Institution ResearchEmily Kennedy

IntroductionDazed (formerly Dazed and Confused) was founded in 1991, as a monthly independent magazine. It mainly covers fashion, music, art and literature.

The first few issues were black and white folded posters, randomly published. Dazed soon after turned into a fully fledged magazine.

Dazed have issues in both Japan and Korea

Dazed Digital is the magazines newish website. Making Dazed material much more accessible to todays generation who are more technologically involved.

1st issue

Japanese issue

Korean issue

Latest issue

Overview of the contentDazed magazine covers a variety of aspects of media; including fashion, music, film, photography, art and literature.

The music artists that are featured are often indie alternative like Grimes, CHVRCHES, Kate Bush etc. Some more well known, mainstream pop artists are covered like Nicki Minaj, Years and Years, and Ariana Grande.

The content on the website is categorised into: News, Video, Fashion, Music, Art+Culture and Photography. There are lots of advertisements on both the website and in the magazine - often fashion related like Gucci, Chanel, Dior etc.

Social articles are another main feature. These often focus on social struggles including sexuality, racism, gender inequality etc.

Publishing InstitutionThe institution that publishes Dazed magazine is Waddell ltd. This is a British, private company co-founded by John Rankin Waddell and his father. The bi-monthly print magazine is read by 80,000 people globally, however Waddell ltd is a national company and not a global one. Rankin Waddell and Jefferson Hack are both active directors of Waddell ltd. This is as well as being the co-founders of Dazed and Confused magazine back in 1991. Related companies to Waddell ltd. include: Rankin photography ltd, Hunger publishing ltd (Hunger magazine), Another publishing ltd and Another Man publishing ltd (AnOther and Another man Magazine) and Dazed Group ltd (Dazed).

Reader profileThe typical reader profile are late teens to early thirties (18-30).

The readers are predominantly female, with about 1/3 being male.

Often fashion students, or perhaps have a job in fashion. If not they consider themselves fashionable, and perhaps study some sort of art based subject.

They are able to afford £4.50 a month on a magazine, therefore suggesting they have a job with a comfortable pay.

Most likely to be in the B, C1 or C2 social bracket.

The actual audience for Dazed are the target audience. This shows that Dazed have managed to target their make effectively. Stylish, innovators, media literate opinion formers. With knowledge of brands, styles and products.

source:http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/dazeddigital.com

Layout trademarks of DazedThe Dazed masthead is always the same font and in the same place. The tracking is very loose in the masthead, also the kerning between the D and Z is often so close they touch.

The central image is often large and open, with minimal text on the front cover. This allows the audience to study the cover and appreciate the photography without having to read lots of articles trailed.

Dazed often has alternate covers, “changing the face of fashion” by changing the cover for each issue. This gives the audience a choice, where they can buy the magazine they want based on the cover they like. It also opens up the possibility of avid collectors buying all versions.

The central image is often of an artist featured in the magazine. If not the central image is always has a person as the subject, unlike competing magazines such as Vice which uses all sorts of subjects.

Sometimes the masthead is brought forward over the central image, and sometimes the central image partially covers up the masthead. This subtle interaction between the masthead and central image is very effective artistically and therefore stands out to the audience, making them more liekyl to buy the magazine.

ValuesAs most of the audience are young people then the content that is aimed at youth reflects the values of the audience. The audience will also be into very cutting edge material. Articles which are about upcoming new artists, fashion trends and film are all relevant to the target audience.

Political views and social discussions are also included in the magazine and these reflect the values of the audience as young people are constantly interested in expanding their views and articles on sexuality, gender inequality and race issues are all very relevant to the new age. Especially as most of the readers will find these topics personal to them.

Most of the content is artistic and creative, with the majority of the magazine being photographs. This appeals to the niche target audience as most would be in some sort of creative job/study.

The style of the magazine also reflects the values of the target audience as it’s simplistic yet artistic. To an art student this magazine would not just about interesting articles, but the layout would also be important to them as inspiration.