After being given the chance to chance a few things on my product i felt like the most i needed to do was on my first article 'Sea, Sun and a flat tum' this is due to the fact i spent a lot of time on my 2nd and 3rd and therefore didn't have any time at the end to come back to it. I firstly decreased the opacity of the white boxes i inserted behind the kicker and one of the paragraphs as it didn't look like it was part of the article. I also felt that these stood out more than header which is definitely not something you want from your article. I then noticed that where my models hand was situated, the text wasn't very clear and therefore i added another of these opaque boxes behind the introductory paragraph. The drop shadow behind my sub headers, i also felt was far too harsh so therefore i also decreased the opacity and distance of that. The softness i had created on the majority of my article had made the guidelines look very heave and therefore i decreased the width of these so that they would look much subtler. The final thing i did was change the header of my breakout box as i felt the font was too harsh and therefore i didn't work very well. I changed it to a hand written font which made it look much more professional. I also changes the colour to give my page more variety.
In my 2nd DPS 'Stress Mess', i increased the size of the introductory paragraph as i felt i didn't give the article enough context before you began to read it properly. I also re arranged my paragraphs to make them lay better on the page so therefore it would be more appealing to the eye. I also added a guide line across the top and across the bottom as this made the page look much tidier which will really appeal to my target audience. The page before just looked unfinished and 'rough' around the edges.
The only other alteration i made was adding more contents to my contents page and adding the page numbers to them as i didn't get chance to finish this within my allocated time. I also decreased the size of the tags on each image as when i looked back through the magazines they were in a fairly small font whereas mine were fairly big.
Thursday, 3 April 2014
Project Monitoring - February 10th
This week i planned to have finished all 3 DPS's and therefore i could begin to create my front cover and contents page. However due to the push back of my interview article i had already began my front cover. This week began with me finishing off my front cover by adding the rest of the sell lines. When looking at other magazine i found that their front covers consisted of a lot of page variety and therefore i decided to include a couple of button sells and brush effects. I also added a buy line, base line, barcode, website, date and price to ensure my product look as professional as possible. I also wanted to continue the layering effect so therefore i brought the models head over the top of the masthead. I feel as though i have covered too much of the masthead which count have a harsh impact on the identity of my magazine.
The second day of this week was the day i was able to finally complete my interview. The interview went very well however i asked a lot of spontaneous questions in response to her answers which i feel as though i could have prepared myself for a little bit better than i had. After listening back to the recording of my interview i also found that i hadn't put the dictaphone close enough to her as it was fairly hard to try and understand what she was saying due yo it being very quiet. I then spend a good few hours making notes on the different aspects i wanted to include in my article. I wrote one draught in 3rd person and another draught which was if she was telling the story. I then showed this too members of my target audience and 8/10 of them preferred being told the story directly from the interviewee as it made it seem more believable and real. I therefore created a second draught of this article and gave it a few more entertainment values rather than it being a straight transcript. I also said in my schedule that i was going to research how to write interview articles but i felt after reading a few of these out of magazines this was an unnecessary thing to do.
I then began to design the DPS for this article. I firstly created a header for it reading 'How to tame your man'. I used a mixture of two fonts for this as i felt this would tell the reader exactly what my article was about. I then inserted the text and realised that not all of the text was going to fit on one DPS. I then came up with the idea to create a double page spread, i looked through lots of magazines of my genre and found that a lot of them had a photo lead. This influenced me to do a similar thing within my product. I decided to have the first page containing the header followed by one main image. The main body of my article could then sit comfortably on the other two pages as there wasn't a lot of space taken up by the header. Due to the fact there was only going to be the article, quotes and images on this page, i didn't quite know how to continue the layered effect i had created throughout the whole magazine. I decided to give the last two pages a textured background as this would then give the main body of text a slight lift out of the page.
The 3rd day i had my photo shoot which i had booked for 1hr 30mins. After taking several images of the idea i had for this article, i had second thoughts as they may slightly offend some people and be seen as too provocative. My clients target audience would certainly not approve. I therefore had to change my entire idea which therefore had an effect on how long my photo shoot took. I took a wide variety of different shots to see which i felt best suited the feel of my article. In the end i decided to use imagery that made the couple now look very happy and therefore create a sort of idilic image as the majority of couples will aspire to be how they are. Looking back on m,y double DPS's i now see that this may be interpreted in the wrong way as the article is about sad things where as they look very happy so therefore the image and text may not connect in the way that i wanted them too. When editing the images, i accidentally clicked on the sepia effect and actually really liked it. I tried to get a colour in InDesign which matched the photo as best as i could and thankfully, it looked very professional. I also felt as though this gave a sort of romantic tone to the article which would go really well.
When showing what i had don't so far to my target audience to see if they liked it, they said everything really appealed to them except the header. I then came up with several more headers to show to them to see which they preferred. Out of all 6 of them, they all agreed the the quote header was most effective as it is very intriguing. Even though non of this was on my schedule i found that it was important to do this as since i had changed my whole idea on this article, i needed to know what my target audience felt as i hadn't had as much time to plan a while new idea. I then played around with the new header with different fonts as my target audience didn't like the last ones. I also changed the colour from red to a pale pink due to it being a girly article, i felt this would appeal more to my T.A. I then added the photos and positioned a few of them with cantered angles as this would draw the audience into the main article. I also added the quote inserts for when the article is skim read, i firstly had these as part of the text just in a larger font and a different colour but when i looked through other articles i found that they were usually on top of a shape of some kind. I decided to follow this rule as this would give my page more variety. I also created two breakout boxes, again to give my page much more variety. Both my quote inserts and breakout boxes needed to be text wrapped to ensure the page looked neat and clean.
This week i also planned to create my front cover, sadly i didn't leave myself enough time for this as i incorrectly estimated how much time my finial DPS would take. By the end of this week i managed to have inserted ill of my imagery into my contents page. I was strongly inspired by the layout of the leading magazine Cosmopolitan. I used a variety of my own imagery from the photo shoots i have had over the past year as well as a couple of fill images to give my magazine an energetic feel. I sadly went over my deadline by 1 day as i misinterpreted how fiddly and how much i needed to do to create a good, professional looking contents page. I didn't really plan my time effectively for the different font sizes, bold text, different colours, guide lines, page numbers etc. However when this was completed i was very happy with the vast majority of my product. If i had chance to go back there are a few small attentions to details i would like to change but sadly didn't have time.
The second day of this week was the day i was able to finally complete my interview. The interview went very well however i asked a lot of spontaneous questions in response to her answers which i feel as though i could have prepared myself for a little bit better than i had. After listening back to the recording of my interview i also found that i hadn't put the dictaphone close enough to her as it was fairly hard to try and understand what she was saying due yo it being very quiet. I then spend a good few hours making notes on the different aspects i wanted to include in my article. I wrote one draught in 3rd person and another draught which was if she was telling the story. I then showed this too members of my target audience and 8/10 of them preferred being told the story directly from the interviewee as it made it seem more believable and real. I therefore created a second draught of this article and gave it a few more entertainment values rather than it being a straight transcript. I also said in my schedule that i was going to research how to write interview articles but i felt after reading a few of these out of magazines this was an unnecessary thing to do.
I then began to design the DPS for this article. I firstly created a header for it reading 'How to tame your man'. I used a mixture of two fonts for this as i felt this would tell the reader exactly what my article was about. I then inserted the text and realised that not all of the text was going to fit on one DPS. I then came up with the idea to create a double page spread, i looked through lots of magazines of my genre and found that a lot of them had a photo lead. This influenced me to do a similar thing within my product. I decided to have the first page containing the header followed by one main image. The main body of my article could then sit comfortably on the other two pages as there wasn't a lot of space taken up by the header. Due to the fact there was only going to be the article, quotes and images on this page, i didn't quite know how to continue the layered effect i had created throughout the whole magazine. I decided to give the last two pages a textured background as this would then give the main body of text a slight lift out of the page.
The 3rd day i had my photo shoot which i had booked for 1hr 30mins. After taking several images of the idea i had for this article, i had second thoughts as they may slightly offend some people and be seen as too provocative. My clients target audience would certainly not approve. I therefore had to change my entire idea which therefore had an effect on how long my photo shoot took. I took a wide variety of different shots to see which i felt best suited the feel of my article. In the end i decided to use imagery that made the couple now look very happy and therefore create a sort of idilic image as the majority of couples will aspire to be how they are. Looking back on m,y double DPS's i now see that this may be interpreted in the wrong way as the article is about sad things where as they look very happy so therefore the image and text may not connect in the way that i wanted them too. When editing the images, i accidentally clicked on the sepia effect and actually really liked it. I tried to get a colour in InDesign which matched the photo as best as i could and thankfully, it looked very professional. I also felt as though this gave a sort of romantic tone to the article which would go really well.
When showing what i had don't so far to my target audience to see if they liked it, they said everything really appealed to them except the header. I then came up with several more headers to show to them to see which they preferred. Out of all 6 of them, they all agreed the the quote header was most effective as it is very intriguing. Even though non of this was on my schedule i found that it was important to do this as since i had changed my whole idea on this article, i needed to know what my target audience felt as i hadn't had as much time to plan a while new idea. I then played around with the new header with different fonts as my target audience didn't like the last ones. I also changed the colour from red to a pale pink due to it being a girly article, i felt this would appeal more to my T.A. I then added the photos and positioned a few of them with cantered angles as this would draw the audience into the main article. I also added the quote inserts for when the article is skim read, i firstly had these as part of the text just in a larger font and a different colour but when i looked through other articles i found that they were usually on top of a shape of some kind. I decided to follow this rule as this would give my page more variety. I also created two breakout boxes, again to give my page much more variety. Both my quote inserts and breakout boxes needed to be text wrapped to ensure the page looked neat and clean.
This week i also planned to create my front cover, sadly i didn't leave myself enough time for this as i incorrectly estimated how much time my finial DPS would take. By the end of this week i managed to have inserted ill of my imagery into my contents page. I was strongly inspired by the layout of the leading magazine Cosmopolitan. I used a variety of my own imagery from the photo shoots i have had over the past year as well as a couple of fill images to give my magazine an energetic feel. I sadly went over my deadline by 1 day as i misinterpreted how fiddly and how much i needed to do to create a good, professional looking contents page. I didn't really plan my time effectively for the different font sizes, bold text, different colours, guide lines, page numbers etc. However when this was completed i was very happy with the vast majority of my product. If i had chance to go back there are a few small attentions to details i would like to change but sadly didn't have time.
Project Monitoring - 3rd February
This week I started by finishing by 1st DPS 'Sea, sun and a flat tum' buy inserting a breakout box. I created a rectangle shape down the right hand side of the DPS. I faded the transparency slightly as when it was one block colour of red, it stood out more than the header which is not what I wanted from my article. I created 3 speech bubbles in Photoshop and filled them in white to make the layered effect more obvious when I overlapped them. I then added drop shadow onto these and overlapped them to create the layers. I also added the kicker and ensured that I placed behind any text that was slightly less visible I added white rectangles. This was evident especially on the shadows caused by her legs which I should have made sure weren't there when taking the photo or edited them out. I also used this effect on the sub-header of the paragraph at the bottom of the breakout box and behind the kicker. I'm not sure about this effect as it makes the text stand out more than I would have liked, however, I have made sure I have time to come back to it at the end to make any alterations i feel necessary.
Within the kicker I also highlighted 1 word in a different colour such as 'coming' and '8' as I thought these were significant enough to make them stand out a lot more. I also changed the font of the word 'Sun' in my header as I used a thin font for this and when I came back to it I didn't feel as though this went as well as I originally thought it did so therefore I made the header all one solid font.
I also made the introductory paragraph bold and changed its font size from 11 to 16 as this ensured that the reader knew exactly where to begin to read the article. I also included a drop cap at the beginning of that paragraph to make sure that it was 100% clear as to where to begin.
This week I also began to piece together my DPS for 'Stress Mess'. When I think of stress,
I think of people screaming, pulling their hair out and smashing things up so therefore I wanted all of these things to be evident in my article. I found my photo-shoot last week for this article very successful as I got some great images to include. The first idea I thought about was to create the font for the header looking smashed. I then had a better idea to make the entire image look smashed as this would then show a large amount of stress rather than just a small proportion on the header.
The facial expressions on my models face really emphasis how frustrated she it. Her eye line with the audience also helps them to relate with her. I began by inserting my texts into 4 different columns, putting the two smaller tips on the outer columns and the 4 smaller ones in the middle 2. I then created 4 different colour rectangles and rounded the corners to place behind them. After completing this I decided I wasn't so keen on this look and therefore began to create another to which style I preferred. I didn't feel as though my first layout fit with the genre of my magazine and therefore the look of the article wouldn't appeal to my target audience. I also felt the colours didn't create any connotations so it wouldn't work as a colour scheme for this particular article.
(pic)
I than began the design of my 2nd version, again over 4 columns. This is more of a unique layout which is fairly unusual to be seen in Women's lifestyle magazines. This layout was influence by and article in Cosmo mag, I found it really interesting and since I am of a similar age that my target audience are, I felt that this would also appeal to them. Two of my pointers cover over two columns and the other 4 are laid out in the same conventional way in which a normal magazine article would be. I then inserted 3 black, vertical guide lines to separate the text a bit more which would make my article look less text heavy. I have seen these guide lines used in several women's life style magazine where there is a lot of text so therefore I feel as though these were a good feature to include. I then chose 3 of my favourite pictures from my photo shoot:
I felt these images showed her stress levels the most due to the frown in her forehead and narrowed eyes. Her facial expression really show her frustration. I felt as though this photo shoot went really well as my model did exactly what I asked her to do which really showed in the images I was left with. After entering these images and creating a frame around them I was able to create a drop shadow which continued to create the layered effect which is evident in all magazines. I feel as though I created the layered affect fairly well as I overlap a lot of things and therefore I feel as though this is one of my stronger points within magazine production. Over lapping the numbers over the pictures and quote inserts really emphasised the layered affect as these are then brought to the front of the DPS to stand out.
I chose the colour yellow for the background of my quote inserts as the colour yellow creates the connotation of caution and therefore I feel as though this would work really well with my article. I also used this colour on the work 'mess' in my header as well as a scribbly font which also creates the image of stress. I feel as though the connotations I created in this article works really well, however, the black crackled text doesn't work on top of the broken glass of the image so I will need to change that as the header is what is meant to stand out the most from the page. I have kept the left hand side of the DPS with simply the header and kicker as text as due to the fact magazines tend to be skim read, they will happily read the header and kicker on the left hand side which will then entice them to read more. Also the fact I have done this on the left hand side encourages the audience to read it as the main body of text comes after it in the magazine. If it was the other way round they wont go back to read the actual article. To make the introductory paragraph stand out I have simply created a drop cap at the beginning of the sentence and made the font much bolder. I have also placed it at the top of the page flowing over all 4 columns. I feel i achieved the fact it is simple to follow as your eyes know where to go fairly well due to the numbers and the fact that we all know that English people read from left to right and top to bottom.
This week I also created my front cover.
I have done this week what I said I would which was finish of my 3 DPS's, which I have partially done apart from I replaced one DPS with the front cover. I began by editing the photo of my front cover using unsharp mask to make her eyes stand out more. This would make the eye connection much stronger enticing them to buy the magazine. I chose an image when she is smiling to firstly create a window to future self but also to create the connotations of a happy, bubbly magazine. I then, using photoshop, inserted my masthead on top of my image. I used a font called 'impact' as it iv very bold and recognisable which will create a strong identity for my magazine. I then thought of several sell line options for my 3 articles to include on the front cover and showed them to several members of my target audience. This is not something i wrote in my schedule but i thought it was a necessary thing to do as i wanted to see which they felt intrigued them the most.
This first sell line i chose was a command sell line for my stress article which i situated at the top left hand side of my front cover. I played around with fonts and colours until i found 2 fonts and colours which i felt look the most professional. I layered the word 'stress' by slightly over lapping it over the word above. This generic feature is used by the vast majority of magazines as i prevents them from looking flat. I then use and incentive sell line for my 'San, Sun and a flat tum' article as the vast majority of women are always wanting to improve the way they look. I again over lapped a few of the words and and added a soft drop shadow to make it stand out from the page. The 3rd sell line i used was a quotation sell for my real life story. This makes the reader want to read more and therefore create a hook on them. I always knew that i wanted a pastel orange to become my branding colour but i needed more colour on my front cover to make it look like a professional product. I always knew that blue and orange complimented each other well and therefore i thought this would be a great colour to use with it. It also make my product look original instead of the girly pinks and purples we see on the vast majority of women's lifestyle magazines.
Within the kicker I also highlighted 1 word in a different colour such as 'coming' and '8' as I thought these were significant enough to make them stand out a lot more. I also changed the font of the word 'Sun' in my header as I used a thin font for this and when I came back to it I didn't feel as though this went as well as I originally thought it did so therefore I made the header all one solid font.
I also made the introductory paragraph bold and changed its font size from 11 to 16 as this ensured that the reader knew exactly where to begin to read the article. I also included a drop cap at the beginning of that paragraph to make sure that it was 100% clear as to where to begin.
This week I also began to piece together my DPS for 'Stress Mess'. When I think of stress,
I think of people screaming, pulling their hair out and smashing things up so therefore I wanted all of these things to be evident in my article. I found my photo-shoot last week for this article very successful as I got some great images to include. The first idea I thought about was to create the font for the header looking smashed. I then had a better idea to make the entire image look smashed as this would then show a large amount of stress rather than just a small proportion on the header.
(pic)
I than began the design of my 2nd version, again over 4 columns. This is more of a unique layout which is fairly unusual to be seen in Women's lifestyle magazines. This layout was influence by and article in Cosmo mag, I found it really interesting and since I am of a similar age that my target audience are, I felt that this would also appeal to them. Two of my pointers cover over two columns and the other 4 are laid out in the same conventional way in which a normal magazine article would be. I then inserted 3 black, vertical guide lines to separate the text a bit more which would make my article look less text heavy. I have seen these guide lines used in several women's life style magazine where there is a lot of text so therefore I feel as though these were a good feature to include. I then chose 3 of my favourite pictures from my photo shoot:
I felt these images showed her stress levels the most due to the frown in her forehead and narrowed eyes. Her facial expression really show her frustration. I felt as though this photo shoot went really well as my model did exactly what I asked her to do which really showed in the images I was left with. After entering these images and creating a frame around them I was able to create a drop shadow which continued to create the layered effect which is evident in all magazines. I feel as though I created the layered affect fairly well as I overlap a lot of things and therefore I feel as though this is one of my stronger points within magazine production. Over lapping the numbers over the pictures and quote inserts really emphasised the layered affect as these are then brought to the front of the DPS to stand out.
I chose the colour yellow for the background of my quote inserts as the colour yellow creates the connotation of caution and therefore I feel as though this would work really well with my article. I also used this colour on the work 'mess' in my header as well as a scribbly font which also creates the image of stress. I feel as though the connotations I created in this article works really well, however, the black crackled text doesn't work on top of the broken glass of the image so I will need to change that as the header is what is meant to stand out the most from the page. I have kept the left hand side of the DPS with simply the header and kicker as text as due to the fact magazines tend to be skim read, they will happily read the header and kicker on the left hand side which will then entice them to read more. Also the fact I have done this on the left hand side encourages the audience to read it as the main body of text comes after it in the magazine. If it was the other way round they wont go back to read the actual article. To make the introductory paragraph stand out I have simply created a drop cap at the beginning of the sentence and made the font much bolder. I have also placed it at the top of the page flowing over all 4 columns. I feel i achieved the fact it is simple to follow as your eyes know where to go fairly well due to the numbers and the fact that we all know that English people read from left to right and top to bottom.
This week I also created my front cover.
I have done this week what I said I would which was finish of my 3 DPS's, which I have partially done apart from I replaced one DPS with the front cover. I began by editing the photo of my front cover using unsharp mask to make her eyes stand out more. This would make the eye connection much stronger enticing them to buy the magazine. I chose an image when she is smiling to firstly create a window to future self but also to create the connotations of a happy, bubbly magazine. I then, using photoshop, inserted my masthead on top of my image. I used a font called 'impact' as it iv very bold and recognisable which will create a strong identity for my magazine. I then thought of several sell line options for my 3 articles to include on the front cover and showed them to several members of my target audience. This is not something i wrote in my schedule but i thought it was a necessary thing to do as i wanted to see which they felt intrigued them the most.
This first sell line i chose was a command sell line for my stress article which i situated at the top left hand side of my front cover. I played around with fonts and colours until i found 2 fonts and colours which i felt look the most professional. I layered the word 'stress' by slightly over lapping it over the word above. This generic feature is used by the vast majority of magazines as i prevents them from looking flat. I then use and incentive sell line for my 'San, Sun and a flat tum' article as the vast majority of women are always wanting to improve the way they look. I again over lapped a few of the words and and added a soft drop shadow to make it stand out from the page. The 3rd sell line i used was a quotation sell for my real life story. This makes the reader want to read more and therefore create a hook on them. I always knew that i wanted a pastel orange to become my branding colour but i needed more colour on my front cover to make it look like a professional product. I always knew that blue and orange complimented each other well and therefore i thought this would be a great colour to use with it. It also make my product look original instead of the girly pinks and purples we see on the vast majority of women's lifestyle magazines.
Thursday, 6 February 2014
Project Monitoring - 28th January 2014
This week I completed a lot of things I planned to do next week but I felt as though this was the best way to do this by keeping certain things together rather then splitting them up between different articles.
I began to layout the bases of all three of my double page spreads. I have successfully completed the templates for 'Sea, Sun and a flat tum' and 'Stress mess' articles, however I chose not to begin on the 'How to tame you man article' as I felt it would be better to do everything associated with this article together rather than little bits here and there. This could affect the quality of my product as I would loose my creative spark and bond with the article which will have a visible effect on my product. I also planned to get feedback from the templates of my articles, but after creating them I thought that there wasn't much for members of my target audience to give solid feedback on so therefore I will wait until I feel as though they are presentable before I show them to member's of my target audience. Therefore I haven't created a questionnaire either.
In replacement of the things I missed out this week, I completed a 2hr 30min photo shoot for my font cover, Stress Mess and Sea sun and a flat tum. From this I got some really solid photographs which I am very happy with and think will make my product look very professional.
For my article 'Sea, Sun and a flat tum' I chose a fairly seductive pose, her eyes are facing forward and therefore they create a strong connection with the audience. There were other images I really liked and thought that would look very professional within my DPS. However her eyes weren't looking towards the camera and therefore it didn't draw the reader in as much which I found was very important due to the short attention span of my target audience. I chose to dress her in a pink top as I thought this went well with the colour scheme of my magazine. I also chose for her to wear denim shorts and these, along with the pink top, create strong connotations of summer which will be strongly emphasised along with the header of the article. I feel as though I created these connotations well so therefore they were one of my stronger points when creating this article. The way the butterfly lighting also reflects off her blonde hair, along with her pose, suggests she is sun bathing, creating this really solid connotation. If I were to do the shoot again I would make sure there weren't any shadows as this will be difficult to see text on, especially between her legs. I used unsharp Mask to sharpen her facial features as this will really define them and make the connection with the audience stronger. I also made her lips shinier as they will be inline with the beginning of the header and therefore are one of the main features the audience will see. I also used auto tone to emphasise the colours more and giver her skin more or a sun-kissed look.
After I was happy with the final touches too my chosen photo, I inserted it into my already laid out double page spread. I resized the image to fit perfectly along the top half on my DPS as this made her face closer creating a stronger connection. I then inserted the text from my article into separate text boxes for each tip. Secondly, I created several red guide lines as I felt that this was easier for my audience to distinguish one tip from another. I then created the sub-headers in the same font that I will be using for my header called 'Off the drugs' as it is important to stick to the rule of 3. I used a soft drop shadow on all of these headers to create layered effect which is generic of my genre of women's lifestyle magazines. I was then influence by an article out of Cosmopolitan magazine for my breakout box which is to use a vertical line of several speech bubbles which I thought was perfect for my breakout box as it is what members of the public have to say about the diet. After this, I created the sub-header 'Success' to go above the speech bubbles to show the audience that that was a different area to my article. Finally, I inserted the header which changes in colour from red to yellow as each word goes on. I overlapped a few of these words, again to create a layered effect and played around with the tilts and transparency until I found a style that I liked and the suited the style and genre of my DPS.
For my article stress mess, I simply added the text, again, into several text boxes for each tip. I created this article over 4 columns rather than 3 like I did for 'Sea, Sun and a flat tum' as I found a really unusual and interesting looking article in Cosmo magazine which really influenced this particular article. This week I also chose the main image I would use for this article and used subtle effects to make my model stand out more. I used unsharp mask to emphasis her facial features as this would really connect with the audience as the model is looking directly at the camera. I also used auto tone and auto colour to emphasis the colours in the image more. This wasn't the idea I had for my main image on this article as I wanted my model to look like she was seriously pulling her hairout. However, when going through the pictures from this photo shoot and illuminating them one by one until I chose a fave, this one really stood out to me. The way her eyes lock with the audience really draws you in and therefore I felt like this was the best image to use for my main image.
I began to layout the bases of all three of my double page spreads. I have successfully completed the templates for 'Sea, Sun and a flat tum' and 'Stress mess' articles, however I chose not to begin on the 'How to tame you man article' as I felt it would be better to do everything associated with this article together rather than little bits here and there. This could affect the quality of my product as I would loose my creative spark and bond with the article which will have a visible effect on my product. I also planned to get feedback from the templates of my articles, but after creating them I thought that there wasn't much for members of my target audience to give solid feedback on so therefore I will wait until I feel as though they are presentable before I show them to member's of my target audience. Therefore I haven't created a questionnaire either.
In replacement of the things I missed out this week, I completed a 2hr 30min photo shoot for my font cover, Stress Mess and Sea sun and a flat tum. From this I got some really solid photographs which I am very happy with and think will make my product look very professional.
For my article 'Sea, Sun and a flat tum' I chose a fairly seductive pose, her eyes are facing forward and therefore they create a strong connection with the audience. There were other images I really liked and thought that would look very professional within my DPS. However her eyes weren't looking towards the camera and therefore it didn't draw the reader in as much which I found was very important due to the short attention span of my target audience. I chose to dress her in a pink top as I thought this went well with the colour scheme of my magazine. I also chose for her to wear denim shorts and these, along with the pink top, create strong connotations of summer which will be strongly emphasised along with the header of the article. I feel as though I created these connotations well so therefore they were one of my stronger points when creating this article. The way the butterfly lighting also reflects off her blonde hair, along with her pose, suggests she is sun bathing, creating this really solid connotation. If I were to do the shoot again I would make sure there weren't any shadows as this will be difficult to see text on, especially between her legs. I used unsharp Mask to sharpen her facial features as this will really define them and make the connection with the audience stronger. I also made her lips shinier as they will be inline with the beginning of the header and therefore are one of the main features the audience will see. I also used auto tone to emphasise the colours more and giver her skin more or a sun-kissed look.
After I was happy with the final touches too my chosen photo, I inserted it into my already laid out double page spread. I resized the image to fit perfectly along the top half on my DPS as this made her face closer creating a stronger connection. I then inserted the text from my article into separate text boxes for each tip. Secondly, I created several red guide lines as I felt that this was easier for my audience to distinguish one tip from another. I then created the sub-headers in the same font that I will be using for my header called 'Off the drugs' as it is important to stick to the rule of 3. I used a soft drop shadow on all of these headers to create layered effect which is generic of my genre of women's lifestyle magazines. I was then influence by an article out of Cosmopolitan magazine for my breakout box which is to use a vertical line of several speech bubbles which I thought was perfect for my breakout box as it is what members of the public have to say about the diet. After this, I created the sub-header 'Success' to go above the speech bubbles to show the audience that that was a different area to my article. Finally, I inserted the header which changes in colour from red to yellow as each word goes on. I overlapped a few of these words, again to create a layered effect and played around with the tilts and transparency until I found a style that I liked and the suited the style and genre of my DPS.
For my article stress mess, I simply added the text, again, into several text boxes for each tip. I created this article over 4 columns rather than 3 like I did for 'Sea, Sun and a flat tum' as I found a really unusual and interesting looking article in Cosmo magazine which really influenced this particular article. This week I also chose the main image I would use for this article and used subtle effects to make my model stand out more. I used unsharp mask to emphasis her facial features as this would really connect with the audience as the model is looking directly at the camera. I also used auto tone and auto colour to emphasis the colours in the image more. This wasn't the idea I had for my main image on this article as I wanted my model to look like she was seriously pulling her hairout. However, when going through the pictures from this photo shoot and illuminating them one by one until I chose a fave, this one really stood out to me. The way her eyes lock with the audience really draws you in and therefore I felt like this was the best image to use for my main image.
Thursday, 23 January 2014
Project monitoring - 23rd January
This week I planned to complete my first article
'Sea, Sun and a flat tum'. I also planned to show this article to 4 members of
my target audience and receive feedback from them and then go onto make any
alterations. I successfully completed both these tasks and received feed back.
Before writing my article i wasn't sure which narrative to write my article in, therefore I wrote 3 very similar paragraphs in 1st person, 2nd person and third person to see which appealed most to my target audience. They all agreed that 2nd person was the most appealing as they really felt like they were part of the article and that they were being included. After showing them my written article, the only alteration they felt I needed to make to my article was on the kicker as it didn't
state that this article was step by step tips. After showing this to my target
audience, I was little concerned by the fact they only thought to change one
thing with my article as I wanted to have some good constructive criticism
therefore I decided to have another look at my article myself and construct my
own detailed criticism. When having I another look at my article I fell as
though I have the chatty nature of my article just right as too much can make
the audience feel as though my magazine isn't that serious about the subject
and therefore I need to get the tone of my article absolutely right. If it is
too factual and serious it wont appeal to my target audience but if it is too
chatty, this wont appeal either, as they wont take the tips I am giving seriously. I feel as though I could use more technical language as this will show I have
have done plenty of research and therefore really know my stuff.
I also feel as though I could come up with some better sub headers, maybe make them slightly comical as this will also appeal to my target audience well. I think the fact have used a statement at the beginning of each paragraph really works as this is a generic feature from women's lifestyle 'how too...' articles. Therefore I know this technique really appeals to my target audience. However, I feel as though i need to make all paragraphs roughly the same size as when I come to creating my double page spread then it will look more symmetrical which will appeal to my youthful target audience. I also feel as though the amount of paragraphs should be an even number, so I either need to add one more or remove one.
I also feel as though I could come up with some better sub headers, maybe make them slightly comical as this will also appeal to my target audience well. I think the fact have used a statement at the beginning of each paragraph really works as this is a generic feature from women's lifestyle 'how too...' articles. Therefore I know this technique really appeals to my target audience. However, I feel as though i need to make all paragraphs roughly the same size as when I come to creating my double page spread then it will look more symmetrical which will appeal to my youthful target audience. I also feel as though the amount of paragraphs should be an even number, so I either need to add one more or remove one.
The kicker before was: Summers coming and its that
time of year again us ladies dread... Getting back into a bikini!
The kicker now is: Summers coming and its that time
of year again us ladies dread... Here's 9 easy tips to get you back into that
bikini!
I also planned to research how to write a good interview article along
with completing my interview, writing the transcript and beginning to write the
actual article. Sadly, I have had to push this back as my interviewee had to
cancel and reschedule for a later date due to other commitments, therefore I
brought the writing of 'Stress Mess' forward to replace it. In effect, I have
just swopped the order in which I am writing the articles. I also planned to
show several header options for 'How to tame your man' to members of my target
audience but again I have put this on hold to enable me to to everything for
the article all at once.
I also said that this week I was going to complete my photo shoot, but due to my organisation and the times when my four models were free together, I have also had to put this back to the same time next Thursday. In the place of all this, I have done my research of 'Stress Mess' article and completed writing it. I have also planned my questions for what I plan to ask my interviewee in the interview. I found a lot more than I expected to write about in my article 'Stress Mess'. Simple things like eating the write foods and getting the right amount of sleep. This has changed the approach i am going to give this article as i'm going to write my article to PREVENT stress rather than manage it. I think this will be more useful as even those who do suffer with stress can use these tips, so it will appeal to a wider selection of my target audience.
Also for my 'Sea, Sun and A Flat Tum' article, I want to have a breakout box which includes a selection of people that have taken part in this diet and it has worked for them. I feel as though this will make the article more personal as regular, everyday people like themselves, of a similar age group have followed it and it had worked. This will encourage them to try the diet and hopefully it will work. I therefore created a survey this week for those participants to fill in as this would give me more information to add if need be. I also asked them to write their favourite part of the diet and why as this could be used as a quote so show the difference between different people making it appeal to a larger variety of my target audience.
I also said that this week I was going to complete my photo shoot, but due to my organisation and the times when my four models were free together, I have also had to put this back to the same time next Thursday. In the place of all this, I have done my research of 'Stress Mess' article and completed writing it. I have also planned my questions for what I plan to ask my interviewee in the interview. I found a lot more than I expected to write about in my article 'Stress Mess'. Simple things like eating the write foods and getting the right amount of sleep. This has changed the approach i am going to give this article as i'm going to write my article to PREVENT stress rather than manage it. I think this will be more useful as even those who do suffer with stress can use these tips, so it will appeal to a wider selection of my target audience.
Also for my 'Sea, Sun and A Flat Tum' article, I want to have a breakout box which includes a selection of people that have taken part in this diet and it has worked for them. I feel as though this will make the article more personal as regular, everyday people like themselves, of a similar age group have followed it and it had worked. This will encourage them to try the diet and hopefully it will work. I therefore created a survey this week for those participants to fill in as this would give me more information to add if need be. I also asked them to write their favourite part of the diet and why as this could be used as a quote so show the difference between different people making it appeal to a larger variety of my target audience.
Schedule
Production Schedule and monitoring
document
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Week
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Date
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Activity
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1
|
13th Jan
|
1 Schedule Creation: this
week I will be creating a detailed and realistic schedule to enable me to
create my product in an organized manor, following the objectives stated in
my treatment. My treatment will be in great depth and will include three
useful activities I will be able to complete as homework. These pieces of
work should take up to four hours per week in addition to my study periods. I
have chosen to do my schedule first as this will make sure that all my work
will run smoothly and effectively. It will help me plan so I know exactly
what I am doing and when and therefore I can use this time that I have most
effectively.
2 - Today I will look at the
commitments I have in my other subjects. This will help me to produce a precise
and realistic schedule. I will need to check with all of my teachers what
deadlines/exams I have in the next six weeks to make sure that non are missed
and therefore the production of my magazine can run smoothly. I will also be
finishing my Schedule, I have chosen to continue to finish this off for
another lesson as I want to make sure that everything is included and
therefore I wont feel as though I have forgotten anything and have to rush to
squeeze it in.
3 – Article testing/language identification, I will write 2-3
similar paragraphs on the same topic but in different narrative voices and
give each one a different tone. I will then give these out to different
members of my target audience to see which one appeals to them the most.
4 Project Monitoring & Begin to write my ‘Sea, Sun and a Flat
Tum’ article, from my audience research and internet research I will begin to
edit this article. I think it is important to write your article first as then
you really get into the topic, therefore your layout and colour schemes of
the DPS will reflect the article in the best way. I chose to begin this
article first as I used this article for my mock-ups, therefore I already
have a structure for this article, the research is completed in detail so it
will be the quickest to complete.
Homework 1: Complete my
interview – For one of my articles I will need to interview someone and
therefore I need this to be completed in depth before I begin to write my
article. Also this then doesn’t leave me held up and waiting for the
interview to happen before I can continue writing anything.
Homework 2: Create an
audience survey for ‘Sea sun and a flat tum’ for the member who took part in
the diet to see how much they lost as this will make my article more believable.
Write up the transcript of my interview, as this will help me to be able to
reflect and edit the parts I want to add to my article more effectively then
just listening to it.
Homework 3: Decide on the
areas of the interview I want to include and make notes on the ways in which
I could talk about them. Also show the areas to the interviewee to ensure
that they are happy and therefore my article will be 100% liable. Book photo
shoots.
Exams/other
subject deadlines: Tuesday 14th June – English language exam
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2
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20th Jan
|
1 Schedule Creation: This
week I will be continuing to write my articles, as this is what will create
and bring together the whole DPS. I will need to ensure I stick to a certain
word count as this will determine the correct text to image ratio. I will be
referring to any research I have completed previously as this will ensure
that the data included in my articles is 100% correct and I am not giving out
any false information.
2 - Today I will be
adding the finishing touches to ‘Sea, Sun and a Flat Tum’ and then showing to
members of my target audience to ensure that they find this interesting and
it would appeal to them. I think it is important to keep members of your
target audience involved as they will keep you straight and therefore it will
ensure my product will definitely appeal to my target audience in every
aspect. I will also research how to write interview articles and begin to
write ‘How to tame your man’ as I recently completed the interview and
therefore it will be fresh in my mind.
3. In this lesson I will create header options for ‘How to tame your
man’ and show to members of my target audience to see which appeals to them
the most. I will then continue writing that article as I feel as though I
will need quite a large amount of time to right this as ‘interview’ articles
aren’t my strongest point so these will take the longest time as I will need
to research the best way in which to write it.
4 Project Monitoring & photo shoot. I chose to do my photo shoot
next as this will then have me ready to create my DPS’s when I have finished
writing my articles so therefore things will still be running smoothly.
Homework 1: Finish the last part of my article ‘How to tame your
man’ and finish any research for my final article ‘Stress Mess’ as this will
then ensure I am fully able to get on with this straight away.
Homework 2: Begin to write ‘Stress Mess’ as once the articles are
out the way I can begin to design the layout and actual production of my
product.
Homework 3: Chose my favorite photos which I am going to use in my
DPS’s and edit them to ensure that the focus point of the image is what your
eyes are drawn to and there are no other distractions.
Exams/other
subject deadlines:
|
|
3
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27stJan
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1 Schedule Creation: This
week I am going to begin to create my DPS for the completed articles. I am
going to create the templates/ layout for all 3 double page spreads so I can
begin to create them after I have had feedback from members of my target
audience. I chose to do my double page spreads first as these take the
longest time to do as they are fairly fiddly. This lesson I will start by
creating the template for ‘Sea, sun and a flat tum’ as this is the first
article in my magazine.
2 Today I will create the layout for Stress Mess and How to tame
your man as layouts are fairly simple and therefore won’t take much time to
complete. Once these are out the way I can begin to add my photos/article and
things will finally start to piece together.
3 This lesson I will alter any changes my target audience feel
appropriate to me layouts. I will then begin to add my imagery to my first
article ‘Sea, Sun and a flat Tum’.
4 Project Monitoring & continue editing my first double page
spread until I feel as though I am happy with it.
Homework 1: Finish Sea, Sun and a Flat Tum layout to ensure next
lesson I have plenty of time to create the other two in the next lesson
Homework 2: Create questions for a focus group in which I will show
the 3 layouts to members of my target audience to receive feedback. I will
make sure this focus group is in as much detail as possible to benefit me in
the best way possible.
Homework 3: Perform questionnaire with members of my target audience
to get as much feedback as possible to ensure I am on the same wave length as
my readers.
Exams/other
subject deadlines:
|
|
4
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3rd Feb
|
1 Schedule Creation This
week I will be aiming to have completely finished my 3 double page spreads. I
have given these around 2 weeks as these are the most fiddly and complex and
therefore I feel as though they deserved the most time. Today I will be
starting to piece together my ‘Stress Mess’ article as this is less
complicated compared to ‘How to tame your man’. I will be creating the
background, adding the photos and the text.
2. I will then begin to repeat this process with my 3rd
article ‘How to tame your man’ background, pictures and text.
3 I will begin writing up sell line ideas for my 3 articles and
again show o member of my target audience to see which they prefer out of the
options. I will use a variety of sell line techniques to ensure that the
front cover is interesting and gives then lots of things to think about and
therefore they will definitely wan to buy the magazine.
4 Project Monitoring & add the masthead and main image to my
front cover, find out the colour code for my branding colour.
Homework 1: I will be finishing the last minute touches to ‘Stress
Mess’ e.g. creating the header and kicker.
Homework 2: Finish ‘How to tame your man’
Homework 3: Know exactly what sell lines I will be including on my
front cover ready for next week.
Exams/other
subject deadlines:
|
|
5
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10th Feb
|
1 Schedule Creation This
week I want to have finished my front cover and began creating my contents
page. I want to be able to have everything finished by the time I come back
after half term so the last week I can spend making any changes and
alterations without getting myself in a panic. This lesson I will start to
research fonts for my sell lines. I will then show a rough layout to members
of my target audience to see if this will appeal to them, if not I will make
any necessary changes to the layout.
2 Today l will begin to add the sell lines to my front cover. I will
ensure the colour scheme matches and I stick to the rule of 3.
3 I will begin adding the imagery and header to my contents page and
creating a rough layout. Again I will show this to members of my target
audience and receive feedback to ensure it will appeal. I will then make any
necessary changes.
4 Project Monitoring & I will look through several layouts of
magazine to make sure I feel as though my layout is a similar sort of style.
I will then finish completing my contents page then add the rest of the text
and sub headers.
Homework 1: Analyse target audience feedback and make sure any
changes that need to be made are done so. Finish any font research.
Homework 2: Ensure sell lines have finished being added to my front
cover.
Homework 3: Full complete the layout of my contents page.
Exams/other
subject deadlines:
|
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Half term
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17th Feb
|
Homework: Complete
Monitoring and make sure that blog elements are complete
|
|
6
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24th
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1 See focus group for the last time showing my front cover, contents
page and 3 double page spreads. Get feedback.
2 Make changes to 3 double page spreads in response to the focus
group.
3 Make changes to the front cover and contents page in response to
the focus group.
4 Project Monitoring & one last going over on everything.
Homework all week: Ensure that everything is perfect for Friday.
Exams/other
subject deadlines:
|
|
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3rd Mar
|
Audience/Assessor
Review Week
1 Create Audience
review questionnaire
2 Teacher
assessment of project
3 & 4
Complete prep work for evaluation E exam
Unit 5 Blog
Deadline 7th
March
|
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