Following last weeks exploration of demographics, this week we presented our individual ideas for the Yorkie Magazine and in particular, pinning down the reader profile. It was interesting to see people’s approaches to this task, it was useful in terms of the collaboration element, to see how others included design ideas and layouts at this early stage and identify similarities and differences in ideas amongst the group.

We agreed on these sections:

• Arts/Culture 
• Politics/Current Affairs  
• People 
• Fashion 

SWOT analysis

HOW:

Swot stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats and it helps to understand yourself, your magazine and your future plans. SWOT is a handy mnemonic to help corporate planners think about strategy. 

A swot is carried out by:

Drawing up a table with the four headings and filling them in honestly. 

For The Yorkie:

Strengths:

• The group has already got experience collaborating 
• The group has a wide variety of skills which compliment each other well e.g. writing, indesign, organisation etc
• We have had more time than any other publication would have in terms of writing features, feedback, planning, layout practice before publication is released
• We have a vast range of technology and equipment along with support at the university with no extra cost which saves huge amounts of time and money
• We have a range of interests as a group which all compliment each other well, the sections will work well as it will be for a broad audience
• The age demographics of York works in our favour was we chose the age group which fits well with the average age of 38 and the common group of 18-24

Digital Magazine – SWOT Analysis

Weaknesses:

• From previous experience as a team,  we know that certain individuals have a tendency to cause a lot of unnecessary stress in leadership roles and it creates a non collaborative, negative workplace as people begin to work against each other rather than together. This then hinders productivity. 
• The fashion section may be slightly limited as the amount of local designers is not large. 
• Financially we are limited as we do not have a huge budget 
• There is no writing or house style established yet
• There is no one who is professionally trained or experienced in magazine on the course as we are all students so as we are producing we are learning
• We do not have an established house style yet

Opportunities:

• This is the first issue of a fresh take on a York based magazine and potentially will be continued following our example
• We could plan a launch event or circulate launch date on social media
• Had this been a year long module, we could have crowd funded or incorporated adverts in to gain money

Threats:

• Competition with magazines such as the York Mix, Yorkshire Life. 
• Print is slowly dying and at a lull at the minute, massive market for digital
• Will the age group we target be able to buy the magazine
• The content may not flow 
• May end up looking very amateur due to the circumstances and lack of overall expertise