Masthead research

 To research the font and style of masthead I wanted to use for my magazine I firstly had to come to a final decision about the masthead I wanted to use. Using the information I gathered from my target research, I decided that “Dalia” would be a better name for my magazine as it would target a larger audience. Furthermore, it is shorter than Acacia, so it may be easier to remember as other big brand magazines are such as Elle and Vogue, whose names are also short.  I started by handwriting out “Dalia” in a variety of different ways and styles. Handwriting it out instead of writing on the computer for my first draft was much quicker and allowed me to quickly experiment with different fonts. I also experimented with using uppercase and lowercase letters, as some fashion magazines mastheads use all capital letters rather than upper and lower as it would normally be in a sentence. After trying a variety of fonts, I quickly realised that I preferred the fonts that were serif and had a handwritten image rather than a block, plain text feeling.

 Out of all of the different styles of writing I tried I liked two the most; the bottom right handed style the best, as it has an elegant and sophisticated look I believe, rather than looking to bold or brash, but also the fully capitalised style, which conveys a classical and timeless atmosphere.

 I then retried this experiment but on a Word document, to gain access to a wider variety of fonts that would be much more professional and sophisticated than a handwritten masthead. I then repeated what I did before and typed out “Dalia” repeatedly in lowercase and uppercase letters in a variety of fonts and made a note of the fonts next to it in case I wanted to use any of these for my final piece. Once finished, I highlighted the fonts I liked the most to make it easier to decide which was my favourite. After much contemplation I decided that my favourite font was “Goudy Old Style”. I like the font both in capitalised and lower-case letters. In lowercase letters I think it looks more feminine and pretty, however I think that when capitalised it looks bold and will address the female and male target audience I have decided upon.

Finally, I researched what other magazine mastheads looked like, although I already had a basic idea, to ensure I was making the right decision with the font I had chosen. 

All of the mastheads that i looked at used a serif font in mainly capitalised letters. All of the fonts used for the different mastheads are very similar and all convey the timeless, classical and elegant atmosphere that i would like my masthead to have. Although they may seem quite plain i think that a plain, simple masthead would benefit a fashion magazine more than an over the top masthead would, so that it does not distract away from the contents of the magazine but still clearly have an impact on the page. I think that choosing a capitalised and bold font such as these would not mean that my masthead would be ignored as it is like many others, instead I think it would be respected more initially by the target audience as it seems as though it has been around for a long period of time and is therefore a trustworthy brand such as Elle or Vogue. I do not think that using this masthead would be a USP however i would much rather the content of my magazine be a USP for the target audience rather than the masthead. 

In conclusion i believe that all of my research and experiments relating to my masthead have allowed me to confidently decide that the masthead i will be using is "Dalia", fully capitalised and in the "Goudy Old Style" font. I think that it will attract a female and male target audience as it is not overly feminine or manly; instead it has stereotypical aspects of both. The serif font makes it prettier and more feminine whilst the capitalised letters make a bold statement and therefore portrays the magazine as more daring and masculine.