The genre I've chosen is fashion. Fashion magazine's place serious emphasis on sub-genres, which is why I've chosen to go specifically with the sub-genre of men's fashion, which lands amongst an age demographic of men aged anywhere over 20+.
Though each sub-genre of magazine each takes on its own distinct aesthetic, they share a plethora of overlapping genre conventions, such as the use of celebrities to advertise themselves or certain issues, prominent features or "sell lines" located in very identifiable places along a cover, and on the actual magazine, the use of double-page spreads to feature both several images alongside the actual featured articles of the front of the magazine.
The production of a fashion magazine usually includes designers and their teams in order to best capture the essence of the fashion magazine, as well as using models or celebrities to market these outfits or accessories. The use of high-key lighting to emphasize facial features on minimalist backgrounds to keep focus on the model or celebrity. The largest part of production is then the writing, editing and printing processes in order to make the magazine a finished product.
For a first example, GQ serves as the quintessential men's high fashion magazine. For one, the initials stand for Gentleman's Quarterly, and it represents what I'm trying to do for the project. Its layout is easy to look at and doesn't deviate much from issue to issue, which makes it recognizable and marketable. The frequent use of suit-clad celebrities on GQ's covers make it easily marketable, as well as its reputation in the fashion industry adding weight to whom it chooses to feature, what it chooses to feature, and how it markets itself. With GQ serving as one of the standards in the world of men's fashion magazines, its use of genre conventions are most of what a men's fashion magazine should accomplish.
A second example would be Esquire. As far as genre conventions are concerned, issues of Esquire meet them pretty well, though their actual online content has been all over the place lately. Moving on, Esquire falls into pretty much all of the same conventions as GQ does, seeing as how much of men's fashion magazines lack serious variation. Overall, both serve as examples of the sub-genre of Men's fashion should be done.
Other examples:
- L'Officiel Hommes
- Nylon Guys
3. Arena Homme +
4. Sharp
5.Fantastic Man
