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Common Features:
A lifestyle magazine often can be catorgarized into mens and womens but they should all consist of similar aspects. These may vary and change depending on what the focus of the magazine is but a lifestyle magazine in general most often has content relating to health, fitness, tourism, leisure, fashion, decorating, design or culture, these all create the tone of the magazine.
Red Online Magazine
This was one of the first of the online lifestyle magazines that I was able to find and the first thing that stood out for me about the Red Online magazine is that you can see this is a winter themed issue or update to the site. I think this is a good ideas as it keeps the magazine updated and it would have new and relevant information on there quite regularly. There is also a clear title surrounded by a box that draws it up away from the banner photo in order for it to stand out.
The navigation bar is also very clear and organised and it is obvious what pages are on the magazine and what you are going to get on each page. I have also been inspired by the brand name being used on the navigation bar which will take you back to home but it also shows that even on the other pages, that might not relate as much to the brand you still know you are on the same site, this may be something useful we can use in our design.
There was then blog/ articles on the site, which are all elements of information that I would think are the areas of the site that are updated and changed regularly in order to keep the users interested. But these also would link to the search engine through key words and SEO in a way that would bring people to the site through a search engine for something specific they may be looking for. The layout of these although I find quite boring, it just seems like a list, and not very interactive which may cause the user to become bored or not want to look for too long. The images with three images within them are are also not very clear, on a smaller screen they would be harder to visualise and imagery is the main point of focus in magazines, therefore I think it would be better if they were clearer on the page.
There is also some seasonal related articles on the site which shows what you can include with different seasonal issues that would be useful way to tailor what you want to put on the site. Also there was an element on the bottom showing autumn fashion, which suggests that would have been and element of the pervious magazines, and therefore it shows you don't have to get rid of all of the information you have used before. However this may make the site become clustered with too much information for the viewer.
HUH Magazine
This online lifestyle magazine I found to be bland looking, the home page which is pictured below just had articles with an image attached to them. This made the site just look like a news magazine or site, and the advertisement on the side also empathised this. It just makes the site look like it is not a lifestyle magazine and it is less clear what the content is.
There is also a latest new element, which is a good idea, although it may be a little lost in a lifestyle magazine as people are more likely to get the news from broadcasters or official papers websites ect, this may also be considered to be more 'trustworthy' when I think the general and sometimes incorrect assumption is with news in magazines being more like gossip. Therefore I don't think this would be a good idea to carry forward into the Andrew Grant Magazine, but more relevant new like local events linking it back to the focus on the area and the customers.
My favourite element of this digital magazine is the option of the hidden navigation menu that would be useful on smaller screens such as a phone. But like the main navigation bar the text is bold and clear on the white background which makes it more user friendly and easy to use.
Seen in the City Magazine:
This magazine was my favourite one that I found online. The home page layout is full of imagery and the page is very interactive and there are hover elements on the page and the images speak for themselves and there is a small amount of text that shows the content of the page but not too much to put people off it is enough to to make them want to find out more. This will then link them to that article or page when clicked.
The navigation bar below is also very interesting as there is clear options on the bar, with the different pages. It is also contrasts with the white background so it creates more of a flow to the page and doesn't section it up too much, and the text is black and bold making it clear and easy to read. However what I think is the interesting aspect is that there is a drop down menu that gives you more information on the page includes photos. This carries on the theme of the imagery throughout the site and makes it different to all the others I have looked into for inspiration.
I also like the elements that show places locally to whatever city is featuring in the magazine, this is something we could use in the Andrew Grant magazine as they want to focus on the customer and the local area and these are content elements that we could use.
They like some of the pervious digital magazines I have looked at have a seasonal feel about them, keeping their content related to the time of year and then more relatable for the audience and what people may be searching for in their search engines at certain times of the year.
Cereal Magazine:
The next lifestyle magazine I have looked into for research purposes and I found this one was the most modern and stylistic site. Again this one has a lot of imagery used in this magazine making it interesting and there is very little text so therefore it will keep the viewer on the site and keep them interested. What I found the most stylistic about this site is that the images they have used on the page all use the same colour palette and therefore this adds to the feel and the flow of the page. It makes it more aesthetically pleasing to look at and it also shows the tone of the magazine. This is something that we could use in our magazine as the client wants us to keep it on brand and therefore we could use images that have red tones, however due to it being a bright and harsh colour this may be too overpowering.
Further there are more interactive elements of the site that I think make it stand out, when you use the drop down navigation menu it shares the screen with a large image, which changes every time you hover over a different page of the site, this makes it more interactive and interesting for the user keeping their attention and it also provides a incite to the content that the individual may find on that page if they click it.
The site is very much dominated by images as you can see that the text is very small, I also find because it is so small and it is on a greyer background with these images it may be harder to notice or read and therefore may get scrolled past by the user,
There is also an option to subscribe to a paper copy of the magazine near to the bottom of the page, which gives the user and chance once seeing the content to choose wether they would enjoy this magazine, this I think is a clever idea and also something that Andrew Grant may want to do in the future,
There is also a clear footer on this page, which has links to the other pages, as the navigation bar does not follow you down the page so this is a good idea to allow the user to jump to the next page once they are finished with this one and it does not disturb the flow of the content or the user viewing or reading it.
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