Magazine Analysis - Company

This magazine has a very strange title - it hasn't got an obvious connection to what the magazine is about. I think it's called 'Company' because it's talking about the fashion community as a whole, as a company. This magazine is again, published by Hearst Magazines. They are the largest digital publisher in the UK, who also publish All About Soap, Best, Cosmopolitan, Country Living, Elle, Elle Decoration, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Harper's Bazaar, House Beautiful, Inside Soap, Prima, Real People, Red, Reveal and Zest. They also publicize several online magazines like sugarscape, netdoctor, hangbag.com, digital spy and all about you.

Company is published on a monthly basis. This is probably because the content is something that could only be published monthly because if it was published weekly, it would be quite repetitive. The magazine has a circulation of 90,726. Company also has a website as well as an app where you can view a digital version of the magazine. The digital circulation is 2,543.

I think the target audience here is definitely women, more specifically targeting the ages of 16 upwards. It's described to be the UK version of Seventeen magazine and an edgier version of Teen Vogue. It's a high street and high fashion magazine so will appeal to young adults like students more than older women of 40 upwards. The readership can be seen as young women as the magazine's content is all very current and 'of the moment' which is what young people want to be and on trend. 

There is one large image on the front which is the celebrity or model that the main story is on and then a few smaller images to go with another story or two that are in the magazine, there is also some images of flowers with a pattern around it to give the cover a bit more added detail. Having just a few images makes the magazine feel more sophisticated and high end and makes it look more expensive. 

The majority of the magazine is fashion and beauty stories but there are also interviews with current music artists and a few job advice parts. 

Company carries out the same house style all throughout the magazine when it comes to fonts. There is two or three different fonts used and they are all very eye-grabbing and interesting. I don't think Company looks similar to any other magazine on the market, I definitely think it has it's own unique look to it with the fonts and styles on the cover and throughout the magazine. This magazine has a high-end look and feel to it but it doesn't look as expensive as Vogue or Elle, but it doesn't look cheap like Reveal or Heat - it looks like it should be more expensive than what it is though. Articles throughout the magazine are very chatty and address the readers in a way you would speak to a friend. 

Adverts are high-end type in this magazine and there is a few of them. I estimate that the price range for adverts isn't too expensive but isn't really cheap either. The adverts definitely fit the target audience for the entire magazine, they are for clothes shops, perfume ads and beauty products. 

Models in this magazine are slim and pretty, high-end models - the type you would see for high fashion magazines and runways. They relate to the audience in the sense that models like these are everywhere for women to see and are used for all fashion advertisements. These models are what women see the clothes in that makes them want to buy them. 

Men are not mentioned much at all in this magazine. There's no advice sections on them or anything like that, it's a very fashion orientated magazine. Young adults are really only represented in this magazine not any other types of people. There are a lot of celebrity features throughout Company. There's a female celebrity on the front cover as the main story, there's current music artists and other actresses and models completely through it. 

I don't think there are many other magazines that are in competition with one. I think American ones like Seventeen and Teen Vogue may compete, because of the comparisons, but they aren't as available as Company because they are American.  

Magazine Analysis - Reveal

I think the magazine is called Reveal for the simple fact they're revealing the celebrity stories that everyone is questioning. Reveal is published by Hearst Magazines, the largest digital publisher in the UK, who also publish Elle as well as All About Soap, Best, Company, Cosmopolitan, Country Living, Elle Decoration, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Harper's Bazaar, House Beautiful, Inside Soap, Prima, Real People, Red and Zest. They also publicize several online magazines like sugarscape, netdoctor, hangbag.com, digital spy and all about you.

Reveal is published on a weekly basis, this is probably so that the reader is kept up to date with the latest stories and celebrity gossip. The circulation for this magazine is around 173,000 and the website's circulation at just under 1,500. 
The target audience for this magazine is particularly women as there are fashion and beauty sections for women, and is suited for females from young adults, upwards. I think the fashion and beauty segments help determine the readership as women. The pages have several large pictures on them, and most of the pages are more pictures than text. 

All the images on the front cover are rather big. There is no one main picture and not much text. The magazine is trying to lure you in by a few words about several of the stories without giving too much away so you're intrigued to buy it. There are a lot of features in this magazine like celebrity stories, some real life stories, fashion and beauty segments as well as cooking ideas and an advice section. A few fonts that are the same are used throughout and they've kept the same house style all through the magazine. 

Reveal is fairly similar to other gossip magazines out like Heat and Now. They have the same layout type with lots of pictures. I wouldn't say that this magazine looks expensive at all, it doesn't have the classy look that Elle or Vogue have. The text is very chatty in this magazine and informal. They're not bothered about it being high-end as they want it to feel more friendly.

There is more of Reveal's content than there is adverts so I don't think the price range for adverts would be too high. The adverts are for things like skin care, food and other feminine products which again, help determine the target audience as women. 

There aren't many models in this magazine as the majority of pictures are of celebrities. There are a few pictures in the fashion section that are of models who are very slim and pretty so don't relate to 'real women'.
There isn't a large section on men at all, the only place you will read something about men is if it's a celebrity story or in the advice section. It's a very female oriented magazine.

You don't see anyone below the age of 18 appear in this magazine, but you do see real life people as well as celebrities so there is that balance.

I would say that Heat and Now and other magazines like that are the competing publications. They're all very similar in content, it's just which ever has the more stories you're interested in that would help your final decision in which to buy.  

Magazine Analysis - Elle

The magazine originated from France and was founded by a French man and his wife who decided to call it 'Elle' which means 'she' in French. I think they called it this because they knew they wanted their target audience to be women. Elle is published by the largest digital publisher in the UK, Hearst Magazines. Hearst publishes several other magazines such as All About Soap, Best, Company, Cosmopolitan, Country Living, Elle Decoration, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Harper's Bazaar, House Beautiful, Inside Soap, Prima, Real People, Red, Reveal and Zest. They also publicize several online magazines like sugarscape, netdoctor, hangbag.com, digital spy and all about you.

Elle is published on a monthly basis, I assume this is because it is a fairly thick magazine with around 200 pages of different segments in every issue. The circulation for Elle is just over 170,000, with the website's circulation at just under 7,000.

I feel it's clear to see that the target audience for this magazine is women, possibly particularly aimed for the ages about 17/18 to maybe 50/60. Elle is directed to people with a passion for lifestyle and fashion. There is definitely a repeated theme of feminine adverts and articles in this magazine that appeal to women. The pages in this magazine have a good balance of pictures and text which makes the reader more interacted to it than a magazine with lots of text.

There is only one image on the front cover that instantly draws your attention to it and pulls you in. By only having one image it gives the magazine a very high-end feeling to it. In the magazine there are a lot of features such as the celebrity interview, the fashion and beauty segments, travel as well as lifestyle and health parts all showing somewhat expensive prices and designer items. Through-out the magazine there are several different graphics and colours used, nothing to dramatic as it would throw off the whole sophisticated perception. I think Elle is in some ways familiar to Vogue or Bazaar with the classy and expensive look to it and keeping with minimal and simplistic graphics and fonts. This magazine addresses it's readers in a fairly sophisticated way but also slightly chatty so it seems more friendly.

There are a lot of adverts in Elle. There are 4 double-page spread adverts before you even get to the contents page when you open the front cover. I should think the prices for adverts is rather expensive as the majority of adverts are all designer brands such as Chanel, Dior, Prada, etc. The adverts are definitely aimed for women as they are all for designer clothes, designer make-up or designer accessories.

The models in this magazine relate to the audience in the sense that they are fashionable women. and because this is a high-end magazine, you don't expect to see a model of what people would call 'average' size, they're thin models you would see on a runway.

There isn't much on men in this magazine at all. The only time men are mentioned is if a woman has asked for advice in that segment of the magazine and because Elle is such a high-end magazine, there's not many other groups of people other than fashionable women that this magazine would appeal to. Celebrities are used as the main sell point for this magazine, especially famous women, women seen with power and are popular icons in the fame 'community' at the time. Because it's a women's magazine, there will always be a woman celebrity on the front cover every month with an inspiring and/or gossipy story to tell.

Any high-end type magazines, like Vogue or Bazaar, are in competition with Elle to be the best fashion magazine around. They all want to be the best selling fashion magazine because fashion and appearance is such a huge part of a women's life. 

Introduction

This blog is going to be used for my AS media coursework. It will include all of my research and planning for my coursework unit which is to make a college magazine and a music magazine. I will be using my own photgraphy and design skills.