Magazine and Website Research

Billie Tackas

Cosmopolitan is one of the leading monthly fashion and gossip magazines. Every month they have an A-List start on the cover and talk about current trends, issues, sex, gossip and fashion.  The majority of Cosmopolitan’s covers and very busy and have a lot of tag lines; these grab your attention and give you information about what is in the magazine. For my project I won’t use this technique, as I think it can look messy and clustered.

Because they feature a lot on their font cover this is something that I do not want to do when designing my cover.

The Cosmopolitan website is very similar to their magazine. It keeps the same masthead and typeface throughout, which keeps everything consistent and something that I like. Like many they keep their website up to date and constantly update it. A feature that I like from their website is ‘Featured Today’ this is something they change everyday and give something new for their readers.

They make sure they also have features in the magazine on the website.

They mainly use black and pink font with a white standard background. This keeps it simple and effective, and is not to much for the readers and doesn’t over power the website.

They do cover mostly celebrity news over fashion news, this is something that I do not want to have on my website. I want to have mainly fashion news. They also have different features, such as the one to the left ‘10 things you shouldn’t say in bed’

Look magazine is the British High Street magazine; this in itself is very appealing to the majority of women. They focus on high street fashion, but talk a lot about beauty and celebrities. Unlike magazines like Glamour, Look includes many images on the front of their magazine. These images tell the reader what is in their magazine, so gives more of an incentive to buy it. The magazine cover only has a few colours on it, and the colour of ‘Look’ changes depending on the image or what else is on the cover. Look is not the classiest looking out of all the women’s magazines, however it isn’t high-end fashion like Vogue and Elle. The typeface of the magazine is always the same; they use all different sizes of fonts making sure the main headline is the biggest. This grabs the attention of the reader, and also means that it can be read from a distance. This is something that I like about Look and will consider using this technique in my own project.

The Look magazine website keeps the same typeface as the magazine, however the website is much more simple than the cover. The website is clear with black font and white background, unlike the cover which is colorful and crammed with all different information on. The website is nice, and I would consider using this style in my project. It includes all the same information and daily updates about fashion and celeb news.  Look magazine is specifically a high street magazine, so the clothes, shoes, accessories used in every issue are all from high street stores. And I feel like they also portray this through the fonts they use, as the fonts are not the most sophisticated or glamorous. Compared to other magazines like Vogue that very rarely has high street brands featured in their magazines you can tell the difference between they way they set out their pages, the fonts they use and what they write. 

Glamour is one of the UK’s best selling women’s magazines. Their audience is just women, and the magazine focuses on Fashion, celeb gossip, beauty and everything else a ‘Glamour’ woman needs.

Throughout Glamour’s magazine covers, they use the same typeface. The font is consistent, and is simple and stylish. They Colour scheme varies to each image on the front, but they only ever use a maximum of 3 colours. Glamour uses a lot of pink on their covers, this highlights that it is a women’s magazine, but also tells the audience that it is not as high end or serious as Vogue or Harpers Bazaar. Unlike some magazines Glamour only has one image on the cover, this gives it a stylish look and sets a standard to the audience. Even though there is a big element of fun all the covers are sexy, this is something I really like and will consider a lot in my own project.  

The ‘Glamour’ masthead design is brilliant, they change the colour depending on the issue and image used but it never loses its impact, due to the use of capital letters. This is something that I would like to use for my own project.

Glamour’s website includes everything the magazine does, but is updated everyday whereas the magazine is monthly. Celeb gossip, and fashion are the first things that you see when going on to the website.  At the top of the website there are the different sections of the website, which are the same as the sections of the magazine.  

Glamour keeps the same simplicity and fun throughout their magazine and website, this is something they have done well and have got the right amount of both, The colour scheme is stylish and fun, which isn’t dissimilar to their audience. The use of black and pick font against a white background is not over powering. The colour scheme for the magazine and website are the same which I something that I may use in my own project.

There are many elements that I like about Glamour Magazine and their website. Even though they use a lot of colour they still manage to keep their site and magazine sophisticated. Even though many magazines and websites keep their designs and layout simple (as does Glamour) they manage to bring something different to their publications. This may be their clever use of colour, or strong images. However these are things I will consider using when designing my magazine.

Vogue is one of the most famous magazines around the world. They are directed to high fashion and designer clothes, and you very rarely find high street clothes in the magazine.

They use understated colour on the covers and change the masthead colour from month to month, mainly changing it from black to white, however as you can see below that they use colour.

On their covers they make statements and they can be very artistic or abstract. The statement is usually made through the clothes or the setting put in placed to make a piece of art. As you can see below, they have used a simple white background but used the clothes to make a statement. They have also kept the cover lines and masthead with the same style.

They do not use many cover lines and try and just highlight the main features in the magazine. Vogue also usually has celebrities or top models on the front of their magazine, and this is something that I am not sure I want to have on my cover.

The vogue website is very similar to their magazines, however the only thing that changes is the features on it. They keep it a sleek black and white colour scheme, this is very different to magazines like Glamour who change their website depending on the colour scheme of the magazine. 

Vogue.co.uk also have a very simple layout which follows the theme. They have their features to the right hand side, and images that change to the left hand side. 

The images are links to stories that are the big news of the day, and these change daily. 

The website and the magazine are very similar, and have the same features. Such as ‘100 best shoes’ this would easily be found in their magazine. 

With vogue they keep everything very high fashion and this is what they are known for, and this is why vogue is desirable.