The issue
There is a recurring problem in today’s society with the way that the media portrays body image and the subjective opnions it poses on its target audience. The problem is that women are portrayed in way that may be offensive. For example, the steriotypical body image that the media will convey as desirable is likely to be a tall, slim figure with long hair for women and tall with a toned body for men.
In this way the media is able to target certain audiences into purchasing product that they believe will ultimately fulfil a means to an end. This is paticularly noticeable through the selling of cosmetic products and advertising on TV and in magazines. The issue itself is derived from years of consumerism and the imagery that has been reproduced in the mainstream media. By giving people a certain body image type to strive for the companies that sell cosmetic products are able to provide people with the tools they want to better their own image.
After extensive research into consumerism and the way that it involves the exploitation of body image, it became apparent that to create a solution, it would first require an investigation into the ways in which companies target specific audiences and sell their products. This meant looking at different areas of advertising and certain products that negatively use the subject of desirable body types as their selling point. Many of the examples that had been found during this investigation include gossip magazines, protein products advertising and skin care campaigns. The majority of the examples that were looked at had used body image in a negative way, while others were alternatively trying to tackle the issue by promoting different body sizes or campaigning for more equal treatment of body types in the mainstream media.
How to resolve the issue
To resolve the issue of body shaming it would first require a certain aspect of the subject to be approached in a similar manner to how it is promoted in the media. For example, through the use of gossip magazines, companies are able to promote negativity to certain body types, particularly celebrities, so they can appeal to a certain audience that will buy the product. This is because they believe that by body shaming certain celebrities, the readers can feel somewhat better about their own appearance. By creating an alternative version of these images, with less negativety, it would be possible to appeal to the same audience and furthermore try to persuade them to change their opinions on body type.
The idea of an alternative version would be to mimic the style and layout of the magazines that exist. This would also include the same colour schemes, image hierarchy and choice of font that would be used on a front cover. By doing this it would be possible to visually appeal to the same target audience upon first sight. Once attention has been drawn to the front page it would be possible to interest the reader in the content of the magazine.Another idea would have been to create an alternative using a webpage design that would mimic an existing webpage for a company that body shames people. However after discussing this idea with peers it seemed that the magazine cover design would be more appropriate to the context.
What needs to be communicated
As many of the magazine examples include imagery that showed women of different sizes and shapes, it would be necessary to replace these images with real representations of average people. By showing average body sizes of both men and women the magazine is able to target different audiences while maintaining similar imagery. This will also give the design the opportunity to show more accurate representations of body types, which furthermore will mean there is more relevance in the images shown and with the appearance of the readers.
As the images shown in mainstream magazines are used as a way to also promote beauty products to its readers, the alternative version would mean that the readers would feel less inclined to purchase the products sold by companies. This is because the images would show more natural body images which furthermore would make the reader less inclined to try to improve how they look.
It is essential that the design layout includes the same layout, including bullet point subheadings and small circular additional offers, similar to how it would be displayed on a gossip magazine. When looking at the grid formation of gossip magazine layouts we can see that more often than not there is a hierarchical grid system being used to draw the readers attention toward the title of the magazine or a central large image. In the same way the design alternative has the same approach to appeal to its audience.
It would also be desirable to try and mimic the same colour schemes that are used throughout gossip mgazines. In particular, bold and bright colours are often used for the backdrops of these designs as well as imagery of holiday destinations or photographs. After looking at the advertisement that read ‘are you beach body ready?’, it seemed necessary to try and include a backdrop of a beach or another summer holiday destination, which would furthermore back-up the images of average body sizes, showing them to be just as acceptable as any other.
Is there a target audience
As this design solution could be used for a gossip magazine, it could potentially be seen as a proposal for a magazine company like Heat, as a way to attract new customers to their business or to attract a new audience.
Primarily the intended audience would have been women from ages 18 and above, as this is likely the age range targeted by gossip magazines. However, as the intended design was to tackle issues of body image of all kinds, this meant that the target audience could also include men of the same age range.
This also means that the design element would need to consider ways that the magazine cover will appeal to both sexes. For example, the colour schemes used in order to attract both audiences and content that would be displayed on the cover.
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