Magazine Proposal

Working Title: History Life

Genre: History Magazine

Synopsis / Treatment: The magazine is a history magazine. It informs readers on various different subjects on various different eras of history, including figures of history, historical events, social history, and many other historical subjects. While the historical points of interest may vary, there will be a greater focus on Early Renaissance history, most likely spanning from parts of the 14th century to the early 17th, as the main subjects of the magazine.

One Line Sales Pitch: A history magazine aimed at people of all levels of knowledge.

Style (similar products and visual style): I intend for my style to be eye-catching, but not to totally stray from the standard of sleek and professional looking magazine styles that is most commonly used in magazines such as history magazines. For example, many history magazines such as BBC History, History Today, American History and National Geographic make use of Serif fonts, which I intend to follow for the most part, though perhaps not exclusively. I also intend to move away from the general consensus of using muted colour schemes and too much black and white, and by using colour to catch the eye of the reader and make the magazine more visually appealing.

Audience: The intention of the magazine is to attract as wide and as varied an audience as possible. A general audience and demographic already exists for magazines of this sort of genre, with people in their 40s, often of a higher socio-economic class, generally being the target audience of history magazine. I will keep this demographic in mind when I design my magazine, but I intend to strike a balance between the audience that I already potentially have and the potential audience, which is to say, everyone else. I believe that trying to strike at a wider audience could be a unique selling point of my magazine, as much history related media can be considered elitist and aimed at only a very small and select group of people.

Legal & Ethical Considerations: It is important to consider ethical considerations in this magazine, as it will be discussing history and historical events. Historical events and how we perceive history has had a significant effect on the world we live in today, and continues to have an effect, and many historians find the line between what counts as “history” and what counts as “current affairs” is blurred. Considering this, it is important to be cautious of how information is handled and presented in the magazine, and assure that it is delivered without bias that may sway it’s presentation. It is also important to present the history of various cultures and regions, and not just focus on the history of certain select groups and regions, as it is important that all groups of people have their history represented and not just a certain few specific cultures.

Production Methods & Requirements [outline required techniques, resources  and methods of production]: Given the nature of the magazine genre, it will be relatively necessary to use content I have not created. Specifically, I will need to make use of images such as old photographs, art and portraits when talking about the history, as it is relevant imagery that helps to detail the subject matter of the magazine. However, I will not necessarily need to solely use other people’s images. For example, the city of York is nearby and has many sites of historical relevance and importance that could have a place in the magazine. This would mean I would need to set aside time to do a photography session in York, possibly multiple sessions if I need to return to get more photos. I would require a camera to go through with this, and I would also have to hope for reasonable weather conditions. An alternative source of images to use in the magazine is to create them myself by creating images through digital art, which would also add an interesting stylistic feature to the magazine.