Category Archives: Oh!

Filters

Author:
Category:

csp – magazine: Oh Comely

facts:

  • left-wing ideology
  • emphasis on inclusivity – representing femininity, multiple cultures
  • owned by Iceberg press – small company
  • focus on creativity and quirkiness
  • about accepting and celebrating your differences to others – rather than attempting to change them
  • minimalist style
  • launched in 2010
  • last issue – September 2021
  • bi-monthly British magazine
  • editor – Lisa Sykes
  • average age of readers – 27 years old
  • selling to higher social class – magazine costs £5

WHO

Iceberg press

SAYS WHAT

Oh Comely constructs a representation of femininity with its focus on creativity and quirkiness. The focus is on women as artists, entrepreneurs, athletes and musicians and female empowerment is a major theme. The absence of men as part of the representation of masculinity in Oh Comely magazine.

CHANNEL

print through lifestyle magazine

TO WHOM

affluent young women

WITH WHAT EFFECT

10,000 average buys per issue

(3,000 paid subscriptions)

Two step flow of communication

Oh Comely’s decision to represent lesser-known individuals means that the two step flow of communication is not as evident. With fans of Oh Comely having to actively seek the magazine out rather than buying because their favourite actor is featured.

Semiotics

Representation – diverse. Features various genders, races, sexualities, and skills.

front cover

Icon 

Indexical link 

Narrative –

Print Language –

Stuart Hall –

Oh!

Oh ~ previously Oh Comely

The CSP Oh Comely has changed its name to Oh. The update on the magazine’s website states: ‘Oh is a reimagination of Oh Comely magazine and is still a place to meet new people, hear their stories and hopefully leave you looking at life a little differently. And every issue will still have beautiful photography and illustration at its heart’.

This is an in-depth CSP and needs to be studied with reference to all four elements of the Theoretical Framework (Language, Representation, Industries, Audience) and all relevant contexts.

Oh Comely is part of a development in lifestyle and environmental movements of the early twenty first century which rebrand consumerism as an ethical movement. Its representation of femininity reflects an aspect of the feminist movement which celebrates authenticity and empowerment

Print: Magazine (Independent). Oh Comely is an alternative magazine, aimed at a niche audience. The front pages and extracts from issue 35 must be studied are shown the pages following this information. You will also need to study the magazine in relation to Media Industries
and Media Audiences. This means looking beyond the specific edition to consider issues of ownership, production, funding, technologies and regulation (Media Industries) and targeting, marketing, sales and readership, audience interpretation, fulfilment, uses and gratifications ideas and theories (Media Audiences).

Useful Links

https://www.icebergpress.co.uk/our-story

https://twitter.com/icebergpressuk?lang=en

https://www.upmpaper.com/knowledge-inspiration/blog-stories/articles/2021/tip-of-the-iceberg-lisa-sykes-on-how-her-company-is-making-people-fall-in-love-with-print-again/

10 in 10

  1. Owned by Iceberg Press – an independent media organisation that just has a few members of staff
  2. LISA SYKES, EDITOR Lisa then spent further stints at Hearst Magazines UK, working as Deputy Editor of Coast Magazine,
  3. Sykes recalls. “We didn’t like the fact that print dying was becoming a self fulfilling prophecy”
  4. The world of magazines has never been more vibrant and innovative, but you wouldn’t know it from the average newsstand today. From Iceberg Press website