OUGD603: Extended Practice - Intern Magazine Brief / Workshop

Part 1: Concept For Independent Magazine
Part 2: Crowd Funding Campaign

What does a independent magazine mean to you?

• Editorial freedom
• A niche market

• 20-25 minutes to generate ideas for independent magazine

During the initial briefing Alec Dudson gave us a list of independent magazines to give us an idea of what already existed in the diverse industry.

In order to inform myself on a subject I’ve never previously designed for I took a look at some of the magazines listed.

Boat, a independent travel magazine with each issue focussing on one specific place

Colors, each magazine is focussed around one specific subject

Mood, a quarterly magazine about Music and Food.

I discovered by looking in depth at a couple of the magazine Alec had mentioned that in independent magazines their tended to be more emphasis on creating a really engaging concept.

As a group one of the first considerations we made was into the tone of voice we wanted for our independent, were unanimous in our decision to take a light-hearted approach to our chosen subject.

Originally concept was a more conceptual subject in which each issue would focus on a different word, with different interpretations of that word making the up the content. However Alec informed us of a existing independent magazine 'Colours' which had a very similar concept.

Through a conversation about obscure sport Quidditch we decided on a concept of obscure sports, although it's not necessarily a subject that any of us had a keen interest in prior to the workshop we found the subject light-hearted and fascinating and something the audience in turn would like to read and learn more about. It also gave us scope to look at the cultural influences behind the sports which is an extremely interesting research project.

Through a simple web search we found lots of obscure sports we didn't even know existed but sounded really interesting, therefore we were reassured there would be plenty content to fill a quarterly magazine.

Each quarterly edition of magazine would focus on four obscure sports. For each of these four sports we would include a basic introduction, the rules and regulations, any recent news from that sport, a profile on a famous team or player in that sport and a personal account of our own experience in testing out the sport.

Photos

Our chosen subject gave us a lot of scope for dynamic photos and action shots which would make up the content of our independent magazine, which we began collecting in order to choose our cover design.

Before lunch we were required a masthead design and a cover design for our first issue.

Originally we chose the name 'Offbeat' in reference to how the sports that would feature in the magazine were 'off the beaten track'. However when we mentioned this to Alec he suggested this name would be more appropriate for a music magazine rather than a sport magazine.

After another brainstorm, this time into sporting terms we decided on the name 'Contender' which had more of a sporting connotation.

Emily began creating possible designs for out masthead and mocked up cover designs using the action-shot photos we collected.

We took a vote on which masthead designs we preferred, out of the of designs we chose two which we mocked-up as a magazine to gauge a better idea of which was more effective.

Masthead design doesn’t make much of an impact here and needed to be enlarged.

We chose the masthead design in which incorporated the two stripes underneath the name 'Contender' as this has several sporting connotations.

Design is not effective in terms of purpose, the name wouldn’t be legible when stacked on a shelf.

Emily experimented with a variety of different styles for the cover which would be rolled out across each issue. We mutually decided that the full bleed image would be the most effective for the action shots in which we would use on our covers.

My Initial Cover Ideas

Out of personal interest I also experimented with a couple layout ideas for the cover, which I could receive feedback on from the rest of the group.

Although this design still needs a fair bit of development, I like the idea of the cut-out figure which is more unique and eye-catching than using a full-bleed image on the cover.

Final Covers

My Initial DPS ideas

I also mocked up a couple designs for possible double page spread designs for the inside of the magazine, within the designs I put a primary focus on the imagery as this would give the audience more of a feel for the sport.

I particularly like the idea of running the two stripes from the logo throughout the double page spreads creating a sense of continuity.

Kick Starter Campaign

In order to gain funding for independent projects such as the one we were proposing individuals often create campaigns with videos explaining their project, ultimately persuading outsiders to pledge money and fund the project.

In return for their donation - dependent on whether it is a smaller or larger amount - they will have gimmicks such as a free sample or dedication.

Charlie and Jane began brain-storming ideas for possible gimmicks we could have which would persuade outsiders to pledge money to our project.

As we had proposed to focus on four sports within each issue they proposed we produce four covers  for each issue; a different sport on the front each time. We would have an original cover however should you pledge the highest amount you have your pick of three alternative covers.

Other ideas they had were:

• Donors would receive a digital copy of the magazine
• Donors would receive a printed copy of the magazine
• Donors would receive a digital and printed copy of the magazine 
• Should they play a sport they could get a feature of them or their team in the magazine
• Higher pledgers would receive a one-off lesson of any of the four sports with us and get to review it for the magazine
• They will be able to suggest a topic for the next issue and the material within the article