Context
FLAUNT magazine is an ongoing metamorphosis of new ideas and territories. Under the direction of its founding editors, what began as a luxury fashion title has progressed into a full-fledged lifestyle publication interested in both the serious and fanciful examinations of issues relevant to the realms of fashion, art, film, music, media, and literature.
The title FLAUNT could be interpreted in multiple ways but I think that it’s just trying to say it’s an ‘extrovert/out to impress’ publication. It’s short, striking and unique.
Like most magazines today it is being produced for a profit and one of the main aims is to sell to consumers, however it is less commercialised than magazines such as “MORE” or “LOOK”. The individual issues give it a more treasurable feel so it can be kept and appreciated in a artistic sense.
It's production began in 1998 and up to this day the covers have been consistent in there 'quirky' and individual appearance. Instead of reflecting the high-tech society we live in today, the abstract and hand drawn nature actually reflect a more dated style of cultural magazine. When compared to other more mainstream magazines, such as Vogue or Elle, it appears less high-end fashion, despite the contents still being high-end.
Form
In this particular issue the colour scheme is black and white with the additional use of other colours such as blues, reds and oranges. Black, being the most dominant, contrasts effectively with the white making it appear more vibrant, thus standing off the page more. The excess of black used also gives the image a slight gothic ‘mis-en-scene’ which is very alluring and mysterious. Textures have also been utilised but not on the page as as whole, instead just the cover image contains a grainier texture on the face (aimed to make the image seem more hand-drawn and more realistic in terms of skin texture).
As for space usage, magazines tend to be very structured and this one is no exception. The overall composition is very controlled: the cover image is almost symmetrical, filling the page, with the centre line running straight through the eye. All of the text in central aligned and justified to give equal gutters around the page border.
For a magazine cover this is quite sparse. Unlike the likes of “MORE” and “COSMOPOLITAN” on this publication the only cover text used is the header, feature article and institutional information.The rest of the cover page is filled with the cover image, and white space (which in this case is the black of the hair). By not crowding the front page with text and pull quotes the finished piece looks very sophisticated and the readers are forced to physically open the magazine (drawing them in) to find out what is contained inside.
The sophistication is carried over in the serif typeface header which gives a very neat and polished finish. Even though the cover image initially looked hand-drawn with the varying tone and texture, there is little evidence of ‘the hand that made it’, suggesting that it has been touched up in photoshop. The colour doesn't leak over any lines and it all very precise.
Process
For this cover the main means of production would have been made with a combination of traditional and digital media. Notably photoshop would have been used for image manipulation. An original mock up of the desired image is likely to have been hand-made. For the cover image a pencil sketch would have been created via observational drawing from photographic resources, then inked in afterwards using sable watercolour brush. The watercolour aspects will have been enhanced and altered in photoshop during post production. Skills needed for producing this cover include computer knowledge, artistic talent/skills including drawing and painting and also general artistic integrity. For the main title typeface a designer was probably paid to create the font especially for the magazine. However, it does have similarities to the Didot font. The font used for the coverline, "Leighton Meester" would have been written in black using a brush and then inverted in Photoshop. It would have taken many attempts to write out though, to get it to the desired style and standard.
Personal response
The thing that first caught my attention was the hand-drawn element of the cover image. It’s more unusual as a large majority of fashion/art/culture/entertainment magazines today use photoshoot images. I also like the addition of the watercolour-style shapes as they add more depth and layers the to finished piece. The ‘FLAUNT’ magazines on the whole remind me of a ‘THE WHITE LIES’ magazine as they too contain hand-drawn elements which ,to me, makes the magazine feel more like a piece of art that I could keep and look over again and again, not just some commercialised publication that is the same every time and so ends up getting binned.
Flaunt Double Page Spreads
Form
A key feature within ‘FLAUNT’ double-page spreads is that the images always bleed right to the edges of the pages. Quite often the photograph on one page protrudes onto the page opposite (as above). As the photographs take up 2/3s of the page on a hierarchy basis we see this first then our eyes move to the body text. The monochrome palette of this spread emphasises the utilised white space making the photos and text juxtapoz further.
Despite the images ‘invading’ the page the whole composition is very structured. A base-line grid will have been used to ensure the text is aligned and has continuous equal gutters throughout the magazine. Unlike a lot of magazines these days, the body text is justified as opposed to flushed left. This adds a simplistic yet stricter feel to the article, in my opinion giving it a more ‘important’ ambience. “You should read this article as it says intelligent things”. Unusually you can also see a lot of rivers within the text, normally we strive to remove these, but by leaving them in it adds some variation to the page, breaking up the structure a little. This little outburst parraels with the photographs. They all use the same model, theme and color scheme, but there is one that is out of focus (adding some diversity and intrigue). This one particular photo also happens to be the only one in which there isn’t direct eye contact.
Process
The main processes for this double page spread would be photography and photoshop. The initial shots would have been done in a studio with studio lighting focussed on the head. A black backdrop has been used, and the light would have been moved to shine from different angles in various shots, creating different shadows on the models face. The photographs would then be collated and edited in photoshop. They will have been resized and cropped. and then the final ones to be used in the spread would be selected. The levels of contrast would have also been altered to make the black seem stronger and to make the white appear more prominent in the picture.
For the article the body text was most likely written out first and then inserted onto the page once the photographs had been placed. It has also been manipulated so that rivers have been created in the text block. Finally, the first letter of the article (in this case, the letter I) has been capitalized and enlarged to draw you into the article.
Personal Response
The thing that first caught my attention with FLAUNT’s double page spreads was the effective use of whitespace and dramatic, dynamic body text. Everything is very straight-edged but somehow is edgy and different, as opposed to being boring. The photos on this spread in particular are very captivating, there’s no headline and splash to tell you what the page is about, yet the direct eye contact is almost invasive and draws you in. The whole page is has a ‘raw’ feel that is emotive and poignant, very different to some of the catalogue-style photoshoots where everyone is colourful and happy. The only thing I think there could be is a subtitle or something, just to break up the large intimidating paragraph.
