Article design ideas I like this simple design. The majority of the text is kept on one page. I like the use of the bold headline and the dropped capital at the begining of the paragrah. I like how the image on the oppisite page is enlarged to fill the entire page.
I like the use of the quote over the image in this desgin. I additionally like the style of font used for the headline.
I like the way the text wraps round the image in this article. However, i prefer the white background used on the previous two artciles i looked at because i think it makes the article look clean and pofessional.
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SOCIAL SHOPPING Are knew innovations in social media changing the way we shop for good? ‘Scoial shopping’ has had the fastest growing boom in the past year and is continuing to popularise.
wonder, how efficient is the way you shop? New innovations in social media are changing the way we spend our cash. Twitter, Instagram and Facebook are all sites contributing to the world of fashion with a recent boom in business accounts on social networking sites such as these. But I question how has, what people are calling ‘social shopping’ come to reign over the way we know and love to shop? Social networks give not only existing retail brands but also entrepreneurs the opportunity to start businesses. By acquiring customers through ‘likes’ or ‘retweets’ businesses quickly begin to flourish with accumulating sales figures. Pictures get posted, leading to an increase of followers with the desire for that dress. With the current rise in popularity of purchasing on social media, there are now millions upon millions of fashion accounts. One million of them being on Facebook alone! It has been recorded that online retail sales have increased by 14% in the past year to become more than a £50 billion industry and this number will increase! So how do these businesses start? After contact with an existing fashion account that is at its peak of trading, it become clear that social media plays a bigger role than expected in the success of her business. Alice Wood, owner of a fashion account on Instagram says that ‘Social media has had a massive influence on the growth of my business. Instagram is a great way to share images and it spreads like wild fire! I promote my business purely using social media, I started with Facebook but now I use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest’. Wood carry’s on in saying that she intends to grow her business but keeping the concept of her business the same where everything is made to order and measure by hand. She wants to employee a big team of seamstresses in the future as her business grows as she only works with one
seamstress and one PA currently. Its clear the social media is a good way to start up businesses. But is it really a good form of buying for people or should we stick to the shops? Regular buyer from social networking accounts ‘Georgia Gamon’ speaks exclusively to ‘CHIC’. We asked how she come about the site she bought her first item from and how convenient this way of shopping was for her, Gamon says ‘After the instagram account received ‘likes’ on pictures from some of my friends, I instantly fell in love with the dresses I saw and just had to buy one!’ She continues, ‘placing the order was made simple and easy with a few simple emails and links to PayPal for payment and I received my order within the next week. It fitted perfectly and looked exactly how it was pictured on the instagram account. I would recommend buying from social media accounts from my positive experience to anyone. I didn’t have to travel to a busy shopping centre to frantically search around for a dress I liked to be told my size isn’t available like usual. I purchased it from the comfort of my own home and since then I have ordered from lots of other accounts and different sites such as Facebook!’ But its not only small fashion accounts that are using social media to sell their products, a variety of large sustained businesses have also moved to using it! Apple, HMV and even Tesco all have accounts on sites such as twitter to promote their businesses, sell products and to communicate with their customers. These companies have been recorded to have acquired 57% of its customers via blogging on social media sites. So maybe this is a revolution in shopping? No more time-consuming car journeys or frantic shopping trips. It seems to be more than convenient for both seller and buyer and issues are yet to be existent for many people! Maybe society is in fact witnessing a drastic modification to shopping as we know it.
Possible questions for focus group • • • • • •
Do you think that the article is appropriate for its target audience? Is the article clear and precise? Is the article eye cathing? Do you think that the colour scheme is appropriate? Do you think that the images used are appropriate for the text? Is there any additional things you would have liked to have seen on the article?
Focus group review Reviewer’s names - Joe Savage and Sam Taylor 1.
Who would you say is the target audience for the article?
The target audience for this article would be young women roughly aged between 16-30. They will be individuals who are interested in fashion or possibly the rise of social media usage and technology. 2.
How clear is the communication in the article? Give examples.
The article presents a clear, easy to navigate layout and is easy to read as the text stands out from the background image from the use of contrasting colours. The use of italics in the subheading also helps give the article direction, as you can clearly see the order the text goes in on the page. The length of the text means that the article can remain relatively brief without losing any of its informative qualities which will appeal to its target audience. Women that shop using social media, may use it as it is quick and efficent, implying that she is a busy women, therefore making it imperative that the article remains concise as she also will not have time to read lengthy articles. 3. What improvements would you make to the aesthetics/look of the article? And do you think it is appropriate for its purpose? The text could be wrapped around the image to make it seem more dynamic. The headline font could possibly be changed to stand out more , so that it is eyecatching to readers. In addition, an image of a slightly younger woman to relate directly to the target audience could have been benificial. The main image could also have been split so that if the article was to be printed, you would not lose any of the woman’s face down the middle of the page. 4.
Where would you expect to see this article?
It would be expected to see this article possibly in a fashion magazine such as Vogue. In addition it could be printed in a newspaper supplement such as Fabulous in The Sun. 5.
Any other comments?
Overall, the article is of a very high quality and is completed to a pofessional standard. It is visually pleasing and eyecathing whilst being contectually good. The text is informative, using both fact, opinions, and interview examples.
Self Evaluation Overall i am happy with my final article. I think that the text is appropriate for the age group i am aiming my article towards, being intresting and precise. I additionally think the length will appeal to teenage audiences as it doeasnt appear too long, although all the necessary content and facts are inlcluded. I think that the appearance of the article will be eyecathing and intreaging. The use of bright and joyful colours, like blue, purple and yellow as well as a well known celebrity as the main centre image, will attract readers. The contrast of grey and white, smaller scale images, also makes the article look asthetically pleasing. I used a bold, blocked capital headline, ‘SOCIAL SHOPPING’, not only for visual effect to intise readers, but to straight away tell the readers what the article is about. As it is a topic that my target age group is intrested in, they will want to read on. The research i made into existing articles helped me to understand what attracted the target audience i was aiming my article at. I experimented with different layouts to see what looked best and got other opinions to help me make a final decision. I think that my secondary research is relevant and improves the text as it gives reference to an actual company. Although, in the future, i would think of alternatives ways to get secondary information rather than emailing as i had to email several different companys before recieeving a response which wasnt time efficent. My primary research was collected from the internet using varous differnt websites on google. This was an easy and quick way to collect research, however there is the risk that the information could be incorrect. Initially, the text proved difficult to write as i had to create a certain tone to the article and address my audience in a way that was intresting and easy to read whilst being informative and factual. I done this by making the article personal by using the pronouns ‘I’ and ‘we’ in order to include myself, which also helps the reader to trust what the article is saying. This technique also gives the platform for readers to relate to both the writer and what they are saying; so that they are encouraged to read on, as they feel they have a bond with the writer. ‘ I wonder, how efficient is the way you shop? New innovations in social media are changing the way we spend our cash.’ is an example of where i have done this. Similarly to the text, the design of the article needed to be eyecathcing to a young audience whilst including an efficent amount of text. To improve my article, i think that by putting my headline and subheading in a different font, colour or by using different effects such as outlining and spacing, would have been more eyecatching to readers. I also feel that by adding an extra image of a graph that would have reinforced what my text is saying would have been benificial, as it would have given readers a visual example. By having more images, such as graphs, would have given me the oppurtunity to spread my article over two double pages, which could have looked more appealing. I agree with all of the responses made from the focus group and it allowed me to reflect on things that i hadnt noticed previously, such as the comment on splitting the centre image so that none of the face would be lost if it was to be printed. I am happy that the comments made, met my intentions for the article, such as the target audience.