The Visual Strategy Guide
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01 The Visual Strategy Guide
Intro
Rolling Stone magazine is one of the most influential American monthly magazine that focuses on popular culture today. The magazine has been exsisted for decades, however, the visual system and the bussiness strategy is no longer fit in the current spirit of the Rolling Stone, which is engaging people to get involved with things happening surround us and push the change happens. Therefore, a new visual system and the future development direction has been designed to express this spirit.
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C1 Brand Overview
C2 Brand Future Vision
1.1 The Brand Description
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2.1 Mission Statement
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1.2 Brand History
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2.2 Brand Visualization
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C3 Target Audience Personas
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C4 Brand Competitors 32
4.1 Current Competitors
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4.2 Adjacent Competitors
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4.3 Future Competitors
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Table of Contents
C1 Brand Overview 1.1 The Brand Description 1.2 Brand History
Introduce the general informations and the history of Rolling Stone.
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Â_ Brand Overview
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1.1 The Brand Description Rolling Stone is an American monthly magazine that focuses on popular culture. At first, the magazine was intended to cover and promote hippie culture, but they didn’t want to be seen as the underground magazine of the time, so they started reporting was strictly factual and avoided overt political overtones. It was first known for its musical coverage and for political reporting by Hunter S. Thompson. In the early 1970s, Rolling Stone was a bit more political, but it was influenced by the then-popular absurdist journalism. In the 1990s, the magazine shifted focus to a younger readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors, and popular music.
In recent years, it has resumed its traditional mix of content. Rolling Stone Magazine is one of the greatest cultural publication for western music influence. It is not like the Billboard Magazine has set up a norm of ranking and awards, but the Magazine published the ranking information regularly. Thus it has still been paid much attention by the industry, especially the reviews for all kinds of music works because of incisive and rigid insights. These all make the Rolling Stone Magazine credible authority musical magazine.
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19 67. No v. 09 [Rolling Stone Magazine: The Uncensored History]
The first issue carried a cover in newspaper format with a lead article on the Monterey Pop Festival. The first issue of Rolling Stone appeared on November 9th, 1967, and it cost 25 cents. The decision to put John Lennon on the cover for his role in How I Won the War was hastily made just two days before going to press, but in retrospect, Wenner felt the image was prophetic.
199 0 Rolling Stone Magazine: The Uncensored History published which wrote by a journalist names Robert Draper.
Rolling stone 1st issue.
19 67 Founded: Jann Wenner and Ralph Gleason.
Cover of September 1981.
19 8 0 s S p e t .
Rolling stone issue in 1967.
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The magazine began to shift towards being a general “entertainment” magazine, which also initiated its annual “Hot Issue” during this time. Music was still a dominant topic, but there was increasing coverage of celebrities in television, films and the pop culture of the day.
_ Brand Overview
Binding and L ay o ut History
20 05 Dana Leslie Fields, the publisher of Rolling Stone, who had worked at the magazine for 17 years, was an inaugural inductee into the Magazine Hall of Fame.
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2016 S e p r.
Taibbi, a publisher of Rolling Stone, unleashed an acclaimed series of scathing reports on the financial meltdown of the time. He famously described Goldman Sachs as “a great vampire squid”.
Advertising Age reported that Wenner is in the process of selling a 49% stake of the magazine to a company from Singapore called BandLab.
2012 No v. 22
2017 S e p r. 22
The magazine published its first Spanish-language section on Latino music and culture.
In September 2017, Wenner Media announced that the remaining 51% of Rolling Stone magazine is up for sale.December 2017, Penske Media announced to buy the remaining stake from Wenner Media.
1.2 The Brand History
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Folded tabloid newspaper format, with no staples, black ink text, and a single color highlight that changed each edition.
Editions were produced on a four-color press with a different newsprint paper size.
Gloss-paper, large format (10”×12”) magazine.
smaller, standard-format magazine size.
Bigger headlines came at the end of June 2010.
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C2 Brand Future Vision The future image and major direction of Rolling Stone.
2.1 Mission Statement 2.2 Brand Visualization
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2.1 Mission Statement Through media, the Rolling Stone encourages the audience to get involved in culture, current affair and politics to push change.
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_ Brand Future Vision
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“Rolling Stone is not just about music, but about the things and attitudes music embraces.” —Jann Wenner
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2.2 Brand Visualization Original Visualization Generally, the original Rolling Stone give people an old, outdated feeling, although, with ambitions. The 70’s Rolling Stone gives people more influential impression than the sleazy feeling in the current culture.
Rolling Stone
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Â_ Brand Future Vision
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2.2 Brand Visualization
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Â_ Brand Future Vision
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Future Visualization The future Rolling Stone will express an energetic feeling which is exciting but more mature than the teenager with confidence and strong impact to the general public.
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Â_ Target Audience
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C3  Target Audience
The information of the future target audience.
Personas
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Personas
The idea of narrow the target audience range is base on the mission statement which encourages the younger generation to get involved. The following page gives definition about who they are, why do they care, and what they may think of. It will illustrate a detailed image of the target audience.
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Â_ Target Audience
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Social Media YouTube: Twitter: Instagram: Facebook: Snapchat: Reddit:
News Reader NAME AGE LOCATION OCCUPATION EDUCATION INTERESTS LIST OF PERSONALITY
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James Harvey 31 Seattle Article Writer Matser Degree in Journalism Bourbon / Documentary
- He read the news every day on different news websites. - He is on several email lists of news report magazine. - He has followed the onion news on Twitter. - He tweets a lot with sarcasm language. - He doesn’t prefer pop culture. - His favorite writer is Salinger. - His favorite artist is Banksy. - He would consider himself a feminist.
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Social Media YouTube: Twitter: Instagram: Facebook: Snapchat: Reddit:
Thoughtful Students NAME AGE LOCATION OCCUPATION EDUCATION INTERESTS
Hannah Lee 22 Tucson Student College Social media / Book / Indie Movies
LIST OF PERSONALITY
- She read lots of social news but no financial news. - She thinks that the people deserve a better insurance plan.- She supported #metoo on twitter. - She thinks some news is a lie. - She believes some independent journalists than major media. - She thinks if people do not read will become numb. - She has a very state perspective of the individual social affair, sometimes it doesn’t fit the major opinion.
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Social Media YouTube: Twitter: Instagram: Facebook: Snapchat: Reddit:
Independence Young Adult
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NAME AGE LOCATION OCCUPATION EDUCATION INTERESTS
Liam Turner 25 Los Angles Photographor College Travel / Ski / Skydiving
LIST OF PERSONALITY
- He reads sports news more than financial news. - He has several freelance jobs in the different genre. - He is trying to pay his student loans as soon as possible. - He experienced a lot of traveling. - Travel makes him more mature than in the college. - He enjoys exploring the different culture. - He respects different culture.
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Social Media
Rational Criticism NAME AGE LOCATION OCCUPATION EDUCATION INTERESTS
LIST OF PERSONALITY
YouTube: Twitter: Instagram: Facebook: Snapchat: Reddit:
Evelyn Garcia 29 San Francisco Freelance writer College Movie / Book / Music / Alcohol - She reads different kinds of news on the subway of every morning. - She would agree that she is a feminist. - She supported #metoo on twitter. - She has represented her company several times in the proud parade. - She chose the person she voted carefully. - She thinks nowadays the younger generation people have not awarded enough. - She thinks some old movies are educational.
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NAME AGE LOCATION OCCUPATION EDUCATION INTERESTS
Zoe Dennis 19 Houston Student High School Gym / Fashion
LIST OF PERSONALITY
- She thinks there has so many information on the internet to distinguish which one is the right one. - Sometimes she feels she has different interests with her classmates. - She is collecting the information of the colleges for the future decision. - She thinks the geographic could be a limitation of the personal experience.
Social Media YouTube: Twitter: Instagram: Facebook: Snapchat: Reddit:
Exploring Stage 30
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Self-Right Protector NAME AGE LOCATION OCCUPATION EDUCATION INTERESTS
William Fields 34 Philadelphia Furniture Store Owner College Digging Vintage Furniture Read Old Books
LIST OF PERSONALITY
- He learned a lot while he defined his social gender. - He does not agree with some perticular politic opinion. - He voted in the morning of the vote day. - He did lot of reasearch before the vote. - He think his community is not care enough about politics.
Social Media YouTube: Twitter: Instagram: Facebook: Snapchat: Reddit:
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Social Media YouTube: Twitter: Instagram: Facebook: Snapchat: Reddit:
Keep Informed
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NAME AGE LOCATION OCCUPATION EDUCATION INTERESTS
Reese Howell 53 Cincinnati Uber driver High School Fishing / Coffee
LIST OF PERSONALITY
- He would not like to be outdated. - Sometimes he has a bad temper of the social affairs. - He thinks lots of young adults are not taking their responsibilities. - He educated his daughter how to protect herself. - He subscribed 2 newspaper and read them in the morning. - He thinks some police for the retirement is not enough. - He worried about his medical insurance.
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Social Media YouTube: Twitter: Instagram: Facebook: Snapchat: Reddit:
Neutral Figure NAME AGE LOCATION OCCUPATION EDUCATION INTERESTS
Denzel Gibson 29 New York Programmer College CD Collecting / Animations / History
LIST OF PERSONALITY
- He thinks some comments on the Reddit is too aggressive. - He read a lot more than the comment. - Before he figured out, he would not give suggests. - He has limited socialization activity. - He does not consider himself shy. - He thinks more than speak. - He is very careful while he doing his works.
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C4 Brand Competitor 34
_ Brand Competitors
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4.1 Current Competitors 4.2 Adjacent Competitors 4.3 Future Competitors
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4.1 Current Competition
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Billboard is an American entertainment media brand owned by the Billboard-Hollywood Reporter Media Group, a division of Eldridge Industries. It publishes pieces involving news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style, and is also known for its music charts tracking the most popular songs and albums in different genres.
Entertainment Weekly (sometimes abbreviated as EW) is an American magazine, published by Meredith Corporation, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books and popular culture.
MTV has toned down its music video programming significantly, and its programming now consists mainly of original reality, comedy and drama programming and some off-network syndicated programs and films, with limited music video programming in off-peak time periods.
Relix is a magazine that focuses on live and improvisational music. It rapidly expanded into a music magazine covering a wide number of artists. It is the second-longest continuously published music magazine in the United States after Rolling Stone.
Â_ Brand Competitors
Being developed during Schreiber’s tenure in a record store at the time, the Pitchfork magazine developed a reputation for its extensive focus on independent music, but has since expanded to a variety of coverage on both indie and popular music.
Covering all aspects of the entertainment industry, Variety does not limit itself to one medium. Among its covered topics are film, television, music, and pop-culture.
OK! is a British weekly magazine specialising mainly in royal and celebrity news, with lots of showbiz exclusives. OK! is best known for its coverage of celebrity nuptials.
The Hollywood Reporter (THR) is a multi-platform American digital and print magazine founded in 1930 and focusing on the Hollywood film industry, television, and entertainment industries, as well as Hollywood’s intersection with fashion, finance, law, technology, lifestyle, and politics.
People is an American weekly magazine of celebrity and humaninterest stories, published by Meredith Corporation. With a readership of 46.6 million adults, People has the largest audience of any American magazine.
Us Weekly is a weekly celebrity and entertainment magazine based in New York City. Us Weekly covers topics ranging from celebrity relationships to the latest trends in fashion, beauty, and entertainment.
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Wizard was a magazine about comic books, published monthly in the United States by Wizard Entertainment. It included a price guide, as well as comic book, movie, anime, and collector news, interviews, and previews.
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media of Hamburg based Bauer Media Group.Empire organises the annual Empire Awards which were sponsored. The awards are voted for by readers of the magazine.
BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media and news company based in New York City. The firm is a news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media.
Inked is a tattoo lifestyle digital media company that bills itself as the outsiders’ insider media. Covering music, fashion, art, sports and the rest of the lifestyle of the tattooed. It has made the transition from the newsstand to digital media company.
_ Brand Competitors
ClickHole (temporarily known as Cruft and PatriotHole) is a satirical website from The Onion that parodies clickbait websites such as BuzzFeed and Upworthy. ClickHole aims to mock content posted on media sites, using satire, and tries to make its content shareable.
Premier Guitar is an American magazine devoted to guitarists. Content includes instructional material, guitar gear reviews, and guitar news.
Guitar Player is an American popular magazine for guitarists. It contains articles, interviews, reviews and lessons of an eclectic collection of artists, genres and products.
Premiere was an American and New York City-based film magazine published by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S.
Indie news and trending topics. Supporters of unpopular opinions. Source supplied target for young adults. Rather than general information, it more focus on the independent resources.
Total Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year. Each issue always includes the ‘Total Film Interview’, which is a six-page in-depth chat with an actor or director, along with a critique of their body of work.
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The New Yorker is a culturally aware magazine that dates as far back as 1912. Famous for their cartoons and covers, The New Yorker features commentary on a wide variety of news topics.
Vice expanded primarily into youth and young adult–focused digital media, including online content verticals and related web series, the news division Vice News, a film production studio, and a record label among other properties.
The Onion’s articles cover current events, both real and fictional, satirizing the tone and format of traditional news organizations with stories, editorials, op-ed pieces, and man-in-the-street interviews using a traditional news website layout and an editorial voice modeled after that of the Associated Press.
Dazed has built a reputation for publishing stories that use creativity to empower young people. Over the years Dazed has championed humanitarian causes, from the refugee crisis, LGBT rights and women’s rights to climate change. Dazed is the first fashion magazine to challenge beauty preconceptions by featuring disabled cover models.
_ Brand Competitors
Tom Tom’s purpose is to raise awareness about girl and women percussionists from all over the world, to inspire females of all ages to drum, and to strengthen and build the otherwise fragmented community of female musicians.
TED Conferences LLC is a media organization that posts talks online for free distribution under the slogan “ideas worth spreading.” TED’s early emphasis was on technology and design, consistent with its Silicon Valley origins, but it has since broadened its repertoire to include talks on many scientific, cultural, and academic topics.
Instagram is a photo and videosharing social networking service owned by Facebook, Inc. Instagram has been the subject of criticism, most notably for policy and interface changes, allegations of censorship.
Twitter is an American online news and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as “tweets”. Twitter has been used for a variety of purposes in many industries and scenarios. The service is also used as a form of civil disobedience.
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Reddit is an American social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website. Reddit and its subreddits have conducted multiple charity projects, some short-term and others ongoing.Reddit has become a popular place for worldwide political discussions.
The New York Times is an American newspaper based in New York City with worldwide influence and readership. The Times has developed a national and international “reputation for thoroughness” over time. Among journalists, the paper is held in high regard.
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Things are changing fast in current days. The Rolling Stone will dedicate into leading the younger generation to push the changes happens.
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Â_ Brand Competitors
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Designer Viego Yuge Liu
Typeface
Tool
Sources
Joanna MT Photina MT Std Folio Std Gotham Courier Std
Adobe Creative: Illustrator Photoshop InDesign
rollingstone.com wikipedia.org unsplash.com/photos
Nature of Identity GR.604 Instructor: Hunter Wimmer
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FA2018,AAU.
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