Audience Research

UK tribes

According the research that I conducted on UK tribes, 'hipsters' are a social group which would be drawn to my magazine as they are apparently 'epitomised by vice magazine', which my magazine draws inspiration from. Due to similarity between the fashion implemented by my magazine and magazines like i-D, this also means that there are similarities in our magazines audiences.

"Like the 60s Mods and Rockers and the 70s Punks, Hipsters are as ubiquitous as Chavs in their role defining UK youth culture in the 2000s...

Epitomised by Vice magazine, rampant trend-chasing and getting absolutely wasted, Hipsters are increasingly the most detested Tribe in the UK. Most likely to be used as a term of derision, Hipster is associated with lacking substance, arrogance, being unoriginal – and more often than not, with being a white middle-class uni student. Calling someone a Hipster may now be a mockery, but whichever way you cut it, the ‘Hipster look’ has definitely come to dominate the high street.

The Hipster look draws from punk rock and the 90s with a splatting of bygone subcultures for inspiration. From Soviet prison culture to Grunge, the Beatniks or ‘white trash’ chic – these disparate influences mean the Hipsters have driven millennial youth fashion trends more than any other Tribe. From skinny jeans to the vintage/retro revolution, acid bright colours to animal prints, Aztec print and dip-dye hair – Urban Outfitters brings off-the-shelf Hipster living to the Trendies. Hipsters popularised fixie bikes, grandma specs, made Lomography and Holga cameras a regular on teen Christmas lists – Red Stripe became the summer drink of choice, Ketamine the drug, and minimal tech the sound.

With so much influence, what’s our problem with these kids? Christian Lorentzen writes that Hipsters ‘fetishize the authentic and regurgitate it with a winking inauthenticity’ and this arrogance and try-hard nature really gets up the back of a generation proud of ‘keeping it real’. Hipsters’ break-neck turnover through fads (and huge spending power to support it) mean they are seen as lacking substance in real meaning by older Tribes, while younger teens recreate their super cool look and lifestyle in Claire’s Accessories. Is it fair for Hipsters to get such a bashing, while the close-by Trendies get by without a scratch?"

YOU GOV

The audience for my media product based on audience research would be hipsters and young alts aged from 18 - 25. According to audience research conducted on YouGov UK, the type of person typically interested in alt artists such as FKA twigs and King Krule are male aged 18 - 24, live in London and are interested in art, culture and fashion. For this reason my magazine fits this target audience perfectly as my magazine adopts a graphological and fashion style that’s popular amongst that scene. I also previously stated in my research and planning that I wished for my magazine to be published in London and Tokyo primarily, so this works well seeing as my target audience primarily live in London.

Magazine Pitch

Research - Style Associated with Genre of Magazine

High Fashion/Street Fashion 

Because my magazine is aimed at a relatively young audience (16-25) and is aimed at the alternative scene, high fashion and street fashion would be the appropriate kind of style to implement within my magazine to appease my target audience. This type of fashion is also heavily associated with youth culture, which fits with my magazine perfectly.

Street style can trace its roots to Tokyo, London and NYC where street culture thrives. Street fashion is heavily brand orientated, with Stussy, Adidas, Supreme and Bape being among the most popular labels. Shops such as Urban Outfitters, Size? and Wellgosh are well known shops which are popular among the urban fashion scene as they sell the necessary brands.

Below is a list of some brands associated with street fashion:

Bape

Bape, short for 'A Bathing Ape' is a Japanese street wear founded in 1993 from Kyoto City. Since it's founding, the brand has been popular among youth culture and street fashion. Alternative artists such as Yung Lean and Kanye West are known to wear the brand.

Adidas

Adidas is a german sports wear brand. Arguably it is one of the most well known clothing brands in the world. Despite this, adidas remains popular within street culture and has almost become a staple.

Y-3

Y-3 is a collaboration effort between Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto and Adidas. It's essentially the high end fashion industry's answer to street style and is known for its avant-garde shoe design. With the release of it's Qasa shoe range, it's recently seen a surge in popularity with the street scene.

Comme des Garçons

Comme des Garçons (french for 'like the boys') is a Japanese fashion label founded in 1969. It's associated with high end fashion and is seen being on par with fashion labels such as Givenchy, Gucci and Yve Saint Lauren. However it's PLAY clothing line has become very popular with the street scene in recent years, with it's love heart logo being a popular symbol.

Supreme

Supreme is an American skateboarding clothing brand that was founded in NYC, 1994. It is well known for its bold logo and is particular popular for it's snapbacks and caps. It has collaborated with many other brands such as Comme des Garçons and Nike.

Stussy

Stussy is an American street-wear brand from Orange County in California. It was founded in 1983 and has since become a staple brand for street fashion. It's most popular for it's signature logo and t-shit designs.







Norse Projects

Norse Projects is Danish company from Copenhagen known for it's high quality and meticulously designed clothing. It was initially popular with the hipster scene however street fashion has recently adopted it into its style

High Fashion- Monotone // simplicity

A recent trend within high fashion is simplicity and monotone colour schemes. For my magazine, I will style my models in black and white coloured clothes to fit this trend. Below is a collage of style pictures associated with high fashion. As you can see, plain shirts, long overcoats and generally minimalistic clothing is what's most popular within high fashion at the moment. Because high fashion is easier to replicate, I will most likely be utilising this style within my magazine as opposed to just dressing my models in every street brand I can think of. The simplicity of high fashion also fits well with the way I plan to design my magazine (minimalistic & simplistic)

60 Minute Magazine Construction

60 Minute Magazine 

The Process

Research: Photographers

Patrick Demarchelier 

Patrick Demarchelier is a french photographer who specialises in fashion photography. He usually sticks to a black and white colour scheme and normally takes mid shot style photos. His photos tend to look very simplistic and naturalistic as the model doesn't usually wear excessive makeup in his shots. The black and white colour scheme he sticks to further bolsters the simplistic nature of his photography.

Terry Richardson 

Terry Richardson is an American photographer who specializes in fashion and portrait photography. He has worked for famous magazines such as i-D, Vogue and the Rolling stone and is known for his shot of the campaigns of famous brands such as Marc Jacobs, Supreme and Yves Saint Lauren. His photos tend to be fairly risqué and are very washed out, making the image appear very blank colour wise. 

Juergen Teller

Peter Lindbergh is a german photographer who again specialises in fashion photography. His photos are fairly colourful and are also naturalistic. However he seems to prefer to take his photos in naturalistic settings as opposed to taking them in front of white screens.

Research: Analysis of Langauge Register in New Music Magazines

Most new music magazines display appropriate manipulation of language register in order to appease their audience, for example, the music magazine Kerrang writes with an informal style (low register) to engage their target audience which tends to be teenagers/young adults. However other magazines such as The Wire utilize a high register when writing their articles as their target audience tends to be adults. When writing articles for my magazine I will use a medium register as the genre I've chosen (Alternative, Indie) is typically listened to by a young adult audience. An example of a magazine that also uses a medium register is The Fader, as they have a target audience that is generally young adult/late teens.

Language register can be manipulated appropriately to suit a target audience by using specific language methods. These primarily include Lexis and Grammar. For example a text with low register usually uses a lexis comprised of slang to engage a younger audience. On the other hand a text with a high register would use a lexis consisting of many polysyllabic words and jargon. This is evident as magazines such as Kerrang use slang fairly frequently but The Wire doesn't, and uses jargon instead. Language register can further be manipulated by use of grammar. Texts with a high register use lots of complex sentences and use standard english grammar, however texts with low formality tend to use grammar more typically seen in conversation.  For my magazine I will use a mixture of slang, jargon and standard english grammar in order to achieve a medium register for my text.

Mood Board 2- Design Inspiration