Band Inspiration

AlunaGeorge- Your Drums, Your Love

Disclosure 'White Noise' feat AlunaGeorge

Disclosure - Boiling (feat. Sinead Harnett)

SBTRKT - Hold On (feat. Sampha)

The xx - Chained 

Crystal Castles- 'BAPTISM'

Band Profile

Name: Influxx
Music Style:
Indie/alternative, Electronic, Synths/Sampler, Vocal & Guitar (Bass)
Influences:
AlunaGeorge, Disclosure, The XX, Crystal Castles, Passion Pit, SBTRKT & MMOTHS.
Members:
Female- Vocals & Bass (voice similar to Aluna from AlunaGeorge and Romy Madley Croft from The XX, soft & mesmerizing.
Male- Synthesiser & Bass, similar to Jamie XX and Guy and Howard Lawrence (Disclosure)

Cover:
Featuring both of the members 
Style:
Female- Blonde hair, blue eyes, dark eye make-up,red lips, mono-tonal clothing, quirky style (90s/grunge), similar style to Sky Ferreira
Male- Tall, dark brown hair, chiselled jaw, beard, smart, buttoned up shirt or tshirt, mono-tonal clothing, minimalistic style, serious and known as the 'brains behind the band'

 

 

Magazine Pitch

Conde Nast Publications

Conde Nast is a magazine publisher in the US (owned by parent company Advance Publications), it produces 18 magazine such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar & Wired. Conde Nast is thought to be the originator of 'lifestyle' magazines (based of class and style rather than attracting the largest readership possible). Conde Nast is splity into 9 different genre sections (Fashion& lifestyle, home, bridal, golf, food, travel, technology, culture & trade.

It is yet to produce a music magazine therefore i think this is a good oppurtunity to publish my magazine 'DWNLD' and i think because they focus on the 'lifestyle' concept (basing magazines on class & style rather than attracting a large readership) fits in brilliantly with my indie/alternative genre with subdivisions of fashion & culture aimed a a female more niche market. However i think that it would be good for the magazine to be produced as a British magazine as the overall style of the magazine is more British than American, so i thought that maybe in could be produced in the US first  as a magazine and then released into the UK either digitally e.g apps, website etc or as a tangible music magazine.

IPC Media- Magazine Institution

IPC Media is a subsidiary of Time Inc. It is a consumer magazine and digital publisher based in London and founded in the UK in 1958. It has a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year and owns 60 iconic media brands. IPC Media is divided into three publishing divisions (IPC Connect, IPC Inspire and IPC Southbank). IPC Connect is the mass market women's division of the company and includes women's 'weekly' magazines such as Now, Chat & Woman and TV entertainments magazines What's On TV and TVTimes. IPC Inspire is the men's section of the publishing company including 'leisure' magazine brands such as Horse & Hound, Country Life & Rugby World, plus 'lifestyle' brands such as NME, Nuts and Mousebreaker. IPC Southbank is the 'upmarket' women's division of the brand including 'luxury' fashion brands such as Marie Claire and InStyle.

I feel that my magazine 'DWNLD' an indie/alternative music magazine including sub divisions of fashion & culture would fit perfectly into this publishing company as it is yet to produce a magazine like mine. My magazine has the music edge of NME and the female/fashion touch of magazines such as InStyle and Marie Claire. IPC is a UK based publishing company and would be perfect to publish my magazine as it based in London and would be great as London is a good base to be at the forefront of music, fashion & culture. Although it may sell as more of a niche magazine than mainstream music magazine NME i still think that IPC Media would emulate DWNLD magazine perfectly and open up their already extensive target market/audience. I think that my magazine would fit into the IPC's subdivision IPC Southbank as it is the women's division of my magazine (and my magazine has a female audience) but i do think they could work in hand with the division IPC Inspire's 'lifestyle' brand as they already produce music magazine NME and could be great as a source of advice/inspiration in the music sector.

Viktor Vauthier Photography

Viktor Vauthier is one of my favourite photographers. I love the way he captures the emotion of the models in his pictures with a great edge, i also really like the neutral tones of his images. His choice of models always really interests me, they are all naturally beautifully and he manages to capture this so well. Vauthier always seems to use Laura Mulvey's 'Male Gaze' theory within his photography. This is where the image that is taken is viewed in a way that a hetrosexual male would look at a female, although this can relegate women to the status of being an object, Vauthier pulls this off brilliantly in a non-sexist way.

As much as i love Vauthier's photpgraphy style i feel this could be hard to produce myself in a similar way, as i have many more limitations (location, model, equipment, costume etc). The lighting and set within his images can be quite stark and unforgiving with the models, this is something i must keep in mind when taking my photographs if i do it in the same style as Vauthier (studio versions in particular- white background).

Audience Profile

I have decided that my magazine will be aimed at a male and female audience age 16-24, however i feel that each issue could differ more to each sex depending on the cover star. The genre of music i have chosen is indie/alternative, the magazine i will produce will mainly focus on a electronic/alternative pop genre of music, focusing on upcoming, and major artists/bands of the moment. The magazine will be published every month and will contain 80-100 pages depending on the season/month e.g. in the summer months July-September there would be festival exclusives (Reading, Benicassim, Coachella etc).

This is an audience profile i have produced myself, it is an accurate description of the type of person that would buy my music magazine.

Name: Ivy Greene

Age: 21

Interests: Indie/Alternative/Electronic music, fashion, art (exhibitions), going to gigs, reading, drawing, cooking and sewing.

Favourite bands/artists: AlunaGeorge, Disclosure, The XX, SBTRKT, T.E.E.D., Jessie Ware, Delilah, Iggy Azalea, Azealia Banks, Foals, The Weeknd, MMOTHS

Favourite Places to shop/brands: ASOS, American Apparel, Acne, The Kooples, Zara, Topshop, COS, House Of Holland, Monki

Profession/Ocuupation: Final year at London College of Fashion studying Fashion Contour. Currently has a part-time job at Urban Outfitters (Covent Garden) and is living in Shoreditch, Central London.

Other info: Ivy regularly reads magazines such a i-D, Dazed & Confused & POP. She also blogs her latest styles and interests on blogspot.com and Tumblr with a significant cult following. As a student Ivy loves to find a bargain on her favourite markets in Camden Lock, Brick Lane & Dover Street.

Name: Harvey Smith
Age: 20
Interests: Indie/Alternative/Electronic music, fashion, journalism, football, attending gigs and festivals
Favourite bands/artists: AlunaGeorge, Disclosure, The XX, SBTRKT, T.E.E.D., London Grammer, Haim, The 1975, Foals, The Weeknd, MMOTHS, Hudson Mohawke
Favourite Places to shop/brands: American Apparel, Comme De Garcons, Carhart, Acne, Penfield, The Kooples, Pretty Green.
Profession/occupation: Music journalism degree at Brighton University, currently writes reviews for albums and gigs for Virgin music.

MOODBOARD

Audience Research- UK Tribes

UK Tribes Prediction Of My Target Audience

'Indie Scensters'

This is only an estimate of the type of audience my magazine would appeal to, it gives a good all round view of the type of people that would buy my magazine and what their style, music taste, hobbies and lifestyles are. It is also good to see that the type of audience i want to aim my magazine at has a fairly high interest in magazines and is one of the main sources of their media consumption, two of the media magazines (Dazed & Confused and VICE) are also listed above in the common media interests of this type of person, which is great as these two magazines (Dazed & Confused in particular) have been a significant influence/inspiration in my research and planning. However i must keep in mind that this isn't completely accurate and focuses on a lot of stereotypical views.

Magazine Name, Style & Genre

DWNLD

I came up with the name 'DWNLD' (download) mainly because it was influenced by the electronic/alternative artist 'SBTRKT' (said as subtract) i feel that removing the vowels from the word 'download' and being left with 'DWNLD' works really well, its surprisingly easy to read, bold and unusual. I also feel it really represents the music industry today, as almost all music is streamed online and downloaded through iTunes, SoundCloud, Spotify etc.

My magazine will be simplistic, stylish, bold and unusual. But most of all i want it to emulate the simplistic magazine convention that i have been analysing from my research and style models as i feel this fits the genre of my band and overall style of my magazine.

The genre of my magazine will be indie/alternative, not only do i have a huge interest in this type of music, i think it has the potential (as a growing music genre) to create a new bold & stylish music magazine.

ROLLING STONE: RIHANNA COVER JANUARY 2013

This is the February 2013 cover of the music magazine Rolling Stone, with cover star Rihanna. I think this cover works brilliantly, its eye catching and undoubtedly flawless. Even though the masthead is partly covered, due to the huge worldwide cult following this magazine it is still easily recognized.  It also uses the golden spiral rule as seen here: 

  

The 'golden spiral' suggest that if an image conforms to this theory then it is seen to be more aesthetically pleasing to look at. The golden spiral is used on this cover with rihanna as the spiral begins on her eye/nose, to the top of her head and back round to just below her shoulder.

I want to keep the 'golden spiral rule' in mind when taking and choosing the images of my cover star/s as i think it works really well in creating a create cover image.

Here is an example of the golden spiral rule being used on an image of a flower. 

Font Styles

I have done some research into the possible fonts i may use, looking on the websites dafont.com and abstractfonts.com i found the three shown above as my favourites. I think they are bold, unique and really fit with my chosen genre (indie/electronic), target audience (male & female 16-24) and overall style of my magazine (simplistic and mono-tonal). I feel that using one of these fonts will help my magazine to stand out and be individual as well as being aesthetically pleasing. 

Colour Palette

Magazine Analysis- Double Page Spread

Magazine Analysis- Contents Page

Analysing these content's pages has helped me in the process to think about/evaluate what i want my contents page to look like and how i must relate it to the style/genre of my magazine and band/artist used. It has given me the chance to look at style models and evulate/analyse what i do and don't want my contents page to look like and feature overall and how i can achieve this with my limitations in mind e.g timing, model, software etc

Magazine Analysis- Cover Page

Magazine Analysis from _megkiely

Subscriber's Covers Vs General Release Covers

As an ELLE magazine subscriber myself i love the editions i recieve over the general release issues that are sold in stores across the UK. The subscribers issues have a more classy, stylish and smart presentation through their minimalistc and simplistic layout. The picture is left to speak for itself and it does this so eloquently. I feel the issues the are sold as a general release with the cover stories, pull quotes, puffs etc leaves the before stylish and sleek magazine looking like a tabloid or an advertisement rather than what i feel can be a piece of artwork when left with minimalistic conventions. I also love the fact that the image on the subscriber's issue and general release issue are different as this gives the subscribers an 'exclusive' version of the magazine, and i would also like to allow my readers to do this. When producing my magazine i would like to make a subscriber's version and a general release version as i would enjoy analysing the differences and giving readers a chance to choose the cover they prefer.