2. Title of magazine
I have chosen to name my magazine “SYMBOL”
this is because it’s short and catchy, it has a double
meaning one sounds like cymbal on a drum kit
which is used a lot in indie rock music, and the
other meaning as in a little design symbolising
something. I thought this was a relevant name as
the target audience often wear symbol jewellery,
clothes or even tattoos like hearts, crosses,
triangles and peace symbol signs. A cymbal from a
drum kit also has the connotations of being quite
loud and sharp, to represent my magazine being
attention-catching.
3. Choice of Genre
I have chosen indie rock as my genre, as I
already have background knowledge within the
genre, also as it is my personal interest in
music. This is since I have always been
influenced by indie rock, as it reflects my
personality and style. Therefore I would know
what would be expected in a indie rock
magazine. I think there is a gap in the market
for a indie rock magazine for a magazine aimed
towards males and females.
4. My Target Audience
Indie Rock stereotypical target audience would be
students or a bit older white males aged 16 – 30
years old. I am choosing to challenge this with my
magazine by aiming my magazine towards females
as well.
I have also decided to use a female to be the front
cover rather than a male to show my magazine is
aimed towards women, this is because females are
starting to listen to more indie rock bands like
Arctic Monkeys, so the magazine can be used to
attracts all different types of readers.
5. Initial ideas for Front Cover
For my front cover, I am planning to use a medium shot
of a female artist, who is dressed very vibrantly, also the
image to reflect attitude rather sexuality, to show
females can be as powerful as males in indie rock. I have
also decided to colour the title of the magazine dark
purple, gender stereotypical people think purple is a
more female colour however I think it will look good
and use it as the house style colour throughout the
magazine. Furthermore for the sell lines, I would like it
to be related to the artist on the front cover, latest
fashion trends and current indie rock artists and bands.
6. Initial ideas for My Contents page
For my contents page, the masthead will be in
the top left of the contents page saying
SYMBOL and CONTENTS will be at the top right
in a different colour to stand out, following by
contents underneath which will be categorized.
Whilst on the other side, there will be 1
dominant image of the cover girl, followed by 3
smaller images, to show other features in the
magazine. I will also be adding an editor’s note
to my readers.
7. Initial ideas for my article
For the double page spread, I intent to do an
interview with the cover girl (but I’ll make sure she
looks very different to the cover image(clothes,
background, type of shot etc) and it will be based
on a female artist in the indie rock industry. It will
not be dominantly text based, as I will use the
page to devote to images, this way readers are
able to find out her personality by giving a visual
representation. I will do this by using 4 different
pictures with 4 different shot types.
8. Initial ideas for photographs
The front cover photography, I have decided to use a medium shot of
my female artist. For the contents I will use the dominant image of
an MCU shot of the artist. However I have also chosen to have 3
other images, which will be close ups of different features of the
magazines, I will use a mixture of males and females to show the
magazine can also attract males. Lastly for the double page spread, I
want to use 4 different camera shots, to express the artist in the
interview, I have chosen to use a close up to reveal facial
expressions, a long shot to show her whole body language, a medium
close up to focus the attention on her. And lastly a medium long shot
to reflect what her style is like. Furthermore I have used these shot
types, as they most commonly found within hip hop magazines. I’ll
probably go for a plain background-maybe black with pink? for the
cover, but would like a fun, funky feel for the background in the
article with some music props such as a microphone, amps etc-not
sure yet
