Statement of Intent

 My target audience is socially conscious, 16-25-year olds, who are middle to upper class. Socially conscious to me suggests that these are people who are interested in the current affairs all around the world and not just where they live. This audience has high aspirations and have a smart, credible and clear career plan ahead of them. They are most likely to go to university and are high achievers and very social. I have aimed my products at the more left winged side of this audience and my current affairs magazine and website have a more left political bias as I was inspired by the Big Issue and my own political beliefs. This audience is trendy, often using social media and shopping in vintage/thrift stores, they also are very politically active and will take part in protests, petitions and charity challenges. 

To represent the audience in my products, I plan to use a red to outline the masthead, I want this to be clear to the brand as red is often associated with the left wing (labour). I will also make the topics covered in the contents page as “politically correct” or progressive/liberal. I want my audience to be represented as trendy, moral, progressive and as people who are always trying to aid or educate others. I will plan to do this through the topics I put in my contents page and the main cover story.

In the past magazines were simply a printed product you could buy in store, whereas now they are still sold but the magazines can be found online. Brands now have websites, apps and email subscriptions as well as multiple social media links. Magazines are now largely accessible, whether its via physical print or on your phone. Magazine house styles are now a lot more unique and bolder as it has to be recognised and stand out across a range of platforms. The New Internationalist is an independent media company and describe themselves as “dedicated to socially conscious journalism and publishing.” Their publishing is politically correct and more left wing and I believe they would be a good publishing brand for my magazine. 

I want my magazine to be more progressive and I don’t want it to follow the traditional codes and conventions of a magazine. I will have one main image and headline on the front page, there will be no cover lines or supporting images, this is because I want people to be intrigued and enticed into reading the magazine. I want to use a font that is modern, simple and easy to read, this makes the magazine more appealing and sophisticated but simple. I will use the same font on the website, and I will use the masthead from the magazine as the logo for the website to maintain a brand. I will use the same colour scheme of red, white and black.