Creative critical reflection
8
How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?
Elisa JONCKHEERE
Detailed
A Fashion Magazine with an Artistic Perspective
DETAILED
BROKEN CONVENTIONS
TARGET AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE
We broke the conventions in a meaninful way based on the results gotten from the target audience questionnaire
BROKEN CONVENTIONS
OUR PREFERENCES
In addition to what our target audience' results are, we also wanted to add our touch by thinking about our preferences, such as minimal art-centered fashion and not commercial but independent magazine
Front cover
- Headlines, skylines, captions, "pull-out" quotes : As our magazine is not commercial we did not want to include them as we did not want to "spoil" our audience.
- Barcode : we won't include a barcode because it isn’t found in magazines of our genre,such as Nude.The decision was also because we wanted a minimal cover.
Front cover
In terms of the purpose of this cover, the colour decision contributed to this “strategy” and style of alluring, we decided for the colours of the picture chosen to be black and white in order to keep it simple and to allow the readers to decode its meaning rather than use a wide range of appealing colours that could influence their connotative perception.
Although, to a certain degree this is an increasingly common unconventional pattern followed by independent artistic fashion magazines. Which was also supported by the choice of the photograph, the model's position and expression in it, including the fact that she was looking right into the camera in order to generate a certain connection between the readers and the picture.
DOUBLE SPREAD
when having in mind the topic of choice, ‘Nudity & Perspective’, it could be said that it is not a common topic for a fashion magazine given the lack of clothing and representation of fashion brands.
But in contradiction to common belief nudity and its relation to fashion is an increasingly used topic, which I could observe by researching and analyzing independent fashion magazines.
Double Spread
We decided to use only two pictures in the double-spread, following simplicity and use a complementary set that would directly show the comfortability of the model in her own body and its relation to beauty. The picture found in page no.3 also gave us the possibility to include brands of the few items the model was wearing.
Besides, we decided to edit this picture in black and white, based on our belief that this colour represents neutrality and balance and allows the audience to deduce their own interpretation but still give it a sense of seriousness in contrast with the rectangular colored box used to match the rest of the spread.
In terms of the composition of the images, during the photoshoot we had initial flatplans to guide our main ideas but decided to experiment more instead of framing everything in a strict way that would have only limited the expressiveness of the model.
During the shoot we also decided to play with the colourful props the location provided, which is what gave us the opportunity to include the “censoring splash” and match its colours. When having in mind the picture found in page no.4, we played a lot with composition, since the model was not completely naked in the actual photoshoot but that is the impression we wanted to give, by changing angels in correspondence with the position of her hair. .
These are some aspects which can be considered challenging towards mainstream conventions but common to such magazines, given that we took inspiration from many and combined their various characteristics to get this result.
ARTICLE
the way in which we represented this topic in the first double-spread, without the use of an article or short introduction could be considered unconventional. We decided this, mainly because we wanted the images and their significance to lead the meaning and representation captured by the target audience, rather and start by introducing it with an article and create an explanation which would subconsciously influence their mindset when looking at the editorial. We wanted to give our readers the chance to freely create their own meanings and assumptions (throughout the entire magazine).
FOLLOWED CONVENTIONS
we did not break or variate every single convention, given that some are found necessary when referring to the essence of a fashion magazine.
FOLLOWED CONVENTIONS
- Front cover
- Table of contents
- Double spread
FRONT COVER
the front cover contains a clear and bold masthead, the most noticeable element found, given the choice of colour and size which would help the audience’s recognition of the magazine itself and its presence on other networks.
FRONT COVER
The byline with the photographers names and the number of the issue are also present, mainly because the entire issue is photographed by the same people (in this case my colleague, Chiara, and I) and instead of including it in every editorial we thought it would be more practical and balanced in the front cover.
TABLE of CONTENTS
Moreover the entire Table of Contents is pretty conventional, still reflecting our artistic preferences but following the general guidelines. It includes the contents title which denotatively defines the pages, it also includes the titles of each editorial and segment together with the folios and the picture from its specific photoshoot “teasing” the content in both a minimal and complex way.
TABLE of CONTENTS
Given that some of the pictures are hard to decode, which we confirmed by the feedback gotten from various people. Although that was our intention; we wanted to tease the audience regarding what will be found in the respective segments but following a more engaging way which would require the concentration and interest of the audience, for them to understand what the images represent and later be able to correlate it with their concepts. This strategy was also supported by differing the attention away from the text, given their small size, towards the images and expectations they create.
“Complexity” the image chosen to represent it in the table of contents, shows the nude figures of a man and a woman, and the woman being in front of the man which we composed with a specific purpose in mind, which will be available to the audience in its respective segment. But by providing them with such an image it may cause them curiosity to understand what is in that specific picture, the way it relates to the title and what it may mean.
Without the necessity of imposing a clear denotative definition upon our readers, but encouraging them to pay attention to what the Table of Contents provides.
Social Media
The social media networks in which our magazine is present, are clearly represented by the use of their icons (facebook,twitter,instagram) and our username which is the same everywhere, @detailed.jf. We did include the use of leading sentences such as "Subscribe now!", which is a convention followed by most fashion magazines, this was because we do not want it to be a profit-driven magazine and we want to allow the audience based on their completely own interest whether or not to follow us and be more engaged with Detailed and it’s extra content. What could be considered to be less of a conventional feature, is the QR code of Detailed’s instagram page, because QR codes aren’t frequently found and used in magazines, we chose upon this technical aspect as a strategy. Since it will increase the curiosity of the audience because of the lack of specification regarding what it represents, and by checking it out it’ll direct them to our instagram which is one of Detailed’s most used networks.
DOUBLE SPREAD
It also contains a byline with the model’s name and brand information regarding the clothing and accessories worn by the model in the editorial.
DOUBLE SPREAD
When analyzing the conventions respected in the double-spread, there are multiple ones, such as ;
the folio, although if just in one of the two pages, it is made very visible and evident in order to avoid confusion and given the way it balances the aesthetics of the page. Meaning we tried to show a more creative aspect of things usually seen as boring and irrelevant such as the number of a page.It can be considered a conventional aspect modified in order to represent the magazine’s style and catch the attention as well as complete the space in a simple but visually pleasing way.
A quote as replacement to the article in these first pages is incorporated in order to give a minimal idea upon the topic chosen and our perspective as well as the model’s. Although, an article will be included in the following pages of “Nudity & Perspective”, the quote present in the first double-spread can be considered an intro into the concept in general, with no direct link to the article, but related to what the images chosen transmit in a visceral way.
'Nudity & Perspective’
SOCIAL GROUPS OR ISSUES
In ‘Nudity & Perspective’ we wanted to address the ways in which society and its construction of beauty and vulgarity in the basis of nudism affect, influence and limit girls. We managed to do this, by selecting two main pictures that in our opinion represented the beauty and comfort of our model in her own skin but which still has a link with the world of fashion.The first picture chosen is one here she’s sitting down and the focus is on her facial expression, and the fact she’s posing half naked but still tries to hide some body parts with the positioning and length of her hair, depicts society’s restrictions.In this picture she’s wearing few but noticeable pieces of clothing and accessories, which encouraged us to include this image given that Detailed is a fashion magazine and we wanted to show the mainstream way nudity is represented in such magazines, ‘with a filter’ rather than ‘raw’ by representing ‘known’ brands for advertising purposes in contrast to the second picture.
In continuation, the second picture is what we meant by the term ‘raw’ where the model is completely naked, or so it seems to the audience, in order to show the ease with her own body in a challenging way to society’s expectations and standards. In reference to the fact she does not have the idealized body the media uses to represent beautiful women, but still has the boldness to pose confidently in front of a camera without a censoring filter on. In a natural and elegant way, without being ‘insulting’.
In terms of age representation, we wanted to represent the creative youth of nowadays, given that it is a large part of our target audience. Which is consisted by by both generations Y and Z, also known as the millennials and the plurals. Which was shown by our target audience questionnaire. This is why in both of our main photoshoots we opted for young models between the age of 17-19 in order for it to be representative and meaningful for the youth reading as well as informative for the older ones, and to get a more in-depth understanding on their perspective regarding the specific contemporary issues chosen.
SOCIAL GROUPS OR ISSUES
‘HIM’
In ‘HIM’ we wanted to represent the changing pattern of success in our society based on the increasing importance of social media and the ways in which it broadens opportunities for individuals in general, with an emphasis on the representation of men and fashion. By representing a social media influencers style and contradictory beliefs on this increasingly successful field. We tried representing this because we are really fond of idea regarding the possibilities created by the role of media nowadays, which is a relatively new aspect in our society. Everyone has greater chances of becoming what they aspire to be, through the use of various networks and platforms, which is proven by various successful stories such as the one of Sophia Amoruso.We decided to represent this via an interview in order to get an in-depth understanding of the beliefs and values significant personalities such as in this case ‘Horea Hada’ hold. And what relation it has to the secularisation and changing patterns of society in fields such as the fashion one together with the impact it has on gender roles.
In this grounds, we referred to gender representation in correlation with other characteristics such as social class, and cultural issues, trying to break common stereotypes.
Such as the representation of women as sexual objects through the male gaze, we wanted to show that nudism and it’s beauty doesn’t have to be a synonym for vulgarity and submissiveness.
When representing men, we tried to emphasize the idea of social mobility and the blurring social media is creating in terms of social classes and expectations, given that men are increasingly more accepted to follow careers that differ from the typical homogenic and ‘manly’ ones, and develop their fashion interest.