Publishing and Editorial
Branding and Identity
Research Brief - Area of research: feminism (relevant to dissertation)
Skills Driven - Improving typography and layout design
I came up with the idea for my first brief straight away, as it is based on the theme of my dissertation. I'm asking the question: Can women's magazines, focusing on the specific example of Cosmopolitan, ever be considered feminist? So, It would be great to link in my design practice by proposing a design for a magazine that is suitable for feminists.
My ideas for my women's magazine:
- No celebrities on the cover, either real women or artwork
- A bit like stylist magazine, but for a younger audience
- Featuring affordable clothes, and articles relevant for a younger audience
- Adverts inside are approved and won't lower the self-esteem of the viewer
- Suitable for feminists but appealing to all
Design possibilities & considerations:
- Contains illustrations, type, photography etc...
- Foil logo, spot varnish, some type of finish to stand out (like computer arts magazine)
- Could be a different paper stock to other glossy magazines (like company magazine is now)
- Could be handbag size and normal size like cosmopolitan, so that it can be taken everywhere (need to consider where it will be read)
- Could use spot colours (like wired magazine does)
- Spines could line up to make an image (like you often see with partworks)
- Images overlapping on to next pages, irregular columns, the text being diagonal, breaking the rules of layout design in magazines (as David Carson did)
- Sketch out magazine plans first using a grid system
- Consider hierarchy of page - what should be seen first?
- Reader may dip in and out of the magazine, so consider the flow and how to guide the reader across the magazine
- Could do different editions/covers for the same issue to make them collectables
- Consider product/range/distribution... what else could come out of it? For example, cosmopolitan sell watches and other branded goods. Books, blog, website....
- Readability is key - 60 characters per line. Consider kerning, leading, font size, choice, colour etc
- Think about how much it will cost and how this will affect advertising and how much the target audience can afford to pay
- How will it be bound? Create a dummy magazine to test the size
- What stock will be used? Could have a thicker cover, maybe fold out bits.
- Needs to stand out. Could be an unusual size (like national geographic magazine)
- Could have die cut pages that show through to reveal something from the page behind
- Use of different stocks inside to keep the pages exciting
- Free gifts with the magazines can attract attention, can be useful things such as extra magazines, CDS, (one magazine did free tampon cases) etc
- Front cover could be done in a different style each week to showcase different artists talents, and could sometimes be designed by readers (like stylist magazine)
- How is it wrapped? Does it have a bellyband? Come with a bookmark?
- Mix of hand drawn and digital designs. (like the liberty christmas magazine and pages from cath kidston magazine)
- Borders around images, maybe just one image on page, to have a completely different look from the standard women's magazine (such as oh comely!)
Features of magazine:
- Fashion & Beauty
- World News
- Topical Issues
- Business Advice
- Craft / Cooking Section
- Inspirational Women
- Travel
[My magazine will feature celebrities, but only interviews and things they agree with, no speculated gossip, no photos judging their weight/cellulite etc. The features will celebrate these celebrities achievements rather than criticising them.]
[My magazine will feature celebrities, but only interviews and things they agree with, no speculated gossip, no photos judging their weight/cellulite etc. The features will celebrate these celebrities achievements rather than criticising them.]
I'm going to start by researching what is already out there for women in the UK in terms of magazines, as well as looking at general magazine design.
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I've started some initial research on magazine design to go with the research I am doing for my dissertation about feminism.
Before I can start designing anything, I need to make some decisions about the magazine and its content, and then I'll think about what it will look like.
In the mean time, I think I should play about a little bit with type and layout design, maybe following some tutorials to gain a better understanding of this.
What can I call it?
I've looked up the dictionary definition of feminism to find synonyms, to help me think of a relevant name I could call the magazine.
- Liberty Girl (freedom from control)
- variations: Liberty&Love; Miss Liberty, Liberty Heart
- Womanism or Womanist (believing in and respecting the abilities and talents of women; acknowledging women's contributions to society)
- Femme Fatale (Some say the femme fatale "remains an example of female independence and a threat to traditional female gender roles,")
- Butterfly Effect (The butterfly effect is a metaphor for the concept that small, seemingly insignificant events — like the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings — can produce tremendous and unanticipated consequences)
- Venus (Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus)
- Virtue (A good or admirable quality)
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I've started some initial research on magazine design to go with the research I am doing for my dissertation about feminism.
Before I can start designing anything, I need to make some decisions about the magazine and its content, and then I'll think about what it will look like.
In the mean time, I think I should play about a little bit with type and layout design, maybe following some tutorials to gain a better understanding of this.
What can I call it?
I've looked up the dictionary definition of feminism to find synonyms, to help me think of a relevant name I could call the magazine.
Here are some more keywords to define what feminism is:
I've tried to think of some ideas based on these keywords. I want it to be obvious that the magazine is feminist, and supports women's rights, but I also need to the name to still seem stylish. It also needs to be a name thats not been used before and isn't too similar to what else is already available.
What am I trying to suggest about the target audience?
- Intelligent - Stylish - Creative - Believes in equality - Interested in whats going on in the world - Confident, inspirational, powerful women - Independent
Ideas
- Liberty Girl (freedom from control)
- variations: Liberty&Love; Miss Liberty, Liberty Heart
- Womanism or Womanist (believing in and respecting the abilities and talents of women; acknowledging women's contributions to society)
- Femme Fatale (Some say the femme fatale "remains an example of female independence and a threat to traditional female gender roles,")
- Butterfly Effect (The butterfly effect is a metaphor for the concept that small, seemingly insignificant events — like the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings — can produce tremendous and unanticipated consequences)
- Venus (Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus)
- Virtue (A good or admirable quality)
