Planning: Costumes/Props

The use of costumes and props in magazines are important due to the fact that they help enhance the visionary aspect of the magazine. It is even more essential when it comes to magazines about body imaging because of the different types of fashion that is trying to be sold to the consumers. It brings in an audience because they may like a certain outfit that is being represented on the cover and want to try out it out, causing them to look into the magazine  to see what other outfits they have as well as develop an interest of the other content the magazine contains, especially if it is a beauty magazine. 

Costume and Props for Females:

For females, they don't use as many props unless its jewelry or it can vary depending on what the magazine is focusing on. For instance if they are trying to sell DIY beauty products, they may have the model with a bowl and a brush, applying it onto their face, but most of the time its simply a model wearing an outfit that may catch the attention of an audience.

The outfits, or costumes, usually follow along the theme of the magazine which can change depending on the season. For my own magazine, I will be doing a autumn edition so my models costumes, props, and other content will be autumn related.
Considering this is a beauty magazine that wants to enhance body diversity and boost self-esteem, I have to ensure to use models that have different characteristics and use a color scheme on their clothing that will enhance their individual beauty. Outfits will follow along with the body type and prove to the audience that they can wear what makes them feel beautiful.

Make-Up and Hair:

When it comes to hair and make up, it will differentiate due to the theme. If the magazine wants to give a natural aesthetic, the make up will be kept light and the hair will be natural. This means when the hair type varies depending on race and ethnicity, such as a curly or straight, I would like it to be kept as natural as possible to show that the magazine is all about keeping beauty natural.

Final Magazine Title

After using Photoshop and editing how my title should look like, I have come up with a few different ideas and have narrowed it down to two of them. These are the following designs:

I really like this style because its simple as well as legible and anyone can get an idea of what type of magazine it is. The pink and white compliments each other as well as contrast against the background so the title and tagline stand out more. 

For this design, I like the font better because it goes with the aesthetic I am trying to use. The white stands out a lot more so it really pops out at potential readers.  

Even though I like the second font better, the first font is easier to read, plus, the white on the second design may stand out too much, not giving the magazine cover a lot of color or feel. And since I am trying to attract teens of all gender, I feel if the cover image will be the main eye-catcher with a male and female model plus side lines that describe the content of the magazine.

Masthead Analysis

Like most magazine mastheads the lettering is typically bold and pops out to catch a readers attention. They stand out from the background color is usually has a lot of influence of what type of audience you will gather. Usually fonts establish a type of aesthetic that brings in particular audiences.

These are a few example of font and font color that are in popular magazines.

The font is legible and is a semi-formal font. This may attract readers, majority of them being women, usually who seek for fashion and beauty related content in the magazine in a more sophisticated manner..

This font is legible as well but it is with a different color font. The color seems to pop out more and give a feminine feel. This indicated the content in the magazine is usually for women in the fashion and entertainment topics as well as beauty.

Rather than the first two mastheads, the kerning, the space between characters,  is obviously greater which is making the letters far apart. This could be because the title does not have many letter within it so to make it more noticeable that widening of space grabs the attention of potential readers.

Planning and Visionary

With the results from my survey, I now have a better understanding of what my target audience would like to see.

For my cover, I will have a main cover image of a male and female, that way the audience would see that this product is towards all genders.

This is a concept that I could follow for my magazine cover. I would like my models to wear outfits for the season, which for my magazine edition will be autumn. I also want to make sure that the couples give off a comfortable but professional feel.

 My magazine's title will be Aphrodite, after the Greek goddess of beauty. The name will better express what type of magazine it will be, especially if the audience has background knowledge on Greek mythology. The font is still undecided, but since the color scheme, blue and white, has been decided due to the majority vote. This color scheme will also give a comforting feel and a young, vibrant aesthetic that catches the eyes of potential readers.

Audience Profile

My magazine product is about beauty and positive body imaging. I want it to be inclusive of all genders, ethnicities, and body types. The magazine content will be directed mainly towards teenagers in the age range of 14-18 but can be read by those older who are interested in beauty and fashion, as well as the main theme body positivity. The issue with producing magazines with this type of content is that fashion tips and beauty hacks can be found through the Internet and for the most part, it is completely free to obtain the information. There are also online "influencers" that try to spread the message of body positivity with the help of promoting product.

What would make my magazine different is that the it would have more relatable content to readers who would suffer from low self-esteem or just want to read on fashion or beauty trends and rather than trying to sell products, it would help readers make their own products, using natural ingredients and save their money. The magazine will hold a story of an individual who has overcome self hate and learned to love themselves which could potentially inspire the audience and motivate themselves. I would also like to have a section that would be advice and/or compliments of that issue, which could boost the self-esteem of readers

Survey Responses

After at least two leeks of my survey being posted, I received 11 responses from my peers.
Here are the results:

Planning and Visionary : Content

For my content, I also had my peers answer survey questions so I can see what they would like to see.
Of course, my content must revolve around body-imaging and self-esteem, so I would like to incorporate beauty hacks, such as methods of beauty trends or a step-by-step Do-It-Yourself products related to beauty. I would also like to input promotion of healthy behavior, like eating a balanced diet, fitness tips, and maintaining a good mental health. Another content material I could use are stories by my peers who are willing to share their stories of their journey to finding self love or have a section dedicated to advice from other teens.

To obtain information, I would like to mostly get my research done by students around me. For instance, learn about a Do-It-Yourself beauty product from a student who uses it themselves, find out the results, and what is used to make it. I will also do extra research to ensure the safety of other individuals who plan to use it and make sure to leave warnings on the DIY before use.
If I cannot find a interesting, affordable and easy DIY's whether its beauty or food snacks, I will research via online and put the references/credit to the original creator.

Other content, such as fitness tips, "how to", etc. will mostly be from internet research in order to give unreliable information.

Stories will be inputted with the consent of the student and will follow certain requirements, such as being inspirational and appropriate for school.