life's a pitch: market research

Vice Magazine

• "our whole mission statement at Vice is the absurdity of the modern condition"

I think what we would like for Sad Magazine would too, be a celebration of the absurdity of the modern condition, or an analysis I suppose.

• described by The Guardian as the edgiest, wildest online media brand in the world

Sad is probably the anti-thesis of wild but we would like it to be quietly subversive, or quieter than Vice!

• described by Gawker: The Vice "lifestyle" requires constant novelty of offense, whether it's sexual, racial, social, or aesthetic. Trouble is, this strong drink ruins you for the binge — it only takes an issue or two to inoculate against the shock

I agree somewhat that Vice gets too caught up in trying to be itself and becomes a boring caricature. It's important to maintain a tone of voice but also do something new, and most importantly we don't want Sad Mag to become obnoxious. It needs a self-awareness that can also be shared with the reader.

Bad Day Magazine

• "Bad Day is a biannual arts and culture magazine that focuses on direct dialogues with the international creative community. Disregarding boundaries between film, fashion, visual art, music, high and low—categories that are becoming increasingly irrelevant in understanding culture today—Bad Day showcases some of the intimate commonalities we all share in our routines, perspectives and working practices."

Turns out this isn't so similar to Sad Mag but does have a good name. The focus on arts and aesthetic is important though, and their minimal use of colour and layout in each issue is quite inspiring and may even act as a money saver (less colours cheaper to print?)

I haven't read any of the editions but the title Bad Day sounds a little joky, particularly in regards to the art/design community which is sometimes seen as by the outside world (and inner one) as self loathing a little bit fed up.

shite shirts

• "We wanted to create something that would embody the attitude that we had come to seek. An attitude of ‘I just want to enjoy’. We wanted everyone to have the fun, a bit of craziness and a lottery of individuality. We wanted a ridiculous revolution."

Not a publication but very relevant to what we want to achieve, in a celebration of oddity and humour. Bad but good. Looking at this also inspired us to maybe add a merchandise line to the magazine, for example t-shirts with funny sad phrases.