Elle UK Magazine (June edition reviewed for Magvault.com)
Available on: Tablet, Iphone, Ipad
ELLE UK: review written by myself for the online app reviewing site Magvault.com
Elle magazine is all about ‘the girl’ inside and out, concentrating heavily on fashion, beauty and the empowerment of women. In fact, this June’s edition, editor Lorraine Candy said “although you might be buying the magazine for the fashion, it’s clear you’re a spirited and curious group of charming, supportive women interested in so much more”. And that really is all you need to know about the ethos of this magazine.
Content
REVIEW: Fashion is just a small part of the Elle UK’s digital app
It’s true that this magazine is packed with glossy adverts of the most expensive designers, which will tire your hand out if you’re swiping across to try to find any articles. But as Lorraine said, there is so much more than just fashion that takes precedence. Featured, is a mix of articles on (deep breath) love and sex, horoscope predictions, beauty forecasts, ‘first looks’ on trends of the future including book, film and art reviews, exclusive interviews with A-list celebrities, accessory spreads, style guides and some extensively arty fashion shoots… just to name a few.
Interaction
INTERACTIVE: the app is packed with videos and things to look at
To accompany the already jam packed range of articles and photos, there’s so much more interactively available with this app! Each article offers some form of extra material, whether it be more information accessed through web links, highlighted by the underlined text, or more photos indicated by the set of grey dots, or just embedded videos. In fact, videos feature prominently in the app with ‘play, stop and audio’ options so that you can personalise the viewing experience as well as being able to share and chat about it over their twitter links. In terms of its easy-use, really the magazine couldn’t be any simpler, with a clear guide on what buttons to look for when reading through and how to sweep through the magazine. Perhaps the only slight imperfections lie in the buying and readability. As the app can only be viewed in portrait view, many of the beautiful landscape photography is cut-off meaning you can only see half the image as it’s supposed to be viewed. And, the one thing that could really assist the app is an increase in the ‘tap and buy’ buttons available, particularly considering there is so much advertised in the magazine… after all, if you like what you see, you don’t want to miss the chance to buy!
Value
For such a small price for a monthly magazine which is crammed with so much information and comes with near-unlimited supplies of excess videos and links, then definitely it is a bargain. But, test it out for yourself, after all, it comes with a free trial when you subscribe!
Verdict
Elle is a perfect app for someone who’s looking for a mix bag of content and interactivity on fashion and beauty. It has plenty to keep a girl occupied, with fantastic reporting and campaigns on female issues that have you laughing and crying as well as the styling advice for the working girl, both in fashion and beauty. The fact that the app comes with so much more to do than just read as well just makes it value that much more worth it. To conclude, ‘j’adore Elle’.
Rachel Lily-Taylor 