Primary Research – Content
Analysis
Abstract
The
soul objective of this primary research was to observe and determine, through
analysis of purely the content, the aesthetics and design principles that are
regularly found within a range/selection of editorial magazines by the fashion
giant, VOGUE. The observation attempted to discover about the editorial by
catagorising the aesthetics observed in to a range of different classifications.
These classifications will give an insight in to what the designers intend to
convey through the editorial itself.
Due
to its long lasting history in the world of fashion, VOGUE over the years has
adopted a very singular approach to the way the magazine itself should look and
through this primary analysis the objective was to analyse how through the
editorial, the aesthetics were implemented within the design process.
Furthermore from these discoveries it then assesses what these aesthetics say about
the magazine design and finally how the Form, Function & Audience of the
magazine looked at through their Target Audience and Readers, affects the
aesthetics discovered.
Due
to the nature of the grandeur and heritage that is associated with the world of
fashion, and respectively fashion editorial it has been a massively discussed
topic in the world of theory and literature, all of these addressing different
aspects of fashion such as Aesthetics, Heritage, Context and even as specialist
as Culture, Socio-political and Economical concentrations. (For example, A Beard, 2012; R
Lewis, 1997; J Entwistle, 2002; M Tiggemann, 2009; S Budgeon, 1995; J Shaw,
1995) all of which have a main concentration on the world of fashion editorials
but differ on the means in which they address the focus of their respective
topics. J Shaw (1995) assesses fashion not as a sole practice itself, but
actually assesses the way in which fashion can play the part in a bigger
picture of psychological effects on the human consciousness, more specifically
within the world of body dissatisfaction. S Budgeon (1995) uses the topic of
fashion as a medium in which she discusses how the world of fashion, through
history had aided or deterred the advancements of feminism and liberation. Finally
A Beard (2002) harnesses fashion as a means of documentation of history and
heritage, related to a specific time/era. All of these examples show in very
different means, the way that fashion and fashion editorial can be used as a
medium to discuss a wider overarching topic. During the exploration within this
essay, the discussion and analysis will centre on fashion editorial as a means
of assessing socio-political and economical statutes within design.
This
content analysis that formed the basis of the primary research will then be
built upon within the exploration of VOUGE and furthermore fashion editorial as
a whole. This analysis was formed around the basis of grounded theory as a
method of research and analysis, as this was evidently the most reasoned and
informed approach to assessing the components that constitute the overall aesthetics
of VOGUE magazine. In his own words J. Smith refers to grounded theory as;
“Grounded theory is a comparative, iterative,
and interactive method (of research) that provides a way to study empirical
processes. It consists of flexible methodological strategies for building
theories from indicative data.” (Jonathan A. Smith, 2015, p.54)
Although grounded theory usually refers to the
conclusion of a range of data developed mainly for the purposes of
psychological and sociological explorations, it is also applicable in this
situation as it allows for a means of quantifying the data observed within the
primary research of this exploration.
Methodology
Simply put in the words of the theorists that
coined the term, grounded theory is “the discovery of theory from data
systematically obtained from social research” (Glaser & Strauss
1967, p.2) referring to a method of data analysis they developed. For this
method of analysis a sample range of content is examined, during this the
author/examiner identifies and tally’s the occurrence of a number of different
pre-determined properties whether it be theoretical in most cases of this
analysis style, or aesthetic in the case of this exploration. These aesthetic
aspects will then also conform in to a short list of pre-cogitated categories
identified earlier in the analysis stage.
“The basic criterion governing the
selection of comparison groups for discovering theory is their theoretical
relevance for furthering the development of emerging categories. The
re-searcher chooses any groups that will help generate, to the fullest extent,
as many properties of the categories as possible.” (Barney G Glaser, 1967,
p.49)
The
aesthetic categories of Typography, Photography, Imagery/Iconography &
Layout were pre-determined before going in to the analysis. These aesthetic
‘groups’ were outlined in order to help the discovery of the individual
properties of the aesthetic trends the examination is aiming to discover. Each
of the instances in which these occur is tallied and all instances formatted in
to a table documenting each of the trends. The data of which is discovered
through this content analysis will be used to form the basis of the detailed
visual analysis later in this exploration.
Sample
To
ensure the consistency throughout the primary research stage, for the purpose
of the content analysis it was crucial that an appropriate sample range was
analysed. Firstly to ensure that the sample range analysed is of acceptable
size for the level of systematic analysis needed, but also to ensure that an
appropriate range of material examined will provide enough stimulus to come to an
informed conclusion. As the content of the analysis, VOGUE was pre-determined
the decision came down to the length and chronology of the proposed sample. As
the nature of the exploration requires the trending aesthetics to be observed
over a specific time period it would only be appropriate to ensure that the
sample was large enough in duration that it allowed for the identifying of
certain criteria within the editorial. Due to the fact that VOUGE is a monthly
periodical, releasing twelve issues per year it became quickly evident that a
full year sample was the appropriate sample length to ensure that all relevant
re-occurring aesthetic trends can be observed, ensuring the reliability of the
analysis. The final decision was the chronology of the analysis sample. As the
exploration centres around current aesthetic trends and their link to
socio-political and economical factors of VOUGE readers it was apparent that to
obtain valid analysis that the sample must be comprised of the twelve most
recent editions from current date, December 2015 to November 2016.
Procedure
For
the process from which the content analysis was generated the author examined
each of the twelve consecutive editions of the periodical VOGUE. These
examinations to determine the extent of which pre-determined aesthetic aspects,
that conform in to major aesthetic categories occur throughout the editorial,
these categories being Typography, Photography, Imagery/Iconography &
Layout. By employing pre-determined aesthetic groups the author acting as the
analyst examined every page of each of the editions of the magazine in order to
identify each of the occurrences of the aesthetic trends under examination.
Each of the occurrences of the trends recorded by means of a simple tally
system. The original four aesthetic categories were used throughout the
analysis as a means of generating a number of different properties of the
categories as possible. These were evident throughout the analysis due to the
repetitiveness of which they occur within the editorial. The tallied
occurrences of the individual visual properties were all then formatted in to a
table of results. These properties outlined during the investigations to be
taken further in to the detailed analysis sections of this exploration.
Table of Categories/Criteria
Identified
Bold Typography
|
Typography of which
is heavy in weight.
|
Serif
Typography
|
Typography that contains
serifs in its anatomy.
|
Contrasting
Typography
|
Large difference
between the weights of two pieces of typography on a page.
|
Italicised
typography
|
Typography that is normally
slanted slightly to the right.
|
Justified
Typography
|
Paragraphs of text of
which are levelled of straight on both the left and right side.
|
Seasonal
Colour
|
Colours within the
design that link to the content of the article seasonally.
|
Contextual
Colour
|
Colours within the
design that link contextually to the content of the article
|
B&W
Photography
|
Imagery that is
mono-chromic in colour, only black and white.
|
Colour
Photography
|
Imagery that is
situated in full-saturated colour.
|
Drop
Capital Letters
|
The inclusion of
larger initial letters to begin articles for aesthetic effect.
|
Columnar
Layout
|
Structured columnar
layout for heavy text articles.
|
Classic
Portraiture
|
Full frontal headshot
photography.
|
On
Location Photography
|
Photography shot at
the location the article pertains to.
|
Catwalk
Photography
|
Photography that
contains image of catwalk/runway shows.
|
Nude
Photography
|
Photography that
contains human nudity.
|
International
Culture
|
Examples of
information within articles and design that centres international culture
|
Illustrations &
Drawings
|
|
Urban
Aesthetics
|
Examples of
aesthetics that contain contemporary, youthful urban pastiche.
|
Post-Modern
Aesthetics
|
Examples of
aesthetics that directly like with post-modernist theory.
|
Tally of Results & Occurrences
No comments:
Post a Comment