Formal Proposal.

Title of magazineFor my Magazine I have chosen to name it ‘Swift’ because I like the simplicity of the name and the fact that it sounds fresh, quick and stylish. I would like my Masthead to be positioned in the top thirds of the Magazine Cover. I looked at various styles:

Choice of genreI have chosen Motown as my genre, as I already have background knowledge within the genre and the music history, it’s rare in the music magazine so I wanted to bring it back in the market. This is since I have always been influenced by Motown especially growing up in my family, who are also lovers of the genre. As it reflects my personality and style. Therefore I would know what would be expected in Motown magazine. I am also a fan and have fluently observed MOJO Magazine Motown Edition.My Target audienceMotown stereotypical target audience would be Afro Caribbean males, with few Females reading up on it; however I am choosing to challenge this by aiming the magazine at a wider range of both females and males aged between 28-40+. However I have also decided to use a female to be on the front cover rather then afro Caribbean male, this is since Motown is very popular amongst Black Males, so the magazine can be used to attract all different types of readers, as the latest Motown icon is Whitney Houston legendary music artist who will be remembered for her passing.Initial ideas for Front CoverFor my front cover, I am planning to use a long angled shot of two black females and one Black Male, who are dressed in their Sunday best, also the image to reflect a positive representation of femininity and Masculinity coming together as one. I have also decided to color the title of the magazine goldy orange, and use it as the house style colour throughout the magazine. I would like the background to be black or grey. Furthermore for the sell lines, I would like it to be related to the artists on the front cover, latest fashion trends and current Motown artists. I want it to initially look like this:

Initial ideas for My Contents pageFor my contents page, the masthead will be a large S to represent the name of my magazine, followed by the contents, which will be placed in a contrasting colour in order to stand out. I will also place all the features along the bottom of the page (below the small picture) which will be categorized. Whilst on the top of the page, there will be 1 dominant image of the cover group, to show other features in the magazine. I will also be adding an editor’s note to my readers. Initial ideas for my articleFor the double page spread, I intent to do an short story with the cover girls (but I’ll make sure they look very different to the cover image(clothes, background, type of shot etc) and it will be based on ethnic females in the Motown industry. It will be dominantly text based, as I will use the page to devote to the story line, this way readers are able to find out her personality by giving a written representation. To make it interesting I will use a drop cap and visually pleasing text order to keep the reader interested.Initial ideas for photographsThe front cover photography, I have decided to use a Low angled shot of my female artists. For the contents I will use a smaller image of an LAS shot of the artist. I will use a mixture of males and females to show the magazine can also attract females. Lastly for the double page spread, I want to use 2 different camera shots, to express the artist in the interview, I have chosen to use two long shots to show their whole body language, And lastly a medium long shot to reflect what her style is like. Furthermore I have used these shot types, as they most commonly found within Motown magazines. I’ll probably go for a plain background-maybe black with Gold? for the cover, but would like a fun, churchy feel for the background in the article with some music props such as a microphone, amps etc-not sure yet.

By Rianna Landell