final version!

This is the final version of my magazine! :)

jpg version:

Cover:

Table of contents:

Double page spread:

png version:

 Cover:

Table of contents:

Double page spread:

the end!

This is my second to last blog post! Here I will be including the youtube link to my Creative Critical Reflection below:

CCR

https://youtu.be/4P0rGzH7VI4

It's titled "Media Studies - Creative Critical Reflection by Maya Rojas"

time to reflect!

Hellooo again! For this blog posting, I'm going to be reflecting on my project overall as I am nearly finished. I have basically finished my cover, table of contents, and double page spread. Today I just recently finished up revising my article and applying the edits that my teacher suggested to the spread. So now I want to talk about some important moments in my project as well as changes from what I originally planned. 

One of the first unexpected things for me was realizing that I had to interview someone for my article. When my teacher told me this, I experienced a moment of panic, as I didn't know anyone in the fashion industry to interview. However, as soon as I figured out it could be someone in psychology as well, I immediately thought of Dr. Sugerman! I was so grateful when I found out that she would be willing to be interviewed, but another small obstacle occurred. Dr. Sugerman has not studied a lot on color psychology in and of itself. So, when I wrote my interview questions, I had to do plenty of research and gear my questions more towards psychology in general, relating several topics to color and perceptions. This was successful and I was able to get so much useful information and opinions from her through these questions. Then, all I had to do was take notes on the information and order it, then (attempt to) write the article in a concise and flowing way. 

Another aspect of this project that caused me difficulty was the photography aspect. I love taking pictures of nature, but I'm completely not accustomed to taking pictures of other people. During the process, I was very stressed out trying to figure out the best way to do things. But I did a lot of research that helped me out greatly, as well as getting advice from friends who have studied photography and were able to help me take more successful pictures. Once the pictures were taken, I did experience some difficulty in using the editing program at my disposal. But once I played around with it, I was able to edit all of the pictures that I needed. 

Once I had my pictures and was ready to piece together the magazine, it ended up being a lot more difficult than expected to put all the pieces together. The cover came together pretty quickly once I had my cover image, but my table of contents required a lot of thought. As I mentioned in a previous posting, I was originally planning on making the background of my TOC the same color as my masthead font, but once I really looked at this, I realized it looked somewhat tacky. This caused me to edit the color to be lighter and look better. I also did research on Vogue magazines to decide how long a typical fashion magazine would be in order to establish page numbers. I moved around the order and organization of my pictures on my TOC as long as the text a lot of times before finally being satisfied with it. 

And my double page spread was a similar process. I did still have some writing and revising on writing left to do when I started putting it together, but I had to be very careful with the spacing of everything since the first page of my spread includes so much content. I did end up being able to follow the format I planned for the spread completely, so I am happy that that turned out how I wanted.

All in all, I did run into a few obstacles when creating this project. However, I was able to work through these obstacles in the end through careful research and considerations. I am very proud of my finished product and happy that I was able to make my vision for this magazine come true. Now I am in the process of setting myself up for recording my CCR. I'm revising the content that I'll be saying while deciding which visual elements I'll be displaying. This is going very well, and I'm hoping to post it within the next few days. 

TOC part 2!

Hello! For this posting, I'll be working on constructing my table of contents as my cover is basically finished! I already had a template for my TOC, so all I have to do now is input my information.

I decided to switch up the picture collage template already present on Canva. It was hard to work with this collage as it didn't necessarily suit the pictures I have. It was somewhat harder than I anticipated to make my pictures and headings work with the template. I started inserting pictures and found the following four that I decided to utilize for this page (with respective headlines):

 staying waterproof at the pool!

 how color can change your life (2-page spread)

 how to keep those beachy waves

how to get tropical close to home

I organized these on the left-hand side of the page, then started organizing headline sections. I studied tables of contents in magazines such as Vogue to get inspiration for mine. Issues of Vogue have sections such as Every Issue and Seasonal that I decided to imitate for my magazine. Since my magazine is seasonal, I felt these sections would be fitting. 

This is an example of my table of contents while still in the works, with some of the past template still included. As can be seen, I organized three sections, On the cover, Seasonal Tips, and Style (which later turned into Every Issue as I mentioned previously). I am in the process of adding more headlines and adding page numbers. I also decided to make the TOC page the same color as the font of my cover page for continuity purposes. This color is part of my magazine's theme, as it is a very summer like color and bright and attractive. I kept the font I am going to use for my subheadings on my cover page as well, Cantata One. The smaller font is Libre Baskerville. 

I'm going to be finishing up my TOC and moving on to my double page spread now. :)

more pics!

 In a previous posting, I talked about why I chose to photograph a picture in a certain way. For this posting, I'll be going more in-depth into why I chose to take certain pictures the way I did. These are pictures that I edited and may be using for my spreads. I will also be talking about why I edited pictures in the way I did. 

 

1. This picture is displaying an outfit that I used for the cover of my magazine, on a different background. This picture is not part of the main article, as it is not mainly color related. For this picture, I photographed against a white wall, with the windows open to improve the lighting. I turned the camera to the side so it would be a vertical picture and took it from a lower angle. This made the model appear taller and emphasized the long skirt she was wearing. Her posture is relaxed and shows the slit in the skirt, which goes with the picture. I edited to make the colors appear brighter and make her stand out from the wall.

2. For this picture, I decided to utilize the leaves in my backyard to make the picture more visually interesting. The color in the leaves, as well as the shadows created by them, add an artistic aspect to the picture. The green shirt the model was wearing was matching with the leaves, which I emphasized by a green effect on the picture. I also centered the model in the middle of the photo to make her the focus. And, I had her smile for the picture as this matches the tone of the photo and goes with the sunny aspect coming in from the left.

3. To edit this picture, I added an orange effect. I did this with many pictures to emphasize the color being presented. I had the model use the column next to her to pose the photo better. I also took it from that angle to catch the sun's rays coming in from behind her. These made the picture more visually attractive and went with the vivid colors of the picture. 

4. I took this picture against a white wall to emphasize the colors in the model's outfit. Like in the other pictures, these colors were also emphasized by a pink color effect when editing. I increased the saturation to make these colors pop. The reason for her being in a corner of the room was so she could pose her hands and body in the way that she did, adding a certain tone to the photograph. This was taken head-on, at a bit of a lower angle. This angle also allowed her to pose her head as if looking off, which went with the tone of the picture. 

5. This picture is for one of my table of contents headlines. This was very hard to photograph because I had to ensure that I wouldn't be in the mirror in the picture. I wanted to be able to partly view the model in and out of the mirror, which I accomplished. However, I feel I should have tried to take it from a higher angle as it is somewhat awkward. Also, the towel showing in the background might not go well with the picture overall. I am still going to see if I can use it for my intended subheading, but it was definitely not the easiest picture to take. 

cover part 2!

For this post, I'll be considering the cover design for my magazine. I already know the picture that I'm considering for this cover, so all I have to do is decide on a general design and color scheme. I'd already looked at cover ideas on Canva, and I want to use my favorite template, this sample cover. 

I removed the original information on the cover, but I do like the font style on it. I still had not decided on the name, so I made this choice to start planning. I like the Italian vocabulary in fashion as it is central in the fashion industry. However, I was worried that it would come off as difficult for those not familiar with the romance languages to understand. I liked stile (style), but that's already a word with another meaning in English. I also liked alta moda, but I'm aware that the meaning for that (high fashion) is hard to understand. So, I decided on the name Modello for my magazine. It is similar to the English word "Model" so I believe that it should be pretty easy for people to understand its relation to the fashion industry. 

As for color, I debated a lot on the different colors I could draw from. I wanted to make sure the colors I chose went with a summer look. I also wanted the color to go with something in the picture. This is an example of a summer toned color palette I found:



from Quora

I like a color somewhere in between the salmon and coral shades, as I feel that they go with a color in the picture I'm considering. So for now, I found a color like this in the Canva font color options. It's a bit brighter, but it has summer tones. If I was to change my idea for the cover picture, I would most likely change this color. So for now, I have my title in place, with the general format, I just need to place my picture and headlines. 

I'm in the process of editing my picture, so I need to figure out what headlines will be on my cover. I've decided one these headlines so far:

- how to keep those beachy waves all summer
- fitness tips to keep your summer bod
- sundresses and more!

- staying waterproof at the pool!

- 50 beauty secrets to stay in style

And then the main headline, "How color can change your life"

As soon as I finish deciding on my cover picture, I will update on the new version of the cover! This is the current version: 

revising!

Last night, I posted about the writing process of my article and how I utilized my interview information. So today, I shared this draft with my teacher so she could give me some general advice on how to improve my writing. She said several things to me that were very helpful in revising my article. Here I'll reflect on her tips:

1. Don't use exclamation points

This seems pretty obvious in hindsight, I just added a few exclamation points to add expression to my writing. I removed these few and will keep in mind not to use them in this style of writing. 

2. Don't use "things"

I knew using this word would be a mistake because it's much to general. I won't use it in the future.

3. Make wording more specific and explanatory

This was probably one of the most important tips. This applies a lot to my article overall. The wording that I use is not very specific and doesn't directly refer to what I'm saying. This is a product of knowing what I'm saying in my own head but not explaining it correctly. I'm going to work on this by providing examples and stating things directly. 

An example of this would be the following:

"She maintains that these can be indicative of the aspects of someone’s personality. This proves that if you’re trying to be seen in one way or another, you can use color to create this perception."

I replaced these sentences so they would directly state what I was saying.

"So if you want to be seen as a more social and outgoing individual, then wear brighter colors. To contrast, if you want to seem more serious, wear more muted tones. "

I don't know if I will keep these sentences as they are, but I do know that they make more sense now with what I meant to say.

4. Don't reference Dr. Sugerman as much

I know that I will still be referencing her a lot because she's my interviewee. However, I understand that I should mention her less often. I was mentioning her so much to begin with because I thought that stating things in the article without her input would lessen their credibility. But now I understand that I should mention her less and use the words "She believes" or phrases like that less often.

5. Don't say "in the interview" as often

This makes sense, as my audience obviously knows that I'm interviewing Dr. Sugerman. I don't need to keep repeating this fact.

6. Include more of my own voice

This sort of goes with what I said previously about referencing Dr. Sugerman. When I name her less in the written content, I can add more of my own input and thoughts. I will be implementing this overall. 

7. Revise 2nd paragraph

8. Improve the general flow of the article, as some of the wording is awkward.

Overall, Mrs. Stoklosa mentioned that I have good content and good quotations from Dr. Sugerman. I know that if I continue to revise with these techniques, I'll be able to improve my writing and create a better magazine.