Fashion Magazine Website Investigation

I have looked at the Tattler and Harper's Bazaar websites and made a presentation, in this presentation I have included screenshots of each area I am discussing and I have also added some of my ideas for my own magazine's website.

FASHION MAGAZINE WEBSITE INVESTIGATION AND ANALYSIS:

Design by Be C

Choosing the Masthead

I have looked at fonts online, and narrowed mine down to five different fonts, to choose a final one i have once again done a survey, to see what an 16-25 year-old would prefer the masthead for a fashion magazine cover named 'A LA MODE'. I have chose mostly serif fonts as I think that these are traditionally used the most in fashion magazines and is connoted as classic and elegant which is what I want my magazine to be. I have also added a couple of fonts which aren't in capitals this is to add variation, these fonts are also more calligraphic, as I also wanted to see how the audience would respond to a masthead which isn't commonly used in fashion magazines.

THE SURVEY:

MY CONCLUSIONS:

I have chosen the second masthead, the font used is called Edition, this is similar to Elle fashion magazine masthead, it is a serif of which is considered elegant and classic, but this one also has some elements of modern fonts. I want this to be bold so I have made almost all the mastheads in capitals, this is also what most fashion magazines that I am inspired have their mastheads.

Planning the Front Covers, Content Pages and Websites

Below is a presentation of a website plan I made which I have made on Wix, in this presentation I have used a template to plan a website which I could possible make and to see what it looks like, I have also made two mind maps for each of my plan for my first two editions.

WEBSITE DESIGN PLAN:

PLAN FOR EDITION 1:

PLAN FOR EDITION 2:

Colours Scheme, Feature and Typography Research

For this research I am going to look into the different aspects separately but only looking into covers of Elle, Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, for all of these. For the colour scheme research I am going to look at the colour wheel and its relation to colour and the way different colours have different connotations, and then analyse how this used in four different seasonal covers of Elle, Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, while also analysing the reasoning behind the typographic choices, which I have done research for by looking at the connotations of the three types of typefaces. I have also used the colour scheme and the typography to analyse their motivations behind the features.

Speak Visually. Create a presentation with Visme

For my own magazine covers I want to use the seasons of autumn and winter, for the features I want to have the name of the season and an alliteration which is often used by magazines in some more special issues. For my autumn edition I want to use a colour scheme of greens and oranges with black and white for text, I think that this colour scheme blends well with the background and will make it stand out. While for the winter edition I want to use cooler hues with different shades of white and blues, these are colours which represent winter at their best as winter is cold and often associated with snow. For my masthead I want to use a serif font and want it to be in capitals, this will make it seem classic and elegant and will match the French name. I want to use the same font as the masthead for the main feature and a similar font for the other articles.

Choosing a Name

In this project I have three different main ideas for magazine names, for my final choice I have chosen to do a survey mostly within the age group of the magazine (16-25), the blank survey I have made is below...

BLANK SURVEY:

MEANING OF THE NAMES:

I have narrowed it down to these three names as I think that they are the most interesting to represent a fashion magazine. Below are three brief dictionary descriptions of what each of these words mean:

• MANIA - An obsession, an excessive enthusiasm or desire.
• CRAZE - A euphemism for an object or activity which achieves widespread popularity but this popularity is short lived. 
• Á LA MODE - In fashion, up to date.
• CHIC - Stylish and elegantly fashionable.

COMPLETED SURVEY:

CONCLUSIONS:

For the survey I asked the seven people to add their initials above and then choose one or two names that they thought would be best for a fashion magazine, I also asked them to write any notes/thoughts they had about these names on the side. From the survey I have chosen the most popular name: Á La Mode. This name means in fashion and up to date, which reflects what I would like my magazine to be like, in French which I think is fitting of a fashion magazine, as Paris is one of the four fashion capitals of the world and is home to some of the worlds most famous brands. Paris is also where someone who is in my target demographic may visit often or shop often, my target demographic may also go travel much and go to private schools which means that they most likely speak another language French being one of them.

Celebrity/Model Representation In Fashion Magazines

As fashion magazine commonly features a famous celebrity or model, I am looking into different model or celebrity representations in fashion magazines, for this I have looked into three different magazine covers for the actress Jennifer Lawrence; I have focused on Vogue, Elle Canada and Vanity Fair, I have analysed each of the front covers individually, while talking about the representation of the actress and comparing them throughout.  

THE FASHION FRONT COVERS:

Fashion Photography Investigation

I have made a presentation which explores both fashion photography and fashion magazine photography. In this presentation I have researched the different aspects of fashion photography, the different ways that they can be achieved and the effect they have on the photos. For the fashion magazine photography investigation, I have chosen three front covers and stated how the aspects of fashion photography have been used and evaluated the effectiveness of this, in relation to the season of the article. This will help me, as I can learn more about the photos used in fashion magazine's and the types of photos i should be aiming to have as well as it helps me gain ideas of what I will want to do for my own magazine.

FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY AND FASHION MAGAZINE PHOTOGRAPHY RESEARCH:

FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY INVESTIGATION by Be C

About the Bauer Media Group

I have made a Pow toon presentation which investigates the Bauer Media Group and their importance in media and how this helps me in my work.

INVESTIGATION OF THE BAUER MEDIA GROUP:

Case Studies

For these case studies, I have chosen the fashion magazine Red and Vogue UK, I have chosen to look in depth at Vogue UK and only deconstructing an issue of Red's front cover and content pages. I have done this because it will be important as it will be the magazine which I take the most inspiration for my own and will help me understand the readership of an actual fashion magazine.

THE CASE STUDY OF VOUGE:

DECONSTRUCTION OF RED MAGAZINE FRONT COVER AND CONTENT PAGE:

Fashion Moodboard

For my overall fashion magazine aesthetic I have made a fashion mood board, which will help me know what I can do and help me develop my ideas, the mood board which I made uses fashion photography, magazine covers, different fonts, and colour palettes;  I have not included any images of websites as I wanted to make this more focused on the brand of the magazine. I have chosen to focus on theme of winter and autumn, and have chosen what will be included in this mood board accordingly...

MOOD BOARD:

In this mood board I have chosen photography which has been taken in a range of places with many different models, and mis-en-scene, these are useful as they all look as if from the seasons which I want to use for my own magazine, I have chosen these specific photos as I want to draw inspiration from many different types of photos, angles, lighting and setting. For the fonts I have chosen four different types of font which are both serif and sans serif, I have chosen these because these are very minimalism but stylish, they are the modern types of fonts that would now be used in a fashion magazine. I have few magazine covers as I wanted to broaden the types of styles that I could look into and the colour palettes, I have chosen the ones which I found the most seasonal, although I may not use these colour palettes on my own magazine; I would like to make something which takes elements from these, such as some of the colder blue hues for winter and the warmer orange ones for autumn. Overall I think that what worked well in this mood board is the variety of different elements which I have included, but I think that I could have added more magazine covers as this is what the main focus of my brief is and also added print screens from websites, despite wanting to focus on the branding.

Looking back, the mood board above does not match the themes which I am looking for. I have used two images which look out of place, the Cara Delevingne Vogue cover which uses brighter colours despite the splashes of blue, and this does not go with the muted colours and the autumn theme which I have used on that side of the page, does not fit the overall mood either. I have made two other mood boards, one for each season: autumn and winter, below...

AUTUMN MOOD BOARD:

In the autumn edition, I would like to use the theme of nature and everything being more natural. Here I have chosen some magazine covers which use the orange and green colour palette as this is what I'm aiming to do. I also would like to experiment with the blurry background and lighting; I would also like to take photos which use trendy and chic clothing instead of avant-garde garments, as it is clothing that women wear everyday and make it more relatable, similarly to the Gigi Hadid Vogue cover. As shown by the majority of photos I would also like to take photos in a park and near trees, as this is the epitome of nature and it follows the similar colour scheme to what I want. The images of websites that are here are some potential liked pages and website home pages structure that I could use, they also feature articles from their autumn edition which is what I would like to include despite the winter edition being the last one, thus being used the most on the website.

WINTER MOOD BOARD:

In this winter edition, I want to use a theme of comfort, minimalism and New Years, I have chosen photos with muted colours or cooler hues, with the poses the models are making it seem more genuine and this is what I am aiming to do, the clothes that the models are wearing are comfortable and chic but not extravagant which is how I want to make my cover, as I want to make the magazine have it's own style of portraying fashion. I want to take these photos in a city street or a studio, where I can control the lighting and the background colour, but I also want to take some photos on a street to make it more spontaneous. 

My Target Audience

In this post I will be researching my target audience for the magazine to allow me to carefully plan who to reach the ideal reader of this fashion magazine. 

The brief tells me that I will be making a magazine for a target audience of 16-25 women from AB class background. The UK, the class system is measured using the NSR Social Grid, here is a copy below, indicating the class system I should be looking into.

THE NSR SOCIAL GRID:

INFORMATION ABOUT THE POTENTIAL LIVES OF THE AB CLASS:

• Jobs: company owner's, CEO's, barrister's, surgeon's, financiers 
• Income: enough for private education, luxury cars and homes 
• Spare time: shopping, afternoon tea, traveling 
• Political Stance: Conservative
• Food shopping: Waitrose, Fortum and Masons, Harrods Food Hall
• Clothes: designer clothing, Harrods, Selfridges
• Live in: Victoria, Knightsbridge (somewhere very green, secure and in central London)
• Education: private schools, well-educated, speak well 

SOME CHARACTERISTIC'S OF A MODEL AB PERSON:

• In the 16-25 female demographic
• Wears designer clothes, shoes and makeup
• Active social media user
• Private education
• Inheritance 
• Enjoys jet setting and partying  
• Likes to keep up to date with fashion and world news