To ensure that my knowledge on the chosen brief was vast
enough to guarantee the success of my own product, it was necessary to, before
planning my own, analyse other covers, contents pages, and feature spreads from
the same chosen genre as my magazine. As the genre selected was fashion,
amongst the analysis was Vogue and Cosmopolitan, two magazines that are very
successful in the fashion magazine industry; in particular, Vogue. Vogue is
considered to be the fashion bible, and is the most successful fashion magazine
in the world. For me, this is a perfect example if I want to ensure the success
of my own product. Though, Eden is a regional fashion magazine, so it was
necessary to also analyse a regional magazine from Cornwall, the area of which
I am focusing on. As my target audience is, in majority, students, ‘Toast’ was
the magazine I felt as though it was the most appropriate to analyse in terms
of obtaining an insight as to how the particular audience chosen are attracted
to regional magazines. The reasoning for researching before creating my own
product was because I needed to have general knowledge on the common
conventions that successfully attract my chosen target audience, in order to
allow my own magazine to have the ability to appeal to them. They would expect
to see certain conventions, so it made sense to figure out which conventions
were necessary before coming up with ideas that could take the conventions and
push them further, and make them more unique to stand out against my
competitors.
My front cover is able to capture the target audience’s attention through
a number a differing features. The masthead is one of these, following common
conventions, which I found through my analysis of each cover. Bentley (1997)
‘The creative process is the rearranging of the old to create the new’. I have
taken this theory into consideration, observing the conventions that make the
mastheads have a professional aesthetic appeal. My masthead is monochrome, in
white; for the purpose of ensuring it does not interfere with any chosen colour
scheme in each issue, as I would keep it the same for each one, with the
exception of any ‘special’ issues. As an observation of Vogue, and other
successful fashion magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, and Flare, I
noticed that a key convention was the use of a sophisticated font, almost as
though it is reminiscent of early print, such as the mastheads of 1920s
newspapers. Usually, a masthead is merely a masthead on its own, but I
have developed this by placing a darker version of the masthead in grey behind
the white, and slightly to the right, almost as though it is somewhat outlined
or shadowed slightly. The reasoning for doing so is because I feel that, in
order for Eden to be successful, it must take on board common conventions of
fashion magazines, but also develop them in order to allow itself to stand out
against competitors. Usually, as a common convention of fashion magazines, the
masthead takes up the top 1/8 of the page, mine is just over 1/5 of the page.
Though the reasoning for it needing to take up 1/8 of the cover is so that it
is visible on shelves where magazines are stacked, I did not feel as though my
chosen title looked quite right, and was not pleased with the overall
aesthetics of the piece. I also noticed after analysis of other fashion
magazines and general observation that quite a lot of them have defied this
rule, especially magazines such as Vogue and Elle. Their mastheads are quite a
lot larger than those of magazines that are perhaps not as successful. I also
feel confident in my decision due to the fact that Toast, the regional
magazine, has a masthead that is actually in the centre of the page, conveying
how it desires to create a unique selling point in order to attract the
audience of students.
The main image is one of the most important features that I
was required to focus on to ensure the success of my product. Because it is a
fashion magazine, the predominant centre of attention would be the clothing of
the model,
