Case study part 5: Analysing the Editor's Letter in a Magazine.

A small picture of the editor, Lorraine Candy, is shown of the top left hand corner of the page. Lorraine looks like she's in her late 20's, she looks quite fashionable ad presumably up-to-date with the latest trends. Her sunglasses make her look very funky and fashion-obsessed along with her bright red lipstick, making her appear to be voguish, classy and mature. She fits in with the female target audience of women ages 18+, and due to her being within the same age range as her target audience, she perhaps relates to the readers. Lorraine's photo and signature makes it feel as if she is a real person having a casual conversation with the reader.

Within the editors letter, Lorraine discusses health, lifestyle and physical appearance. Lorraine mentions that 'Two years ago [her] friend, the writer Hannah Betts, gave up drinking alcohol' and that that this has 'turned out to be the best solution for her own personal predicament.' Ever since Hannah began her alcohol-free life, Lorraine had noticed an incredible improvement to Hannah's skin conditions; she now has a sort of 'glow' to her skin. Lorraine gives out a message to the reader that, health is a significant factor to a person's physical appearance and that they should be weary of their health, diet and lifestyle.

Learning from Hannah, Lorraine is in the process of  're-[evaluating her] own relationship with alcohol or, more importantly, the way [she] consume[s] sugar in [her] daily diet.' Lorraine understands the correlation of  maintaining a healthy diet and improvement in physical appearance and also wants the reader to be aware and informed of this. Essentially, Lorraine is advising the readers on how to look naturally beautiful which is appealing to the target audience as women are interested in these sort of topics.
The language is formal which gives a sense of authority to Lorraine because she is the editor. However, we still see a connection between the writer and the reader, For instance, when Lorraine says 'Hannah' piece presents an emotional dilemma for us all in this era of so-called 'clean living.' The personal pronoun 'us' makes the reader feel engaged and involved;  Lorraine is having a conversation with the reader as if they were her friend which allows for the reader to feel relaxed and welcome to the magazine.

Case study part 4: Analysing the double page article of a magazine.

Case study part 3: Analysing the Contents Page of a Magazine

The contents page includes all the features of the magazine by separating them into different categories. For example, the articles are categorized into topics such as: The mood, Elle collective, Beauty. Fashion, Travel, etc. All of the categories are specifically and carefully chosen and appeal to its female target audience.  

The contents page of the 'Elle' magazine is overall, very neat and organised. The categories are separated into columns with the subheading being the topic with the article page number below along with a little brief which hints at the content of the article giving the reader an insight of what the article is about without giving everything away. 

The contents page also includes a few small images making the magazine all the more amusing. The pictures include images of outfits and handbags which follow after the 'Fashion' category whereas, the small images of beautiful locations and a waterfall, go under the 'Travel' column. The images used, capture the readers attention because they're bright, fascinating and vivid. Without the images, the magazine contents page would look plain and dull. Personally, i believe that the images make the magazine seem fum and exciting because the images are the only source of colour within the contents page, seeing as the writing is all in black font and the background is plain white. The category names are all capitalized and in bold black font to make them stand out from the white background. 

The language used in the contents page is colloquial and direct. For instance, it says 'Whether it's oversized or a trench, go on, protect yourself from the cold, cold world' and asks 'Are you sitting comfortably?' The use of direct language such as 'you' makes the audience feel engaged. In addition, the question is direct to the reader, this makes the connection between the writer and  reader; the readers feel as if they are having a friendly conversation which puts them at ease allowing them to feel relaxed and welcome. 

Case study part 2: Analysing the Front Cover of a Magazine.

Image:	The main image is mid-shot of Amy Adams. She is a well-known Hollywood actress and singer. The image is placed in the centre of the magazine and takes up the whole page which instantly captures attention and signifies its significance. In addition, the fact that the image overlaps the title ‘Elle’ signals that Amy Adams is more important. Adams is portrayed as elegant through her warm and welcoming smile and the neutral colours within her dress-code. Her strawberry blonde hair also gives a sense of elegance and beauty. Amy’s hand is positioned near her chin with the sleeves of her top stretching all the way to her knuckles; this allows for Amy Adams to be viewed as delicate and gentle in comparison to her soft smile which makes her look friendly enough to invite the reader. It’s as if Amy’s warm and soft smile is welcoming and inviting the reader into the magazine. Her perfect white teeth and beautiful silky and long hair makes her an aspirational figure; women want to look like her and be as successful and famous as her, whereas men would be attracted to her.
Title:	The title ‘Elle’ is a French for the word ‘she/her’ perhaps suggesting that this magazine is targeted to females. ‘Elle’ is a worldwide lifestyle magazine with a French origin, focusing on categories associated with fashion, beauty, entertainment and health – all topics appealing to a majority of women. The main image overlaps the title, suggesting that Amy Adams is better known than the magazine itself: she’s so famous that she can be recognised through appearance more than her own name. However, it could be the case that the image overlaps the title because the title is already famous and well-known internationally so, there is no need in showing the whole title seeing as a lot of people know it already. The title is written in a very light, almost transparent/clear kind of shade indicating that the content of the magazine is more than its name, hence why all other writing is bold and clearly visible.
Subtitles/ Coverlines + Language:	The main coverline states that there are ’75 coats to buy now…’ this is written in bold white writing in order to outshine the other coverlines; this is one of the main coverlines and Amy Adams is promoting this with her noticeable beige trench coat. The other coverlines mention physical appearance such as ‘skin’. Finally, the last coverline says ‘Amy Adams the modern gentlewomen. These coverlines follow the topics of fashion, health and lifestyle, which is appealing to the target audience of women. ‘Skin rehab… the radical change you can make’ the language within this coverline is direct for example the word ‘you’ directly addresses the reader which grabs their attention and engages them and makes them feel involved. It also makes the magazine sound exciting,
Price:	The issue was published in November 2016 and below the date, we see the price of the magazine: the cost of it is £4.10 which is quite a lot for just a magazine. This further suggests that the target audience is women over 18+ because they’re old enough and can most likely afford to pay for this magazine considering that they are old enough for a job.

Case study part 1: Colour in Magazines

Colour in Magazines 

4 colours are used in this magazine: Blue, Beige, Grey and White. All of these colours fit nicely together in order to give this magazine a feeling of classiness. The colours grey and beige are used on Amy Adams dress code; these are nude colours which are trendy and fashionable. Beige is a very classy and mature-like colour, giving off a sense of wealth, success and class. Nude is the colour for spring/summer even though this magazine was published in November, around autumn/winter time, The Blue background gives the reader a glimpse of summer when the sky is blue in contrast to the nude colours on her clothes. However, the blue can also establish the ending of summer/autumn and into the winter. Even in the winter, Amy Adams appears to be dazzling, glowing, glorious and gorgeous. In the May issue of Elle magazine, the editor, Lorraine Candy, used the word 'nude' over nine times, the use of repetition emphasises the craze of this neutral colour during summer.

The colours on this magazine are very organised showing that it follows a strict colour scheme. The colours all work together, some allowing others to stand out more. For example, the simple, plain blue background allows Amy Adams to stand out. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The colours and their connotations:

• Blue: Depth, stability, trust, loyalty, wisdom,  confidence, intelligence, truth, faith, and heaven. 
• Beige: Neutral, calm, relaxing, dependable, flexible and conservative, 
• Grey: Cool, neutral, balanced and emotionless.
• White: Light, goodness, innocence, purity, safety and cleanliness.

All of these colours combined gives the magazine a feel of luxury, wealth, success and classiness. In fashion, the colour 'nude' has a common description of a shade that is slightly darker to the colour of champagne, lighter than sand with a hint of blush/peach. These 4 main colours attract readers who care about success, wealth and luxury which is appealing to adults in particular - specifically ages 18 and over. Considering that the target audience is mainly composed of adults, the colours attract wealth and success searching readers. These colours provide the magazine with a sense of luxury and royalty. Blue is the only intense colour used, it has a lot of depth in contrast to the neutral and bright colours that Amy Adams is wearing; which allows her to appear eye-catching.

The same 4 colours are used throughout the entire magazine in very similar shades. This provides the magazine with a sense of organisation, stability and structure.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Planning:
For my production I will heavily consider colour scheme and the connotations in which my chosen colour has. For example, if my magazine was based on a pop genre and was targeted to females, I would use pink or purple shades (as these are colours often associated with females). I will then take into account the connotations that these colours have for instance, pink has the connotation of romance, sweetness, cuteness and playfulness etc. This suggests that the person I use for my main image perhaps has all these qualities which would be appealing to them.
John Fiske argues that genre is used as a convenience for producers and audiences: I'm ensuring that all my design choices are related to pop genre conventions. This is a convenience for my audience because they will easily be able to identify what genre my magazine is, this benefits me as a producer because my audience will buy the magazine

Collage

Planning:

From analysing this collage, I have learnt the reasons as to why specific features have been used on a magazine front cover. For example, the main image should be thought about carefully due to the fact, it would in a sense, sum up what the magazine is about. For instance, the main image on this collage is a circle with mountains in it representing the world; this immediately tells the reader that this magazine is targeted to tourists and people who love to explore or discover things about the world. This magazine is very clearly a travel magazine because it shows different parts of the world, in which tourists can visit.

Within my production, I will carefully consider my target audience. I will make sure that the colour scheme, main image and content all appeal to them.