Website Progress 12/09/22

 Here is my website progress as of 12/09/22:

All of the images on the website at this point in time are placeholders.

Throughout this website, I tried to follow the codes and conventions of other Hearst websites like Cosmopolitan and Harper's BAZAAR whilst still making my website unique with its own style.

For my logo, I decided to keep it simple. I used the font Playfair Display Bold as I thought it looked quite sophisticated without being too serious. This font is also used across the website and will also be used on the front covers and contents pages to create a cohesive brand identity.
The top strip includes links to social media. My target audience of 16-25-year-olds would most likely be quite active on social media.

I have included the topics Style, Home, Politics, Health and Technology. I am considering changing the 'Home' page to a 'Celebrity' or 'Culture' page as I feel my target demographic of 16-25-year-olds would most likely live at home with their parents or at University and would not be that bothered with Housekeeping and Home Decor. The 'Celebrity' topic would most likely fit more as my target audience is described as being Aspirers and Aspirers tend to look up to celebrities and would be more likely to be interested in what they're doing.

This section at the top is where I will display an article about the rise of Cryptocurrency, how it may become the new way to pay for things and how to get into it. This also links to my physical magazine cover as the main cover line in the financial issue will be about Cryptocurrency.

[This picture was taken at 75% zoom so that all the content could fit into one picture]

The next section is the 'Top Stories' section. The main story on this page is a story about a celebrity Pop singer. Aspirer audiences are more likely to hold celebrities in higher esteem and so I think this would fit. The articles on the right are about growing your Instagram following, finance tips, entrepreneurship, trends and style, and current affairs. Growing your Instagram following would be interesting to my target audience as they value status and are more likely to use Social Media like Instagram. The Finance tips story links to the new Finance Issue and talks specifically about students as those in the 16-25 year age bracket (at least from ages 16-21) may still be in school (Sixth Form or University). The millionaire article could be seen as something aspirational for my target audience to look up to. The street-style article would interest this audience because they would want to be up to date on the latest trends without spending too much money. The last article is about a significant event that occurred recently that may affect my target demographic, I may change the word 'students' to 'young people' as it would appeal to a wider audience than just students.

The Fortune's Rising Stars section is where I would display aspirational people from the 16-25 age range. This would appeal to a 16-25-year-old Aspirer audience as they would want to have successful people to look up to and having them being in the same age bracket as the target audience makes it a little more personal and attainable.

For the video, I am deciding between two ideas: 5 Fortune-approved apps that'll improve your health and lifestyle OR 5 Side hustle ideas you can start on NOW

The next section is the 'Culture' Section, whilst the article titles are not up on the website yet (you can see all the planned website articles and cover lines here), it focuses a lot on celebrity culture with famous actresses, directors and music producers being featured in the articles.

All Hearst magazine websites have the same footer layout so I made my footer similar, just with brand elements of Fortune magazine. I included Hearst branding as well as links to the magazine's social media.

Still to do:

• Allow fans to interact with the content
• Perhaps show tweets from a specific Fortune-related hashtag on the website
• Add more promotion of the new magazine
• Add a section where audience can subscribe to the physical magazine 
• Working link from the homepage to one other page
• Link to the cryptocurrency article

Pitch Feedback

 

[Generic Research] Case Study - British GQ

[Generic Research] Case Study - Entrepreneur

[Generic Research] Case Study - Cosmopolitan

 

Statement of Intent

 Product 1 

For my product, I intend to create two magazine covers (and the contents pages for them) that are suited to a 16–25-year-old mid-market aspirer audience. With both covers I aim to make use of celebrity figures which would appeal to an aspirational audience as it would give them someone of status to look up to. Both covers will use visual language elements such as body language and framing to position the audience as seeing these figures as important, influential and of higher status than the audience.  

Cover 1 

With my first cover, I have chosen the topic of finance with the main cover line focussing on cryptocurrency and the cover star; a well-known influencer in the crypto space. I have chosen this topic specifically as cryptocurrency and NFTs are becoming increasingly popular with my 16-25-year-old target audience, as well as this, investing in crypto is often marketed as a get rich quick scheme online and an easy way to gain wealth and status, which would appeal with my target aspirer audience. On this cover, I plan to utilise an intertextual reference to the Godfather with the intent of using it to transfer the values of power and masculinity from the original source material onto the cover star and audience as well as creating a sense of shared experience with the audience who will likely have the cultural competency to understand the reference. The cover model for this cover will be South Asian and so this representation of him as a powerful, influential, masculine figure will subvert stereotypes of South Asian men being weaker and less masculine. 

Cover 2 

My second cover will be focused on the cover star who will be a social media influencer, this will appeal to my target audience as they will most likely be up to date with social media and trends and will look up to social media influencers. Like cryptocurrency, social media is seen as a way to gain wealth and status and so will appeal to my target audience in this way as well. This cover/issue will have a motif/ theme of royalty with the cover star being presented as a ‘princess’, the cover star will be presented as stereotypically feminine, wearing pink, with long hair and a poofy dress but the camerawork and framing will be used to present her as an important, strong figure, subverting stereotypes of femininity being linked with weakness, as 16-25 year olds are likely more socially aware than other demographics I feel this will engage my target audience. 

 

Product 2 

The branding across all three of my products must be consistent and will be brought together by my website. All of my products will use variations of the three primary colours, changing the saturation and brightness for each one so that it fits the tone of the issue, my website will also use these colours. Aspirer audiences like to look up to those they perceive to have status so my website will include many articles about currently relevant celebrities like the Kardashian-Jenners, Elon Musk, Online Influencers and others, it will also include interviews with ‘celebrities’ and articles on how to emulate these famous people as aspirers seek to pursue status. The front pages of websites for Hearst lifestyle magazines tend to be more content-heavy in terms of articles and less artistic in presentation than more alternative magazines, I will take this into account when creating my front page, I plan to include many articles on my front page, and while most will be on lifestyle-related topics, like many Hearst magazines I will also include political content pertaining to what is happening at the time. My website will also include a video with a celebrity showcasing their wardrobe in a similar vein to videos by Vogue or Harper’s BAZAAR. 

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