(Origin)
Wired is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and has been in publication since March/April 1993. Several spin-offs have been launched, including Wired UK, Wired Italia, Wired Japan, and Wired Germany. Condé Nast's parent company Advance publications is also the major shareholder of Reddit, an internet information conglomeration website.
In its earliest colophons, Wired credited Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan as its "patron saint." From its beginning, the strongest influence on the magazine's editorial outlook came from techno-utopian cofounder Stewart Brand and his associate Kevin Kelly.
In 2006, Condé Nast bought Wired News for $25 million, reuniting the magazine with its website.
Wired contributor Chris Anderson is known for popularizing the term "the Long Tail", as a phrase relating to a "power law"-type graph that helps to visualize the 2000s emergent new media business model. Anderson's article for Wired on this paradigm related to research on power law distribution models carried out by Clay Shirky, specifically in relation to bloggers. Anderson widened the definition of the term in capitals to describe a specific point of view relating to what he sees as an overlooked aspect of the traditional market space that has been opened up by new media.
The magazine coined the term "crowdsourcing", as well as its annual tradition of handing out Vaporware Awards, which recognize "products, videogames and other nerdy tidbits pitched, promised and hyped, but never delivered".
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| Cover of Wired issue 1.4 September/October 1993 |
Current version (2009–present)
The current version of the magazine was launched in April 2009, and was the second international version of Wired, after the launch of Wired Italia in March 2009. In November 2009, the British Society of Magazine Editors awarded Launch of the Year to former Wired editor David Rowan.
Both in 2011 and in 2014, Wired UK was named as the magazine of the year by the Digital Magazine Awards.
Editor Greg Williams, James Temperton (Wired.co.uk)
Target Audience:
Mass Communication Blog 3: Wired Magazine’s Target Demographic
Wired magazine is one of the most poplar technology magazines and serves an audience of 3.2 Million people, mostly young men. The content and advertisements in Wired reflect this demographic by providing content about science and technology that would interest young men either in college or who just graduated from college. This demographic is also known to have high amounts of disposable income and more likely to spend their money on luxury items like expensive cars. It is because of this that the ads in Wired are luxury items, such as top-shelf alcohol, luxury cars, watches, electronics and other products that people with more disposable income are prone to buy.
According to Wired’s advertising information, their readers are 72% male, and 82% of them graduated from or at least attended college and have a median age of 36. This is very important information because it is a well known fact that people who gradate from college makes significantly more income than those who do not and therefore are more likely to have more money to spend on products and services from advertisers. The median household income is over $83,000 which is widely considered upper-middle class which is great for advertisers, because obviously, people with less money are less likely to buy unnecessary products or services. To that same effect, 78% of Wired’s readership is employed and 48% of them are in professional positions. This is a very valuable demographic to advertisers because many people who are in it are just out of college and have not started a family yet. Many studies have shown that people in this demographic has more disposable income than any other demographic group and are very profitable.
Sound & Visual movement
Oscilloscope
The current version of the magazine was launched in April 2009, and was the second international version of Wired, after the launch of Wired Italia in March 2009. In November 2009, the British Society of Magazine Editors awarded Launch of the Year to former Wired editor David Rowan.
Both in 2011 and in 2014, Wired UK was named as the magazine of the year by the Digital Magazine Awards.
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December 2009 edition of UK Wired magazine
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Editor Greg Williams, James Temperton (Wired.co.uk)
- Categories Technology, Business, lifestyle, thought leadership
- Frequency Bimonthly
- Circulation 57,497 (Jul – Dec 2013)[1]
- Print and digital editions.
- Publisher Nick Sargent
- First issue May 2009; 9 years ago (present form)
- Company Condé Nast Publications
- Country United Kingdom
- Language English
- Website https://www.wired.co.uk/
Target Audience:
- 'Mostly college educated men. Average age 44.5. Average HHI $154000. Average Personal Income $94000'
- 'the average reader of WIRED magazine is: /between the ages of 30–50.'
Mass Communication Blog 3: Wired Magazine’s Target Demographic
Wired magazine is one of the most poplar technology magazines and serves an audience of 3.2 Million people, mostly young men. The content and advertisements in Wired reflect this demographic by providing content about science and technology that would interest young men either in college or who just graduated from college. This demographic is also known to have high amounts of disposable income and more likely to spend their money on luxury items like expensive cars. It is because of this that the ads in Wired are luxury items, such as top-shelf alcohol, luxury cars, watches, electronics and other products that people with more disposable income are prone to buy.
According to Wired’s advertising information, their readers are 72% male, and 82% of them graduated from or at least attended college and have a median age of 36. This is very important information because it is a well known fact that people who gradate from college makes significantly more income than those who do not and therefore are more likely to have more money to spend on products and services from advertisers. The median household income is over $83,000 which is widely considered upper-middle class which is great for advertisers, because obviously, people with less money are less likely to buy unnecessary products or services. To that same effect, 78% of Wired’s readership is employed and 48% of them are in professional positions. This is a very valuable demographic to advertisers because many people who are in it are just out of college and have not started a family yet. Many studies have shown that people in this demographic has more disposable income than any other demographic group and are very profitable.
Aesthetic / visual language / TOV:
Instagram:
Physical Spreads - How they look in print:
- CMYK
- Stock choices
- Shine / smell
- Physical sensory reactions
- Tone of voice
- Use of silver metallic paper - shine / reflecting / light
- Black & white imagery / monochromatic
- Eerie, messy, dark, underground, alternative T.O.V
Understanding The Article
Further Investigation:
Robert Del Naja's Art
Noting the styles of the artists individual work and the visuals for the backdrop of their live shows
Oscilloscope
- Using Technology to produce art
- Simple shape - line is enhanced by black background
- LED styles (reflects the article)
- Green & Black connotes old style technology (reference to 20 years on)
- Editing the sound into music - reflects the styles and ideas of massive attack
- The sounds are alien-like / futuristic - alludes to ideas of AI
- Alludes to the dials and buttons expressed in the article 'music like water' = WAVES - this is sound like water
Stills:
Aphex Twins
About: 'He is best known for his influential and idiosyncratic work in styles such as ambient techno and intelligent dance music during the 1990s, and is among the most acclaimed figures in contemporary electronic music.'
Aphex Twins has a similar style and is from the same era as Massive Attack. The design noted a particular music video of his which touches on similar visual outputs expressed in the article. Use of VR, alternate worlds, AI, futurism, messy and reorganised aesthetic. This provided a great resource to see how these ideas could be achieved in a practical output.
With the visual literacy of Wired mag being very corporate, and Graphic Design usually sticking to a structured layout, this direction could be risky. However, in order to fully reflect the ideas and concepts of both the article and Massive Attack's music, the design considered this route to be most appropriate. His idea of breaking grids and rules, as well as his motive for sensory overload, means that the visual output could achieve all of this yet maintain a more mainstream communication with the use of clear and relevant type.
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