Formal ProposalTitle of magazine you wish to produce.My music magazine is going to be called Vice.

Explanation of choice of genreI have chosen for my magazine to be an alternative music magazine featuring indie, experimental, rock and subgenres. This is simply because that is the type of music I mostly listen to personally so I felt that I could use my existing knowledge, which would be beneficial and felt that by choosing a genre that I already listen to, I could produce the best magazine possible because I have passion and interest for that genre.

Target audienceThe target audience for ‘Vice’ are 16 to late 20 year old females and males. The reason I have chosen those ages is because that is roughly the age group who listen to alternative and indie and go to gigs and festivals. Most of the bands and artists featured and written about in my magazine will be upcoming or fairly new and around the same ages as my target audience. Therefore people with those sorts of ages (16-late twenties) would be most likely to listen to them and want to read about them. I will however also write about older alternative bands, so that TA is only an estimation and older people may also read the magazine.

Initial ideas about front pageThe masthead will be quite bold, large and in capital letters to make it very noticeable and memorable. It will be on the right top of the magazine and will be either black and white or in colour to make the cover look more appealing.The font and cover lines on the front page will be in very simple and casual colours and no bright or neon colours will be used. This is because of the feedback I got from my focus group and also from my research into different indie/rock/alternative magazines. I like a simple and somewhat sophisticated look. The photograph also will be in rather plain colours and I might add an ‘antique’, vintage or black and white effect to connote an ‘indie’ style and to show that alternative is not a new genre but goes back to the 80’s, where the pictures all had that sort of ‘vintage’ look. It would also make it stand out from other magazines that all have very good quality and colourful pictures.

Antique Effect B&W Effect Vintage Effect

The front cover photograph will also only be of one person rather than a few or a whole band. I chose to have just one person, again, to add some simplicity and also because you can be more photographically creative and can connote more about that person. A close up could also look really effective. I will use either a close up and a mid shot. The cover lines will most likely all be on one side of the page or mostly on one side because the masthead is on one side and it keeps the cover looking symmetrical and also focuses more on the photograph. I will probably have around four cover lines on my page which I think is the perfect amount- not too little or too many. They will all be attention grabbing and will make the reader want to read on. The barcode will be on the bottom of the right hand side of the cover and will include the issue date, number and price. I’m not intending to make my magazine look like every other magazine that is already out there, therefore I am changing some traditional conventions and taking inspiration and ideas from independent magazines such as Dazed and Confused, Clash or Indie magazine. Dazed and Indie are not music magazines but I really love and admire the simplicity of their front covers. Here are some of my main inspirations for my magazine cover page:

Similarly to these magazines my cover page will have a simple look with a bold, large masthead, few cover lines and one person on the front with a simple background.

Initial ideas about contents pageThe contents page will also only feature one large picture on the top half of the page. All of the font on the page, except for the ‘Contents’ title will be black with the sub titles being in bold. I may have an editor’s letter with a small image of the editor, because this always gives a more personal feel to the magazine and connects the reader more to the magazine and the people behind it. The title will either be large, in capital letters and all across the top of the page or very small and at one side at the top of the page.

Initial ideas about double page spreadThe double page spread will be an interview with the artists featured on the front cover. The artist on the front cover is the lead singer of a band and the interview will contain pictures of the whole band, not just the singer. I would like to have one large picture on one of the pages which covers pretty much all of the page. Then the other page would be the interview. I also really

like the look of having one tiny photograph in the middle of the page with text all around it. Another option would be having a collage of photographs and the title on one page and then text on the other. Another thing which could look really interesting is having a round picture with text around it. Most or all of the text will, again, be black and in a simple, small and easy to read font. However, I am planning to make the title of the page colourful and will possibly use a

‘tie-dye’ or ‘universe’ effect because they look interesting. I may have a pull quote because this always grabs the readers’ attention and will make them want to read the whole interview.

Initial ideas about photographsAs I said above, the photograph on the front cover will be either a close up or mid shot of only one person. I may add an antique, vintage or black and white effect to it. I will cut all the surroundings of the picture out and will instead just have one solid colour as my background. The contents page will also only include one picture of a girl, possibly holding a guitar. I may also add some effects to this image. The image will take up around 1/3 of the page and will be landscape at the top of the page. I will also have a tiny picture of the editor at the bottom to go along wit the editor’s letter. This will be a simple headshot against a plain background. For the two page spread, I will either have a page with about 5 different pictures of the band I am interviewing or just a large picture and a small one

on the other page which will be in the centre of the page, surrounded by text. Another thing that could look really effective is having the large picture on the one page partly covered by text on a white background on the actual image, like the example. The images on the double page spread will be of the band I am doing an interview with and will most likely show certain members of the band and/or the whole band in photographs together. I want to capture different aspects of their musical life, including just pictures of instruments/equipment and close up images of just certain parts of the body/face etc.