Introduction
Hi, my name is Nicole Arrieta and I have created the magazine, Compass, for my AICE Media Studies project. I would like to begin my Creative Critical Reflection by describing exactly what Compass is and what it is not. First and foremost, Compass is an elegant and engaging magazine that appeals to everyone, regardless of age, interests, or geographic location. When planning and designing this magazine, I wanted to make it as open and inclusive as possible by refraining from focusing on solely one subject, but rather discussing a range of topics. Compass is unlike almost all other magazines in this regard, as most magazines are built upon one unifying theme such as entertainment or news, while my magazine delves into scientific, entertainment, new, and world issues. I was inspired to incorporate this selection of categories by analyzing the diverse topics that interest me personally. In my daily life, I try to remain informed about each of the aforementioned topics, as I believe that this knowledge is what constitutes a responsible global citizen. I believe that the underlying ideology of inclusiveness and variety in my magazine is strategic in that it makes my target audience, and therefore readership, as broad as possible, thereby increasing profits, brand recognition, and sustainability of the business.
1. How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?
I intentionally created my product to challenge traditional conventions used in magazines. As I mentioned previously, unlike many magazines that focus on one topic or interest, my magazine attempts to keep readers informed about a wide variety of topics, ranging from current issues and world events to scientific breakthroughs and entertainment news. My desire to do this arose from my frustration with the massive amount of gossip and entertainment magazines for sale, which, in my opinion, lack substance. Of course, I am aware that people are eager to learn about the lives of the rich and famous, and therefore purchase these magazines quite often, which is why I have incorporated the entertainment section in my magazine. This allows me to prevent losing this section of the readership, while still creating an interesting, educational magazine. My product also attempts to blend social groups by providing information from a multitude of perspectives. I believe that this blurs the line between groups and appeals to as many people as possible. Furthermore, my magazine is able to represent virtually any issue due to the range of categories available to encompass a given topic. I think this is an incredibly unique quality of my magazine because I am not limited to what I am able to incorporate into the magazine, and can therefore prevent running out of inspiration or material about one subject. The fact that my magazine can appeal to and represent virtually everyone is beneficial in a business aspect as well, because it means that my readership is not limited to just one country, and therefore the magazine can be distributed and read worldwide. This helps ensure that my magazine is as successful as possible.
2. How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?
My product primarily engages with audiences by presenting compelling, current information in a visually attractive manner. I have a strong interest and background in art and graphic design, which allows me to create an aesthetically pleasing layout for the magazine that readers can appreciate. By analyzing and critiquing magazines in the process of developing Compass, I realized how important aesthetics are in engaging readers. By simply scanning the page and looking at graphics, pictures, and quotations, I was instantly able to determine which articles I was interested in reading. From this, I knew that in order to ensure that my magazine draws readers in and keeps them interested, I would need visually stimulating graphics and layouts. Another way that my magazine aims to engage with audiences is by providing information on topics that readers may not have heard about, which helps keep the readers interested and eager to read each issue. Of course, if every article was old news or something that the reader was already well aware of, they would not be very inclined to read my magazine.
So, as of now, my magazine can be distributed through the website JooMag.com, which is a resource that presents magazines online and via mobile devices to readers. Through this site, I would be able to earn revenue in a variety of ways, including desktop and mobile readership as well as physical distributions. Also, at the bottom of the table of contents page, I have included links to several social media platforms, which would serve as another method of distributing my content. By sharing links and articles on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, I can ensure that my media is available to the massive populations of those sites. Furthermore, people’s ability to like and share the content that I produce would allow for others to learn about and have access to my magazine. The outreach and advertising opportunities that these websites provide are indispensable to my magazine. Ideally, Compass would have its own website and application to allow for online and mobile readership with increased profits. Additionally, I would like for my magazine to be distributed in newsstands and grocery stores, where people commonly purchase magazines. I feel that this combination of distributing methods would make it easiest to provide worldwide access and create an international brand.
3. How did your production skills develop throughout this project?
My production skills were enhanced greatly over the course of this project. As I was working on creating blog posts and designing the magazine, I learned how to efficiently budget my time and complete all of the necessary elements of the magazine. Additionally, perusing the magazines for sale in my local grocery store and then working to create my own, allowed me to understand the factors that go into creating an effective and engaging magazine layout. For example, when designing my two-page spread, I incorporated elements of other magazines that I found appealing such as even text column sizing and spacing and bold, yet minimalistic imagery. Prior to creating this magazine, I did have experience creating layouts for publications, however, those projects did not require the same level of consideration of the audience, aesthetic appeal, and cohesiveness that this magazine did. Furthermore, I learned how to produce effective advertisements. I had never done anything like this before, so initially, it was quite difficult to brainstorm the product, slogan, and image that I would use in my magazine. In researching magazine advertisements, I was drawn towards both humorous and minimalistic advertisements for completely different reasons. I appreciated the positivity and memorability that comes with a humorous advertisement, but also gravitated towards clean, sparing designs. I found it surprisingly difficult to balance all of the different variables that go into an advertisement such as the target audience, brand, and appearance that the advertisement should give off. Even after I had decided on these aspects, I then had to plan exactly how I would create the advertisement in order to make it look like how I had initially envisioned. This taught me important lessons of production such as scheduling and time management, as well as the idea that my expectations and plans have to be realistic in terms of what I am capable of producing.
4. How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?
Virtually every aspect of this project required the use of technology. For example, in order to create the magazine’s graphics and layout, I used a combination of Adobe InDesign and Illustrator. Thankfully, I am very comfortable using these programs and I feel that I was able to create attractive, professional graphics that lend my magazine a very refined look. In researching magazines to base my design off of, I realized that almost all magazines utilize a combination of vector art and digital photography, which fits well within my skillset. Prior to beginning this project, I had completed other projects such as designing album art for a local musician and creating the cover for my school’s literary magazine, but I did not have experience creating elements specific to this type of magazine such as the table of contents layout or two-page spread. Another technology that I utilized was Joomag.com, which was used to compile the final layout of the magazine. This website was extremely useful because it displays the uploaded content in the format of a realistic-looking magazine, which made it very easy to see how my final product would look. I also used image-editing software such as Adobe Photoshop to create the advertisement in my magazine. I think that using this software allowed me to create a unique, eye-catching advertisement that would not have been possible to make without the use of some sort of editing software. One essential form of technology that was used throughout the entirety of this project was my cellphone. Throughout the course of creating this magazine, I used my phone to record notes and ideas for the magazine, as well as take pictures of magazine layouts and advertisements that I came across so that I could view them and find features that I liked at a later time. I do not think my final product would have been nearly as good without the use of this technology.
Conclusion
Ultimately, I am very proud of the product that I have created, and I am glad to have gone on the journey of creating my own magazine. I have certainly learned a lot from this experience, and feel that it has changed my perspective on the production process. Thank you and I hope you enjoy my product!
