Magazine Analysis

Critical approaches 2Jamie Mellors

Women’s Health

The masthead is coloured in approachable light blue tone. The masthead changes colour from issue to issue. This colour has been chosen as it matches the models shirt. Against a light white colour background the blue stands out. The chosen colour scheme (light blue and white shades) are associated with weight loss. For example weight watchers use this method.

The barcode is necessary for the product to be sold, a white background as been chosen to ensure it works. The dateline of the issue is printed along with the price just above. This seems to be discretely placed as it is less important and the price is moderately high.

There is a pattern of quick and easy throughout. Fitness can be something that people find daunting. Use of this language makes the magazine seem more approachable and less of a challenge to take on. These words are even highlighted with a yellow colour that would be used on paper, “Burn Fat Fast”. The smarter style combines with a hand drawn notebook like style which will fit with their audience. The audience is a large majority of women aged 25-44 according to an NRS survey. There is emphasis in ease. “1 smart workout”, “easy upgrades”.

“Khloe Kardashian” is a recognisable figure to the target market of women’s health. She belongs to a family that is recognisable and idolised by some women today. A large amount of influence that the family hold is down to their look and how they present themselves. They are able to set trends making a member of this family a good choice for a cover model and an inside article as people wish to follow in her footsteps. A readership survey quote said “65% agree maintaining a youthful look is extremely important to them”. Someone who is so appearance oriented such as Khloe Kardashian allows the magazine to seem inline with reader’s goals.

“Big Gluten Bore” is intelligent use of language to establish a relationship between writer and reader. This type of language is the same as that, that might be used when talking to a friend or how the target audience might do so, with an average age of 32 and presumably women. This allows the magazine to come across as on the same level as the reader just delivering friendly advice friend to friend. This use of casual and informal language ties in with other point I have made relating to the ease and comfort of the magazines workout. Women may feel uncomfortable discussing weight with friends, this language creates an easy going standard for the magazine which allows the magazine to become that friend which can give advice. There is a common theme of closing the gap between consumer and writer, very frequently the magazine will make the reader feel on par with the writer. The use of this language does not only serve this purpose it allows the reader to feel more at home with the fitness recommendations. It allows the idea to feel within her comfort zone.

The chosen use of the word “now” at the end of this block of text is significant. This plays into the common theme that I keep mentioning of ease. It also appeals the ‘just do it’ nature that I think the magazine tries to capture. The magazine makes attempts to make the reader feel like they are liberating themselves. The reader would like to feel powerful and strong, pleased with their new found confidence. The word “now” asks the viewer to consider “why not?”. This cover page is filled with motivational language such as this some less subtle. For example to the right of the model’s head the text writes “revenge-body” which can incite a “girl power” feeling amongst readers.

“The Food Issue” large colourful text has been chosen to highlight one of the main articles of the magazine. The pink colour has been used only the colour the name of Khloe Kardashian at the other side of the page, the other main article. Although the word “food” is the main body. There are other examples of two areas of the page matching in colour. Khloe’s shirt and the masthead, the two large black fonts at either side of the page, and the small light blue writing.

This is one of the main articles. It is bold type face, only 3-5 words long, designed to show the reader it is one of the main articles in this issue. Positioning this close to the top is noteworthy as this will be one of the first things that is seen when the issue is picked up. This is a reoccurring pattern in women’s health magazines, here is another issue that has done the same. Also take note of the similar colour schemes and tones.

“WH awards” has been highlighted to give display to the reader that the content is exclusive to this magazine, it also simultaneously boosts the brands identity. On the exclusivity theme use of the words “for women” creates a feeling of togetherness. This months topic is food, creating a list makes for easy reading, which entices the reader.

Model chosen appears in physically fit to readers as something to aspire to.

“revels” convinces the reader that the information is exclusive and hidden

Informal notebook font style.

This is the strapline. “It’s good to be you” empowerment designed to appeal to women who are reading that might not be overly pleased with their appearance.

A double page spread-This page demonstrates that the magazine must also include interesting visuals. It cannot be fact after fact and fitness routine and dietary requirements. This page give the viewer something to pause and admire. The setting in while this very controlled image has been shot has been done in a beautiful landscape outside the restrictions of day to day life. This in the background of the model who the viewer is supposed to aspire to be like allows the magazine to project their theme of liberation on the viewer. The image has been framed cutting an inch off from the boundaries of the page, I believe for artistic value and to introduce the main article, it allow the page to stand out.

Crediting the photographer and writer, for those that are interested and to enhance the career of those responsible.

A nod to the television programme “keeping up with the Kardashian” which they hope the reader will understand to draw a link between audiences gives for good reading. It gives a sense of being “with it” and up-to-date. Also a nice gradient overlay has been used on the text to mirror the sun passing over the fields.

More use of exclusivity with the word “reveal” coming up again.

Small tab at the upper right corner so that the page can be picked out when flicking through the magazine.

A cut away of from the main article adds variety to the visual design and reading experience. This cut away is not really relevant to the rest of the magazine but features a few things the model featured has said about friends and family. These people are also very well-known which makes for attractive reading for people that are interested.

This magazine (and most other magazines) work in a format which depicts a subject on the front cover that will feature a few double page spreads with info about them. This will be the main article in the magazine.

To demonstrate this cut away as a secondary article a greyscale colour scheme has been used so as not to distract from the image in the centre of the spread. Members of the model’s friends and family appear in circular portraits format to accompany the relevant part of the text.

Page layout design splits into cuboid sections. Rectangles filling black space leads onto the next block of text. This is the middle of an article not the beginning or end.

This page follows on from an article that has been predominately about a person rather than anything health related (the article was based around health). This tells me that the magazine is not only for health and fitness benefits but also accommodates enjoyable reading. While the topics discussed are not important or serious they are topical. Some of the articles such as these on the previous pages are a more up-street and higher class version of magazines such as “Hello”, while retaining a health theme throughout. “36% of the magazines audience do not work” therefore I can assume they have the time to keep up with modern celebrity related gossip making this aspect of the magazine a good input. This page however is a very relevant exercise based page designed to actually teach the reader something new. It has been intelligently handled as use of their model, or famous face, has been applied. “89% of the Women’s Health audience do some kind of exercise every week” meaning that placing some actually fitness tips will not go to waste. Source of information-a “Women’s Health” media pack: https://yorkcollege.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-334726-dt-content-rid-595463_1/courses/EDCMA03-14/Womens%20health%20media%20pack%20UK.pdf

A black rectangle has been placed to split the page in two. It also does the job of directing the reader down in columns as they read each of the five workouts.

An advert has been chosen to appear on this page. This is a very suitable advert to appear in this magazine. It fits the audience perfectly as it is a product that is designed to look after the consumer’s appearance. “60% of the Women’s Health audience invest in high quality beauty brands” this brand is not so high quality but other adverts that appear are very much so, these include designer clothing brands and expensive perfume. Here are some other fact taken from the magazine’s media pack that proves this advert is appropriate:

National Geographic

Similarly to how in one of the pages in the Women’s Health magazine this front cover used a border. I think this helps to draw focus to the image that cover the entire page. This bright yellow border is used for every issue of National Geographic, with an image that fills the whole page. This yellow border is recognisable as National Geographic, this allows the magazine to be easily spotted. It is also worth mentioning that as a stack of magazines this bright yellow colour will stand out and catch the eye, it is especially useful that the top of the cover is printed in this colour as on a shelf sometimes only the top can be seen. This same yellow colour was used to colour Simpsons characters for the following reason, “The idea was that whenever someone was flipping through the channels, they would automatically know The Simpsons was on when they saw the yellow bodies flash by”, this same concept has been applied for this signature border. Here are some other National Geographic magazines that use the same border:

http://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/14664/why-are-the-simpsons-yellow

A semi-opaque masthead has been used to avoid obstructing the image.The strapline here introduces us as to what the issue will be about.

The barcode appears larger than it actually is, the magazine in A5 sized. The price is also listed here at £5.99, which is very expensive. The average household income of readers is $70,324 or £49,297 making the audience quite wealthy. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/mediakit/pdf/ng-magazine/NGM_Media_Kit_2016.pdf

The image that has been chosen for the front cover in a dramatic, breath-taking one. The page has been cleared of text to allow the image to seen fully. The text that does appear has been placed above the masthead. This image also looks heavily Photoshoped. The audience of this magazine is interested in photography and nature therefore this is appropriate, camera adverts are packing into the magazine as it appeals to the audience. Adverts from Nikon and Cannon make appearances. 68% of reader claimed to be interested or take part in photography. The image must be something that the reader wants to achieve and aspire to. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/mediakit/pdf/ng-magazine/NGM_Media_Kit_

This is the main article. This can be identified as it is printed in the largest boldest font. It is about why vultures are good for the ecosystems of their native countries, the article also goes into detail of how they benefit humans, this is a nice tie-in with the strapline. “more vital than vile” is a well thought out subheading as people often consider vultures as dislikeable, they are even depicted as villain in children’s films. To use the words “vital” alongside “vile” is also good use of alliteration. This kind of language makes for a high quality of formal reading.

The magazine is filled with double page spreads that feature a single image, such as this one. The magazine specialises in sending photographers and reporters into the nature to capture dramatic images that really make the magazine enjoyable. This image shown below occurs mid-article, it splits the text nicely and allows the viewer to gain an understanding of what they are reading about. The image shown on these pages are always relevant. With a photography interested demographic, an entire page spread is fitting.

A small description of the image.

The magazine will often feature diagrams and drawing to better illustrate text and images. This spread shown below is describing and illustrating the anatomy of a vulture. There is a main image spanning over two pages, the way this has been positioned has allowed there to be plenty of space around the rest of the page. This area is used for annotations that then lead off to a more detailed diagram with a small piece of accompanying text. This method makes the page easy to understand and read. The information is delivered with all that is needed to know, background knowledge is not required. The way the text has been written has been done to make sure that this page can be read on its own without prior information from the article that it belongs to.

A self-contained strip at the bottom of the page that displays vulture species to scale in comparison with other. This is excellent use of space as the endangered species have also been colour coded.

There as also two split paragraphs that introduce the page and gives an explanation as the relevance of the rest of the information.

The background colour is greyish (colour of old paper) and the brushstrokes from the drawing spread onto the background. This is a nice tough as it makes the reader feel as if they are viewing someone’s note on vulture with small diagrams dotted around with labels.

I have chosen to display this page only as an example of how the majority of articles look. The page is about 50% images, the rest text. The text is in columns and features no novelty font or text positioning that you might find in a celebrity gossip magazine. The text is written formally and structured in chunks, written in good English. The background to the page is plain white this retains a premium and high class style. The positing of the images dictates the page layout. The audience is well paid, with stable careers, they also have an average age of 58 making the simplified page layout, spoken word and premium look a perfect match with the audience. The audience is above all interested in absorbing facts and information, it is the magazines job to make this as pleasurable as possible. This page layout design achieves that with the balance of images and text. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/mediakit/pdf/ng-magazine/NGM_Media_Kit

Date of issue and page label (to assist when flicking through)

Image takes up half the page.

Image caption

High use of images for the audience that takes an interest in photography