Teen Vogue: background reading

Teen Vogue: background reading

Read this Guardian feature from 2017 on Teen Vogue and answer the following questions.

1) What was the article that announced Teen Vogue as a more serious, political website – with 1.3m hits and counting?

The article in question was an impassioned op-ed by 25-year-old Lauren Duca, a Teen Vogue contributing editor and award-winning writer for the likes of Vice and the New Yorker. “To gaslight is to psychologically manipulate a person to the point where they question their own sanity, and that’s precisely what Trump is doing to this country,”

2) When was the original Teen Vogue magazine launched and what was its original content?

The original Teen Vogue magazine was launched in 2004. Teen Vogue used to focus on the standard cocktail of fashion must-haves and celebrities.

3) How did editor Elaine Welteroth change Teen Vogue’s approach in 2015?

Elaine Welteroth changed Teen Vogue's approach in 2015 by including beauty within Teen Vogue.

4) How many stories are published on Teen Vogue a day? What topics do they cover?

Teen Vogue publishes 50 to 70 stories a day. The topics they cover are fashion, entertainment and current affairs.

5) What influence did digital director Phillip Picardi have over the editorial direction?

Picardi is dressed in slim-fit jeans and a navy shirt by Dries van Noten, his boyband looks dominated by luminous, aquamarine eyes

6) What is Teen Vogue’s audience demographic and what does ‘woke’ refer to?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary describes the word “woke”, a slang term, as “a byword for social awareness.” The "sweet spot" for Teen Vogue's audience is 18-24.

7) What issues are most important to Teen Vogue readers?

“Identity is big. We want to help make them feel better about themselves, whether that’s giving beauty tips, or empowering them with political information to have smarter conversations and feel they can stand up for themselves.” Career advice “is an evergreen topic”; above all, “young people are craving something real, craving authenticity”.

8) What does Tavi Gevinson suggest regarding the internet and ‘accountability culture’ with regards to modern audiences? Can you link this to our work on Clay Shirky?

She believes the internet has created an “accountability culture”, where the relationship with readers is closer and more transparent, and says brands have had to respond to that.

9) What social and political issues have been covered successfully by Teen Vogue?

Coming in the wake of a summer of social and political unrest, Trump’s election created something of a perfect storm for Picardi’s new political agenda.

10) What do Teen Vogue readers think of the magazine and website?

"I talked to 16-year-old Paige Wagner, who says truthfulness and trust are the main reasons she reads it, since “most of what I read on social media is unreliable”

Teen Vogue textual analysis and example articles

Work through the following tasks to complete your textual analysis of the Teen Vogue website and read notable Teen Vogue articles to refer to in exam answers. 

Homepage analysis

Go to the Teen Vogue homepage and answer the following:

1) What website key conventions can you find on the Teen Vogue homepage?

One of the website key conventions that is shown on the Teen Vogue homepage is the Teen Vogue branding on the top left of the website. Teen Vogue also have the top menu bar which directs the website viewers to their specific needs of when visiting the website. Below the top menu bar there is an advert of the Teen Vogue app which is available for download from the app store.

2) How does the page design encourage audience engagement?

The layout of the Teen Vogue website is easily accessible for the audience to read. It is very similar to instagram and twitter, when you go on the teen vogue website you can scroll down to find out the latest news etc.

3) Where does advertising appear on the homepage?

On the Teen Vogue website, there is only one advert bar which is underneath the top menu bar.

4) What are the items in the top menu bar and what does this tell you about the content of Teen Vogue?

The top menu bar has the following: Style, Politics, Culture, Identity, Summit

This suggests that Teen Vogue aren't just focused on fashion, they offer more than just fashion.

5) How far does the homepage scroll down? How many stories appear on the homepage in total?

The homepage continuously goes down, there is no limit. There is definitely more than 20 stories on the homepage in total.

Lifestyle section

Now analyse the Lifestyle section of Teen Vogue (in the Identity section) and answer the following:

1) What are the items in the top menu bar for the Lifestyle section?

These are the items: Tech, Campus Life, Careers, Decorating Ideas, Food.

2) How is the Lifestyle section designed to encouragement audience engagement? Think about page design, images, text and more.

The headlines of the article are linked to the top menu of the lifestyle section.

3) What do you notice about the way headlines are written in Teen Vogue?

The headlines are written as short descriptions rather than actual headlines. This is done to notify the audience about a specific story rather than make it humorous.

4) What does the focus on education, university and ‘campus life’ tell you about the Teen Vogue audience demographics and psychographics?

Demographics: Particularly a young educated audience. Most probably an ABC1 audience.
Psychographics: Succeeders, Aspirers and Achievers.

5) Choose three stories featured in the Lifestyle section – why do they fit the Teen Vogue brand?

10 Best Places To Study Abroad: Our Favourite Study-Abroad Cities:
This particular article focuses on giving students advice on whether they want to study abroad or not. Teen vogue educates the audience about this which supports their mission statement: Educating the audience. Teen Vogue successfully does this by giving their suggestions and recommendations of what's students should go for.

Five key articles

Read the following five notable Teen Vogue features then answer the questions below for EACH feature.

Donald Trump Is Gaslighting America

The new face of teen activism 

Black Teens Have Been Fighting for Gun Reform for Years

Netflix and strong female leads 

How to Break Away From the Gender Binary

For each article:

Donald Trump Is Gas Lighting America

1) Who is the writer and what is the article about?

The writer for this article is Laura Duca.

The article is about the impact Donald Trump has had on America and how he is 'gaslighting' America.

2) How does the article use narrative to engage the reader? Try and apply narrative theory here if possible.

Donald Trump successfully manipulates people in order to gain people on his side.

3) Why is this article significant?

The article is extremely significant because it highlights how Donald Trump has caused chaos ever since becoming the president of America.

4) How does this article reflect the values and ideologies of the modern Teen Vogue?

Teen vogue's audience is left wing. They would strongly disagree with Trump.

How To Break Away From The Gender Binary

1) Who is the writer and what is the article about?

The writer for this article is Samantha Riedel.
This article is about getting rid of gender roles.

2) How does the article use narrative to engage the reader? Try and apply narrative theory here if possible.

It highlights to readers how to standardise gender roles.

3) Why is this article significant?

This article is significant because it is a social change and thats exactly what Teen Vogue is trying to do, move away from fashion.

4) How does this article reflect the values and ideologies of the modern Teen Vogue?

Teen vogue is supportive for all people of all sexuality, genders, ethnicity and background.

Black Teens Have Been Fighting For Gun Reform For Years

1) Who is the writer and what is the article about?

The writer for this article is Lincoln Blades.
The article is about the struggle for teenagers in America regarding gun control.

2) How does the article use narrative to engage the reader? Try and apply narrative theory here if possible.

This has been reported in the media for a long period of time.

3) Why is this article significant?

This article is about teenagers and how they want to subvert stereotypes by standing up for their country etc.

4) How does this article reflect the values and ideologies of the modern Teen Vogue?

This successfully links back to Teen Vogues target audience which is a teenage audience. 

The New Face Of Teen Activism

1) Who is the writer and what is the article about?

The writer of this article is Alexis Manrodt
This article is about the role of the digital media.

2) How does the article use narrative to engage the reader? Try and apply narrative theory here if possible.


Todorov's Equilibrium Theory. Teen Vogue are in attempt to be more progerssive. 

3) Why is this article significant?

The article is extremely significant because it highlights how the digital media is having a impact on today's behaviour.

4) How does this article reflect the values and ideologies of the modern Teen Vogue?

It reflects that Teen Vogue is a woke brand.

Netflix And Strong Female Leads

1) Who is the writer and what is the article about?

The writer for this article is De Elizabeth. This article is about how Netflix has helped subvert female stereotypes.

2) How does the article use narrative to engage the reader? Try and apply narrative theory here if possible.

Women were mostly sexualised in the media/television before however, now they play more dominant roles.

3) Why is this article significant?

This article is significant because it clearly illustrates that the digital media can clearly have an impact on our society.

4) How does this article reflect the values and ideologies of the modern Teen Vogue?

Once again, it shows that Teen Vogue is clearly a woke brand and they're aware of what they're doing.