BRIEF - Intern Magazine

BA (Hons.) GRAPHIC DESIGN	Level	6
Module Code: OUGD603	Module Title:	Learning Outcomes:

BRIEF TITLE: INTERN MAGAZINE

Brief: Originally just a single magazine cover brief, this brief now has been extended to become a broader magazine proposal for a satirical magazine called Pseudo. The brief is to create covers and sample spreads which accurately convey the ethos, aesthetic and concept behind the magazine. That concept is one of a satirical magazine which pokes fun at businesses and politicians alike, somewhat like private eye but with more dynamic imagery, so as to appeal to the younger demographic.

Background: There is a dearth of content rich / uniquely designed magazines at the moment. While there are many beautifully designed magazines in circulation, they often focus on vacuous topics, and seem to serve more as a platform for the design of the magazine as opposed the content within it. The opposit is also true.  With the looming election, there is a growing sentiment of public distrust and disenfranchisement with big business and politicians. This magazine would harness that public discontent by providing entertaining comedic fun combined with solid investigative journalism.

Considerations: Considering the amazing job Private Eye is already doing, it is important for the Pseudo to maintain their levels of professionalism and attention to content.  To ensure the magazine is approachable and consistent, an illustrative style will be used for front covers. While this will provide a unique feel, it risks the degradation of the magazine to a less serious level. Striking the balance between serious journalism and fun entertainment is key, subject matter selection will play a large part in this.

Mandatory Requirements: At least 2 covers. At least 2 spreads. At least one supporting publication proposal.

Target Audience: Disenfranchised people between the ages of 20 and 40. Typically such people would have at least a limited existing understanding of politics and current affairs, however the design would be set up in such a way that such knowledge is far from necessary.

Tone of Voice: Relentlessly satirical and yetshockingly serious at the same time.

Deliverables: Cover and spread mock ups for magazines and supporting publication. Development work such as sketches and title considerations.  Design boards.

http://www.stackmagazines.com/

http://www.newsstand.co.uk/700-Indie-Magazines/Subscriptions.aspx

having looked over the magazines available on the website, i realised one of the few areas which was lacking was political satire. furthermore, considering the magazine market in general, the only real satirical magazine in the uk that i can find is private eye. despite being an amazing magazine, the target audience is not young people, and content mainly deals with political news and satire. my plan would encorporate aspects of that, but apply satire to broader issues, particularly corporate targets.

I began to try to create a logo:

Despite not being wholly satisfied with the visual feel of the logo, i thought to try applying to a magazine cover to see how it would work.

Despite overcoming difficulties in using transparency gradients, I began to think that the flat gradient I had applied to the logo was somewhat uninspiring. More importantly, the name pseudo truth sounded very pretentious. Having thought about it, I realised stripping the word truth out took away a lot of the pretentiousness which would drive target audiences away.

Having found a new logo, i began to apply it to a cover:

In the end I decided on two potential covers which I liked, i realised that text on the cover should bear some relevance to imagery for continuity:

LIFT IMPOSSIBLE TYPE FROM MONOTYPE FOR THIS?

 Evaluation :

They key to this brief was the passion for the subject matter. I essentially chose the stories that I know are plausible and coule theoretically have some basis, but overall they were stories that I would want to read. From this passion came the desire and understanding of how best to communicate the message visually.

Recognising that the illustrative style was the best path to go down was probably the biggest acheivement of the brief, however it did take time, and much time was wasted attempting to apply poor web imagery to the covers. This time did allow the cover stories and logo to develop somewhat however, so maybe it wasn't completely time wasted.

If I were to do this brief again, I don't think I would do much too differently. Perhaps carrying out a full mockup would have been more thorouh and realistic, however without the content such a process would be immensely time consuming. One way of solving this would have been to look at a copy of private eye and lift stories from them, as much of the satirical content was along the same lines.  While this would hardly be professional, given the fact that my role is more in the design side, it may be acceptable.

Having said that, for a truly well synthesised magazine art direction, i would argue that the content needs to be closely linked to the imagery, so that the imagery can in turn inform the content. This is how Bloomberg Businessweek made their monumental comeback in recent year, through close collaboration between the art director and story editor.