critical reflection

2608 Corona, Ann

Boca Raton High SchoolUS818

AICE Media Studies 9607/01

Sixtween

House Style

Critical Reflection Questions #1

Masthead

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Main Coverline

Puff

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Issue Date

Bar Code

Cover lines are used to alert the readers what kind of contents that are going to be in the magazine.

The main cover line is the largest text o the cover other than the masthead. it normally correlates with the main cover image.

A puff draws attention or promotes an element of the magazine. They often advertise something they are giving away for free

A masthead The title of the magazine used to make the readers become more familiar with the magazine.

The issue date allows the reader to know when the magazine was published.The Barcode is where the price of the magazine is found and it is how it is paid for.

Masthead I used a white masthead with a black stroke around

the edge because it matched the outfit the model in the photo was wearing and it made it easy for the viewer to read with the background used.

I used that font for the masthead because it makes the masthead become noticeable and it goes well with the genre magazine. It is not a big, bulky, bold masthead because the audience is not geared mainly towards males, it is targeted toward females.

The name Sixtween represents the targeted audience. This magazine is for females that are too young for Teen Vogue, Seventeen, or Cosmo. It appeals to a younger audience in a mature way.

Cover Image I chose the cover image with a teen age girl wearing a white

dress with a jacket and black boots because I enjoyed the way she was posing holding her jacket and looking to the side. This appeals to the targeted audience because it is not a mature outfit, it is simple and appropriate for all ages even though the model is older than some of the readers.

This photo is placed on the page in the center so I had room to put the cover lines on the left and right third of the page as well as the masthead on the upper third.

The image relates to the cover story because the model in the photo is wearing new clothes and showing how they go together which is what the cover story would be about.

I chose to take the photo in front of a green bright colored bush because it really makes the dress stand out as well as complimenting the color of the jacket.

Cover Lines I placed my cover lines on the left and right third of the page. Cover lines

are important because they let the reader know what the content inside of the magazine is going to be. The font and size are also important because they can either attract the viewer and appeal to their eye or they can be the deciding factor of whether or not the magazine appeals to them.

I used a bold font for my cover lines so they can really attract the readers attention. I put a small stroke around the outside of the font so it easier for the reader to see the font with the green background. I made the main cover line larger than all of the other cover lines because that is the main article of the story and because it correlates with the cover image.

For the main cover line I matched the color to the jacket the model is wearing because it made t stand out much more than if it were the same color as all the others. I used black and white for all of the other cover lines because I didn’t want to use any colors that would take away from the colors in the cover image.

I inserted a puff on my cover page to draw attention to a product we are giving away for free.

Table of Contents

Cover line

Masthead

Summary of Article

2

A masthead The title of the magazine used to make the readers become more familiar with the magazine.

Cover lines are used to alert the readers what kind of contents that are going to be in the magazine.

The summary of the article provides the reader with a brief explanation of the article.

Table of Contents I chose to dedicate two pages to the table of contents so I

could include all 10 of my articles on one page and have a full sized picture on the other page.

Under each article title I included a short summary of the content in each article so that the reader would know what each article will be about. I arranged the text into two columns so it could all fit on one page. I put a photo on the left side of the page because I wanted to grab the readers attention with a photo that stands out and was different than the photo I chose for my cover image on the cover page.

The model in the photo is wearing a hat which correlates with one of the articles titled ‘Are hates the new trending style?’ I placed the model against a wooden background because it goes well with the casual outfit that the model is wearing.

Two Page Spread

Article Title

Kicker

Info graphic

Article Content

Article Content

By Line

Info GraphicPage Number

The kicker informs the reader of the story’s intention and links the headline and the body copy.

The article Content is the main part of the article and includes all information.

The by line lets the reader know who the author is who contributed to the text

Info graphics function as short news items or adjuncts to lengthy articles, data such as facts or statistics are located here.

Two Page Spread I decided to have the text wrap around the photo of strawberries

because that is the way I was able to have the most room for my article. Doing so also allowed me to room for info graphics and a kicker as well. Having the photo of the strawberries in the center of the page made the article look professional and presentable for all targeted audiences.

The photo attracts the readers the most. Even though people say not to judge a book by its cover people do so anyways because it is the first thing that they see. The photo helps the reader determine whether or not the article appeals to them.

The article is about the increase of obesity in our society and the foods that can help to slow it down and potentially stop it from increasing.

I used two columns of text because I wanted to have the text wrap around the bowl of strawberries and to do so I had to have two columns.

I used two info graphics and a kicker to draw attention to the text. I chose to use a bold, black Arial font size 20 because it was small

enough for all of the information to fit and large enough for the reader to easily be able to view it.

Representation

Gender

FemaleMale

Income

$0-$10,000

$10,000-$45,000

$45,000-$100,000

$100,000-$500,000

EducationAttending High SchoolHigh School GraduateAttending CollegeCollege Graduate

Representation Continued

The photography and the way the model poses helps to brand my magazine because it appeals to younger viewers. Studies have shown that the younger someone is, the shorter their attention span is. Therefore, when a magazine cover has several cover lines, pugs, puffs, taglines, etc. younger teenagers tend to become overwhelmed with the information and their attention gets diverted. This is why I have a limited amount of information on my magazine cover.

Recently, I have interviewed several teenagers from the age range of 12-16 asking what they prefer to see on the cover of a magazine. The majority of the teenagers have said that they prefer to read a colorful magazine because it makes them look at it longer. “I love seeing all the different colors and looking at the pictures of the clothes, it keeps me from getting bored with it,” says Rachel Hemsath (15).

Fonts types and sizes have an important role in engaging a certain audience in a magazine. For example, a family magazine may use a cursive font for some of the articles while a teen age magazine is going to use larger fonts that a younger viewer would understand.

Distribution I would publish my magazine through Meredith because

they don’t already publish a teen fashion/ lifestyle magazine and doing so can help their business prosper. If thy were to be passionate about my magazine it could help expand their company and broaden their audience.

My magazine is different from others because most magazines that have a target audience of young teens do not have a fitness and health section. My magazine will still have some of the content that more mature magazines have such as healthy eating/ dieting but will also include fun quizzes and cross word puzzles.

The market needs my magazine because my magazine is different and will be great competition with some of the best selling magazines (Seventeen and Vogue).

Production Skills

This is the very magazine cover I made this year. The title of the magazine is Sports Unlimited but the only kind of sports that are mentioned and shown are water sports. In the cover image, the a shallow depth of field was used but the horizon was not straightened. On the mask the initials written on the bottom ‘JC’ could have been covered up to make the photo look more professional. At the bottom of the photo, the the main cover line is written in all capital letters except for the f in fishing. There is only one cover line on this magazine cover when many more are needed. However, the masthead font does compliment the genre of the magazine and it does go well with the cover image.

Production SkillsThis was one of the first magazine covers that I made. This magazine cover does not grab the readers attention at all. The name of the magazine is ‘High School Athletes’ but the cover image is a photo of my dog. The cover lines don’t stand out and they are hard to read. There is no issue number or dateline. The pug does not really attract any attention and does not advertise anything that could really be a selling point for the magazine. As you can see the this is a sports magazine and shortly after making his magazine cover I decided to switch to a different magazine.

At this point in Photoshop I did not feel confident that I could produce a magazine that could actually make it in a competitive market and I knew that I had a lot to learn and a lot of learning ahead of me.

Production SkillsI chose the colors of the magazine so they could correlate with the colors on the football jersey. I did the same for the pug at the top left. I chose colors that would stand out and catch the viewers attention as well as match the photo. I could have made the mast head much bigger to use up some of the empty space at the top of the page. The cover lines could have been written in a nice font and a different color to get the reader interested. This magazine cover looks very dull and does not have a lot of color that could really capture the readers attention. One of the cover lines is not grammatically correct, there is no capitalization and it does not have any punctuation.

Since the past two magazine covers I made I think improved quite significantly in Photoshop making this cover much more attractive to a reader.

Production Skills

For this magazine cover I was able to incorporate the use of the traditional Halloween colors as well as correlating the colors that were on the pumpkin with the colors in the cover lines. I used a pug to bring attention to the fact that there are ideas for carving spectacular pumpkins. For the masthead I decided to put a stroke and outer glow on the text to accentuate the text and bring attention to it. I did the same for the cover lines except I used colors that matched the face that was previously drawn onto the pumpkin.

At this point in Photoshop I was capable of adding several different kinds of effects to the test. I was also able to include more conventions of the magazine.

Production Skills

This was one of my first drafts of the actually cover that I decided to do. As you can see, I decided to a fashion/ lifestyle magazine. On this cover I did not select her head correctly and part for her hair is fading away. The cover lines are overlapping onto her arm when there is empty space on the right third of the page. However, I do like the way the red font looks in the main cover line with the other colors in the photo. I also enjoy the way that the color of the puff compliments the rest of the colors on the page.

Production Skills

This was my second draft of the cover that I wanted to pursue as my final one. I did not like the way that her head and the hate was at the top of the page and covered part of the masthead. It looks like my masthead says Sixteen instead of Sixtween. The cover lines are not aligned evenly on the left third of the page and are going at a slant. I did enjoy the way that red the red was used for the main cover line matching the red coffee cup and the lipstick that the model is wearing.At this point in completing my project I

felt completely confident that I could produce a magazine that was fully capable of competing with others in a competitive market.

Production SkillsThis is my final draft of the magazine cover. Of all three drafts I liked this one the best because it the cover lines fit best and did not interfere with the central image or over lap it. I was able to select colors and fonts that complimented the models outfit and the colors that are being worn. I also enjoyed the way that the background made the color of the jacket stand out. This photo was taken with a shallow depth of field which made he cover lines much easier for the viewer to read. The masts head matches the photo and so do all of the colors included on the magazine cover.

From the start of my project till now I have improved significantly in Photoshop. The knowledge I have gained about all of the different tools in Photoshop have helped me prosper and complete some of my best work.

Production Skills

I made the background green to match the shrub in the background of the photo. I decided to put the the mast head at the top instead of labeling the page Table of contents because I thought it looked much more appealing and professional. I chose to put a bright green stroke around the outside of the title of each article to make it more noticeableand so the viewers can differentiate between the title of the article and the summary of what the article is about.At this point in Photoshop I felt as though I could really excel with what I was doing and I was confident enough to produce presentable work. I have become familiar with the use of the tools and the tasks they are capable of performing.

Production Skills

2

This was my final draft of my table of contents. I liked this one better than my first draft because I did not want to have a cover page that was mainly made of green and have a table of contents that is very similar to it. I want my magazine to have a variety of different photos. I thought that if I were to have a cover and a table of contents that are both green they would blend together and I would not keep the readers attention for long. When I first made this table of contents I outlined the text in a lime green to make the the cover lines more noticeable and have the text match the grass. As I messed with the colors I noticed that if I were to outline the letters the same color as the models tote it looked much better. The beige is much more subtle color and the yellow really compliments it making the text attractive.

Integrating Technologies This year I mostly worked in Photoshop to complete the majority of my

work. I mainly work with the quick selection tool which would select an object so I could change the background or help to smooth any edges. I also used the eye dropper tool so I could use the same exact color from an image and use it as the color of my font. Another tool I used frequently was the type tool to type any information that I needed to have in any of my projects.

I also briefly used InDesign this year to make my first table of contents. I was not a big fan of InDesign and I would prefer to use Photoshop over it. The table of contents I produced was not my best work because I had trouble working with the tools and figuring out how to use them in a whole new application.

This year I constantly used the internet to blog and look up information on the production and distribution of the magazines. I also used the internet to embed PowerPoint's onto my blog.

I have used PowerPoint to make a few presentations about magazines. I used Word to type my article.

Integrating Technologies

Table of Contents

2 Page Spread