Final Media Design Project

          This is a personal blog and the opinions expressed here are my own. I do not own these particular images and all data is intended for academic purposes. This post is of my final project for MC 3390 Media Design that includes a six page spread featuring Lana Del Rey, a contents page and multiple department and feature pages. The name of my magazine is called, “SKIN.” I chose this name because it is a direct and clear four-letter title which focuses on the essential beauty of a person's skin. This magazine empowers the opposition of only perceiving beauty as skin deep. The media bombards us as a society with unrealistic and photoshopped ideas of beauty daily. The goal of SKIN is to encourage readers to feel beautiful completely stripped down in their own skin. To aspire women to never compare themselves with others- because what others have do not make her insecure. SKIN aims to convey that all women need to do to look beautiful is a nice personality, a natural smile and to be true to themselves. Beauty is viewed as an increasingly socially mandated standard, and only those who apply to this standard are the ones rewarded. SKIN hopes to be portrayed as bold, but not brash, cheeky, but not cheap, provocative, but not pornographic. My targeted audience is real women of all different races who don’t look like the nudes in magazines because this audience is much more beautiful and interesting. Originally, I wanted to go the opposite direction and considered naming my magazine “Superficial Skank.” It would have been an extreme version of the standard beauty magazine. A magazine with that name and of that nature would sit amongst all the other typical genres like “Allure” and “Glamour.” That is when I decided to take a step back and do what none of the other magazines did: embrace natural beauty. I credit my recent inspiration from a case study I did over the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. The concept is so simple yet so different from most genres of magazines. SKIN is the real beauty magazine.
          The color scheme of SKIN is a product of floral vintage backgrounds. It was important to me for the magazine to feel breezy and open while still having that feeling of comfortable warmth. The cover feature story was undoubtedly going to be Lana Del Rey. I chose her for the fact that there has always been speculation surrounding her. Whether her lips are real or not and if she is the person she sings about. When asked what she would say to her haters, she said, “I would probably say nothing.” I love her attitude on this matter and it is the same attitude I desire for my magazine. For people not to care what other people say or think of them. Better yet, to not even think about the people who think about you.


Nature of the magazine: Purpose

-The primary function of this magazine is to debunk the stereotype that only those who appeal to the socially mandated standard of beauty are beautiful
-Secondly, the magazine is to provide insight on any skin related issue, controversy or augmentation.
-Thirdly, SKIN aims to encourage global discussions on the definition of beauty to include all races.
-Finally the magazine strives to provide inspiration, encourage confidence and offer quick tips for cheap.