Last week, we  looked at the factors for success of a chosen magazine and used this to select aspects which would and would not work for The Yorkie. We were made aware of Johnson & Prijatel’s factors for success:

• A highly focused editorial philosophy
• A clearly defined formula
• A thorough understanding of and connection with the audience (cited in Holmes & Nice 2012)

I chose to look at Vogue as I wanted to get a clearer understanding of such a successful, internationally renowned ‘fashion bible’ which meets its purpose and audience so well.

The profile of The Yorkie reader

We analysed audience and demographics in relation to The Yorkie; this highlighted the importance of focusing on narrowing down a target audience. Initially we studied the “media packs” of other magazines and went on to create our own demographic breakdown for The Yorkie:

A food and drink section is imperative to have in a magazine about York, recommendations of independent food businesses in York would be useful for independent eateries, tourists, visitors and locals. Value for money could be the focus or uncovering places people have not yet heard much about perhaps would be a new angle.

I like the clarity in the luxe magazine and the layout of the food and drink section:

News and current affairs is important to cover in York and to explore the tales of York and the culture would be something, as a group, we could all excel in using our investigative journalism skills to pull emotive and inspiring stories on culture. I like this section and the stories covered here on the Yorkshire life magazine.  

With York being small and historic, stories about history and people in York who make an interesting story are things I believe will intrigue readers. Our group also have interests in the arts of music, art, drama so a section combined of ‘art and culture’ or lifestyle could work.

Fashion and lifestyle are two important sections to have as many people are interested in this not only within the group but as a readership-it opens up the variety of content to be written about.

I like artsy magazines with immaculate layouts, whether this can be incorporated into the Yorkie or not is unclear but so far these are my ideas which I like aspects of for layout, design, front cover, colour and themes:

Good for human interest story

Front covers

Roles

I would like to be desk editor: I have always really enjoyed both fashion and lifestyle and so to be a desk editor under one of these sections would be fulfilling as they are things I am interested in reading myself. Managing content for this would also be enjoyable as I have a lot of ideas regarding the layout, style, design and topics of these sections.