Oh Comely Magazine CSP Research

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Media Language

The magazine front cover and specified content should be analysed in terms of the composition of the images, positioning, layout, typography, language and mode of address. This will then provide detailed evidence for application of the other theoretical frameworks. Oh Comely uses a deliberately alternative design to other magazines aimed at young women and this is evident from the front cover and throughout the magazine.

Semiotics: how images signify cultural meanings
  • Short hair signifies gender neutral
  • army looking jacket signifies strength

Narrative and Genre

The genre conventions of the magazine cover will need to be studied. While narrative may be more familiar to students as an approach to apply to moving image forms, it can also be very productively applied to print media as a way of examining audience targeting, positioning and interpretation.
  • The front cover creates a narrative about character and lifestyle in order to attract an audience.
  • Oh Comely uses a minimal aesthetic for its cover design. It clearly values design as part of its identity.
  • Cover stories create enigma and anticipation for the reader.
  • Binary oppositions can be seen in Oh Comely to drive a narrative forward. (Strauss).
  • The narrative uses a Todorov narrative structure.
The cover and specified content can be analysed in the context of genre in terms of conventions of layout and composition - which will overlap with analysis of visual language - but also as part of the genre of women's fashion and lifestyle magazines.
  • The conventions of their magazine front cover can be analysed to present visual analysis and audience positioning.
  • Neale describes that genre is instances of repetition and difference which can be seen in Oh Comely as they seem to vary from the normal features of their genre.

Media Representations

Clearly the key areas of representation suggested by the magazine are to do with gender, primarily femininity but also how this affects the representation of men.
  • Oh Comely constructs a representation of femininity with its focus on creativity and quirkiness.
  • The focus is on women as artists, entrepreneurs, athletes and musicians and female empowerment is a major theme.
  • There is a absence of men as part of the representation of masculinity in Oh Comely magazine.
  • Oh Comely constructs a lifestyle through its focus on culture and the environment. This analysis would offer the opportunity to question some of the messages and values constructed by the magazine.
  • According to hall stereotypes are part of representation but Oh Comely subverts the usual stereotypes of females.
  • Bell Hooks suggests that white women are seen as more beautiful but Oh Comely presents various skin types to present beauty.
  • Van Zoonen suggests that females are sexualised and objectified but in Oh Comely they are given power.
  • As they subvert stereotypes gender is not performed but has become performative (Butler).

Media Industries

In contrast to Men's Health magazine, Oh Comely is an independent magazine published by Iceberg Press, a small London publisher which publishes only one other title.
  • Iceberg Press is an independent media company.
  • Developments in new technology mean that small companies can also use the internet to communicate and target audiences.
  • They use institutionalised strategies for keeping print popular and relevant. Iceberg's branding includes a commitment to print over other media forms.

Media Audiences

As ever the theoretical framework of audience intersects with the study of visual codes and genre crucial to analysing mode of address and techniques of persuasion with the front cover functioning as a form of advertising.
  • The mode of address can be analysed through the visual and written codes.
  • Publishing companies provide a great deal of online in relation to their audience research for specific publications.
  • Oh Comely has a niche target audience of young women with high disposable incomes, who are not addressed by other magazines. The publisher defines the magazine as a genuinely alternative read for creative young women.
  • Different audience interpret over time reflect social, cultural and historical contexts.
  • Producers encode a meaning to their audience which the audience then decodes.

Social and Cultural Contexts

Oh Comely is part of a development in lifestyle and environmental movements of the early twenty first century which rebrand consumerism as an ethical movement. Its representation of femininity reflects an aspect of the feminist movement which celebrates authenticity and empowerment.

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