Generating Ideas (P1, M1 U21)

Generating Ideas (P1, M1 U21)

Learning Outcome (U21): Be able to generate ideas for an original media product based on a client brief.

Clients Brief

Client = London magazine

My Interpretation of the brief

The client wants ideas for a new online and print based music magazine for North London. They said there is a vibrant music scene developing locally and people need to know about it. Meaning they want a magazine which will grab peoples attention in order to spread word about the music scene. I have to explore either Venues, Artists or a Genre and create a magazine cover/double page spread which will go into detail on one of those ideas and hopefully attract more consumers. I am required to make sample pages (Front cover and a double page spread) from the first edition of the magazine to showcase music talent and venues related to it in the area (North London). 

Explicit Demands from client:

• Front page
• Double spread
• Creating a pitch
• Online and print based
• Based in North London
• Showcase talent and venues
• Use a range of mediums

Implicit Demands from client

• Fairly young target audience
• Pop, Hip-hop, Grime, Rap or Indie genre suggested by the “Vibrant” music scene
• Proposal format

First thoughts for possible ideas following my interpretation 

I feel the best way to achieve what the client wants, I need to make a magazine based around music in the North London area. I could make a magazine on one of the three main entities of music: Venue, Artist or a genre.

-Venue - I could produce a magazine based off of the venues in the North London area. I could talk about the gigs in the area and who from what genre is playing there. I could even mention upcoming artists in the area, and also already famous ones playing in nearby venues.

-Artist - I could produce a magazine based on an artist from a specific genre and get exclusive interviews with them, and talk about their upcoming concerts. I could even talk about new upcoming artists

-Genre - I could produce a magazine based on a certain music genre and talk about current/upcoming artists in said genre, and venues where gigs from that genre are being held.

-In addition, I feel for the online version of the magazine, we can add a forums column and links to out social media accounts which allows readers to ask their own questions through forum chats and direct messages to our socials, which would encourage them to buy the next issue to see if their question has been answered. Another Idea could be to have indie music playing in the background of the website (With the name and artist at the top of the website) so readers can listen to the music from the featured artist or genre as they read about it.

My explanation of three key ideas

My three ideas include a magazine based around 

1. Venues - If I were to create a venue based magazine, I would mention different concert venues in the north London area, along with what artists from which genre is playing there.
2. Artist - If I were to create an Artists based magazine, I would talk about either a famous artist or a lesser known upcoming artist in a specific genre. I would include interviews and links (QR Codes and maybe Spotify codes) on where to find their music, and where to see them live.
3. Genre - If I were to create a genre based magazine, I would have to pick a “Vibrant” genre as to fit the request from the brief. I would provide information about the genre, artists from the genre, and location of concerts from said artists in the genre.

Ideas

Idea 1 = If I were to create an Artist based magazine. I would prefer to lean towards the Indie genre for this. For this genre I feel the colour pallets most appropriate would be retro, dusty and soft  rainbow colours as those would fit the ‘Indie’ aesthetic the best. This magazine would be Primarily targeted to people within the teenage years (14-19) as this is the age group that would most likely enjoy this genre the most. Within this age demographic, this magazine could be favoured by either girls or boys from any race/culture, although girl may be more attracted to this Indie magazine as this music can be enjoyed by any gender so boys and girls can get pleasure out of this magazine. This magazine would be fairly cheap (£3-£4) so it can hopefully be afforded by any social class. This magazine will include information about Indie artists such as interviews (which could be questions asked from fans on the magazine website), information about upcoming songs/albums, tour dates and where to see them and links to their music (such as free download links and Spotify codes). 

Strengths	Weaknesses
Indie is a growing genre at the moment with more and more people getting into it as it’s quite trendy right now. People would want to be up-to-date with their favourite artists and genre to it will attract more people to buy.	Indie is mostly enjoyed by a younger demographic such as teenagers. Whilst the magazine is cheap, teenagers are not as likely to be having a proper income so they may not decide to use their money on it.
Large Demographic. You can find Indie singers in any area of London (and the world for that matter)	This magazine is mostly targeted to teenagers so we would loose a large demographic of the older population.
There are lots of new up coming Indie artists which would give us a large amount of artists to feature in out magazines

Idea 2 = If I were to create a genre based magazine I would have to focus on a specific genre and give information on all the different sections of that genre, like venues, artists, music and perhaps even new and upcoming artists. The genre I would zoom in on would be Indie (like I would with an artist based magazine). The target audience for this genre based magazine would be similar to that of the artist based magazine. The primary target audience would be people who are into the Indie genre which would mostly be younger people such as teenagers (14-19) of any gender. The secondary target audience could be anyone who enjoys music in general it could be any genre, but probably still pithing the age range. And lastly the Tertiary target audience which would be anyone else who wants to buy it. This magazine will also be quite cheap (£3-£4) so hopefully any social class would be able to afford it. 

Strengths	Weaknesses
It’s a wide topic so people can find out more about the genre rather than it just being focused on artists or venues.	Only people who enjoy that specific genre would really buy the magazine, whereas something like an artist magazie would attract people who like that artist in general
This would allow people to find out more about the genre they already love.	If people don't like the genre we are focusing on in one of the issues of the magazine, we could loose sales for that month
We won’t run into a lack of content as there are many genres and artists we can be interviewing and getting information on	We need to be original which could be a bit of a challenge due to the large market of magazines in specific popular genres.

Idea 3 = If I were to create a Venue based magazine I would talk about the different venues in North London, and what artist from which genre plays/will play there. The double page spread would talk about specific venues in a certain area and information about the artists that play there. The target audience would primarily be people who love going to concerts as this magazine would give them plenty of information about the concert venues in the North London area. This magazine will probably be aimed to more 15-16+ ages as you have to be above a certain age to go to most concerts (without an 18+ accompanying). Once again this magazine will be cheap (£3-£4) so people of all social classes can afford it. But this magazine as a whole is available to anybody who would like to purchase for whatever needs, whether it be wanting to know about upcoming concerts, upcoming artists, or just information about the venues in the area. I could also include special offers for discounts on tickets to attract more people. 

Strengths	Weaknesses
Will create advertising for the venues which can get money for the magazine as well as creating content because we are getting potential business for the venues	Getting photos of venues may be difficult if we don't get proper permissions from the venue which can lead to further issues such as missing deadlines, and budget being spent on finding new venues.
People would be attracted to the magazine as it will give them information and discounts on concerts in the area	Will prevent people under a certain from buying my magazine as they may not be old enough to attend the concerts
Gives people accurate and up-to-date informations about the concerts in their area (For that month depending on the issue)

Conclusion of Idea

In conclusion, I will be creating an artist based magazine which will be focused on artists within the Indie music genre. This magazine would be targeted towards teenagers (ages 14-19) or anyone who would find interest and pleasure in the magazine. I think this theme would be able to fulfil the clients needs of sharing and informing people of the vibrant music industry in the North London area. Although I do acknowledge that Indie is widely enjoyed by mostly young people, I believe that the magazine showcasing different artists with different styles, can allow older people to find an artist who creates music that they too can enjoy.