Magazine Research

One of my main inspirations for my magazine cover is Vogue, which is one of the most popular magazines of all time. This Vogue cover from the 1960's features Twiggy who was an icon of her time, she is shot with a close up of her face, providing an innocent/suspicious look on her which correlates to the cover line of 'Cute. But devilish inside', the  side lighting on her face creates a feeling that she is hiding something where as the heavy makeup used to create bigger eyes enhances her innocent features giving her a cute look which many would admire. The close up shot is covering almost all of the cover and if a the main feature which the consumers would focus on and be drawn to. Twiggy has been used for this cover as she was a very high demand model and many looked up to her because of her classy look. Many of the cover lines do no not give much away about the content inside and leave enigma codes for the audience. This cover is shot in black and white as that was what was readily available at the time. The black and white adds a retro vibe to the cover and enhances the high fashion look. There is no sexualisation of Twiggy as she is completely covered up. The main target audience of Vogue is Females from around 18-40, this is a wide age range meaning that the magazine should feature articles for everyone in-between that age group. The demographic classification for vogue is around B-C1. This is the target audience I would like to aim my magazine to this as there is more options to work with as the primary audience is quite broad.

This other vogue cover featuring Olga Kurylenko, was shot in the 21st century but the use of black and white gives it a more vintage look which may appeal to a wider audience. The mid shot of her with 60's inspired fashion creates innocent feel as she has a neutral expression with her hand delicately placed on her face, along with her not being provocatively dressed adds a demure aura to the model, which is admired by many as it is a rare sight in the media today. The title is the only feature of colour of the magazine cover and puts emphasis on 'Vogue' in front of the black and white. This is a feature I would like to use on my cover as I want the main colour scheme to be black and white without sacrificing the title colour meaning that it will still stand out on shelves amongst other competing magazines. Both of the Vogue magazines have the model facing straight into the camera, making direct eye contact to the audience, this is used to create a connection with the consumer to improve chances of them buying the magazine, This is a feature I am considering for my magazine as it creates a more friendly feeling to it.

This is a double page spread from Vogue, the main aspect that I will be taking inspiration from is the layout of the pictures as there is the main image which is a close up of Emma Watson, this image covers up the whole of the left hand page which could be seen as a waste of space but in this case it has been used effectively with the mass of writing just on the right hand page. Along side the writing are 3 smaller images running along the side of the page, with these images being black and white it contrasts nicely against the background and yet it still enhances the writing and doesn't distract the reader from the information. The other feature I take inspiration from with this double page spread is the small flashes of red through out, these small features enhance the whole spread for example, the first letter of the text and 'Watson' are both coloured red unlike any of the other words on the spread which makes it stand out a lot more and contrasts well against the background to draw the reader in. The colour of these also matches the lipstick prints on both sides of the spread which makes a connection between the whole spread and links the features together.