- Genre:
- Women’s fashion magazine -- (focus on beauty)
- Genre conventions (content):
- Latest beauty trends of the season and presenting them in a creative manner
- Beauty and fashion tips and tricks with suggestions on how to look better and suggestions on certain products or items
- Fashion trends and how to achieve them
- Health and care focused on taking care of hair and skin with possible recipes and advice
- Picture tutorials for makeup and hair
- Makeup and outfit inspiration using the latest products and trends
- Features on celebrities and famous makeup artists to inspire readers
- Genre conventions (production techniques):
- Cover:
- Masthead: a feature that will always stay the same, like the title of the magazine. Ex: Allure or Vogue. Will always be big, bold, and on top of front cover. Let’s audience become familiar with cover and name
- Main image: different every month or season. Will be the main factor to catch readers’ attention and be related to the content of the issue.
- Sell lines: will always be linked to the main image, could be quotes of the person featured on the cover, or have a few words from the main magazine feature. Also, it contains secondary sell-lines in smaller font, very catchy information regarding the issue.
- Target audience: women ages 18-50, interested in fashion, beauty, hair, skin care, pop culture, quizzes, and trends. The use of the color pink and red are used often because they are considered feminine and sexy. SImilar clothing and makeup to the audience will be worn by the person on the cover to be relatable and make readers feel attached, compelling readers to buy the magazine.
- Contents Page:
- Main image: will include an image of the same person on the cover, but a different pose and will be one of the larger photographs featured. Will be larger to signify the importance of the person in the issue
- Title: the name of the magazine will be big and bold on top of contents page
- Page numbers with occasional summaries: Next to the images will be bolded page numbers and the possible title of the page and occasionally will include a summary of the page. The summary will tell the readers the best pages to read-- the pages that the magazine thinks high of.
- Date and Issue number: the date the issue came out and the name of the issue will be featured
- Double Page Spreads:
- Layout: writing will be separated into column form. At the start of most paragraphs, the title will be big and bold to catch readers’ attention. The main image will most likely be covering one side of the double page spread.
- Main large image: will most likely be the same person on the cover, just a different photograph, or the large image will be heavily related to the content spoken about in the article.
- Large Headings/Pull Quotes: headings or quotes will always be related to or pulled from the article written and linked to the main image.
- Institutional conventions (marketing):
- Strong and bold headlines: used on the cover to draw the attention of readers and get them intrigued about content in issue. Also used on content pages to bring readers’ eyes to important pages and their summary. Lastly, used on double-page spreads at the beginning of the article and also used when mentioning of pulled quotes from the article.
- The precise use of color: most fashion magazines focus on using feminine colors such as pink and red and the use of light pastel colors that are appealing to the eyes without taking away attention from the main photograph or article.
- Visually appealing: most magazine covers not only have bold words but they are visually appealing by the photograph featured and the colors featured in the photograph and the colors used for the masthead and sell-lines.
- Current topics: not only have bold titles withdrawing words, but the titles must be relevant and current so that readers will be interested in learning more.
- Appealing fonts: fonts draw attention and get readers’ eyes to focus on the words mentioned.
- Sample #1
This magazine perfectly embodies fashion magazine conventions. The cover has a beautiful celebrity with natural hair and natural makeup. The cover has a large masthead and features differently sized sell-lines in different colors that all complement each other. The use of white, gold, and black is all visually appealing to draw in readers. Additionally, the use of the gray is a great background color, that adds color without taking away attention from the main subject.
- Sample #2
This is a perfect example of a double page spread for a beauty magazine. The writing is separated into column form and has large bold heading to draw the readers’ attention. The double page spread is full of graphics and colors to keep the reader interested. This spread is giving readers tips and tricks for a good skin care regimen. It also recommends products and mentions the cost and where to buy it.
Other examples:
