“The young person’s guide to conquering (and saving) the world. Teen Vogue covers the latest in celebrity news, politics, fashion, beauty, wellness, lifestyle, and entertainment.”

Teen Vogue is a sister publication to Vogue. Both of which are published by Conde Nast and advance publications

On November 2, 2017, it was announced Teen Vogue would cease its print edition and continue as an online-only publication as part of a new round of cost cuts.

Since 2015, following a steep decline in sales, the magazine cut back on its print distribution in favour of online content, which has grown significantly.

Media Language

How are the codes and conventions of a website used in the product? How are these conventions used to influence meaning? The website could be analysed in terms of:

• The language of composition and layout: images, positioning, layout, typography, language and mode of address.
• The genre conventions of websites will be studied and the genre approach should also include reference to the content of lifestyle websites.
• The application of a semiotic approach will aid the analysis of the way in which the website creates an ideology about the world it is constructing – often to do with age, beauty and social and political issues.
• Narrative in the context of online material can refer to the way that the images and the selection of stories construct a narrative about the world.

Media Representations

The choice of this online product provides a wide range of representational issues. These include the representation of the target audience of young women in the United States but also globally. The focus on representation will build on work done in the analysis of visual images and can also be used to explore target audiences and ideological readings:

• Representation of particular groups (age, gender, race), construction of a young female identity.
• ‘Rise, Resist. Raise your Voice’ is the slogan for the website.
• Who is constructing the representation and to what purpose?
• The focus on politics, social issues and technology (in addition to fashion and celebrity) suggests a new representation of young women.
• Analysis of the construction and function of stereotypes
• Representation and news values – how do the stories selected construct a particular representation of the world and particular groups and places in it?

Defining and conceptualising New Technology

Technology is central to any Media Studies course, and is of relevance in terms of the production, distribution and consumption of news and news-gathering, as well as playing a significant role in terms of democracy, knowledge, access and truth. As a starter exercise to understand this relationship in terms of news production, create a table and see how many different technologies you can put in each box, to show which what technologies are used in each stage of the production process.

Lifestyle section contains huge amount of lists telling you what technology to buy and how it can make your life better/easier. For example the top list on the page is ’33 best tech gifts’, There is then a review on a new Imac which is simply a bit faster and is now available in colours other than the normal silver/black. The review does not mention one negative and encourages readers to buy it. Relate this to new media?

Audience

Although the brand name suggests a teenage audience, the typical Teen Vogue reader has evolved in recent years. The move to more political content has broadened the appeal and changed the genre – young women now expect more from their media.

The ‘Campus Life’ section in Lifestyle also suggests an older readership. However, the audience is still interested in celebrity content and beauty – which Teen Vogue addresses by featuring the ‘opinion leaders’ (two-step flow) of social media.

Teen Vogue: political positioning

Teen Vogue generally takes a liberal, left-wing political stance and positions its readers to become active in their support:

• Pro-feminist
• Pro-gender fluidity and gender identity
• Supports LGBT equality
• Pro-multiculturalism
• Supports Black Lives Matter
• Pro-environment (accepting science on climate change)
• Pro-choice (abortion)

Teen Vogue: audience interaction

How does Teen Vogue encourage audience interaction?

• Activism
• Social media
• ‘Clickbait’ and first-person headlines
• Events – Teen Vogue summit