Task 2 criticle approaches 2
- 1. Critical approaches Task 2 Sophie Husteden
- 3. The media pack for women’s health magazine is easily accessible online through their website. This is most likely so that advertisers will see what things their audience prefers or likes, then the advertisers will choose to use their magazine for advertising. The second page of the media pack shows their statistics and a basic audience profile. They have a circulation of 112,512, and a readership of 445,000 monthly, this means that they have quite a large audience that reads their magazine. The median age for the readers is 32, this means that the magazine is aimed towards mature women, this is shown in the content of the magazine as they talk about sex, cooking, etc. which would not be featured in a younger persons magazine. Their audience is also ABC1, this means that they are within the top 3 socio-economic sections, this is because people below these groups are unlikely to buy their magazine as it is quite expensive. Nearly all of their audience is ‘Female main shoppers’ this means that they are going to be the ones in the household that go food shopping, having this in their media pack means that advertisement companies will see that they are the main shoppers and are more likely to put their adverts in the magazine as the person reading it is more likely to buy the product since they saw the advertising. Media pack
- 4. The next couple pages go into more detail on what their audience’s likes and dislikes are in statistics. Having this helps them to gain advertisers because they know that a certain percentage of the people reading this magazine will like their new product because they like this certain thing. For instance there a statistics for how often the audience cooks, so 97% of them are interested in new recipes, this means that a company that produces cook books could advertise in the magazine because the audience 97% of the audience will be interested in this topic. Their audience is mainly female this not mentioned in their media pack however they refer to their audience as ‘Women’ and ‘Female’ so this shows that it is mainly this gender that is their audience. They show that their magazine is aimed towards women by having it within the name of the magazine. The name being this makes women think that it is specifically for them and there will be more content specifically for them included. Having and showing that the average socio-economic rating for their audience is ABC1 shows companies that would like to advertise in the magazine that they are likely to be able to afford higher end and more expensive products, so more high-end products will be advertised within the magazine. Media pack
- 5. How they find out their audience? There are many different ways that they find out their audience profiles. One way is through surveys, these can be both printed into the magazine or be online. I found one that was online through their website, it asked questions about how they buy the magazine or how often they visit the website. This survey helps them to determine what type of people buy their product from certain places, and how often people visit and use their website. They also have surveys within their magazine that people send back to their company so they get more detailed information on their audience. Another way that they find out more information on their audience profiles is by the subscribers of their magazine that give information when signing up for a subscription.
- 6. On this front cover the colour scheme is salmon, yellow and teal, these colours contrast each other as pink and blue are on the opposite sides of the colour wheel, the yellow also adds a pop of extra colour on the cover. Also the colour of the top on the model is similar to the main colours of the magazine. The pink that is used also makes it look as if it is for women because it is typically perceived as a females color, this matches the audience as they are mainly female. The background is white which is a theme for most Women’s Health magazines, this means that the writing and picture stands out against the background. It also gives the cover a clean and not over crowded look, this is also helped by the face that negative space has been used. The model in the center is showing off her body and looks quite toned, this goes with the theme of the magazine as it is about keeping fit. Also if the cover models body looks good the people that buy the magazine are likely to want to achieve this body type and to look like her. The models head is also overlapping the masthead, this is because she is supposed to be the main focal point of the cover. Another reason for this is that this is a well known magazine brand therefore people will know their name without seeing the whole word. The celebrity that they used is aged 31, and the age of the audience is between 25 and 44, which means that having someone that is a similar age to the readers means that they will elate to her more, and read to see how someone achieved that physique in a similar age to them. They have used stars and blobs within this page with the circle and the rectangle, these both use a gradient of salmon to yellow which makes them stand out against the background and compared to the rest of the text.
- 7. The actual text says things that correlate with the image shown on the front. For instance some of the writing says about ‘30 days to loose your tum’ this links to the models body as she is showing off her stomach. Another instance of this is where the text says ‘The 5 women all men lust after’ this correlates because they chose a well known singer that is good looking. The model used on the cover is a well known singer this makes people more likely to buy the issue because they like the said singer or they want to look like she does. It says her same on the right-side of the image, the font used for her name looks very different from the other font used across the page, it looks almost as if it has been hand written or a signature. The texts show the name of the article in bold then show the page number not in bold, this helps draw attention to the main title then see the page number after you have read it and grown interest in the article. Below each bit of text it has some ellipses, these have been used to separate the titles and make it obvious what is part of one article and what is another. An example of where this is used is it says ‘Ellie Goulding!’ then below says ‘Fit. Strong. Happy. How she got there’ then there is some ellipsis and more text saying another name of an article. The ellipses are used in this instance to separate the two different articles and show that the text underneath the name is part of that particular article. The model has been photographed in that position because it looks quite canid and like she is genuinely happy. She is wearing very little clothing this is because they want to show off her body so people see it and want to find out how she got her body to look that way and to then copy her as they want to achieve this. They have made the image look quite saturated, this is because it is a summer addition of the magazine and they wanted her to look summery and tanned to go along with this. Some of the text is colored whereas other is just black, this is to contrast against each other and the background. An example of this is the text within the circle the text is mainly black other than ’Beach’ this is because it is the main word within that sentence therefore it should stand out.
- 8. Layout When you open the magazine there is a double page spread that is an advert. This advert goes with the main audience for this magazine, as it is for beauty products that they are likely to buy, this is because the product is from a high-end brand which goes along with the average socio-economic grade of the audience. The advert being on the first page means that the company will get a lot of attention as it is the first thing they will see inside of the magazine. This will also mean that the brand that wants their advert to be put there will have to pay quite a lot of money so that it will. The next couple pages are adverts, then on page 8 and 9 it finally comes to a ’Contents’ page, this is put quite late into the magazine, this is so that they could fit in more adverts and gain more money from said adverts as they are close to the beginning. The contents page is laid out quite sporadically. For instance for some pages there is just the title of the article on others there is a photo of something with the page number on it, this picture usually goes with what is featured in the article. On page 10 and 11 there is the first article of the magazine, this is however not a double page spread and is only on one page (11) and on the other side there is another advert, this is a similar layout for many of the pages in this magazine, there being an advert on one side and the article on the other. Doing this means that they will be receiving lots of money from advertising, this money will most likely be used to pay for the issue to be published and sent out. The colour scheme of the magazine sticks to the same as the front cover mainly. It is yellow, orange and blue, this gives the magazine the feel that it matches overall and that it all correlates together. The fonts also follows this, they used similar fonts for the main headlines of the article, then changed to a easier to read font for the main text. The article is about exercise and lifting weights, this is shown by the image used, it is a woman's hand holding up a weight. Having the image relate to the article shows the viewer what it is about without them having to read it, this also helps them to determine if they want to read the article or not.
- 9. Layout The first double page spread in the magazine is page 30-31, this is very late into the magazine, all the other articles are spread over 4 pages with adverts either side of the other. The colour scheme yet again follows the one of the front cover, with it using a turquoise colour with a yellow, having this makes the magazine look as if it all correlates together and matches. This article matches the overall theme of the magazine, which is health and keeping fit, they chose to do about healthy food to match this theme. Same as the half page article they show images of the food to make people interested in what they have written about, also to quickly identify what the article is about. The photos are very saturated and bright, this is because the magazine is about the summer so they have made it look as if was taken in the sun, they have also done this to make the food look more appealing. The magazine has lots of adverts, these adverts can be next to an article of have a double page spread. Depending on where the adverts are placed and how many pages they go over the company can page a different range of prices, I had a look at what these prices were. To put the double page spread on the first page costs $246,730 for the second cover and $133,640 for the second half of the page, this means they would pay a total of $380,370 for the double page advertising when you first open the cover. The money that the magazine receives from the advertising is likely to go towards the costs of publishing and shipping the magazines, this could also be the reason that the magazine is not overly expensive at £3.99 per issue. The magazine is likely to get most of their funding from the advertising. The issues also can be subscribed to for a certain amount of money to get a certain amount of issues.
- 10. Mixmag
- 11. Their media pack is easy to find on their website, it is an option under the other tab on the top tool bar. Then it is shown in a slide show. This means that it is easily accessible for other companies that may want to advertise within their magazine. This magazine has advertisers in a similar way to ‘Women’s health’ in that companies have to pay a certain amount to advertise on certain pages and the size of the advertisement. The media pack for this magazine shows some statistics for their audience, some information shown is that the median age of the readers of Mixmag is 24, this means that they have a much younger audience compared to Women's health. It also shows the statistics for their social medias, this shows how their audience is quite young as they are showing the importance of their social medias where as magazines with older audiences will not show this as older people do not use social medias as much. The fact that they show these statistics also means that they will get more advertising from companies that feature in social medias, as they have quite a big following on these. I could not find any information on how they found out about their audience. However I think that since they are very specific about their social medias and how many followers they have, I recon that they used their followers within their audience profiling. Media pack
- 12. The colour scheme of this front cover is grey, black, white and pink, the pink colour contrasts against the darker colours that have been used along side it, this makes the words in pink stand out more against the background, having the color scheme being mainly darker colors matches the target audience because the color black is usually used for males and their audience is predominantly male. The words that are coloured in pink are the headlines of the articles, them being so contrasting means that people are going to be drawn to these words and then read them, meaning that they are likely to read the article after that, pink is commonly thought of as more of a feminine color so they might have used it so that it appeals to the female audience that they have. The name of the magazine and some other things are in white, this also stands out against the background as it contrasts the dark scheme and in turn makes people look at them. The font for the word ‘Mixmag’ is quite curvy and quirky, this is contrasted against the rest of the font that is more straight, this makes it stand out as it differs from the rest. The dot above the ‘I’ is a target, this makes it look quirky and makes the viewer look at it. All of the words, except the name, are in capitals, this shows how this makes them important and as if they need to be read. The word ‘Mix’ being in the title shows that it is a music magazine and more specifically a DJ magazine, because it is the term used when DJ’s put music together. The cover does not have a background, instead they chose an image of the featured artist, this makes the model the center of attention and shows that they are the feature of the magazine. The model is at a DJ booth, this shows what his profession is, it also shows that the magazine is music based as they are featuring a musician. The title is covered slightly by the models head, this is because they are a well known magazine and will be known by people without showing their full name. The model is quite dark compared to the background, this makes him stand out more. The background being a image means that it would be quite difficult to read the text on it, so they used blobs and stars on most of the text to make it stand out against the background, and so that it is readable. Having a famous DJ on the cover means that the fans of this DJ may buy the magazine just to see him in it. Also since the readers of the magazine are going to be into EMD music, it means that they are likely to know who the DJ on the cover is, which is why he would be put on the cover.
- 13. The tagline for the magazine is ‘World’s biggest dance music and clubbing magazine’, this is put above the title of the magazine and is placed there on every magazine they publish. The statement being placed above the main title shows that they want people to read it first, it is also at the very top of the magazine that reinforces this idea. The words are in pink, which makes them stand out against the background and the white title. The word ‘Biggest’ being used within this statement suggests that they are the most read magazine within this genre, this makes people assume that they are also the best magazine in this genre. It also says the type of magazine so people can tell quickly and easily by reading the first thing shown on the magazine. Having this as the tagline for the magazine means that people that like that kind of music will see that and then buy the magazine, this means that it would inform their audience of what genre the magazine is. The font used for all of the titles are very angular which contrasts against the writing underneath them that shows more detail about the article that the titles for, this means that people are more likely to read the title before the writing under neither and gain interest from the title then find out the page number or more information after gaining interest. They have also used black boxes under the article names, this makes them stand out against the background, and easier to read. Having quite angular and straight font makes it look quite masculine which would appeal to their mainly male audience. The same goes for the dark colors used on the writing, this makes it look more masculine.
- 14. Layout On their first page they had a image of the featured musician for the issue and had a small paragraph about him, this is different to women’s health that had a advertisement on the first page, having a famous DJ in the magazine that the audience is likely to know, means that the audience will be interested in this article and may buy more of the magazines issues if they include more famous DJs in them. The image used shows the musician at a DJ booth, doing his job, the image is quite candid looking which makes it look as if he is really involved in his job and having fun. There is very little text shown on the page, this makes the photo stand out more and makes it look like the most important part of the page. The writing has also been put over a white background, this makes it stand out and easier to read. They have left lots of blank space above the text, this makes it look minimalistic and a bit more empty, this makes the page look less crowded especially with the busy looking image. The second page is however an advert for one of their own products, it is a double page spread on subscriber music streaming application that they have created, they offer a code for the reader so that they can try it for a small time period for free. The colour scheme does not match any of the rest of the magazine and looks very different from other pages, this makes it stand out in the magazine and makes the reader look at this page as it is so different. The font used for the text under the main title is the same as on the one used on the front cover. Also the rest of the font used matches the one used for all the main titles on the other pages, like the first page, having matching fonts throughout the magazine means that the audience will start to recognise that font and think of the magazine when they see that font. The colours are all quite dark, this makes it look quite masculine, which matches with the target audience for them as it is predominantly male.
- 15. Layout The next page is the contents page, they have layed out the page so that there are images for certain pages and the others are written in a list saying the page number and the title of the page, and a one line description of the article. For example one of them is ’50-Big tunes-10 must-hear tracks of this month’ the 50 is the page number and the ‘Big tunes’ is the title of the article, this goes with what the one line description is it suggests that the article is about music and the ‘hits’ that they would recommend to the reader. The pictures used for some of the articles vaguely relate to the article that they are used for, however they do not have a description for what the article is about. For instance the one used for page 116 is an image of a girl dancing in the club, this does not give a description for what the article is about, however it vaguely suggests that it is about clubbing. The color scheme for this page is quite dark, which is the same over the whole thing, having it quite dark themed matches the style of music as it is typically played in clubs which tend to be quite dark. Also the dark colors make the page look quite masculine, which matches the audience. The images that they used are all quite bright and colorful, which contrasts the overall color scheme of the page. The pictures show different scenes from clubs or concerts, which will make the audience interested as the style of music is usually played in clubs. The page after the contents page is two different adverts over a double page spread, one of these adverts is for Smirnoff, which is a brand that goes along with the style of the magazine and what it is about, such as the party lifestyle that is showed throughout the magazine and the genre of the magazine. The advert for Smirnoff matches the audience for this magazine quite well because they are likely to buy the brand as the people that read this magazine will like this type of music and it has quite a club theme so they are likely to go out drinking, also the audiences average age is between 18 and 24 which is the legal drinking age. The second advert is for Tommy Trash, which is a brand that yet again matches the magazine.