Alternative Press (AP) magazine was founded in 1985 as an underground punk rock fanzine and has grown to be a monthly publication focused on niche music genres. It aims to give media coverage to bands not usually covered elsewhere. The magazine uses artistic cover images of non-mainstream musicians in contrasting colors or black and white, with no text to let the photos stand out. It has columns reviewing bands, musician profiles, and gear. The brand identity emphasizes visuals over text to highlight unconventional artists.

1. MAGAZINE RESEARCH

2. ■ Existing entertainment magazines vary in specific genre and style, as you can see in
the magazines I have looked at above. US magazine uses a more gossip based
platform with shockingheadlines and photos based on who is in the picture rather
than what the picture is. The other four magazines have more artistic values with a
lot less copy than image. Alternative Press is a niche magazine with a more specific
genre based on music. I would prefer to design a magazine with the niche,
alternative values of Paper and AP Magazines.

3. ALT PRESS MAGAZINE
■ Founded in 1985 by Mike Shea, now released monthly and edited by Jason
Pettigrew.
the first issue was a photocopied punk rock fanzine distributedat concerts in
Cleveland, Ohio. Shea believed that "bands playing undergroundmusic" should be
given more media coverage "all in the same spot". By the 1990s the mag was doing
cover stories on the Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Henry Rollins. At the
time of its 20th anniversaryin 2005, AP had grown to an average of 112 pages per
issue.
"The magazine's current monthly columns include "The AP Poll", "In the Studio",
"AP&R" (unsigned bands of the month), "Chalkboard Confessional", "Musician of the
Month", "My Favorite Gear", "Next Exit", "Gig Bag", "1000 Words", "Beauty and the
Band" and "10 Essential."'
REF: Wikipedia.

4. Pettigrew ( L ) and
Shea ( R )

5. Brand
Identity
■ The main brand identity
of AP is showing artistic
images of non-
mainstream artists. They
use contrasting, bright
colours or just black and
white. The logo is not
fixed yet is still
recognisable. There is no
copy text on the covers
which puts the main
focus on the main image
and models.