Research for Magazine - Website

Research for Magazine - Website

Genre = Music & Fashion

Other Fashion Magazines (including music) to base research upon:

- W Magazine

- Dazed & Confused Magazine

- Wonderland Magazine

- i-D Vice Magazine

I tried to choose 4 very diverse magazines, aimed at different target audiences (all within my 16-24 age range) in order to get a wide range of connotations and similarities between a wide range of magazines, as well as see how different magazines can target different audiences in unique ways to others.

 W Website

What I first notice is the text which is present directly in centre screen. This immediately focus' attention onto the main headlines. This text is supported by the photo below it, and the photos on either side are supported by a headline below them, therefore only 1 photo is used per article on the home page. The logo of W is centre screen also but in the banner at the top. To the left of this is W Magazine's social media links, and to the right is a subscribe button with a picture of the latest

magazine to support it. Just below this immediate banner is a

search function where you can either directly search for an

article or choose a category you would want to view. The black

white colour scheme is also kept which links to its brand identity

of the physical magazine copies.

 Dazed & Confused Website
As soon as you click on the page, a giant banner at the top which features the name of the magazine is present. This is white on a yellow background, however has a photograph merged into the background. At the bottom right of this banner are two sponsored advertisements. Below this, at the left of screen, is a large close up shot of a woman's face. This has a heading just below the photo and is therefore the main headline. To the right of screen is a column of different news articles, with each
article being supported by 1 image. These are all labeled clearly
with what category they cover (fashion, music, politics).

 Wonderland Magazine

Unlike the other two websites, the immediate view of this website is only one large photo with the headline "Lili Reinhart She's a Hustler!". This doesn't have as much of a beginner friendly vibe to it in comparison to the other magazines where you can search or look for what you want to find (even though there is a very small search icon in the top bar at the right of screen). In the top banner is the name of the magazine in centre screen, and a drop down at the left hand of the screen where when you hover over it opens up different categories of news. When you scroll down there is a list of most read articles at the moment in time, with the different categories of news being below it. 

 i-D Website
Immediately a male and female representation and target is created with a split image taking up the entirety of the screen. Both of the pictures belong to the same article with the headline of it being centre screen. However, just above this is the logo of the magazine, directly in centre screen, the logo is also in the top banner. This featuring twice goes against the conventions present in the other websites where only one logo is present on the screen at one time. Once again at the top left, there features a small button which creates a drop down of all different genres on the website, and features a search button incase you want to look for a specific article. If you scroll down past the original headline, there is lots of articles which are new to i-D under the subheading "today on i-D". Above the headlines it shows the genres of news it fits into. Also in the banner, it now features the social media links at the top right.

Research for Magazine - Contents Page

Research for Magazine - Contents Page 

Genre = Music & Fashion

Other Fashion Magazines (including music) to base research upon:

- W Magazine

- Dazed & Confused Magazine

- Wonderland Magazine

- i-D Vice Magazine

I tried to choose 4 very diverse magazines, aimed at different target audiences (all within my 16-24 age range) in order to get a wide range of connotations and similarities between a wide range of magazines, as well as see how different magazines can target different audiences in unique ways to others.

W Magazine Example
The first thing which grabs the readers attention is the giant photograph present at the side of the contents. Unlike other magazines, there is only 1 photograph on the contents instead of being a wide variety, and this leaves the text not much flexibility within columns to fit. This means that all the text is in one single column at the left hand side, with different page numbers being under the subheadings "WHAT",  "WHERE", "WHY", "WHEN", and "DEPARTMENTS". This easily distinguishes the pages to allow the reader to quickly find something that they would want to see, e.g. a certain celebrity. Also at the top of the page, there is the logo of the magazine as well as the date published. The only colour of font used is black.





Dazed & Confused Magazine Example
Once again only a single photograph is used in this contents, however this one isn't as big as the W one. The photograph sits below the Contents signal but above the actual contents information, making it stay centre of the page. The contents is split into 2 different columns, "Features" and "Regulars", which are both self explanatory to what they contain. Features contain new things for the magazine whereas Regulars contain common occurrences between the different editions. At the top right hand corner of the page, there is a copy of the front cover of a different magazine edition, henceforth advertising further. The main colour of font used is black.










i-D Magazine Example 
This is a double page spread contents unlike the other two which are single page. To start off, it is filled with lots of varying photographs of different things which relate to the magazine and what it contains. This is more conventional of most magazines due to the easier understanding of the reader. These are mostly small boxes which are scattered around among the text, however there are some bigger ones at the top of the page which heavily divert attention towards them. At either side of the double page, there is a bright/colourful swirl of varying colours, this really brightens up the page and makes it look less serious due to the black and white general theme. In terms of dividing, the contents splits up the interior of the magazine into 5 sections, cover story, features, people, lifestyle, and etcetera. This is similar to W Magazine and it allows the reader to easily find what they want to look for.

Research for Magazine - Front Cover

Research for Magazine - Front Cover 

Genre = Music & Fashion

Other Fashion Magazines (including music) to base research upon:

- W Magazine

- Dazed & Confused Magazine

- Wonderland Magazine

- i-D Vice Magazine

I tried to choose 4 very diverse magazines, aimed at different target audiences (all within my 16-24 age range) in order to get a wide range of connotations and similarities between a wide range of magazines, as well as see how different magazines can target different audiences in unique ways to others.

W Magazine Example

In this front cover, a popular music icon (Beyonce) is used as the model. She is making eye contact with the camera while not giving much facial emotion in order to create an idea of power for her. This is a medium shot of her with centre focus, where the audience cannot see below her waist. For the background, a deep and regal red colour is used where it still shows depth to the image by not being a flat colour.

An all capitals and thin font is used in all the text, with only the size of the text and boldness changing - even with the name of the magazine. This is done in a white colour to go stand out against the background, this technique is often done in tabloid newspapers to make writing stand out. The main texts which stand out are "Beyonce Dressed To Kill", "Music & Style" and "Listen UP! Fashion's New Beat". All 3 of these include both music and fashion connotations.

Dazed & Confused Magazine Example

In this front cover, there are 2 photographs of a model which are merged into one split photo. One of the photos is a very extreme goth-like character whereas the other is a bland looking and normal boy. One way you could interpret this would be that there is always rebellion within all youth, as the boy on the right wants to become like the one on the left. The other way you can interpret this is that within rebellious youth, they still hold the want of wanting to live a normal life. Both of these interpretations target different audiences of youth at the same time. Behind the boy on the left is a plain black background, and behind the one on the right is white. This use of black vs white both makes the magazine give a very extreme polar opposite, as well as stand out to an audience due to its originality of non-generalised characteristics of a colourful cover.

The fonts are all in capitals and keeps the same black vs white colouring that the pictures have. The only text which stands out is "Not Everything is Black and White" which once again expresses a very subtle and vague meaning.

Wonderland Magazine Example

I chose both of these front covers as examples as they both contain the same model but both feature different types of shots to advertise the magazine. In the top cover, Shawn Mendes (famous singer - songwriter) is slightly left of frame in an extreme close up shot. He is looking slightly to the left of camera too, not making direct eye contact with the reader. The colours in this cover are very light focused, with a white shirt and a white background being present. This overall presents him as a fun character.

In the second cover, a further away medium shot is taken of him being to the right of screen. In this he has his head slightly tilted upwards to give a smug representation, and is making eye contact with the camera. Also the general colour of this cover is a lot darker, with the background being a dark grey beige and him wearing denim with dark jeans.

In both covers, a very minimalistic design is taken upon, where there is next to no external text apart from the name of the magazine and the name of the model. These are both again in a white colour, with the name of the model being in all capitals.

i-D Vice Magazine Example

In this cover, once again a famous music icon (Rihanna) is used to model. The photograph is a close up where only her chest and head is in camera view, and where she is posed in centre screen. The model is making eye contact with the camera with a very displeased/aggressive facial expression, this creates the representation of fear for the reader. Her hair is styled in a way to go against general fashion conventions of long and non-tied up hair, however this adds to her facial expression again, with one strand of it covering an eye to almost break the eye contact.

The text used is very minimal again with the only noticeable text being "play loud". This is once again in a white font, however unlike the other magazines is in complete lower case with no punctuation.