Language register-read magazine articles

The writing style of a magazine will vary depending on genre and its target audience: a magazine that focuses on an older demographic would likely have more formality to it than a magazine that is targeted towards younger readers. In terms of genre, certain magazines may adopt jargon that is linked to the style of music they write about - therefore, it is important to consider the language I use when writing my articles. 

Audience Research

Research: Photographers - Charlotte Patmore

Inspiration is highly important in any creative field, which is why I decided to research some photographers that I feel have cool styles. It will be useful for when I come to take photographs, as I can picture what I want them to look like.

Charlotte Patmore

Charlotte Patmore is a popular photographer within the indie music scene - she has worked with artists like Swim Deep, Black Honey and The Magic Gang. Her photos have gained increasing popularity on Instagram, and she even has her own t-shirts! I like how she uses both coloured and B&W film, with both producing fantastic images - she experiments nicely with colour and really makes the artist stand out. For her Black Honey series, Patmore also experimented with the use of flash: I think I would like to do this in my magazine too, since it makes the featuring artist "pop".

Research: Photographers - Anton Corbijn

Inspiration is highly important in any creative field, which is why I decided to research some photographers that I feel have cool styles. It will be useful for when I come to take photographs, as I can picture what I want them to look like.

Anton Corbijn

Corbijn is renowned for shooting in black and white film, and has perfected his monochrome style: the dramatic contrasts produced by B&W film are stunning and Corbijn uses this to create gritty, realistic photos. For me personally, I wouldn't adopt a monochrome approach to my magazine, as I feel that the genre of shoegaze involves lots of deep colours and tones - something that B&W simply doesn't offer. Despite this, Corbijn's skill behind the lens is mind-boggling and highly inspiring!

Research: Photographers - Morgan Tedd

Inspiration is highly important in any creative field, which is why I decided to research some photographers that I feel have cool styles. It will be useful for when I come to take photographs, as I can picture what I want them to look like.

Morgan Tedd

Morgan's photos usually feature a "grain" to them: this is either noise (linked with ISO) or from the film he is using. I really like the aesthetic this gives to his photos, and is certainly something I want to achieve with mine - I think it's cool how the photos aren't super clean, and have a realistic and grungy feel to them. His experimentation with colour and light is also highly impressive.

Research: Photographers - Niall Lea

Inspiration is highly important in any creative field, which is why I decided to research some photographers that I feel have cool styles. It will be useful for when I come to take photographs, as I can picture what I want them to look like.

Niall Lea

Niall Lea takes superbly rich and saturated photos: often with high contrast - his photos are easily recognisable from the pure amount of colour in them! I wouldn't be surprised if he uses a film camera, purely because of the aesthetic of the photos he produces. Since I own a film camera, perhaps I could attempt to replicate his style in photography.

Gush Magazine Pitch

Analysis/Research: Publishing Institutions

Choosing an institution to publish my magazine is vital: a publisher often decides on how mainstream/niche a magazine will be. Here are a number of publishers that caught my eye - each for different reasons.

Niche

Nobrow Press is a publishing company/book shop that is based in the UK: they publish really cool, niche books - as well as an occasional "zine".

Simce I own a copy of the above book/zine, it is fair to say that the products made by Nobrow are incredibly high quality and seriously impressive - this constitutes to the pricing of them. If I were to publish my magazine with a company like Nobrow, the quality would be high, as well as the price. Therefore, my audience would most likely be reduced to one that is far more specific and niche. Personally, I want my magazine to reach a slightly more mainstream audience and so a company such as Nobrow wouldn't be the best choice.

Mainstream

Time Inc

Time Inc is an American publication company that also operates in the UK. It has published magazines like NME and Wallpaper, and would therefore be a good institution to be involved with for my magazine - especially for reaching out to a larger audience. Magazines like NME and Wallpaper may be mainstream, but they still market to a niche audience: this is similar to what I want for my magazine, and so Time Inc would be a likely choice. Despite being more mainstream, the quality is still there - without being too expensive! This is important because I want my magazine to be affordable, but good quality.

Bauer

Bauer is a European media group known for its music publications, the most well known being Mojo, Kerrang and Q. These magazines are all mainstream; they can be purchased in a variety of stores - ranging from newsagents to companies like WHSmith. If I wanted to reach a large audience, then Bauer would be appropriate because of its mass amount of popular publications. However, I'd like my magazine to be slightly less mainstream, and focus on more of a targeted audience. Magazines like Kerrang and Mojo tend to be lower in quality, which isn't something I want my magazine to associate with. 

Digital

After researching DIY magazine, I discovered that it had a digital publisher - London based Sonic Publishing. They help bring magazines (that are already in print) to a digital format. Therefore, I felt that it should be included on this list; having a digital version of my magazine would be useful, as it could immediately reach a huge number of people: thus broadening my audience, and providing an ease-of-access for consumers.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I have decided that a publication like Time Inc would be a good choice for my magazine, because it still targets a more alternative audience whilst remaining on a somewhat large scale. Even if the NME magazine is terrible, it still reaches an audience that isn't purely mainstream - through it's publisher - and so I feel my magazine would be well suited to a similar publisher. I would love to have Nobrow as my chosen publisher, however it is simply too niche and expensive - especially to my intended audience of young people.

Research: Magazine Creators/Graphic Designers

Originality is hard to come by - that's why it's useful to research and find inspiration. After looking briefly through a few books, I have found some intriguing magazine layouts: ones which  may include in my magazine.

This page design,from the magazine Apartamento, is highly appealing to me: I like how it's creative enough to be intriguing, but not over the top and verging on confusing. After researching fonts, I have a clear picture of how I could include this in my magazine. Interestingly, the main image is located on the recto of this double-page spread - this is something that I could include. I feel that this design breaks up the page nicely, creating a clean and sharp appearance.

This page design/layout is similar to the previous one. However, I really like the idea of colourising the pull quote with colours from the photographs on the next page: it makes the quote pop out at the reader and adds more creativity to the page. The fact that the main body of text is centres around this pull quote is cool as well - perhaps the aim was to give importance to the quote, in relation to the article, and therefore it resonates more with the consumer.

This Raygun magazine double-page spread, featuring Thom Yorke, is extremely simple. However, it effectively fills both pages with the smart use of text. I admire the clean look it gives to the magazine: as a consumer, I would be drawn to this style - and so perhaps I will adopt it into my own magazine.

Despite the fact that this design isn't from a magazine, it is still somewhat inspiring. I really like how the negative space in the margins is taken up with text: it looks pretty cool and is an intriguing way of presenting text. The font used for this design is cleverly chosen - it fits with the sharp slopes of the mountains and the points of the trees. Perhaps I could replicate this in my magazine, by using rounded/soft fonts with my images.

Research: Audience

After deciding on the genre of my magazine, I used the UK Tribes website to help me decide on an audience: each 'tribe' represents the interest of a particular individual/group.

For my magazine, it is likely that the tribes 'Creative', 'Scenester' and 'Young Alternative' would be target audiences. All of these tribes are interested in being "ahead of the pack" in terms of music/style and stray away from the mainstream - a theme that will be prominent in my magazine. I'd like to think that my magazine could be somewhat inspiring, which is why I included the Creative tribe.

Despite my magazine's approach to 'Scenesters', I think it could also appeal to older readers - certainly those who were fans of shoegaze in their youth. I feel that it's important to broaden the audience of a magazine, which the genre of shoegaze allows me to do.

Shoegaze Fashion/Style

Like most (if not all) subcultures, "shoegazers" heavily focus on style - as well as music. Zachary Cole Smith, from the band DIIV, stated in an interview that fashion is massively influential to him personally. Fashion and style are hugely important in identifying who a person is: for example, in the 80s, skinheads were widely recognisable from their shaved heads, boots, rolled up jeans, and bomber jackets.

It's the same with shoegaze. Jumpers, oversized clothes and long hair are all commonly linked with the genre - below are some images that I think portray the shoegaze movement in fashion. It will be important to consider the fashion that is linked with shoegaze when making my magazine; for the featuring artist cover/double-page spread, I will need to ensure that my model (artist) is dressed appropriately. I could perhaps include a "Style" section to my magazine as well.

 

Analysis: Cover, Contents and Double-page Spread

Media analysis from Ethan Smith

Song Playlist

Here are 20 songs that link to my magazine!

1. Ozean - Scenic
2. DIIV - Human
3. My Bloody Valentine -When You Sleep
4. Ringo Deathstarr - Guilt
5. Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
6. Beach House - Space Song
7. RIDE - Polar Bear
8. Kairon; IRSE! - Amsterdam
9. DIIV - Bent (Roi's song)
10. Slowdive - Shine
11. Splashh - All I Wanna Do
12. Eagulls - Tough Luck
13. Slowdive - Star Roving
14. LSD And The Search For God - I Don't Care
15. Siouxsie and the Banshees - Spellbound 
16. RAIN - LETHARGY
17. Horsebeach - It's Alright 
18. Car Seat Headrest - Fill In The Blank
19. Sunflower Bean - Come On
20. The Jesus and Mary Chain - Happy When It Rains 
21. Blonde Tongues - Hey Good Lookin'

Deciding on a Magazine Title and Fonts

Since my magazine will lean towards the shoegaze genre, it is key that I choose a title that associates with that style of music. I feel that shoegaze tends to be very sensuous; for me, words like 'Gush', 'Lush', 'Gaze', 'Dive' and 'Crash' come to mind. I want to choose a one-word title because that ensures simplicity, and keeps the magazine far more structured. As well as this, I have noticed that all of the magazines I have been inspired by have singular word mastheads (e.g. Clash and DIY).

Title/Font Ideas

Here are a few title ideas:

The two fonts featured in these title ideas are: Pier Sans Black (top) and Muller Narrow (bottom). I have decided that I much prefer the Pier Sans Black font, as it is reminiscent of the font from both Clash and DIY magazine - both of which have highly appealing mastheads. The Muller font is far too narrow - I don't want to create a confined image for my magazine. In contrast, the Pier Sans font is nicely rounded and spaced out, allowing for a structured and simplistic look.

Final Choice

In terms of titles, I like both 'Gush' and 'Crash' because of the 'sh' sound that is created at the end of each. As well as this, the font works well with both of these titles. Overall, I feel that Gush links more to shoegaze, and so it will be the final masthead for my magazine!

Choosing a font for main bodies of text

In contrast to the font for my masthead, I want the font for other sections of text to be smaller and slightly less spaced out. As well as this, I feel that a serif font would be better - as opposed to sans serif - because the sharper lines are more composed, allowing for a clean and professional appearance. 

Shoegaze Mood Board

This "mood board" contains a collection of images that I personally link to shoegaze music. This mood board will have some influence over my magazine - particularly colour.