Pages - Menu

Monday 21 October 2013

Magazine Review: Material Girl


Material Girl is an Austrian women’s fashion magazine that is solely in German so obviously I cant really judge the quality of the writing in the magazine but I will analyze everything else that I can! Material Girl is in a way like Lula however being Austrian has some significant differences. The quality of the magazine feels amazing which works in its advantage amongst more expensive competitors.

The Cover
The first thing you notice about the cover is the paper  (or card even) that has been used, the paper is very heavy and has a metallic sheen to it making it feel very high quality. It also makes the magazine stand out, if it were on a shelf amongst other fashion titles it would definitely grab your attention. The issue in question features an image of a model in an Amish style outfit from Vladimir Karaleev, a pretty unknown designer (perhaps more known in Austria). The image is dark and gives quite a mysterious feel. I like the cover and I like the image used however, although its effective the card used makes the image hard to see. The cover features little else except a small relevant quote in the bottom right had corner.

Typography and Graphics
Since its first issue Material Girl has used the same font for its logos and headings, It is a serif font similar to Times New Roman. Throughout the rest of the magazine the majority of the fonts are more simple sans serif fonts, Material Girl (font wise at least) feels like a watered down version of Lula, its not as obviously girly but also has that whimsical feel.

The Layouts
Like the majority of magazines I’ve looked at here, the layouts used in Material Girl are very clean and minimal. On some features the text is in a circle with the type slanted which I think is quite interesting and something that I haven’t seen used before. The way the imagery is laid out throughout the magazine is also interesting. The use of a clean minimal layout makes a magazine seem more upmarket I think, as its generally glossy magazines such as OK and New which have very busy layouts and you wouldn’t pay more than a couple of pounds for them so a layout tells you a lot abut a magazine.

The Editorial 
As far as editorial is concerned, not being able to read German means I will only be able to analyze the imagery! The photos in Material Girl all feel very precious and somewhat darker and deeper than those in Lula. The editorials are short but high in frequency. A couple of the editorials such as the ‘Bridget’ editorial are similar to Lula in the respect that it heavily focuses around pastel light tones and is shot in very soft lighting with a dream like feel. However the editorials all seem quite different which makes Material Girl not such a predictable magazine.

The Overall Feel 
Similar to Lula the overall feel of Material Girls is a very dream like whimsical feel however it seems slightly darker and more mysterious. The magazine is filled with fashion and beautiful imagery that will grab the reader’s attention. 

No comments:

Post a Comment