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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