Evaluation 4: In what ways does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The most effective way of seeing how much my product uses/develops/challenges conventions is by doing a comparison between mine and existing magazines of the same genre.

The definition of convention is :

When applying this definition to magazines- specifically, music magazines- the conventions are characteristics that are seen on almost every issue of the magazine of that genre, so the design and layout have generally the same theme. Characteristics vary depending on genre- for pop, conventional grouping would be something 'fun' about the colour scheme and design. On a heavy rock magazine, the conventions would be the opposite.

As my magazine is Korean Pop, my magazine leans more to the fun and light-hearted side.

Looking at different Korean Pop magazines, some have overcrowded cover pages filled with text and a large main image. My preferred convention style is like Billboard- a simple layout but still obviously within the Pop genre.

CONVENTIONS OF AN EXISTING K-POP MAGAZINE

CONVENTIONS OF MY MAGAZINE

It is clear through this comparison that my magazine follows the 'normal' conventions of a Pop magazine quite closely, but also travels slightly into my own creation.

I think that my magazine uses the conventions and forms of normal and current magazines, and I have kept it within what is usually seen in Pop magazines so that when readers see it on a shelf they will know exactly what genre it is, and make buying easier because they can find what they are looking for easily.