Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

To answer this question, I will look at: 

• The title of my magazine
• The models
• My images
• Fonts and written content
• And layout

I will analyse how or how I have not stuck to conventions and how similar this makes my product to other products on the market. Before I started this evaluation, I created a quick moodboard to showcase some of the above topics. 

TITLE OF MY MAGAZINE:

Firstly, I looked at the title and assessed whether or not I thought it followed naming conventions. I decided that ultimately it did. I had observed conventions and then obeyed them when choosing my name to ensure that my name was memorable and recognisable. Of the conventional categories I observed, I ensured that I chose the least common one so that my magazine was still somewhat original as well as being conventional. 

MODELS:

After that, I looked at costume and props. I firstly looked at how I had styled them. With Toni, I mainly stuck to conventions with regards to how she looked. However, I did make some changes regarding the makeup. Whilst most magazines used natural makeup, I decided that I would use more makeup and go for a less natural look. This was to have a more attractive look and to draw attention in to the eyes. Conversely, with Andy, I did not consider conventions. Whilst he wore wedding attire and therefore somewhat conformed to expectations, the style I chose was nontraditional and therefore stood out. I also looked at who I had chosen to model. Whilst Toni and Andy obeyed conventions, the rest of my models were unconventional and challenged conventions.

IMAGES:

Next, I looked at images. For the most part, the way I had styled my model and the prop she had used - she followed conventions perfectly. However, the background gave the page something non-conventional as it was outside. This could create interest. Two of three of the images on the contents page are conventional whilst one defies some conventions and provides a more unique image. The images on my article page were all relatively conventional whilst the images on my online article were a little different to what might be expected. For the billboard, there were no product conventions to follow but I obeyed genre conventions as best as I could. Finally, there were some images that did and some images that didn't meet conventions on my website homepage. I feel that I had a good mix.

FONTS AND WRITTEN CONTENT:

I believe my use of fonts obeyed conventions and I analysed similar products and based my font choices off of that information. Two of my chosen fonts exemplified this. However, two of the fonts were different and defied these expectations. I also looked at my sell lines and how I had changed them but kept them similar to real products. Finally, I looked at my articles and referenced how they were typical for regional magazines and obeyed conventions.

Fonts and written content from BethDoesMedia

LAYOUT:

With my layouts, I attempted to develop conventions and create unique products that, whilst based loosely off other products, had original factors. I also remembered my generic conventions and paid attention to those. 

Transcript: 
With regards to layout, I paid attention to my generic conventions and included those. Made sure of it. This was because I felt that they were a necessary checklist for a complete product. From there, I had more freedom for creativity. I did use existing products as inspiration however I always added something or changed something so I developed conventions. With my front cover, I took a specific layout and added in a publisher name and replaced the lure with a tag line. With my contents page, I obeyed conventions regarding image placement but I added a title to my contents list and added in an editors note. This was more regionally conventional. With my article layout, I added in features to fill the page. These features included pull quotes and credits. I added additional information to the billboard and I added more article links and an editors note to my website - once again regionally conventional. I also took inspiration from but, in the end, completely revamped the Belle Bridal purchase page. And I did not take any inspiration for my online article. This was completely original and free from conventions except for generic conventions and genre conventions.
This shows that I changed layouts and developed conventions and so that they kept genre signifiers and kept the parts of the pages that worked but I also added in some originality by defying convention here and there.

Conclusion: 

I created the following graphics to summarise what was said in this post:

This also illustrates a key point. I have mostly obeyed conventions here. I have kept the features that worked, the genre signifiers, and the inspiration from more successful products. However, I have challenged certain things. I have changed them when it has worked better for me. I have kept an even mix or thereabout. This ensures that I match people's expectations of what a bridal magazine should be whilst simultaneously providing new and original content and standing out from competitors.