"Another Escape Magazine
Publisher: Park Communications, London, independently produced.
Genre: Outdoor lifestyle, creative culture and sustainable living
Another Escape describes itself as an outdoor lifestyle, creative culture and sustainable living journal that celebrates the stories of passionate people inspired by nature. It is a lifestyle publication aimed at those who are creative, curious and have a love for the outdoors. The magazine is "gentle and humble in tone with an investigative nature" and aims to be a source of inspiration for those seeking a fulfilling lifestyle.
The magazine releases in volumes with each one focusing on an element of nature.
Text 1: Front cover
The front cover of this magazine is very unconventional of a traditional cover. Instead of a portrait image, Another Escape have opted for a landscape image featuring a hiker on a rock mountain. The sky takes up most of the image. The masthead on the page is of a medium size and features symbols relating to the content of the publication. Similar to other independant magazines that I have researched, Another Escape is only sold online, meaning that the function of an eye catching masthead to draw attention to the magazine is almost redundant. The magazine includes almost no copy apart from the masthead, tagline and volume number. David Hesmondhalgh's theory may suggest that the lack of headlines targets a niche audience and suggests that it is in fact minimising audience and maximising risk, unlike mainstream magazines.
Using Young and Rubicam' 4Cs model, the alternative elements of the magazine cover suggest that it would be best suited for a reformer audience - an independent thinker with freedom from restriction, and also explorers.
Text 2: Double page spread
The double page spread is similar to the rest of the publication in the fact that it is very image focused and allows the main image to do the talking. The main image, which spreads across the two pages and acts as a background for the copy, is a river with some greenery and mountains, again very fitting with the magazines outdoorsy theme. The article is entitled "Norway" and appears to highlight the Norwegian landscape and environment. Magazines and print publications in general tend to be quite copy focused and so "Another Escape" leaning the opposite way could indicate that they are taking risks in order to be creative and inspiring, apposing David Hesmondhalgh's theory of minimising risk to maximise audience.
Text 3: Website
The website is very simplistic and, again, image focused. As per the image, the main focus of the website is to share excerpts of articles either featured in the printed publication or exclusive to the magazines online presence. The top menu bar of the website is typical of magazine websites, featuring tabs to page including "Featured Stories", "Volumes" and "Journal". One thing however that I do think is that the pages suggest that there is a certain depth to the publication and that their work is not limited to just the magazine itself. "Journals" suggests that the publishers hold a certain ideology, made up of beliefs and ideas all of which they present in a personal way through this section of the site. This could be linked to Curran and Seaton's ideas that because the media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the logic of profit and power, this media concentration generally limits or inhibits variety, creativity and quality. Therefore, Another Escape magazine is a great example of how independant, varied publishers can produce more meaningful and unique content.
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