The document outlines initial ideas for an indie/alternative pop music magazine called "Unorthodox" aimed at 15-25 year old students. Key points include: - The magazine will focus on indie/alternative pop music based on survey and the author's expertise and interest in the genre. - The target audience is 15-25 year old males and females who enjoy artists like Haim, Lorde and Halsey and have a passion for indie music. - Initial ideas for the front cover, contents page, double page article spread, and photographs aim to appeal to the target audience and follow magazine conventions.

1. Task 9 - Formal proposal
Title of magazine I want to produce
The title of my magazine I wish to produce is "Unorthodox". The oxford dictionary defines
unorthodox as being "contrary to what is usual, traditional or accepted". I think this links to indie/
alternative pop music. In my focus group they thought this was the best title to use which is another
reason why I want to use this as my title. This title will be present on all three pieces to create a
brand identity that can be recognised throughout the magazine.
Explanation of choice of genre
The reason why I want to do indie/alternative pop music as my genre is because it is the genre that
was picked the most in my questionnaire. Also, this is the genre which I am most interested in and I
consider myself an expert in this field. This is because it is my favourite genre to listen to. I am
therefore part of the target audience which I would like to target my magazine at so I will know
what type of things I need to produce to appeal to the target audience.
Target audience
The target audience of my music magazine would be females and males who enjoy listening to
artists such as Haim, Lorde and Halsey in their free time and have a passion about the indie genre
as a whole. I would like my magazine to be aimed at people who are aged 15-25 as I would like to
provide a source of entertainment and information for as many people as possible whilst also
making sure that it fulfils their expectations which is why I wont go above the age of 25. The target
audience are likely to be a student. I think this is important as they would then use the magazine as
something to use to get away from everyday and the magazine’s content would be captivating and
sophisticated enough to offer this.
PROFILE OF IDEAL TARGET AUDIENCE
• Lucy, a female aged 18, is an a-level student who often listens to artists such as London
Grammar and Daughter as she enjoys the escapism indie pop music offers through the lyrics and
melodies that are different form regular mainstream pop tunes produced by the likes of, for
example, One Direction.
• In her spare time, Lucy enjoys spending time with her friends (by listening to music with them),
reading, playing the keyboard and watching TV.
• She enjoys attending concerts such as small gigs in local venues to big concerts e.g. Latitude.
• Lucy spends quite a lot of her money on her appearance by buying clothes from shops such as
Top Shop and H & M and buying make-up from Mac and Urban Decay.
• Lucy also spends a lot of time on the internet, especially social media such as applications like
Instagram and Facebook.
Initial ideas about the front page
• The first idea which I have about my front page is to have someone who is very similar to Lucy
on the front cover. They would be between the age 15-25 (hopefully someone who looks 25 so
that the younger audience can look up to the artist), wear clothes from top shop and have simple
make up but enough to make a difference and to be noticed.
• I would like to follow the rule of thirds format for the front cover as I feel like would be a suitable
idea for the first issue of a magazine to signal to the audience clearly that it is a magazine.

2. • In terms of the coverlines, to convey to the reader that the magazine is a music magazine I would
like to use jargon such as “charts”, “singles” and “albums” which are commonly associated with
music.
• Furthermore, I would like to place the masthead of the magazine at the top of front cover to
follow the typical conventions.
• I think it would be a good idea to make sure that the main coverline includes the artists full name
to create a brand identity for the new magazine.
Initial ideas about the contents page
• At the top of the page I would like the heading to simply be “CONTENTS” accompanied by the
magazine logo, issue number and date. I think this is a very conventional way in which I can
signal to the reader that this is the contents page
• Again, I want the layout to be simple and neat to show how the magazine is professional and
mature. I could have the left hand column the contents pages and the middle and right column
could take up the main image which links to the main article.
• I could include a “specials” section and a “regular” section on the contents page to help inform
the reader of what type of articles to expect which are going to be exclusive in this issue and
what to expect from a regular basis.
• I could also include an editorial letter as this is the first issue of the magazine and I think this is a
formal way of ‘introducing’ the reader to the people behind the new magazine.
Initial ideas about the double page spread.
• I like the idea of having one main image as the background image which covers both the pages
with the copy of the article on just one of the pages. I think this creates a good contrast between
image and copy proportion which I liked from the ‘NME’ Dizzee Rascal edition. I think this is a
more professional approach to how an article should be produced compared to the ‘WE HEART
POP”’s Jessie J interview.
• I could have two different fonts for the main heading to imply the variety the article and the
magazine itself offers to the reader.
• To add to the realism of the article, I could have credits for the writing and photos of the article
located somewhere in a corner of the magazine.
• The article’s copy will be split into columns, three per page as this is a conventionally aspect of
an article.
• I will also have a subheading which will be short and snappy to persuade the reader to read the
whole article.
Initial ideas about photographs
• After researching locations for indie pop artists, I would like to use either a plain black or white
background.
• I would like the person in the photographs to be wearing dark clothes such as a leather black
jacket to convey maturity and a touch persona.
• I would like the have a range of different shots from both high and low angles. I would like a
range of long and medium shots that vary due to the pose of the artist.
• I could include a prop of a music keyboard. I think this is better than using a guitar as that may
imply that the magazine is of the country genre. Many indie pop artists such as Alt-J and The xx
use a keyboard in their music when recording and when live so this could be a good idea to
convey the music genre to the reader easily.