case studies
Textual analysis
The overall message conveyed is fashion, film, feminism and Vogues new collection.
The genre of this magazine is fashion, beauty, health and lifestyle.
The target audience for Vogue magazine ranges between 16 - 34 but the average age of the readers is 37 and it attracts 80% female and 20% male according to Vogue figures for Vogue RU.
Masthead: the point of focus of the magazine is ‘ Vogue’, the scale of the tile/header is in big size which dominates the front cover. The font of the title/header is bold to catch the eye of the reader but also the sophisticated which connotes the fact women are seen to be elegant in their day to day but also in their fashion sense. The colour of title which is pink, pink is associated with femininity and ties in the theme also the message that this cover’s conveying is feminism. Which links to the composition/proportion of the title takes a third of the top of the page- this is for a reason because the ‘U’ in ‘Vogue’ is placed on the models forehead so that way the reader/audience are easily navigated and drawn their attention to the model. And to highlight the color scene of the print in the model’s clothes. The fact that the model’s clothing has shoulder pads gives a sense of superiority and dominance.
Cover lines/strapline: After the reader/audience, read the header/title Vogue the ‘V’ navigates the reader's eye to the cover lines which are placed below the ‘V’ in a row. The scale of typography of the cover lines are various sizes and colors. The black is used very cleverly and carefully to stand out from the others two colours used. The coverline ‘Beauty’s next frontier’ is in pink because beauty is associated mostly with females and ‘where skincare meets makeup’ is in white because the colour has many connections such as purity, fresh,new etc… All of the techniques in this cover are to refocus the audience to the cover and to ensure the message is being conveyed and it is also to attract the audience’s eye and navigate them to a certain area of the cover.
Direct address: Direct address is when there is a direct contact between the reader/ audience and the model is looking directly at the camera consequently looking directly at the reader to engage the audience to be drawn to the magazine. In this case the model use direct address in her posture and her eye contact seem to have a sense of superiority/power- this also links to the theme of the cover, just by the eye contact of the model could attract the audience to buying the product.
Price/Date: The price and the date are the smallest font and typography on the cover, it is place on the bottom left of the title in white font to make it clear but discreet at the same time and in very small font because they want the reader to focus on the rest of the cover prior to the price and month. This is because if the price and date were in a bigger font the reader might make a decision about buying the magazine before reading the rest of the cover. The price of the issue is £3.99 and the date is FEB, shorten for February, in capital to make it quicker and effective to understand and doesn’t interfere with the composition of the magazine cover.
Content Analysis
The key words to illustrate the text using ‘wordle’ could be Islam and Modern. This tells us that we have become very multicultural and the fact that a religion which can often been seen as being very traditional and rigid can be seen as being modern, colourful, diverse but still keeping within the religions morals and ideals. ‘Modesty’ is another key word in this article to reinforce the fact that although the religion has become more modern, designers have embraced the idea of modesty in their designs. This reinforcing the idea that you can still be modest and fashionable. 
The sentences in the article are very long and have many ideas within those sentences which highlights the fact that it is an article. There is only one paragraph because it makes it more efficient for the reader and less space in the magazine is used. It tells the audience where the exhibition is and where it is happening.
It is a short article which is not meant to explain in any great detail but to get readers interested in the exhibition and get readers to go
There are three main messages being conveyed is, firstly the relationship between Islam and Contemporary fashion and asking the audience why has it taken so long for islamic fashion to become part of mainstream fashion or popular. Secondly, to highlight Islamic clothing and its political, social and cultural importance. Lastly to inform the audience about the upcoming event an exhibition in the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco.
The language used to express/convey the message is formal but the rhetorical question at the beginning of the article gives the sense of a one to one conversation with the audience even though it is written in the third person. ‘ What’s more surprising that a forthcoming exhibition …...is being hosted at the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco or that it’s the first of its kind in 2018?’
Words connected with covering up have been used like hijab, veil, burqas, turban and dress code to re enhance the message that Islamic clothing is ‘modesty-friendly’. The way that the writer has used words such as sports and fashion is contradicted by the western society in the sense where you wouldn’t expect a muslim woman to be doing things like sports and fashion catwalks wearing hijabs and burqas. Nowadays in society people wearing modest clothes and hijabs can do what they want to do without being judged and getting recognition that they deserve. That idea also links with the question that the writer asks at the beginning. It makes the audience think about their ideas.
The style of this article could be considered to be problem solving as it conveys a breakthrough between religion and fashion and how it is beginning to change and have the recognition that it deserves. The problem solving format is shown by the rhetorical question at the beginning of the article and throughout the article the answer to the question is discussed.
The article was unexpectedly political for a fashion article. The reason why this is more political is because there is religion involved. Because the religion is Islam it is even more political as the religion has been involved in the media not for the right reasons more than other religions and this article is contradicting that because it is talking about something good, colourful and positive related to Islam which is not what we see in the media. In the media when you see a muslim woman, she is normally wearing all black, a burqa which is shapeless with negative connotations alongside in the text. Whereas in this article, she is wearing bright colours, she’s fashionable but still modest and you can see the quality of the clothes and their shape. The article is saying that fashion has opened up a place for modest girls who are muslims and an exhibition is showcasing it.
Industry Analysis
‘Aesthetica’ is a British Art and Culture magazine that was founded in 2002 that covers photography, visual arts, film and theatre. The publisher of ‘Aesthetica’ is Cherie Federico and Daley Donley. It is a niche company with around 350,000 readers nationally and internationally. ‘Aesthetica’ has been advertised in newspapers and magazine supplements such as ‘The Times, The Guardian, The Independent and also on the BBC. ‘Aesthetica’ describe their audience on their website as ‘ influential tastemaker who is discerning and educated with significant spending power. Culture forms a part of their daily lives as well as keeping up-to-date with current affairs and trends. They are lively professionals that place an emphasis on high quality design.’
‘Aesthetica’ distributes their magazine in the UK in these areas: leading Galleries – Tate Modern, Serpentine, ICA, Henry Moore and many more, WH Smith stores, WH Smith Travel – (airports and train stations), Art fairs, film festivals and other key cultural events. It is also distributed in other countries such as USA, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Japan, Hong Kong, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, amongst others. It uses these outlets WH Smith Travel – (airports and train stations), Barnes & Noble stores (USA), Easons (Ireland), International art fairs, film festivals and other key cultural events. ‘Aesthetica’ has had previous campaigns with the following companies: Galleries: V&A, Tate Modern, ICA, Royal Academy, Baltic; Lifestyle: Chanel, Audemars Piguet, Olympus, Nissan, Woka Vienna, Nest; Art Fairs: AIPAD New York, MOPLA, Frieze, Art Basel, Scope, Art Beijing, FIAC; Universities: Royal College of Art, University of the Arts, Goldsmiths.
The production of ‘Aesthetica’ is funded by the advertising and outlets. Two main ways that they get funded is by print advertisement and digital advertisement.Advertising takes up a lot of the issue. In terms of print advertising, they get there funding from subscription - a lot of these are multi reader subscriptions - like universities, colleges and schools both in the UK and internationally and large number of artists’ studios, creative centres and cafes. The digital advertising statistics show that there are 108,000 impressions per issue 54,000 page views per month Advertisements appear on over 3,000 pages of the website In terms of print advertising, they get their funding from subscription - a lot of these are multi reader subscriptions - like universities, colleges and schools both in the UK and internationally and large number of artists’ studios, creative centres and cafes.
‘Aesthetica’ has a variation of media links as well as the magazine. They have their own website and social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and ITunes. As well having a print product, ‘Aesthetica’ also is involved in specific areas within the Media industry such as film.
They also produce a number of awards, exhibitions and events that are focused on talent development in art, photography, literature and film.
The regulatory body for magazines is IPSO, The Independent Press Standards Organisation. Aesthetica are committed to protect and respect people’s privacy in compliance with EU-General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2016/679, dated April 27th 2016. The policies that they oblige by are the privacy policy, Refund policy and the environmental policy.
Audience analysis
‘The Guardian’ is a mass produced newspaper and the magazine appears on Saturdays. However ‘The Fashion’ is produced twice annually - to encourage readers to educate them about the upcoming fashion events in the new seasons. I think this is so that the audience wait for it so that the audience can catch up with the fashions and have the catalogue to look back at all the highlights from what has come up in the new season. The demographics for The Guardian are equally split between men and women. For example between October 2017 to September 2018, 12 864 men read The Guardia as opposed to 12 204 women. 25084 readers of The Guardian are over 15 year old and over half the readers, 16 708 are over 35. 4 199 people who read The Guardian live in London. According to ‘Statista’, most of ‘The Guardian readers are middle class (ABC1) 17 316 readers and CDE2 , lower socio economic groups, are much lower at 7 768.
I think the reason why The Guardian’s demographic is mainly aimed at middle class is because they can afford the expensive clothing shown. For example, the coat costs £2 598. But some people in ABC1 can’t afford to buy the clothes shown but they aspire to look a type of way whereas if you are in C2DE the lower socioeconomic class, you wouldn’t attempt to look at it because its not part of your interest. This is generalised, there will be people who aspire and are interested in fashion.
The form of the magazine determines its audience because it was like a catalogue, good quality paper and the cover was like an Art show catalogue. This might be something that people collect. They do have it on line as well but they don’t have as much content as they do in the catalogue magazine.The form is obviously aimed at the audience above. The things that they say in the text itself, are not relatable to lower socio economic groups who have no awareness of high fashion and royalty for example ‘think of it as club-kid-meets-Balmoral-look’. The narrative in this article is talking about the Crimean War and how the soldiers used to wear Balaclavas to protect themselves from the cold. They take this forward by modernising it and using it as an accessory to wear on the catwalk.
How did my case studies help me with the development of my idea?
Doing analysis of the case studies of different magazines has really helped me with the development of my idea in terms of thinking about connotations that an image might have in terms of colour, composition of model and mise en scene. I also have looked at the features of a magazine and I have decided that I don’t want to do a front cover for sure now. I was hesitant about a front cover or a double page spread but I have now decided on the double page spread as I will be able to say more as it gives me more freedom. In addition, it has helped me look more into the Print industry and expand my knowledge on the facts and figures. When I produce something in the future, I would know what to do and who to contact. It has also helped me with the development of my design and composition of the placement of certain features. It has also helped me with thinking about how I am going to reach my audience and made me think about how would appeal to the aesthetically but still convey a message. I learnt that simplicity is sometimes more and how small details can have as much importance as the more obvious ones. I found out that even small companies like ‘Aesthetica’ involve a lot of work and can have a varied and wide audience.
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