Codes and conventions of magazines

Codes and conventions of fashion magazines

Magazines typically feature conventions such as:

• The Masthead - the masthead is one of the most important features of a magazine other than the model, it identifies the name of the magazine and for some is a part of their brand identity on their own.

• The contents page - the contents page is where all stories in the magazine are features and numbered so that they are easy to find in the magazine. They are different in almost every magazine with some featuring photos as stories.

• Slogans - Magazines use slogans to interest and inform the reader in a few simple words. They often have some form of rhyming or play on words to read easier.

• The main image(s) - The main images are pictures that link directly to the larger stories in the issue, they usually feature elite people that are easily recognised by their public such as actors, fashion stars, models etc.

• The pugs/ puffs - pugs or puffs are used on covers to catch the reader's attention; they usually are offers or things that would attract the reader. They can also advertise the stories inside of the magazine to compel the audience to buy the magazine so that they can find out.

• Headline - these usually are the main statement of the issue, headlines advertise the main story in a way that advertises itself to their audience. Generally, they are the largest font on the front cover other than the masthead and take up a large portion of space on the front cover.

• Ranges of font styles - magazine covers often have a large range of fonts they use in other features such as headlines, offleads and slogans. This gives variety to the cover with the fonts giving depth to the cover instead of one set font such as a newspaper.

Fashion magazines:

With the models head interacting with the masthead - popular mass media fashion magazines can afford for the model on the front cover to obscure their own masthead as they know that they have a large enough following that know and recognise the magazine without fully seeing the cover or masthead. Large fashion magazines often have higher priority models such as high ranking actors or pop stars which means that their cover caters not only to their audience but the model's audience as well as increasing audience readings.

Typical fashion conventions would be features such as talking about the newest fashion, borderline 'erotic' or inviting model poses, the latest trends and advice on fashion, drama in the fashion world. They would use multiple different models and stars to cater to large audiences, advice from these elite people with terms such as 'how to dress like...' Fashion magazines cater to people who are interested in physical change and are influenced by people they consider more fashionable and as such use these people to influence their audience to read their magazine.

Analysis of magazines

Magazine industry research

Bauer Media Group

·         Founded in 1875, European based

·         Manages around the world

o   over 600 magazines

o   Over 400 digital products

o   50 radio stations

·         Magazines started production in 1953 with the 'Angling times' and 1956 with 'Motorcycle news' which are still running today.

·         Bauer Media in the UK:

o   Bauer Media in the UK reaches around 22 million people in the UK using cross-platform media.

·         Bauer Media in Germany

o   Germany is Bauer Medias' headquarters

o   They entered the magazine market with 'Tina' which is one of women's magazines most popular today in Germany

The Magazine industry - statistics

·         Nearly 37 million adults consume magazines each month but about 27 million read print magazines while 9 million read magazines on Desktop computers, 19 million read magazines on phones. With an overall 71% of the Uk's population consuming magazines each month

·         In 2016 £877 million was spent on the magazine industry with

o   Clothes/Accessories magazines having £85m advertised

o   £68 million in cosmetics magazines

o   £40 million spent on household equipment magazines

o   And £27 m spent each on leisure equipment and entertainment magazines

·         Monthly reach in age:

·         75% of millennials consume magazines each month

·         65% of over 50-year-olds consume magazines each month

 

·         69% of abc1 men consume magazines each month

·         84% of abc1 women consume magazines each month

Target audience research

What my target audience is


My target audience is going to be a 16-25 aged group. They will also be grouped as A-B individuals with an educated and sophisticated learning, this means that their parents or guardians will be of a greater social class and more economically inclined. They might work as doctors or lawyers which provide large sources of income. Bauer media advertises itself to this Target audience as well as more niche audiences.


16-18 year olds would still be invested in their education and standing in school and thus would be invested in cheap but fashionable clothes.


19-21 year olds would be starting university or jobs/apprenticeships and would be interested in staying fashionable while staying cheap or shops that are cheaper but still highly fashionable or maybe offers that shops might have on. They would also be interested in party outfits with them being able to drink and the night life of university or adult hood.


22-25 year olds while still actively young and possibly interested in nightlife would now be settling down in professional jobs or working their way up to them and might be interested in professional and affordable clothes.

Notes on Grazia magazine: 26th March 2018

• Medium longshot,
• Centre of frame, over the shoulder shot.
• Background out of focus darker/more colourful. Flash photography (?)
• Possibly darkened in editing due sharp shadows.
• Convention of Grazia is that the models' head interacts with the ‘Grazia’ masthead.
• Sans serif and serif text
• Yellow to draw eye (bright colours fits with the use of green in the background/ complementary colours)
• Social news, drama/ affairs + advertisement of clothes
• Offers (25%) near title, (ideas of when fully stacked all ‘important’ information can be seen
• Appeal to children of groups A+B don’t want to spend too much money on one set of clothing.
• Appeal to cheaper alternatives. Those that subscribe or strongly follow Grazia can recognise the theme
• Those that merely ‘browse’ can link with the selected celebrity, elite characters.
• Meets TA of 16-25 year olds with elite characters higher end fashion, gossip/news and fashion news.
• No social media links
• No subscription mention

Design Ideas

• I like the use of the banners to present stories and topics and the use of image borders to identify different images
• I like the use of colour coordinated imagery (green + yellow)
• I like the use of multiple sans serif and serif fonts, creates a difference between stories
• I do not like the bright yellow or neon colours, I feel it is too immature and lacks sophistication
• I also do not like the photography, to me it seems subpar to a highly successful magazine with the use of lighting

Font

• Connotations of elegant serif fonts
• conventions of Grazia/ house style or brand identity
• Use of the headline font produces synergy - creates a brand
• play on words 'instaglam'
• colour catches eye to topics
• All caps

Subjects

• Emma Watson: Romance, gossip, drama, Elite persons
• Beyonce+Jay Z: 'On the run from...divorce?' Gossip, drama, elite persons
• 'Style out swinter' play on words, fashion
• Interview 'Ava DuVernay the game changing $100 million director

 

 

 

 

Statement of intent Brief: Magazine

I plan on working on Brief 3 which features creating a magazine and online website working for Bauer in an independent media production company creating a new fashion magazine. My TA would be a culturally sophisticated 16-25 year old audience and I would produce the first two editions. My idea would be to feature a 'binary' newspaper using Levi Stauss's binary oposition theory where the two major stories of the magazine would be complete opposites for each other in order to appeal to a mass media audience using a niche theme and idea (for example male+female)  

Statement of intent

I am making a Shelter advertisement that aims towards the economically challenged and families as well as individuals willing to donate to charity. The advert is not aimed at any specific gender but rather a mass audience of many different people in need of help and those willing to help. I will use images to present hope for those in need and inspiration to those that wish to donate. This 'hope' can be represented by how the model does not focus on the camera and the cameral is somewhat uncomfortably close for a normal picture. The Shelter advert focuses entirely on the model and leaves no room for distraction other than a dark background; this would get the point across to the audience. The advert would be impactful in busy areas that have a large percentage of homeless and areas where middle class people, with education and money congregate in order to persuade people to donate more as those with understanding of the situation and money would be more likely to donate.

Shelter Advertisement

The Shelter advertisement's background while consisting of a small amount of the page is entirely dark and blends into the model's face. This is useful for focusing on the model's face instead of any other possible background objects. The background is left entirely empty of any important facts or information, this represents the advert as intently focused on the meaning of the advert as well as a serious topic. The black of the background represents the advert as serious and bold rather than light, pastel colours the dark black and the font's predominant red contrasts to present a serious topic.

 

The model has been taken at an extreme close up of their face, they do not focus on the camera which represents the fact that there is no posturing and that this is a serious matter and does not need the stereotypical posturing of product advertisements. The image seems to present the advert as invasive and private to the model despite the fact that millions of people have come to face the same problems, this links to the fact that many people are struggling to find homes or they cannot find a voice to ask for help. The dark background helps to further this representation as it leaves no room for one to focus on anything else.

The font used in the advert contrast in colours. The red follows the brand identity of Shelter as a red logo and the most important information is coloured red. The font is located around the face of the model and areas where there is not much distraction such as the hair or lips. The overlay of the 'I CAN'T FACE IT' links to how the advert seems to be invading on the models thoughts and concerns, as well as being coloured red which represents alarm or danger; many people in need of help find their lives in danger when faced with these problems.

Maybelline makeup analysis

The Maybelline advert ues the stereotypical convention of a white plain background. This is due to the fact that as a beauty advert the company aims to focus entirely on the makeup and the model instead of multiple subjects at once. The white background compliments the skin colour of the model to present the subject as mature and elegant which suits the convention of the female gender being elegant, beautiful and pure as the colour white represent purity. The bright colours compliment the muted advert's pallete as the exposure of the image makes the model easy to see. Due to the plain background the model is the entire focus of the advert and is the first thing the aucience would see, this makes the advertisement effective due to the fact that as a makeup company, it is important that the make up is visual and aesthetically pleasing in order to appeal to the audience.

The model is purposely posing in such a way that focuses entirely on her face. The camera finger pose represents that the model is the most important thing to see and that they need to be the center of attention. Her hair is pulled away from her face and there is little show of clothes, this is used to present the model to the audience with no distractions. The text in front of the model's face is very vffective as the 'don't mask me' is the second thign one would see. It is also ironic as the text is masking part of her face, thus giving the representation that this statement is a part of the model. As the text is in frame with the model's finger frame, the text is shown to be more important as the company name.

The font seems to be similart of a sans serif bold Arial font. The sharp, straight and bold lines of the font create a modern and mature image which helps to present the model as elegant and bold. The 'don't mask me' is in bold which further expands the idea that the model is bold and in control. The company name 'MAYBELLINE' covers the entire page however is not in the center of the advert, this is useful for a makeup advertisement as the audience needs to be able to visualise what the mae up  looks like in order for them to be interested in buying the product.

 

Backgrounds for my advert

 This textured background would be good for some slight difference in the background as the model is taken in an extreme close up. This background may provide a more subtle interest due to how the light shifts.

 I think this image would be good as a background as like the one above it is more interesting to the normal black image, The lines aren't too distracting and in fact would provide a good texture once blurred and put out of focus.

 The pure solid black while simple, is great for focusing purely on the focus of the advert, it is neat, practical and doesn't require any editing in
a software as there are no patterns to blur or light spots to blend out.

 This geometric background would work well to provide an excellent depth of field for the advert, putting the model in the foreground instead of midground, thus expanding on the importance of the advert.






This background while not 3D is quite subtle and mature compared to others. It is good for when addressing a serious issue and would be easy to blur out in order to focus on the model.

The brick wall background would be good for addressing the issue of people not having homes or living in an abusive house. It's subtle and would fit well with the theme of the Shelter advert.