sad mag presentation

'Sad Mag' pitch evaluation

Considering that none of us really consider presenting to be our strength, I think the presentation went quite well! I definitely felt far more confident, and calmer, delivering this presentation than I have when presenting in the past, and I think maybe this was the result of everyone else being quite 'together'. This was a really nice thing as we've had a lot of fun doing the work for this project and formulating this idea, and so it was great to be able to actually enjoy the presentation itself.

Strengths of pitch:

• I definitely think that extending the 'sad mag aesthetic' throughout the slides was a good idea - it helped us better put over what the publication is really about (it's vibe, if you will) without us having to laboriously explain it
• We had really good feedback - the common consensus was that people would actually buy sad mag! This was really encouraging, and definitely means that I'll think about this as a viable business opportunity that we could develop in the future (Patrick suggested it as a good summer project? Could be interesting.) 
• I think that we successfully managed to get over the ethos of sad mag - sad without really being sad - which was a relief as it was something we were all a little concerned about. Again, I think having the visual synergy (lots of pictures of snood-clad dogs) helped with this,  We also spent quite a lot of time talking through our manifesto, so we definitely tried our best. 
• As with the above, we tried to keep our presentation humorous enough to help people understand our angle, and hopefully make it engaging, without overdoing the humor. We knew we had to keep it dry enough so that it seemed like a business pitch.

Weaknesses of pitch:

• Unfortunately Jack couldn't be with us to present, and he was in charge of everything finance! He very helpfully sent us over is script and all his research, but we probably still didn't talk about our finances in the way that he could have.
• Maybe we focused too much on the ethos (although it is important!) and not enough on content. On reflection I think that maybe we should have knocked up an example of an article, or a photo feature of something, just to show how our ethos would extend through our content.

I've really enjoyed this project, and I think we have worked well together and had a lot of fun as a team. Getting good peer feedback was really rewarding, and I hope we will keep thinking about sad mag in the future. This has been a very different side to PPP, compared to all the work we have done before, and has been useful in making me think about what goes on outside the college walls. Sometimes it's beneficial to be pulled into the 'real' world, and to be made to consider practical moves and logistics, rather than just making good pictures. 

Visuals for Sad Mag

Here are some of the visuals that Molly has contributed - She has done a great job with them, and I can now really visualize Sad Mag as an interesting physical publication. The bitmap on the cover images was a really good idea, especially as we have discussed the possibility of having Sad Mag risograph printed - I think this extra touch would really elevate the product.

There's quite a kitsch look, lo-fi look about the visuals, reminiscent of early i-D magazine, or perhaps The Face? The Face went out of print a long time ago now, and obviously iD is now a glossy, but it's good to be able to identify what group of publications Sad Mag could belong to. I think these two examples are more in keeping with the Sad Mag ethos than Vice magazine, which we discussed a lot in the early stages. We want something mellower and perhaps a bit more knowing a self-deprecating than Vice.

Molly has also designed a good logo for Sad Mag. We seem to have adopted the snood-dog as our official mascot, and I think he's working.  It's a nice, clean logo, and so will work well when applied to things other than the publication, such as merchandise  or our social media pages!

Sad Mag themes:

A list of possible themes for Sad Mag issues, all of which have the potential to be funny, poignant and, just a little bit, sad:

• What I found on the internet
• Prom night/wasted youth
• Sports day
• The sea side
• A grand day out (field days/school trips/days out that just don't quite live up to expectations)
• Small errors - 'whoops, I forgot'
• Giving and receiving

Molly also knocked up these, just messing around on Photoshop! I think she's starting to hit on something though, starting to move toward an aesthetic that could work for SadMag.

She found these images while looking for dog-snoods on Etsy, which is very charming: in this publication the internet could be  source of inspiration when looking for the weird and wonderful, as well as a very accessible means of communication between us and the reader. We should be careful not to become too reliant on the web though, in order for Sad Mag for retain a human quality.

We definitely need to start thinking about this project in terms of the design , as we have already decided as a group that although this is not a publication about design, there will be a strong emphasis on good design and high quality images and production. 

Moving forward with SadMag

We had a quick regroup this morning, before our PPP session, just to make sure that we were all still happy with how SadMag was developing, and that we were still aligned ideas-wise.  This chat was useful and helped us develop some ideas about what, specifically, we should be concentrating on as we continue to develop a viable business model.

Things to decide PRONTO:

• How frequently will we publish? Will SadMag remain quarterly as we originally intended?
• If we are a quarterly publication, must decide on the themes for our first four issues. The idea of themed issues is one that we were originally all excited about, and one that could mean we slot nicely into our target market (Oh Comely magazine does something similar)
• Does SadMag rely on contributions (other than the usual letters, photos, questions etc) from external artists and writers, or are the five of us the complete team, responsible for the content as well the production of the magazine? This could be a big factor in expenses. 

Life's a Pitch: Market Research

Vice Magazine

I suppose Vice was the initial starting point when we got talking about Sad Mag - it's so cult-ish and has a really big circulation so it was the thing that everyone kind of knew. We all agreed, however, that for all its strengths - it's self-knowing, punch, gross in a cool kind of way - it's just a bit much.  Although with Sad Mag humor and self-deprecation would be necessary, I would hope that it would something far subtler than Vice. 

UK Circulation: 80,000

Available through most independent book/magazine stores, but also through some high street retailers such as W H Smiths. 

Oh Comely magazine

A lifestyle magazine, and obviously quite different in tone to what we envisage Sad Mag being - far more in line with Kinfolk/Cereal etc. However, they do take on a different theme every issue, with all the content being based around that theme.This is an interesting feature of what could otherwise be quite a samey magazine. Good pictures though. They also have great reader interaction, and encourage readers to send in hand written letters/postcards. Also have the option via their website to sign up to a subscription box, so you get a mystery parcel through the post with each issue. We have discussed the idea of 'sad boxes' - could be something there.

UK circulation: 20,000 -so a much smaller and therefore more realistic source of inspiration than Vice

As with Vice, is available through independent stores as well as through high street seller.

Bad Day magazine

There's definitely something to be learned from this look; it's so simple but very effective. The tear drop in the corner is a nice touch. When we first realized that 'Bad Day' was a thing, we originally worried that our idea was be too close, so as to seem derivative, After some research we realized that they are actually nothing alike, and Bad Day is actually just a broad arts & culture magazine, just the whole 'bad' idea just being part of a visual identity. Strong aesthetic though. 

The Sad Ghost Club

Not strictly a publication, but an illustration collective (however, they do frequently self-publish comics and zines etc). Slightly more 'serious' that what Sad Mag would probably be, dealing with very 'real' issues such as making friends, coping with anxiety, however it is still valuable to see how the message of 'sadness' can be communicated in different ways. Also Sad Ghosts Club has a really strong collective identity, and a huge internet following. They can often be found exhibiting at comics festivals and zine fairs. 

Shite Shirts

Jon pointed us toward Shite Shirts, and it's actually been a great source of inspiration. Obviously Shite Shirts is not a publication company, but it has the ethos we want Sad Mag to have. There's something weirdly joyous in the celebration of rubbish things, 

Sad Magifesto

How sad are you? Sad Magazine takes a sideways look at the grimness of modern life. Sad people value the 'just okay' because sometimes that's enough.

This was a really enjoyable and useful session. The more we discuss this idea, the more I feel that we may have actually hit on something very exciting. Perhaps this excitement is just due to the fact that I a interested in the publishing industry anyway, and that is where I can see myself heading in the future, but I'm glad we all seem to be genuinely invested in the concept of Sad Mag.

We didn't manage to get together over the last fortnight because of external circumstances getting in the way, but have all agreed to set aside Monday afternoons, from now on, as a time for us all to regroup, catch up, and move forward with this project. We have also put a group messaging platform in place so we can keep communicating over the Christmas break!

Life's a Pitch: Sad Mag buisness concept

What is your business idea?

Sad Mag is a publication that takes a sideways and celebratory look at the grimness of modern life. Has a focus on good design (and is a nicely put together, well thought out object), but is not about design.

How did you come up with it?

By chance - the words "a sad magazine" just came up in conversation and we all agreed that they were funny, and had a certain melancholic humor, and this collection of words just seemed to generate ideas. A lucky strike!

What excites you about  it?

• It's exciting to put something creative and cared about out into the world, that is not just for an audience of creatives. We want Sad Mag to appeal to whoever needs it.
• The idea is quite broad and as such has room to grow, change, adapt.
• An excuse for lots of play! We all agreed that it would be nice to tackle something with of humor and self-awareness, as it would push all of our practices in a different direction.

What industries do you belong to?

• Publishing/indie publishing
• Retail
• Entertainment (?)

What improved/new features do you provide? Something better? Something different?

We hope to provide something that is humorous, raw, and self-aware, but that is perhaps a bit subtler that a competitor like Vice, which is far brasher in its approach.

What/who is the market?

• People who like to invest in publications
• People who can laugh at the world, at others and, most importantly, at themselves.
• People who are fed up with 'aspirational' lifestyle magazines.

Who are your competitors?

Other 'nice' mid-range publications with a lifestyle focus

Life's A Pitch: Sad Mag

Although we started out with an idea for a publication that would celebrate young, up-and-coming talent, this quickly slid into territory we were all unhappy with. We realised that a publication of this sort would have to be a not-for-profit publication, and therefore we couldn't charge for it, and thus couldn't actually sell it. This got us looking at non-profit business models, and how we could distribute/circulate our publication to the right people, so it would have any form of impact. We started thinking about the role that the web could play in this, and creating a forum/online community. However, we all realised that none of us were particularly excited about this idea, and it had become so far removed from our original intentions.

After we hit this wall we decided to take a step back to look at what we were really interested  in - publications. Obviously, publications is a very broad field, and as we knew we would have to find an interesting and marketable USP (unique selling point), we started talking about niche publications, publications that had an essence that filled a specific market gap but without being too specific, as we thought that something too specific could mean that our ideas ran dry pretty quickly.

The idea that we arrived at was 'Sad Mag'. Someone mentioned a "sad magazine" as an offhand comment, and we all seemed to agree that this was actually a very funny and engaging idea. Sad Mag wouldn't actually be that sad at all, but would be self-knowing, and slightly tongue-in-cheek. A sideways look at the grimness of life for the modern young.

Business haiku:

Good pictures, bad feels
Have a salty laugh, it's great,
The future is bleak