Initial Inspiration for Ancillary Website

I made the decision to analyse the websites for the magazines Living North, ETC and Luxe. As I previously looked in detail at the magazines themselves I feel I have some knowledge of who the target audience of each is and how they aim to attract them. By looking at the quality of their websites and the content, I am able to see how they communicate with their readers via other media outlets in contrast to that of their magazine.

Initial Inspiration for Ancillary Website

http://www.livingnorth.com/

The website for Living North Magazine was undoubtedly the most professional and my favourite out of those I looked at. It is clear, concise and well organised, and the theme of the webpage looks quite similar to the magazine layout itself. The use of multimedia on Living North’s website is extensive – a slideshow is used on the homepage linking to various popular, current articles. A menu of hyperlinks runs across the top of the page for different categories all linked to the magazine and its articles, for example ‘Health & Beauty’ or ‘Arts & What’s On’. This enables the user to quickly find what they are looking for and allows them to explore. Their inte4gration of social media into their website is also impressive – a sidebar shows current updates from Facebook and Twitter, which highlights their connection with their target audience on other platforms aswell. The masthead of the website is the Living North Magazine logo, making it instantly recognisable to readers, and a search bar enables users to further explore. I would like to try and create a website of this standard for my own magazine – I feel it understands what its audience wants and does so in an attractive, clear way.

www.livingnorth.com

www.etcnortheast.com

www.etcnortheast.com

The website for ETC Magazine is also of quite a good standard. Various multimedia features are used, such as a slideshow linking to various articles, a menu providing hyperlinks to different web pages and a search bar. This makes the website more interesting for the reader as there is a constant stream of new pages to look at and gives them the freedom to explore. ETC has also tapped in to the prominent social media trend, showing the latest updates on the magazines Facebook and Twitter accounts. Links are also given in a bar in the top right hand corner to these pages, showing their connection with the target audience on other platforms. This website is good and easy to use. Personally I prefer the website for Living North, but that is mainly because I think the layout of ETC website is a little boring. However, it does give me ideas as to how I will represent my own regional magazine website.

www.luxe-magazine.co.uk

www.luxe-magazine.co.uk

Personally I was quite disappointed by Luxe Magazines website, as I do not feel it represents the magazine well. The layout is quite basic and does not actually provide all that much information as to what the website is about and who it is aimed at. It does however have some positives. The header at the top of the page has the magazine logo and a smaller picture of the current magazines cover photo. This shows it is up to date, and the use of the magazines slogan ‘regional, relevant and entertaining’ does provide a hint as to the websites purpose. However I find the website quite basic, especially in contrast to Living North and ETC. Little information is provided other than about the magazine, so there is a limit as to how connected it is with the target audience. Basic fonts such as Verdana are used, which gives it quite a boring overall look. There is also no search bar limiting how easy it is to navigate for the reader. I would hope that my website will be better than this; I feel it is too simple and looks as though little effort has been put into its creation.