Have I ever told you about the time when I was given the chance to produced and published my own magazine? Well I did just that a few years ago as part of my final major project at uni (for those who don’t know I did a BA in Fashion Journalism), I actually started from scratch and ended up with a printed magazine. It was so unbelievable cool and something that I will forever be proud of – as it not something you get the opportunity to do. Let me talk you through it.
Concept:
Rosie Cheeks is a uniquely quirky bi-annual fashion and beauty magazine concept for the young woman. The magazine aimed to be visually stylish in terms of the photo shoots, as well as being informative and entertaining at the same time. It will be targeted at the demographic of 18-25 year old women who are enjoying their ‘freedom years’ experimenting with various fashion styles and beauty cosmetics, while always being conscious with their appearance. It is a niche title as it will not conform to mainstream publication that also caters to my market age, an example is Company and Cosmopolitan, it will also not be catering to mainstream subjects such as sex, celebrities and current affairs. Rosie Cheeks seeks to give the young women advice, knowledge of the fashion and beauty world without being bombarded from over hyped PR stunts. By understanding it reader’s lifestyle, the magazine is able to cater the merging world of the online fashion boutique with the high street cosmetic counter. These young women love looking at instant fashion and to be able to buy them in the comfort of their home but also love trying out beauty samples while out shopping with their friends. Rosie Cheeks employs a personal motto of ‘Let’s be beautiful’, it does not replace the glossy magazine seen on the newsstand, and it instead gives these young women an informative straight talking fashion and beauty feature without it being too fussy. They don’t want to be patronised or be bombarded with tons of celebrities, PR stunts and advertisements, but instead use Rosie Cheeks to gain advice, insight into the industry and to be informed and entertained.
Target Market
The Rosie Cheeks readers are female, aged 18-25. These young women are in what Company magazine like to call their ‘freedom years’ where the readers have some disposable income, have just left university and is now working but not worried about getting a mortgage. The young women are conscious of their appearance and wanting the latest fashion trends but don’t have the confident or the budget to splash out on expensive department store designer brands, choosing instead to shop online and find the best fashion trends at a discounted price. The Rosie Cheeks women are still at their experimenting stage and love playing around with the latest cosmetic brands, and while popping into Superdrug to buy their new toothbrush they can’t ignore the cosmetic aisle and start looking at all the new make-up and beauty products. The Rosie cheeks woman sees her love for fashion and beauty purchases as a fun element and would rather be admired for her smile than her beauty, always fashion savvy and appearance conscious she is capable of putting her own unique style together, shying away from any celebrity trends. She doesn’t like to be dictated to about what to wear or how to wear her make-up, she knows what she wants and what she likes.
Why The Name Rosie Cheeks?
It was a tongue in cheek (get it) approach to girls who has that rosy complexion and fresh face look, think of a young Kate Moss or Lilly Cole.
What Happen?
After uni I wanted to continue with this idea as I felt it has a lot of merit and also there seemed to me a gap in the market. I soon found *clear throat* that there was some nasty referral links going to the blog I had for it, so I had to close the idea down.
Future:
Even those I closed the idea down, I still hasn’t given up hope on it. I’m thinking of putting it under a different name and re branding it. I imagined it would be re branded as a online magazine/blog type instead of print. Should I do that sometime in the near future?
Here are some pictures from the magazine, I have decided not to put the full thing online as I’m a little protected of it but I have put some of the articles as blog posts on here in the past.
Feel free to ask me any questions.
