Magazines: History and Future (Half Term Homework)

1. Magazines started circulating the UK in the 18th Century. The Scots Magazine, The London Magazine, The Spectator, The Scots Magazine and The Monthly Review are some examples of the magazines that were published in the UK. Back then, the magazines were printed using large hand-engraved blocks.
2. Magazines were thought to be important because they are distributed to the public either daily, weekly or monthly to deliver messages, news and information to the larger audience. This is extremely useful as technology wasn't as advanced as today meaning television and the internet wasn't invented to distribute the information.
3. There is a range of different types of magazines: Teen, Gossip, Gardening, Video Games, Fashion, Football, Health and Music.
4. Both of the Vanity Fair magazines have the masthead at the top of the front page as well as having the main coverline at the bottom. Furthermore, they both present women in the magazines. However, the 1896 front cover has a painting of two women by the sea whereas the 2017 cover has a printed image of Meghan Markle. This is because coloured printers weren't invented at the time, therefore, people have to physically draw to make a front cover. The 2017 cover has adopted the colour scheme from the 1896 cover. They both feature a red and black font colour, however, the 2017 cover has a 3 colour scheme with the added colour of white. Both covers express femininity with Meghan Markle using direct address to grab the attention of the audience. This technique is used so that for the audience, they would think and feel that the magazine is made for them which will persuade them to actually read the magazine. On the other hand, the 1896 cover does not use direct address however it does have two women that were drawn onto the front cover so it does still appeal to women however it is not as effective as the 2017 cover. The 1896 cover portrays two white women so this establishes that at the time this magazine was made, Britain still used women deliberately for men's pleasure as patriarchy was still in society. This is when men have dominance to do anything and they get obeyed by women to stay at home, clean, wash and take care of the children. They were only limited to do one job and that is to be a housewife. As Vanity Fair is clearly a magazine towards women, I am not certain that women were able to read it or to feature in it. Whereas on the 2017 cover, it has a mixed race women engaging with a person from the Royal Family (Prince Harry) which is dominated by white people. This engagement conveys that society is changing; individuals are not following the traditions that were made hundreds of years ago but in fact, they are revolutionising them and setting these new traditions as the norm. Furthermore,  the magazine now shows that women have equal rights with men; they have the will to do whatever they want. Instead of being controlled by men, they have a choice in their careers and modelling for a magazine cover is one of them. 
5. Each magazine has a circulation, readership, mass audience, niche audience and a subscription. The number of copies the magazine sells is the circulation of the magazine. The mass audience is the readership (the total number of people and not just who buys the magazine) on s very large scale whereas the niche audience is the narrow group of readers with a particular interest. A subscription is a process when the reader pays for copies of magazines at a lower price and the audience will receive them by post. Each magazine has a plug, masthead, puff, cover star, main coverline, banner and skyline. The masthead is simply the tile of the magazine and the plug is the text that 'plugs' a feature that will appear inside the magazine. The cover star is normally featured on the cover and the puff is a story that is given prominence on the cover. The skyline is the text that runs across the top of the cover whereas the banner is the text that runs across the lower section of the cover. Finally, the main coverline is the text that anchors the main image and gives it meaning.
6. If magazine circulation had dropped in the last 20 years, the magazine companies will find other ways to distribute their messages, news and information such as social media feeds, e-readers, making their own websites, e-zines and freemiums.