Lecture Content
During this session we began to look at the breakdown of what we would want in terms of readership for the Yorkie, this followed on from our task last week which was to take a look at what we
would want as individuals creating this publication. We each presented these ideas at the beginning of the session, and then came together to discuss everyone’s ideas and come up with a first draft of the sections that we would include:
- Politics and Current Affairs
- People
- Fashion
- Arts and Culture
Moving on from this we began to discuss what could be included in the aesthetic of the magazine. Overall, the general consensus was for a minimalist, colour muted and image-friendly publication. During this session we also selected the roles for the module, discussing through the roles’ responsibilities which led to the completed lists which can be found below in the Appendix.
The Feature Writing Session focused on profile work and using information and quotes to provide the best, most interesting and accurate view of a subject. Analysing three feature pieces on Jonny Vegas, Emma Watson and Zoella in order to look at what makes up a good profile article.
SWOT Analysis
What is a SWOT analysis?
When a business, like a newspaper or a magazine, wants to look at its prospects over the future, looking at Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. According to one Guardian article:
“These steps provide an organisation with a rounded view of the current position of the business internally and externally and helps you define achievable goals or objectives.”
Why carry out a SWOT analysis?
In an ever-shrinking market, magazines and much of the print industry is endlessly at risk of being bulldozed by digital brands and publications, a SWOT analysis is one way to combat this threat. This is a technique which allows businesses to analyse what they are and aren’t doing well, taking this into consideration they should be able to move forward more effectively and help to carve themselves a niche.
SWOT of The Yorkie
- Strengths
- The team is very familiar with working together, and are aware of one another’s’ abilities and failings.
- A fresh take on news and culture in York and surrounding towns means that people may well be more interested in the publication.
- The Yorkie already has a number of platforms that function well and are established, such as the website.
- All of the people working on the publication have multiple skills to bring to the table, many of which overlap.
- Weaknesses
- As yet, the brand of the Yorkie magazine is in its infancy, for example, there has yet to be a new logo (more fit for purpose) decided on.
- There is no design theme established and no set writing style yet (but there are ideas for both).
- Opportunities
- This will be the first issue of this magazine and while other year groups will follow on from this, there is the possibility of creating a voice that is later analysed and to a degree replicated.
- The target audience of 18-30 is quite a well-represented age group in York, although this does sit just below the average age of 36.
- Threats
- Due to the fact that all of the copy within the magazine is being created by students and people of a particular age group, there is always the possibility that we could miss our target audience.
- Due to lots of other commitments, some people may struggle to make it to every session and this will limit the amount of time that a full team can be working on the magazine.
Appendix:
Editorial Roles
- Adam – Editor
- Molly – Deputy Editor
- Ava – Arts and Culture Desk Editor
- Beth – Fashion Desk Editor
- Brett – People Desk Editor
- Elisha – Politics Desk Editor
- Hannah – Photographer
- Paisley – Photographer
- Grace – Writer
- Lucy – Writer
- Lara – Writer
- Isabelle – Writer
- Ethan – Writer
- Dan – Writer
- Harry – Writer
- Mia – Writer
- Georgie – Writer
- Annabelle – Writer
Production Roles
- Lucy – Art Director
- Grace – Picture Editor
- Lara – Production Editor
- Molly – Design Editor
- Hannah – Design Editor
- Paisley – Picture Assistant
- Ava – Chief Sub-editor
- Brett – Sub-editor
- Beth – Sub-editor
- Isabelle – Sub-editor
- Dan – Sub-editor
- Elisha – Sub-editor
- Georgie – Sub-editor
- Ethan – Sub-editor
- Harry – Sub-editor
- Mia – Sub-editor
- Annabelle – Sub-editor