Mid-Term Draft

Magazine TItle Logo

This is the first title design that I created. This title is heavily inspired by the GQ magazine where they made their letters transparent and overlapping each other. I want to create a very minimalistic title that is more classy than super bright and exciting. The color scheme of my letters will vary depending on the image I put on the magazine cover.

Magazine Table of Contents Template

This will be my first magazine table of contents template draft. For my table of contents I will not just have a list of heading, but I will have a sporadic effect where I will place an image behind the heading. The headings will be in the Century Gothic font like the cover. I will also place the title of my magazine on the table of contents which will be in the Arial Black font also like the cover as well. This will also not be set in stone as I will come up with more drafts along the way.

Magazine Cover Template

This will be my first magazine cover template draft. For my magazine, my title will be at the top left corner. The of my title my magazine will in the Arial Black font. I chose Arial Black because it was simple and not too extravagant. The article blips will be located all on the right side of the magazine so there will be a more of a clearer view of the picture that will be in the background. The article blips will be in the Century Gothic font because it is personably my most favorite font and it goes very well with my title. The font will also be bolded so they will be easier to see over the image. I will also feature an issue name of my magazine because from the research I'v done most of the magazines have the issue stated on the cover. This layout will not be set in stone yet has I am still trying to come up with more creative designs as I continue with this magazine project.

Research #5 Essence

The final magazine I am going to analyze is the December 2017/ January 2018 Essence magazine. This magazine feature Kofi Siriboe. The main colors of this magazine is gray and purple. The title of the magazine is purple and it is centered at the top of the magazine. I have notice that a lot of magazines have the head of the person featuring in their magazine cover parts of the magazine title. In this magazine Siriboe is covering the two middle letters in the title "Essence." The article blips are located at the sides of the magazine like most magazines. The color of these article blips are white, black, and yellow.

Half the magazine is composed of advertisements - also like many other magazines. The ads in this magazine are mostly clothing brands, makeup or department stores, for example the magazine has advertisements on JCPenney, and Loreal.

the article that I first flipped to was titled "We Didn't Do Better," with a picture directly on top. To start the article the first letter was bigger and bolder than the rest of the text. Quotes in the magazine also bigger and bolder than the rest of the text. In the article the text would wrap around the pictures.

Research #4 Porter

My next magazine I will analyze is the issue 23 Winter 2017 Porter Magazine. The title of the magazine, "Porter," is in white. Every letter of the tile is in caps at normal up right font except the italicized lower case "e." This magazine cover is very colorful with what the model, featured on the cover is wearing. Her outfit is composed of reds, blues, blacks, pinks, yellows, and greens. On the sides of the cover is where the magazine placed the article blips. The main article has the biggest text compared to the other ones. the text is also white like the title. The background of the magazine has a female model with her surrounding blurred. Like most fashion magazines, this magazine is composed of many advertisements of high end clothing brands like Louis Vuitton and Rolex. Most advertisements take up multiple pages such as LV which takes up 4 pages. Articles in the magazine has big pictures that take up most of page leaving a little space for the text in the article. The first article that I flipped to has a large picture taking up the whole page on the right and also takes up half the page on the left page leaving the other half  of the page for text. This article is about how the clothe people wear symbolized who they are. There also pages in the Porter magazine where it enables readers to shop directly off the pages. Porter magazine has been increasing 20% year on year. The average income of their readers is $178,000 a year and spend $18,000 on fashion.

Research #3 Vanity Fair

the next magazine that I'm going to analyze is the November 2017 Vanity Fair Magazine. This magazine has Alex Rodrigez and Jennifer Lopez on the cover. The cover of this magazine is light with colors of white, light gray, and a blue ocean. The title of the magazine, "Vanity Fair," is located at the top of the magazine and is the width of the magazine. The "I," "T," and "Y" in Vanity is being covered by both Jennifer and Alex's head's. The magazine has Alex and Jennifer positioned in the middle, leaving space on the sides to show off article titles in the magazine. Under the titles are the authors of the articles. The color of the magazine has a gradient color having dark gray at the top fading into a light gray. The rest of the text in the cover is black, white, and red. Most advertisements in the magazine are mostly clothing brands such as Ralph Lauren and Gucci. In the Ralph Lauren ad, there is a page that can fold out showing more pictures. Their are also a lot of advertisements on perfumes and colognes. The first article that I flipped to was called "The Good, the Bad, an the Truly Meaningfully Dangerous. " This article wasn't really focused much on fashion but was about the opportunities and pitfalls of modern day fame. I noticed that in most magazines I analyzed, the articles are not necessarily about fashion but about other subjects as well. the total circulation of Vanity Fair is 1,232,588 as of June 2016.

Research #2 V Magazine

For my next magazine, I am going to analyze the 110 Winter 2017 V Magazine. This magazine cover is very unique and minimal. The cover of this magazine features Daisy Ridley, an English actress that was in the 2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the 2017 Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Like the previous magazine I analyzed, the GQ magazine featuring Chance the Rapper, Daisy Ridley also takes up most of the cover. Layered over the picture of Daisy Ridley is a big V about the length and width of the magazine in an oil slick silver color. The text on the cover also has an oil slick finish. The content in this magazine is mostly advertisement showing off brands of clothing, such as a brand named Saint Laurent that occupies four pages and Louis Vuitton which takes up two pages. In this magazine there are very few articles. the first article that I came across was title Abbey Road. The article is spread through two pages and displays two pictures of Abbey Lee, an Australian actress, one picture on each page covering about half the pages from the top to bottom. Below the images is the text of the article. This article is about Abbey Lee's acting career on how she became popular after debuting in the the movie called Mad Max. Although there are a few articles in this magazine, most of the articles are about different fashion senses and opinion by famous fashion designers. The V Magazine releases four issues a year, one for each season. As of 2010, the V Magazine has a readership of 315,000.

Research #1 GQ

For this magazine project I am going to start analyzing different magazines to look for conventions and get inspiration for when I create my own magazine. For my first magazine it is the GQ magazine for the month of February 2017. The cover of this magazine features Chance the Rapper, a famous United States musician, standing with his hands at his hips, smiling, taking up most of the space on the cover. The background of the cover is yellow and half the "Q" in the GQ logo in the top left corner is being covered by Chance's head. At the corners of the magazine there are title summaries of article in the magazine in the text colors of black and red. Turning to the first page there is an advertisement about a Chevrolet car where the image of the car takes up both pages. Turning to the next page there is another advertisement advertising Dolce and Gabbana clothing -again, taking up both pages from left to right. Being a fashion magazine, most of the ads are about high end fashion brands along with some deodorant, perfume and cologne advertisements. The first article I ran into in the magazine is about skin-care treatment and mens grooming. In this GQ magazine there is a page that recognizes all the editors, publishers, designers, and directors of different department of the magazine. the U.S GQ magazine has an average paid circulation of 824,334 issues per month, of which 609,238 were subscriptions.

Project Selection - Decision

I have decided to create a magazine instead of a film for my project. Creating a magazine is best fit for me because I already have a background in graphic designing in the classes I've taken in the past and I have brainstormed a lot more ideas about a magazine than a film. Graphic designing is also a job that I've been think about pursuing and making a magazine will be a good way to see if the job will be right for me. Ideas that I have thought about for a magazine are a baseball, fitness, or a fashion magazine. I am leaning towards a baseball magazine because I currently play baseball, and I am able to interview my coaches, my teammates, and take pictures where we practice and play games. I am also leaning towards a fashion magazine because there is more options to be more creative. In a fashion magazine, I am able to have photo shoots to display outfits I create. For this project I will be working alone. 

Project Selection - Film

What I have learned so far about film production are all the different shots, lighting, and music editing used to produce a film. I learned that all of these aspects have meaning in them to convey a specific emotion in a scene of a film. In class we watched the movie called Ferris Bueller's Day Off, which was about three teens skipping a day of school to have the best day of their life. This movie taught us what was called, "breaking the fourth wall." Breaking the fourth wall in a film is when the actor or actress speaks to the audience, Ferris Bueller's Day Off was one of the first movies to do this. What interest me on making a film is that it is something I have never done before and I am able to create my own edits. Creating a film maybe challenging to me because I am not the best actor and I'm a bit soft spoken, this can affect the overall outcome of the film by making lines in the film sound awkward and hard to hear.

Project Selection - Magazine

Graphic designing was always something that interested me. I specifically enjoy designing my own logos with shapes and text offered on Microsoft Word. Before taking AICE media studies, I took a class called DIT (digital information technology), this class took me through the steps on how to use the Microsoft programs such as Word, Powerpoint, and Excel, into mastery levels. Since taking this class, I've been able to create more complex designs which will help me create a magazine in media studies. The first exposure I had to print journalism in this class was by watching the movie All the President's Men. This movie was about two men, who work for the Washington Post, search for credible sources to crack the code on the Watergate scandal. This movie showed the environment of how a big newspaper company operated and the process on how they put out their articles. I learned that there are many steps in publishing an article in the newspaper; first, you have to back up what you claim with credible, on the record, sources and second, be the first to give out the information. These points were also presented in the series we watched in class called the Newsroom. A challenge in this project might be the process of getting uses to new editing programs such as Photoshop, however, once I learn the techniques, it will become easier.