Creative Critical Reflection 1&2

Question 1 

1.    Throughout the initial creation of my magazine, I knew I wanted something that would both use, and challenge conventions as we know them today. In my preliminary research when gaining insight on other magazines, I noticed a common theme of how others challenged conventions. Every one of the magazines were interested in being ‘different’ than their predecessors and had quite odd cover photos which set the stage for the content inside.

2.    One of the main focuses of mine when challenging a common convention was my cover page. I liked how in other magazines such as Dazed, and Dansk, they had very simple covers where the model and the photo was the sole focus. What I didn’t appreciate about magazines like Seventeen and Vogue, was how cluttered I feel their covers were. The numerous captions and article titles scattered about the cover made it feel unfocused, and I knew from the get-go that I wanted my cover to be simple and sleek. As shown, I have the title of my magazine as the only wording on my cover page and my model as the sole focus. 

3.    The font used on both my cover and my table of contents was another item I focused a lot on. I noticed how in some magazines the style font used on their cover matched the one on their table of contents which I thought added to the cohesiveness, and in making a magazine more professional. I specifically filled in the lettering on my cover in the word “oblique” because it added a new layer of uniqueness to my magazine that I hadn’t noticed in others and I feel like it flowed with the vibe I wanted my viewers to get. I then decided to include that same filling in of the numbers in my table of contents to keep the cohesiveness between the two. 

4.    Another convention I spent an extensive amount of time on was the location of my photoshoots. As a lot of the other magazines I had looked at prior, were either in a studio or at a particularly aesthetically pleasing location, I obviously had to do location as I don’t have a studio accessible to me. I chose an area near a local college that has extremely beautiful architecture that I knew I wanted to include in my magazine in some way. Out of all the photos, I chose these specific ones because I loved the composition of all of them. Especially the one of the girl near the light pole on the first page of my article because I feel like it gives a different perspective and tells a story. 

5.    Finally, the layout of my article itself is another way I tried to follow general magazine conventions. I broke up the original large text blocks I had, and tried to shorten them a bit more. I noticed that in most magazines, they break up their article text so that it doesn’t feel to be such a chore to the reader when examining the magazines contents. I did this through strategically placing other photographs in between, and having an aesthetically pleasing layout that is easy on the eyes.

Question 2

1.     When researching other magazine’s audience engagement tactics, I found it interesting how some of them targeted their specific audiences, but also how widely ranged their target audiences were. Some of the mains ones I researched were Vogue, W Magazine, and V magazine. The ways in which all of them attempted to get their audience engaged was through the use of technology and social media. They had nearly all forms of social media possible including twitter, snapchat, Instagram, and more. One of the ways they did their audience engagement which I found the most interesting was the use of other advertisements like billboards. Specifically regarding social media, given that all of their target audiences were young to middle aged people of the middle class, it has shown to be extremely effective in increasing their consumption rates as W magazine has nearly 500,000 subscribers. The overall engagement was sprung through things relating to the fashion industry as they are all fashion magazines. This means they advertised specific products like makeup, perfume, accessories, shoes, jewelry, and anything else pertaining to fashion itself. 

2.    My specific marketing plan was to use mainly social media platforms that my target audience would go for. I created an Instagram account for my magazine that anybody could follow who may be interested in learning more about the fashion industry. Mainly because my target audience is similar to others as I am gearing my product towards younger people ranging from 20-40 both male and female that are interested in fashion. 

3.    The traditional distribution models I researched included things like magazines on a newsstand on the side of a busy street or in your local grocery store. Some of the magazine distribution models I researched included Harpers Bazzaar, L’Officiel, and Essence. My personal distribution plan included both print copies and subscriptions that could be sold at newsstands or mailed to my monthly subscribers, but also an app I would create where there would be online subscribers and daily content posted on said-app which would maximize my number of consumers as there would be both a digital, or a print option.