Peer Pitch and Concept Refinement

  

CATEGORY	DETAILS
Film OR Magazine	Magazine
Genre	Lifestyle
Target Audience (Be specific)	“Alternative “high school and college students
What is your concept? (Be thorough & specific. Review the links on Blackboard)	My concept is to create a magazine with interesting graphics and design that focuses on the punk community. The graphics will include things such as collages and different photography mediums. The articles in the magazine will be about topics that are often debated in the community.
How did you conceive the idea for this concept?	I conceived the idea for my concept from the various types of media I have been attracted to since I was young.  My parents were members of the “alternative” community, so I was always exposed to things that were outside of “the norm”. This has led to me being attracted to things that push boundaries.
What do you believe is unique about your concept?	I believe that what is unique about my concept is that it isn't just a stereotypical teen magazine, and it can focus on the more “underground” side of things. It will also be taking different aspects of different genres and combine it into one.
Why do you believe this product will be of interest to your audience?	I believe this product will be of interest to my audience because of the recent wave of many teenagers now identifying as “alternative”, similarly to the rise of mall-goth in the early 2000’s. I believe this will make my magazine appeal to a larger demographic than just people who have been in the community for long periods of time.
FEEDBACK RECEIVED FROM PEERS	Include things that will also appeal to the new people in the community.    Talk about social media influencers that may be drawing new people to the community.

 

 

This week in class, we have been refining our concepts for our projects. In order to organize our thoughts, we were instructed to create a chart that lays out our ideas. My concept is to create an “alternative” lifestyle magazine that discusses fashion and topics that are often debated in different alternative communities, such as the punk community or the goth community. After pitching my magazine concept to the class, I got some feedback. While there anything said that I should change about my idea, there were a couple of suggestions for things I could include. These two suggestions were to include social media influencers who are popularizing the alternative community and to include things that may lure people who have recently joined the community to read the magazine. While this feedback includes good ideas, it has not affected my concept at all. Firstly, I do not want to focus on any social media influencers in my magazine simply because I feel like it does not really fit in to what I will be discussing. Secondly, I think I already will be attracting the new people that are joining the community, so I will not have to include anything extra besides what I have already planned. I believe new people that are joining the community will naturally be attracted to my magazine so that they can learn more about the subculture they are a part of and understand current and long-standing issues in the community, as well as simply being attracted to the visual aspect of the magazine.  

This week we also investigated the statistics about the success of magazines in the current age and how publishers have managed to stay afloat or be successful. With this research, I have been able to draw the conclusion that my magazine should be successful. The article Magazine Publishing Trends for 2019 by Nick Bezuidenhout discusses what is working for magazine publishers now and where they will be able to draw funding and ideas. The article states, “Niche publishers have not merely survived the past decade - many of them are thriving. They’ve managed this feat by staying relentlessly focused on one specific category and by thoroughly understanding the types of content and information that their audiences want”. This supports my magazine idea because my magazine will be focused purely on the alternative community and its issues which will target a growing demographic of teenagers and young adults. Since the article states focusing on one specific category has been working for publishers and I will be doing that exact thing, it supports the idea that my magazine will do well. At a point I did have concerns about whether a magazine would be the best choice for my project since I would have to take into account that it is a dying medium. A part of the previously mentioned article helped me feel more confident, “successful magazines have reinvented themselves as brands that serve their audience via a range of channels, of which print is but one”. This supports my idea for my magazine project because it shows that there are a range of ways a magazine brand can expand into different mediums in order to gain a solid footing for themselves and staying true to the medium. Another article that supported my magazine is Magazine Publishing Trends for 2020 by The Ovid Bell Press. It states, “publishers who are succeeding in print are turning to niche audiences with lower publication frequency and improved quality”. This supports my magazine concept because it shows that even successful publishers are turning to less covered niche topics, like the one I will be covering. This means that my idea should hypothetically be successful because it sticks to one specific topic, so the readers know what they are getting and because it covers a topic that does not have much popular media coverage. 

Another article that supports my magazine concept is The Abundance, Joy, Beauty, Persistence, Power, and Potential of Independent Publishing by Camille T. Dungy. The article discusses the many different pros and cons of writing in the modern age. It states, “It's important to be in tune with the interests and conversations of readers “. This quote also supports my idea because it explains the importance of being in tune with your readers wants and interests, which is good because my magazine is going to be a special interest magazine.