the single masthead convention which is effective at leading the page.

24. When researching Billboards, I noticed that there is a divided opinion between the amount of text that
should be present on the page. Some Billboards offered a very minimalistic style such as this of
McDonalds which only includes a dominant image and masthead logo. Automatically from looking at the
image, you can tell that this is a Mcdonalds billboard and therefore no text is really needed. I feel this
super minimalistic look is only successful for well known brands or products which people already have
an association with and therefore already understand. I felt I had to challenge this style as my magazine
is new and therefore does not have a develop fanbase. It would be hard for people to understand what
my magazine stands for simply by looking at the name CLIQUE and therefore I decided to challenge this
simplistic text style. The next type of billboard text I challenged was detailed text. For instance, I felt
billboards like that of urban rock festival look far too overcrowd and the amount of text is likely to put
people off. Due to this, I decided to develop the real media products I researched and create a billboard
with a medium amount of text. As my audience would only be looking at it for a few seconds, I needed
the text to be short, snappy and straight to the point whilst also giving the most factual summary of my
bran and magazine.