In both my magazine and the NME magazine featured above there are several forms and conventions which I think my product has used, developed from and challenged.
The first few examples of forms and conventions that I have used in my magazine are the obvious things such as the Masthead, the use of coverlines, barcode, a 'plus' bar along the bottom, all of which make my magazine seem more legitimate and make it seem like a real magazine that is on sale. On the other hand there are several things that are missing from my magazine that NME has, the first main thing is the 'WIN!' bubble, my magazine doesn't feature anything you can win, and the other thing I think my magazine could do with is a bright banner, showing off and grabbing the attention of the reader as to what is currently in the magazine, especially as in NME the cover is mainly black, white and red, so the yellow text at the top in large lettering certainly helps to improve the ability of the magazine to grab the potential audiences attention when they are looking at the shelf. Another thing that both my magazine and the NME product shown have in common is the use of a black and white image. I feel that this was essential to get the required look for my magazine, which was aiming to get an old school look whilst getting the indie feel, I feel that my magazine did this successfully while also using forms and conventions of a real media product.
I think that as far as development is concerned my magazine doesn't build on many points that the current NME product does, but nevertheless there are still a few. The first main point being that I feel NME's logo and design is fairly outdated, having the same masthead and logo since 1978 (albeit with slight variations to get to today's masthead/logo). I feel that my masthead/logo is something new and fresh, and the versatility and simplicity of the logo/masthead means that I can use it almost anywhere.
In my opinion my magazine challenges the NME product on several different levels, and this time it is more focused on the contents page. The NME contents page is very bland, using only black and white, with a little bit of red, this makes the information cluttered and isn't particularly easy to read, yes the titles with the black highlight and the white text is very effective, and do make it a little easier to find information, but I still feel it is very cluttered. The slight use of red makes it a little easier, but even then I think there is too much information on the page split into too many different categories, I feel that mine is simple, ordering the information by their page number, having the beginning of the magazine at the top, and the back of the magazine at the bottom. I also feel that using a large image and using the front cover to describe and show what the main feature of the magazine is links both the cover and the contents a lot better, whilst at the same time making it easier to find the main feature of the magazine - in the magazine. The idea of using the front cover as a small image in the contents page came from an issue of FHM, which had a description with the cover next to it, I felt that this added more of an impact to the page, and visually improving it, having less in the way of words and more in the way of images.
As far as the double page spread goes I feel that mine is a vast improvement and challenges the NME double page spread to the left. I think the first point are the colours used, although Oasis are seen as an old school grungy and outgoing band, that don't really do modern talk, I don't see a reason why the colours need to be so bland, the browns and blacks in the photography make the whole double page very bland and unappealing to a teenage audience, this is where I feel my double page spread for my magazine - Cardinal, is a lot better, because I was also going for the old school look, with the 'no modern talking' attitude, and I think I achieved it with a few visual attachments, that weren't originally meant to be there, the first example are the little Ramones inspired logos, it was a spur of the moment thing when I was working on the page, I saw the opportunity and put a British twist to it, using the three lions and Tom's made up stage name, whereas on the NME page there isn't much like it, they have the '2013 long range forecast' badge, but it doesn't bare much relevance to Beady Eye and Liam Gallagher. I feel that the direction of both my magazine and NME is also reflected in both of these covers and other small hints as well. For some reason NME feel the need to report everything from 'Beady Eye', 'Noel Gallagher', 'Liam Gallagher' and any possible opportunity for an Oasis comeback, whereas my magazine is reporting on something different every week, it is very versatile, which is the main challenge that my double page spread is making against NME, it's new, different, and isn't repeating itself.
Lastly I feel that I have also progressed in using the internet, with the ability to now use sites like Blogger, Slideshare and Prezi I feel that I can now use the internet for something slightly more useful than taking photos of my dinner on instagram and moaning about my life on twitter. I can now say I would feel completely comfortable setting up my own blog on a subject of my choice, and could use it for work related tasks as well (for example I set up another blog for my AS Law class as part of a group task). I can also see now that all of these methods, particularly Blogger would be a good way in the future to connect with customers if I was to create a business. Overall I would say this whole project was a great success, and I could now say I was a lot more comfortable with technology and may consider website and magazine design in the future as a career.
