Genre Research: Cosmopolitan

Cosmo was originally launched in 1886 as a family journal, but clearly, that has changed because it is now a sex-tip and fashion magazine. It is fun to read with friends because of how raunchy and ridiculous it can be.

Cosmopolitan has about 18.2 million readers every month, in about a 6:1 female to male reader ratio. The primary readers of cosmopolitan are women ages 18-34, many of whom are employed and/or have children. For the past 25 years, it has been the best selling magazine in college book stores.  Cosmo is able to achieve such a large following through its 50+ international copies.


This cover page shows star, Normani, posing in front of a white background wearing a pink dress. The color palette for the wording is shades of blue and green, which remains consistent on the cover page. I like the way the wording mostly outlines her shape but at one point the text does overlap the image.

 These two images are both interactive personality quizzes. Cosmo is not well known for its articles, but it is well known for its fun quizzes, which I happen to enjoy, so I could add some quizzes to my magazine.

 

This last image: I just found really funny. The image composition is fun and entertaining. Looking at it made me realize that it is important to have dynamic images to keep the reader interested.

Something that I really like about the magazine: it keeps a consistent color palette of pink. Every image has similar shades of pink, making it look very cohesive.

Genre Research: Vogue

Vogue was first an American Publication in 1892 and was bought by Condé Nast publications in 1909. After being bought, vogue became known for the fashion and editorial looks which they are known for today. Now, they are easily the most influential fashion magazine in America, being our “fashion bible”.

According to vogue, they have 24.6 monthly readers, 118.7 million followers on social media, and 94.1 unique users on their websites.

This is the cover page for Vogue, featuring the editorial photography they are famous for. I really like the style of editorial photography and makeup, so I may use that style for one or my photos.

 

These two images are side-by-side in the magazine, and although I really like the full-page images, I will not be able to do in the magazine, due to the requirements of the project. I really like how the golden hue of these images really match the golden dress of the cover. I think that keeping a cohesive theme in a magazine is very important.

 

These two images are an article on designer, Stella McCartney. I really dislike the lack of pictures and the extremely small writing. I have a very short attention span, so an article that looks like this is something that I cannot do in my magazine. However, I do enjoy the humor of the article, especially the way it starts with the first sentence (quite the attention grabber!).

This image here is a promotional card that is inside each copy of the magazine. It is a way to get more people to subscribe to their magazines. Other than this, there were also free samples of cosmetics, which I personally found was a very nice touch.

Genre Research: Marie Claire

Marie Claire, founded by Jean Prouvost in France in 1937, was created to empower all women with the latest fashions and beauty tips. By the end of WWII, Marie Claire has sold nearly a million copies.

According to their website, Marie Claire today is, “ present in 29 markets around the world including Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific, South Africa, and the Middle East, making Marie Claire one of the most widely recognized women’s fashion media brands in the world.” Through the use of broadening their reaches in various countries, implementing websites and social media platforms, and broadening their topics, Marie Claire has reached an audience of over 90 million people today. 


The first image is of the cover photo. I like the close-up face and the pink text that seems to outline the photo but still overlaps. I really like the pink on top of the orange background because those colors are close together, but the contrast still allows visibility.

I really dislike the look of this table of contents. The images just look to me as if they were randomly placed and I dislike the look of centered text. I do not find this TOC attractive at all, but I can appreciate the wide variety of articles that are displayed: war horror stories to fashion. I found that reading this magazine was incredibly interesting with the variety of articles.

This is a method of how they help sell their magazine, by adding free samples into their pages. I think this is a very smart idea, considering this free sample made me buy the magazine. It also shows what type of advertisements they use in the magazine, which is expensive skincare, mostly directed toward women.

This last image is of a lookbook in the magazine. I really like the eclectic look of the page with the collage-like layout. I really want to add a sponsored lookbook to my magazine.

Genre Research: Elle

Elle was created by educated French woman, Hélène Gordon Lazareff, on October 1st, 1945. Lazareff was educated in ethnography and was multilingual, but after marrying, she decided to pursue her passion, which was fashion. After becoming a writer for Haper's Bazaar, Vogue, and The New York Times, she decided to start her own fashion magazine. 

Elle is a magazine primarily targeted for women between 16 and 30 and focuses on fashion. In 2010, Elle had 1.1 copies circulating the US and 200,000 copies in the UK.

The first image here is of the cover of Elle magazine. Like most magazines, the title of the magazine is in front of the background of the image, but behind the subject. The subject, Beyonce, is an extremely famous woman who is one of the most successful artists of the 21st century. The blurbs of script on the page advertise some of the articles found inside the magazine. A different font is used for the title, Beyonce's name, and the other ads.

 The next image is of the first Table of Contents page. The lettering is very small and difficult for people like me (totally blind people) to see, even on the real-life magazine. The first "L" in Elle is orange, which matches perfectly with the orange in the image to the left. The TOC lists the titles of the articles and a very short synopsis of what it is about. Most of the articles are about fashion and beauty and are categorized, which I really like. There are some articles about Culture, but they are nothing political, just entertainment.







The last two images are of articles found in the magazine. I absolutely love the idea of a look book (shown in the first image), especially the idea of it having a common theme. The monochromatic look book is really cool but I think in my magazine, maybe I could do a brand based look book. The next image is really a lengthy ad. It describes the look of a new swimwear brand and its inspirations. I like the way the layers the images on top of each other, but also on top of a leafy background. The images use a variety of poses, models, and backgrounds, but they all share a similar theme of "boho, pretty girl in a tropical area", which perfectly matches the theme of the article. The article also drops pop culture reference, Shakira, and makes jokes about Pablo Escobar, making the article easier to read by adding humor.

Genre Research: Teen Vogue

Since deciding that I would make a magazine, I have ruled out the prospect of a food magazine because I do not like photographing food. Instead, I will be doing something within the realm of teen life (maybe a style magazine, maybe a study magazine, possibly a combination). One of the genres of magazine that I am looking into is a teen style magazine. When I think of this genre, the first magazine that comes to mind is Teen Vogue.

Teen Vogue stopped selling print magazines in 2017, but their website continues. According to the New York Times, Teen Vogue's distribution peaked in 2005 with 1.5 million copies globally, and had declined ever since, but now their website claims to have 11.6 million users.

     

Pictured here is the cover of the December 2016. From the second to the eleventh page is exclusively ads and then four pages for the table of contents. Out of the 121 pages, I would say over half are ads.
     
The photos in the table of contents act as a type of "click bait" for their most politically charged and interesting pieces. 

The magazine is not nearly as superficial as I remembered (I used to read Teen Vogue in elementary and middle school); instead, it has lots of interviews from young female professionals. It also has sponsored look books and ads in between almost each page of content.

In all of the images, the colors are bright and contrasting, which catches the eye. The most common color I've seen has been pink- in the cover and in every image thereafter. On article pages, there is an outline on each page. On the image to the right, the article is outlined and the outline says "Social Studies"- the topic. The article also uses bold letters and varying font sizes to help keep the attention of the reader.







In all, the magazine was very interesting and fun to read. It had an incredibly wide range of topics, from  politics to clothing to how to fix your credit score. Reading this magazine made me realize that for my magazine, I may want to have it be on a wide range of topics, but keep it within the realm of student life. I really like the idea of an outline outside of the article, so I will definitely be doing that, but with a much different aesthetic.

Project Selection

I have decided to make my project a magazine. I made my decision based on what I thought I would have more fun doing.

Doing the magazine would be fun for me because I enjoy photography and writing. I am very excited to edit the layout of my magazine and the phitographs I take. It may, however, be difficult or lose my models and get them to do what I want- assuming I even use models for my magazine.

I also chose to do a magazine because I belive that it would be easier to create a high quality magazine than a high quality film; creating a high quality film would require high sound, video, and acting quality- all of which are near impossible for me to achieve because of the limmited equipment and personal I have access to. Because of my perfectionist nature, I cannot make something lacking excellence. And, because the biggest difficulty of making a magazine would be camera quality and model quality, I project it will be easier to make an aesthetically pleasuring magazine than a great film.