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

Firstly, I used original conventions such as a standard A4 size. I did this because if I used A5 for example either the text would be too small or I would be crowding everything together. If it was bigger, such as A3, it would limit who would want to buy it because it's not easily transported and can seem overwhelming.
I challenged a usual convention by using black as my main colour, whereas a convention of other magazines is to use bright bold colours to stand out. Instead of doing this I chose a dark theme of black and red to stand out in a different way to my target audience of rock and metal fans. On the other hand, I used yellow to make attractions such as pugs and puffs stand out against the black on shelves.

Secondly, my Masthead has been constructed with inspiration mainly from Kerrang! The font I used, which according to the creator, is "rock, metal, music". This makes me feel it is suitable for my mast head. It is important to portray the genre through the mast head as it is the first thing that will be read on the shelf. 'Hard Tempo' came from the fact that the magazine is based on heavy music with a fast beat, also known as tempo. It is short and snappy so it is easy to recognise and memorable. Using white makes the title stand out. I chose dark red to make the text resemble anger and blood, and therefore fits my target audience. It also ties in with my cover line colours which I used for the same reason.

The secondary images I used were my own photos I had taken of rock singers or concerts I have been to myself. I used these because they inform the reader of what is featured inside.
For my central image I used a black wall as the background and made sure the model's t-shirt was black as I found, from my survey, black is the best colour for a rock magazine. I made the images black and white so the model, the guitar and design on his t-shirt contrast to the black. They follow stereotypes of rock music through angry expressions, black clothing, electric guitars and sometimes face paint. I made sure his face was centred on the cover so it is clearly seen so he can be recognised by people who like the music; they would feel encouraged to buy it. Another convention that I challenged what the fact of having my barcode on the front whereas others have it on the back to make room for more advertising space. However, my price is an advertising feature to attract buyers as it is relatively cheap compared to others in the industry.