Historical Research

In general, magazines first began to gain popularity in the 1880's, but they were very expensive and so only the rich could afford them, and only the intellectuals could understand them.

1968 marked the creation of Time Out London, which became one of London's' most well known regional magazines. The magazine focuses on a range of local news and events around London. After this time period, regional magazines and newspapers became more popular.

In the 1990's, regional newspapers were seen as unfashionable and were under threat from Internet-based advertising. However, regional magazines became increasingly popular and appealed to a range of people belonging to the regional area the magazine is advertising, as well as those who had an interest in that region.

The typical conventions followed usually consist of a long shot of a distinctive regional area that the audience will usually understand to be a regional location e.g a Cornish magazine may feature Fistral beach, a Scottish magazine may feature the highlands. The masthead is usually white for every different brand of regional magazine, and typically located at the top of the cover, with the cover lines located around the main image as to not to divert the audiences attention away from the image. The cover lines are condensed down and spread out amongst the page.


From what I have researched, there seems to be no noticeable differences between British products and American products, other than the regional locations featured. They appear to follow the same genre conventions with regards to photography and typography. Overall, British regional magazines appear to have more cover lines than American regional magazines, which suggests that the British regional magazines are more lengthy and informative.





















My chosen genre - regional magazines - hasn't really altered over the years, other than the choice of locations and image quality. Image quality has improved due to technological advances in cameras, therefore giving magazines the ability to create a more professional appearance, thus connoting high production values to their intended audience.