PDP Task

I was recently tasked to look at a sample from a typical fashion magazine and give my first impressions of it in terms of how it made me feel, what kind of audience it is aimed at, what tools it uses to attract this audience and what I think about the way it does this.

The Sample I chose was the String Interior design ad in the ELLE magazine from April 2015. From the start I am not appealed by the kitchen shown in the image. Usually images advertising food or kitchens are appealing and make you hungry; they use warm colours and wet textures to make you salivate and crave that food, or kitchen it is prepared in. This kitchen however looks cold, stale and dirty. Plus the open cupboards encourage vermin and cross contamination so this makes the kitchen impractical. So now I question weather this kitchen is made to be used at all, or just to look good and be a fashion statement. I can imagine this kitchen is made to fit with a minimalist and also impractical household.

Despite the image looking unappealing to me it fits and works well with hipster and indie fashions and culture. These people often purposely deviate themselves from common fashions and trends, and so this kitchen which I consider to be anything but normal would be perfect for this audience.

This image uses colour to appeal to its audience, it uses lots of whites, blacks and mostly greens. These colours are almost polar opposites of typical kitchen colours which are creams, browns and yellows. And so the not so trend loving hipsters would love this outrageously different kitchen and its colour scheme.

The objects you see in this kitchen are also quite different to what you might find. I can see lots of jars of olives, a leg of unpleasant meat, sprouts, garlic in black netting, onions and what looks to me like way too much oil for one households typical use. In my kitchen there are colourful packets, range of sauces and herbs, red and white meats and other colourful items. And so the contents of the image also deviate from the norm, so it targets the audience in every possible way. It is very effective but I don’t think I will be buying that kitchen or taking the doors off my cupboards any time soon.