Magazine House Style Proposal
For my magazine I initially intended to do a magazine based around unsigned acts that were only just beginning to make a name for themselves. This inspired me to slightly expand my idea and focus mainly on bands that have made a name for themselves in the last year or so. This would have been my only inclusion but upon doing my reader research I found that 50% of users preferred having mainstream bands so I decided that I would include a small minority of the magazine being for these slightly more known bands.
The genre of music in which I planned to focus on was mainly emo rock and classic rock in the main genre of rock. This was partially reflected in my research but the vast majority of my reader interviewees preferred rock n’ roll as a sub genre which meant that I decided to include small amounts of rock n’ roll music. Seeing as 25% of my audience preferred emo rock I am still going to include this in a majority along with my initial idea of class rock.
I have intended from the beginning for my magazine to be aimed at teenagers of any age between 13-19 as I feel I understand people between these ages more than if I did a magazine for anyone older or younger. Also I feel that for my chosen subgenres of rock that it would appeal more to teenagers of ages 13-19 as they’re more likely to have the time to listen to mass amounts of music. I know this doesn’t apply to all adults but in the majority teenagers listen to more music so they’d be more likely to buy a magazine about music. The gender isn’t important when it comes to music especially the genres I have chosen. I know this as I know lots of girls who enjoy bands who fall under the subgenres of rock like emo rock and classic rock.
For my front cover I am aiming to mainly focus it on black and white with slithers of yellow. The reason behind this is because my main cover article (Elliot Minor gig at Wulfrun Hall in Wolverhampton) relates to those colours; it is those colours which appear on their debut (and only) album. The masthead I intended to be in the specialised Elliot Minor font (titled Epoxy History) as a sort of dedication to the band. The image on the front will be one of the photos I took from the actual gig. I also have the masthead ‘Up And Coming’ as my main idea but I am subject to change although I think this title fits my idea for a magazine perfectly.
My contents page will hopefully have a white background with a black title. I intend for there to be a blend of images down the left hand side and centre with their relevant page numbers over the pictures. Then on the right hand side, separated from the pictures by a thick navy blue-ish line I intend to have the entire list of contents. This leaves us with a bit of blank space at the bottom under the pictures which is where I aim to have the contact details for letters to the editor and stuff like that which is seen in MOST magazines.
My initial plan for my double spread article has changed as I initially intended to have the support act on one side and the review and then the whole review would continue onto the next page with the main gig review. I discarded this idea when I was told it would look more like two articles than one double spread article. So after this bit of advice I decided to blend the article together with some images from the gig on either side and accompanying them is an overall gig review. Of course it will have separate sections within the text for support and main act but these won’t be AS obvious. I’m also intending to have a box of statistics like crowd size and gig rating.