Final Submission

For my final submission I had a few changes to my magazine.

Cover Page:
For my Cover Page, I moved the title of the magazine further up so that I could move the subtitles off of my cover model. I also got rid of the blue glow that was around the title because I think it looks better just with a black outline. I changed the color of the light green subtitle and the black subtitle so that the colors were able to stand out more.

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 Table of Contents:
I kept the Table of Contents the same from the third quarter submission.

Article:
For my two page article, I justified the text so that it looked cleaner. I also moved the words off of the pictures so that it didn't look so cluttered. I also adjusted the page numbers so that they were on the outside of the pages to look like a normal magazine. I also added the 'Sota Wellness branding to the bottom of the article so that it is in uniform with my other group member's magazines.

Creative Critical Reflection

5178 Creative Critical Reflection

CCR Draft #4

During this project I used many different softwares to produce my magazine. I integrated softwares like Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Publisher, and several other online tools to help me create the best product possible. Through these softwares I was able to create what I was looking for. Beginning with Microsoft Publisher, I took some of the pictures from my photo shoot that I did with a Canon EOS DSLR. I switched the camera to "Portrait" mode so that I could get some clear pictures of Taylor. After I developed some good pictures that were clear and sharp, I uploaded them to blogger from my Iphone. I plugged in  my USB cable into the computer and I was able to access my photos that were on my phone. I imported my photos and pulled them up in the Photoshop app. While in the photoshop app, I inserted the photo and started messing around with the fonts. While I was looking at the fonts,  I had to decide which color would pop out the best and that would be easy to read. I decided to use a bright purple font because I thought that it would pop and that it would stand out. I could not chose red, blue, or pink because my other team members were using those colors for their titles. As a group, we decided what we should include on our cover page and how many featured articles we should have on the front page. The whole group needed to include our article about best eats in SRQ, our featured main articles, and healthy eats on a budget. I integrated the internet into this project by researching various magazines like Shape, Women's Health, Men's Health, Health, and Self. The internet allowed me to research these magazines and gather information that I used to develop my magazine. I based my magazine off of the other lifestyle and fitness magazines that are currently in circulation. I chose to research these magazines because I think that they had the same or similar target audience that I wanted to address. I wanted to address the younger generations and middle aged people who have an interest in being physically fit. The internet also helped me out by allowing me to have access to social media platforms such as Twitter or Instagram to help promote my magazine. I used Twitter to tweet about this month's issue of the magazine and I also had Taylor post about her interview so that more people would be able to learn about the magazine. By having Taylor post about the interview, it allowed more people to read about it since she has Olympic athletes as friends and several others that follow her that may be interested. I also used Instagram to post about the magazine too. I had an add that popped up in the feed of some of my followers that if they clicked on it, it would bring them to our magazine website. The pop up add included celebrities or popular athletes that would interest people into reading the "sneak peek" of  the issue. By bringing them to our website, I was able to gain more subscribers for the magazine that increased the popularity of the magazine. This also helped to increase the circulation of the magazine because more people were subscribing to the magazine which allowed more issues of the magazine to be published. I am very pleased with how my magazine looks after revising it and how well it is liked. Overall, I think that this experience has taught me a lot. I know how to edit pictures in softwares like Microsoft Publisher, Word, and Adobe Photoshop. I have also learned what marketing and distributing a magazine is like and what the proper techniques to improve my magazine are. This project allowed me to gain many skills from different technologies that I was not aware I had.

CCR Draft #3

During this project, my production skills have grown tremendously. Throughout this project I have learned how to do many things. Before starting this project I did not use Microsoft Publisher very often, matter of fact I think I only used it once before this project. I am certified in Microsoft so I knew how to work with computers and the majority of the technology before this project. I did not know how to Photoshop before this project came along. I found it very entertaining photo-shopping my picture so that it would turn out the best way possible. At the beginning of the project I knew how to edit pictures and add text to them to make them look like posters, but towards the end of the project I was very familiar with the softwares like Microsoft Publisher, Word, and Adobe Photoshop. During the middle of the project, I found it easier to edit my picture and text for my cover page in Microsoft Publisher because there are better text font and text art options compared to the Photoshop software. During my interview with Taylor, I had a lot of fun. I learned a lot about Taylor that I didn't know previously. I also think that our group worked well together. We each were able to do our magazine issues on activities or people we were interested in. Overall, I think that I have developed many editing and photoshop skills for this project.

CCR Draft #2

My magazine engaged the audience by providing lifestyle and fitness tips through various articles. By having several articles that discuss fitness and health, my magazine is able to engage the target audience. The articles are for several different ages ranging from young adults/teenagers to people that are in their mid 40s to early 50s. The workouts can be done by any of the readers that subscribe to my magazine. The goal for this magazine is to reach out and help people strive to live a happy, healthy life. My magazine also engages the audience by having sponsored athletes and celebrities posting weekly or monthly ads on social media accounts. This helps to engage the audience because it brings the reader to the website that has the featured article with the athlete or celebrity. In these articles, the athletes or celebrities are giving some insight on how they stay in shape and are giving the readers some tips. These tips may include a healthier diet or a different way of working out. I intend to distribute my magazine by utilizing digital print techniques and methods to help publicize my magazine. Through the digital print techniques I strive to develop a website that will give you on the scoop for the month or for the new issue of the magazine. This website will have links that will allow the readers to print out the addition of the magazine that they wish to read. I would also put links on the website that would take the reader to a featured article with "sneak peeks". I would also use social media platforms as a way to distribute my magazine. I would set up several accounts that would be run by managers of my magazine. These social media accounts would also have celebrities that would currently be working for the magazine and being sponsored by the magazine. For my marketing plan, I would put my magazine on stands at the grocery store and would put them on coffee tables at hair salons or nail salons. I will use social media platforms like twitter and Instagram to market my magazine, internet ads, and to use print ads.

CCR Draft #1

Throughout my magazine process I did not challenge the conventions. I used the conventions instead to add to my magazine to make it better. The way I designed my magazine was very similar to the other health magazines. My cover page is similar to the other health magazines in the way that my cover is an action shot. Some of the Shape models and the Women's Health models are doing activities during their photo shoots that help to show that they are being physically active. My cover page represents the young adults and older teenagers because my model is in her early twenties. It also represents college level athletes and aspiring college athletes because she is a swimmer. The font and the color of my title match the other magazines that I researched like Shape and Women's Health. My table of contents is different in some aspects from the other magazines. My table of contents has two pictures, one at each end of the page. The table of contents in Shape magazine and Women's Health magazine include pictures and the title of the different featured articles. I used the same fonts as the magazines that I researched and I tried to use the same font colors and size as the magazines too. I chose to keep the font black so that it would be easy to read and not a light color that would not be visible. I also chose to arrange the table of contents into two columns so that there is easy access to the articles and the ads that would be in my magazine. I chose to include a quote in my table of contents that would fit into the same theme as my magazine. For my two page article I chose to match the theme of my model's college. Taylor went to the University of Florida and the colors for UF are blue and orange. I tried to match the captions of the photos with dark blue or orange to match the pictures that were featured in the article. I also used bold bright headings for the article so that it would catch the eye when the reader opened to that page. I decided that I was going to include four pictures in my article that represented Taylor as a swimmer in college and what she looks like now as a coach. I wanted to include the pictures to demonstrate the comparison and the contrast between the two. While I was doing my research I discovered that the majority of the two page articles in the magazines all have several pictures and have big bold fonts that catch the eye. This helps to stop the reader while they are flipping through pages to get them to focus on the main article. Through the use of all these conventions, I think that my magazine represented the target audience and age range for the viewers.

3rd Quarter Submission

Cover Page- For my cover page I changed the fonts so that they were easier to read. I also changed the number of featured articles on the front cover to make it look more professional. I changed the font colors as well to make them stand out and pop against the dark/light parts of the picture.
Table of Contents- For my Table of Contents I changed some of the fonts as well as some font sizes. I also changed a picture to make it fit my article colors better. For our branding, we made it all the same at the bottom of the table of contents. I also added page numbers that matched my flat plan.
Article- For my article, I rearranged the entire thing. I added another picture to give a contrast of what Taylor looked like in college and what she looks like now as a coach. I redid the layout of the article so that it looks like a magazine and so that it will only be two pages and not three pages. I also added page numbers to the bottom of the article that match the original flat plan. I changed some font sizes to make it stand out more as the title and I changed the font colors to make them correlate with Taylor's team colors.