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Saturday, September 22, 2007

La Sppa- confused!

When a magazine is planned to target a niche segment but put content to attract everybody in it then a de-focused and confused magazine takes birth. The same is happened with 'fashion n lifestyle' magazine LA SPPA which is recently launched by a Heera Zhaveraat group enterprise.

You might be aware of P.J. News & Information Bureau Pvt. Ltd. has its seven year old magazine called HEERA ZHAVERAAT on Gems & Jewellery and has websites, www.heerazhaveraat.com and www.worlddiamondbank.com also. This bi-monthly magazine is their latest venture which they want to target fashion & lifestyle industry and for that they are addressing a contemporary young as well as matured people!!

Content
Its neither remained a niche nor become a general interest as they have tried to put everything in the inaugural issue to show their broadband of content. The same is acclaimed by the Editor- Mr. Suresh Chotai in the editorial page of the same issue that apart from the fashion trade, LA SPPA will also talk about variety of subjects like sex(?), health(!), relationships(!!), fashion industry trends, youth aspects, celebrity talks any many more to fulfill young generation's aspirations!!! Its' Publisher & Chief Editor- Mr. Rajesh Bajaj is went one step further and written in his welcome note that readers may take what they like from this magazine and may toss the rest away… No wonder content structure of LA SPPA is so scattered and distracted from the center.

You think that I am exaggerating the thing?? Fine, have a look on a few main stories- 'The joy and dangers of flirting', 'College daughters relationships with their fathers', 'School safety for parents: what to look for in your child's school', 'Massage therapy', 'Adventure with Hot air balloons', 'Minister don't teach us about sex', 'Obsessed with thin: dangerous implications of being skinny'…

And guess, which is cover story for this issue?? Of course its their in above mentioned list… Fine, it’s the last in this list. No one could understand that this is the cover story, probably makers of this magazine also knew this and that's why they clearly mentioned on the story on the cover- COVER STORY!!

Its needless to mention that most of these kind of articles are foreign content and images/pictures, almost all looks as are downloaded from the net.

Design
Equally bad…! As editorial team has tried to exposed their wide range of domain understanding, similarly design team has also tried hard to prove their creativity. For example, just on the cover itself designer has used more than a dozen fonts type faces. He has used lots of cluttering in each story headlines as well as lots of colors and effects on the cover lines...! Main image is used badly cut and poor color corrected. Oh, when I am writing about cover, let me tell you that this is the only magazine I can remember which has Editor's name on the cover itself!

It seems that designer had full liberty show his skills in single issue and he/she hasn’t missed the opportunity! You can see each and every effect or cluttering, which is possible, in this one magazine...no single consistency or style sheet!

Oh yes, only good looking pages are advertisement pages!!

Printing
As almost every photograph seems like downloaded from the net, it has got pixelated at most of the pages. Few pages have registration problems.

Product
Well, expecting for the better than what you are getting at the cover price of Rs.27/- only, would be not fair. What else (in terms of physical & tangible product) you can expect in such a low price but it cant be an excuse for the poor content & design. I think, it is not going to be sold on news stand anyways as it would be controlled distributed to the trade community (if they can find appropriate target audience for this kind of defocused magazine) or it would be subscription driven only.

LA SPPA is not focused on the subject so its difficult to say that whom publishers want to target. So is difficult to say whether it is going to useful any segment of people.

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Wednesday, September 19, 2007

StyleSpeak: Making a Style Statement

Yes, I do agree with Editor Sandhya Chipalkatti, who is also publisher of her recently launched Style & Fashion magazine called STYLESPEAK. According to Chiplakatti, fashion in India not only arrived but has spread over the market in an organized manner and therefore it is no longer can be dominated by selected few. Hosting of four major fashion weeks every year in India is the big evidence.

STYLESPEAK is launched by C & E Media, a division of Conferences & Exhibitions Pvt. Ltd. at cover price of Rs.100. Being a B2B magazine, mainly targeting to Salon & Spa owners not the consumers; it is not available on news stands but can be subscribed.

Content
Keeping their target audience in mind, content doesn’t impress much. This 64 pager magazine carrying a very less number of useful & practical articles which leave a reader more informed or educated behind.

From the point of usefulness, only ‘Salon management’, ‘Step by Step, ‘Expert Speak’ & ‘StyleFile’ are OK. Rests of the pages are just the showcase of products or fashion shows. To make it more useful, it should have more articles like ‘Education’, ‘Expert Advice’ & ‘Step by Step’ etc.

A very long list of names of Doctors, experts, specialist, stylists is given in the colophon as editorial advisors, contributors, columnists which impresses a reader very much in the beginning but disappoint you when you enter in the magazine and can’t see any strong & fruitful article.

Design
Poor…(but while writing this review, next issue came in my hands and I can see the significant improvements in it). Starting from the cover, masthead is strong and fine. Since content is not so appealing, there is no strong cover story to put on the cover. And perhaps knowing the fact that it is a non-news-stand magazine, it is not considered seriously. Even in B2B magazines, cover stories can be put in some interesting & inviting way instead of putting some very dry-incomplete-meaningless words.

As I mentioned, layout of inside pages is improved in latest issue but still lots of basic design mistakes are there which clearly show the lack of style sheet.

Printing
Despite of being a salon & spa magazine, you can’t see skin tones accurately on most of the pages (apart from a few advertisement pages).

Product
Paper quality of the magazine as well as the cover is very good and that’s why with even 64 pages, the magazine is perfect bound.

Anyways, magazine is targetting spa & parlor owners which defintely would love this product if more articles on their profitability or business tips can be put in next issues. Design, as I said, is improved than first issue but still required to be tweaked.

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‘VIRDI’CT ...................: ●●○○○
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Right HAIR Right Now…

Its time to get more and more niche! You can’t talk about fashion, style, beauty, hair… everything at once; you need to give enough space to every aspect to let it spread & grow. For that reason perhaps, in recent months a few of very niche interests magazines are launched in India and HAIR is one of them.

HAIR is UK’s best selling hair magazine which is launched in India by Spenta Multimedia at cover price of Rs. 50.

Content
Inaugural issue’s Content of HAIR is fabulous. As its name suggests and being a niche magazine, content is more or less is about hair care, styling, dos-don’ts, advices, problems-solutions, make-over only. It is also carrying glam quotient by adding model-celeb’s styles & their interviews. Same issue is carrying an interesting section called- ‘The Style Guide- Cut & Color’, which is carrying different samples of various cuts & colors like blonde, dark, red, long, short and layers etc.. and ‘The Style Guide- Texture & Trends’, which shows samples of sleek, waves, curls, volume, fringes and updos etc. Other interesting articles/sections/columns are- ‘Make me Over’, ‘Busted 10 common haircare myths’ and obviously Expert advices.

A very space is given to Beauty also where beauty products are showcased And a few of skin & beauty advices are given.

Design
Average…and cover is worse. Starting from image selection, image placing, layout of cover stories, presentation everything is bad. One can easily get confused about the masthead itself whether it is ‘HAIR & BEAUTY’? No consistency of using fonts (sizes, colors). Very carelessly Single-tier, 2-tier and 3-tier lines are used on the cover.

Inside pages are slightly better than the cover, but again style sheet is not followed strictly. In this kind of magazines, where lots of advertorials and sponsored sections/articles are there, it becomes even more critical to have very carefully prepared design style sheet and to follow it religiously. Still, a few pages like ‘Make me Over’, ‘The Style Guide’ are good.

Being an international publication, Indian edition is also carrying lots of UK content which disconnects an Indian reader a little bit, but it can be taken care by putting Indian faces & images on pages.

Printing
despite of being a spenta product, printing quality of HAIR is average. Overall colors are looking very dull. Even pre-press/designer hasn’t taken care of cover image and has spoiled the cover.

Product
It could be classier if it was printed on better paper. And looking at price, it can be improved.

Overall, content of HAIR is equally useful for an individual consumer as well as for beauty parlor or salon people.

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Content ......................: ●●●◐○
Design & Layout ........: ●●●○○
Printing ......................: ●●◐○○
Product ......................: ●●◐○○
Value for Money ........: ●●◐○○
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‘VIRDI’CT ...................: ●●●○○
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How to use ‘VIRDI’CT..??
●○○○○ Browse & leave it
●●○○○ Borrow & Read it
●●●○○ Buy it occasionally
●●●●○ Buy regularly
●●●●● Subscribe it now!!!