1. Proposal
1
Working Title:
Gamers Unite – I have chosen this name because I want to create products that are
community orientated, so that it brings all gamerstogether, to unite them with their
common interest in gaming.
What is it called? This can change if you think of something better later
Product’s Purpose:
My products purpose is to inform and entertain my audience about current and up-and-
coming games. I will achieve this by creating a clear brand that offers products that are
visually appealing and relevant. I will create content that has a balance of educational and
fun information so that the audience feelsthey are getting more for their money, but there
is still a medium for escapism. I will also ensure that I use brightly coloured imagery, which
are relevant to the gaming information, so that it not only offers more of an insight into the
game, but so that it is also eye catching and visually stimulating.
What is the product’s purpose (entertain/educate etc.) and how will you achieve this?
Genre:
Print based media (magazine), genre (multi-genre including simulation, action/adventure
and role-playing). I have chosen to create a magazine that covers all genres so that it unites
people from all areasof the gaming community. I will however create more of a feature for
simulation, action/adventure and role-playing games as these were the most popular
genres in my audience survey.
What sort of product is it
Content:
My product is a magazine, which will feature a magazine cover, a 2-page feature article, a
blog/website featuring news and entertainment on multiple genres and platforms of games
and social media accounts to create a link to the community. By creating a variety of
different products, it will ensure that it appealsto a wider audience, beca use people seek
information in different ways. By offering a magazine, this will appeal to people that prefer
physical products, by creating a blog this will appeal to people that prefer digital forms of
information and by creating social media accounts this will appeal to people who like to get
involved with social aspects of the community and who want to reach out to the creators of
the brand.
My magazine cover will feature a simulation special, an action/adventure feature article and
sub articles that feature other genres to appeal to a wider audience and a competition for a
gaming product.
My blog/website will feature articles relating to all the different genres and platforms of
gaming, but will specifically feature simulation, action/adventure and roleplaying games
and the PC, Xbox and PlayStation platforms.
By featuring a simulation special and an action/adventure feature article on the cover and
by featuring these genres on the blog/website, it will ensure that my magazine will appeal to
my audience because these were the most popular genres with my audience survey. Also
by then also including sub articles on multiple genres of gaming, this will ensure that my
magazine and blog/website appeal to a much wider audience and links into my community
theme that there will be something for everyone.
I will also ensure that I cover games that appear on PC, Xbox and PlayStation as these were
the most popular platforms for gaming in my audience survey, but I will ensure that I also
cover other platforms, including retro gaming, so that it further adds to the community
spirit of uniting all gamers.
What is your product about? Discuss what you would put in it (be specific). Does it have a story? If
so, discuss it here
2. Proposal
2
Research & Planning :
I will use my survey and interview results to guide my final products by following the
popular choices that my audience prefer. By analysing these results it shows I should
include content from all genres of gaming, but will specifically feature simulation and
action/adventure games, as these were the most popular genres and I will also feature
games that are available on all platforms but will specifically feature some PC games, as
this was the most popular platform to play games.
Narrowing down the most popular genres as to which games I will feature on my magazine
cover, I will create a multi-page simulation special, which will include a selection of games
displayed in a plug format, a feature article on Apex Legends, because this game is free to
play and accessible to all gamers and offers team orientated gameplay, and a sub article on
Kingdom Hearts III because this game fits into the role-playing genre and connotes
friendship and team work. I have chosen these games because they are current and
relevant in the gaming world and will create the greatest appeal for my magazine brand.
From researching existing products, I will ensure that my products follows the common
conventions of magazine and website design by structuring my content, using rulers and
guides and by creating a clear brand name/masthead using the Quantify font, that I picked
out in my pre-production planning, to ensure that it looks creative and relevant.
In my research I noted that PC Gamer uses a colour block masthead style and as the most
popular gaming magazine in my research results, I experimented with this style for my
masthead, however by carrying out a variety of different masthead styles, I now know that it
may look too overpowering if I colour block the brand name. Instead, I will run two sets of
parallel lines, one above and one below to create a more professional look.
I will make sure my content is informal and fun, by ensuring that I don’t include advanced
terminology and wording that could overwhelm a younger or less educated audience, but
also informative by including information that gives the audience insights and knowledge
that will educate them more about the game.
I will ensure I have a clear brand with a consistent colour scheme. I will use orange, black
and white within my colour scheme, with hints of blue and red, which I have planned in my
pre-production. The orange connotes community spirit, which will reinforce my community
theme for my brand, the blue connotes trust and intelligence, which will ensure that my
audience feels that my brand is reliable, and the red connotes passion and power which will
create the impression that my brand is passionate about gaming, so it is more likely to be
respected. The black and the white are shades that will complement the main colours and
were shades that regularly appeared on the existing products that I researched.
By creating my layout plans, in my pre-production planning, I now have a fairly good idea of
how I want to set up my front cover and feature article, for example, based on my
experiments, I will structure the columns of my article to include two columns, but I will
alter this to a third column, depending on the size of my article. I will set my article up with
a page for the article and a page for images and will make adjustments where needed, for
example the image layout may need altering slightly depending on how many imagesI
decide to use. I will also ensure that there is an equal edge around the magazine article and
I will set up a running head and folio, to include the brand name, page number, date of
issue and to inform the reader what kind of article they are reading; i.e. review, exclusive or
preview.
By carrying out my magazine cover layout experiment and existing product research, I will
also include a prominent feature image of a popular character relating to the featured
article, to create brand recognition for that particular game. More specifically, from my pre-
production planning, I determined that I will include an image of Lifeline from Apex
Legends, because she has a positive female role within the game and will inspire positivity
and team spirit which further adds to my community spirit theme.
Where will you use elements of your research and planning to influence and inform your final idea
(be specific to certain parts)
3. Proposal
3
Audience:
My primary gender is femalesand my secondary gender is males. My product will appeal to
both my primary and secondary genders by creating a gender-neutral colour scheme. Also,
by using a female lead character for my feature image, my product will appeal to both males
and females as males might be attracted to her and females might aspire to be like her.
My primary age group is 25-44 years and my secondary age range is 16-24 years. My
product will appeal to my primary age range by creating informative, well-written content
that does not include slang or bad language and it will appeal to my secondary age range
by creating content that is current and relevant in the gaming world and also by creating
social media accounts.
My primary psychographic group is the belongers and my secondary psychographic group
is the needs driven. My products will appeal to my primary psychographic because they will
be aimed at all gamers and will feature content from all genres of games and all platforms.
This will create a clear community message that this magazine isfor everyone and by
creating social media accounts, it will further bring the community together. It will also
appeal to my secondary psychographic because I will feature buzz words like “exclusive”
and “win” and by offering the magazine at a reasonable price, they will feel like it’s an
opportunity they shouldn’t miss out on.
My primary social status is the working class and my secondary social status is the middle
class. My product will appeal to the primary social status by creating an affordable
magazine, which includes competitions and good value for money. It will also appeal to my
secondary social status, by creating good quality content that follows common
conventions and is set up in a professional, but informal manner.
Who is your audience? Be very detailed; age, gender, social status, psychographic etc
Why would your project appeal to this person?
Legal & Ethical Considerations:
By following ASA code 4, I will ensure that my product does not contain content that will
intentionally cause harm or offense to any particular religions, ethnicities, social group or
individuals. To achieve this I will not include any iconography or offensive wording that
could insight hate or create any animosity towards them. I will ensure that any imagesI
include will also not portray a particular group in a bad light, such as in an action, first
person shooter games that one culture against another, I would ensure that I did not
promote that kind of behaviour. For that reason, I chose Apex Legends for my main feature
article because the characters are fictional and are not linked to real world cultures, races
or religions.
By following ASA code 5, I will ensure that my content does not include content that would
cause harm to children, be unsuitable for them to view or in any way pressurise them to
buy it. I will achieve this by not featuring images that are deemed too mature for a younger
audience, for example, I will ensure that any screenshots I take, or images that I include for
the Apex Legends game, are not portraying violence, especially on the magazine cover, and
by being careful when wording any articles or content on the magazine front cover, to not
include any bad language, promote violence, insight peer-pressure and ensure that I keep a
divide between the game and reality.
My product will contain content that is about existing games and products that I do not
own, however, I will ensure that I take screenshots from within the game, as opposed to
using existing images and if that is not possible then I will ensure that they are sufficiently
edited. For example, for the main featured character I will remove the background to ensure
it is not identical to the original.
If I were to take this product into the real world, in order to follow ASA codes 1 & 6 and
copyright laws, I would ensure that I sought permission from the respective companies, to
ensure that I am following these codes and laws.
Furthermore, I will ensure that my product is not deemed too similar to any existing
products, by carrying out extensive research on existing products, by using a unique brand
name and colour scheme, by writing original article content in my own words and by using
my own screenshot images.
4. Proposal
4
Think about any offensive material you will include?
Will you restrict younger people using/accessing it?
Will it offend any social groups/religions/ethnicities?
How will you ensure you do not offend anyone?
Are you using characters/names/logos of existing products/IPs?
Will your product be sufficiently different from existing products to not get sued for copyright
infringement?
