4. CRITICAL REFLECTION QUESTIONS #1
#1 How does your product use or challenge conventions and
how does it represent social groups or issues?
This is the Masthead. It pops out to the
audience and it has both horizontal and
vertical typography to enhance it’s
appearance.
The whitespace makes the central
image stand out a bit more.
The central image is in the mid thirds when using
the Rule of Thirds. Seeing as it’s in the middle, it is
the direct point of focus.
This is the barcode. It makes the magazine
look more legitimate and ready to be
purchased.
The issue date is presented here. Seeing as it’s
around after New Years and Christmas, people
are looking into getting fit, so this magazine’s
articles are directed towards those people.
This is the main headline. It’s attached to the
central image to make it look the most
important. The item he is holding is supposed to
be a book and be similar to the “The 10
Commandments”, except it is the 10
commandments for Body Building.
These are the featured articles. They are
interesting to the reader because they
describe what will be in the magazine
and it is directed toward those who want
to make some results.
5. TABLE OF CONTENTS
The title of Table of Contents was
put here to allow the audience to
know what these pages are
about.
The two images used
were selected to preview
a few articles in the
magazine. One is a
picture of Matt Petrone
and a Mass Gainer, while
the other one is of him
flexing his massive biceps.
The one with the Mass
gainer in his hands
represents the “Tips to Get
Ripped” article and the
bicep flexing one is
referring to “Size Matters”.
The page number was placed in the
bottom left and right of the page
because that’s the traditional
magazine layout.
The masthead repeats in the top right
corner of the Table of Contents to
remind the audience of what they
are reading.
The issue date was placed
here to remind the
audience the time period
this was made and how it
relates to getting out of
their holiday bulk.
The whitespace between the
text and the images gives
the information more
independence and
importance.
The costume used represents
working out in the gym,
seeing as most males wear
tank tops to the gym.
The choice of articles gives the audience
information on what’s coming forward in
the magazine as well as tells them the
important articles and can skip straight to
the information they are interested about.
The articles are placed on a black gridded line to make
them pop out a bit more in the whitespace.
The images in the Table of Contents break the
regular codes of a typical magazine, as they are
placed somewhat horizontal to each other rather
than put in the thirds.
6. DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
The masthead is shown again to
remind the audience what
they’re reading.
The headline states what is
being sold and what is being
talked about to allow the
audience know what this article
will be about.
The text on the left is the given
information about the product that
tries to persuade the audience to
buy the product.
The symbols break down what this
product is going to do for the audience
and their goals. The change in color shows the transition of
page to page. The darker black represents
the first page, while the lighter black
represents the second page.
Just like the cover, the page
numbers are given in the bottom left
and right, which is very visible to the
audience.
The red and black layout
makes the product pop out a
bit more as well as matches
the color scheme of the
product.
An image of the product is shown to
tell the audience what the product
looks like and to further the want to
buy it, as it looks very legitimate.
The text used is Castellar Regular and is the same as the masthead,
because it is a readable font as well as it pops out to the audience a
bit more than regular Times New Roman.
The color of the magazine attracts to the reader as it is
similar to the image in the magazine.
7. #2 HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT ENGAGE WITH AUDIENCES
AND HOW WOULD IT BE DISTRIBUTED AS A REAL MEDIA TEXT?
Sex
Demographics
Male Female
- Photographs of muscular people catches the audiences eye and
makes them want to read more.
- The flexing pose of the people makes them look a lot bigger and
appeals to the audiences goal to get bigger.
- The house style has color contrast like red and black, which pops out a
bit more to the audience and makes it look less boring.
- Castellar Regular font looks more interesting than Times New Roman, so
it makes reading more bearable.
- The size of the text isn’t too large but it isn’t too small, so it is completely
readable.
- My groups magazine attracts the audience by adding a different color
scheme in comparison to other fitness magazines and it has articles they
want to read, rather than just fillers.
- People will want my magazine because it has information they want to
know about.
Age: 18-40
Gender: 60% Males/ 40% Females
Income Level: $13,000 a year
Geographic Location: Around the World
Education Level: High School
Primary Interests: Health/Fitness
Political Affiliations: N/A
Household Size: 4
Profession: Physical Therapy, Athlete, Fitness Model,
Bodybuilder
8. #2 HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT ENGAGE WITH AUDIENCES AND
HOW
WOULD IT BE DISTRIBUTED AS A REAL MEDIA TEXT?
Time Inc. is one of the highest selling distributors in the world. They don’t have
any bodybuilding fitness magazines. They only have sport fitness, so World of
Fitness would be a great add to their variety of magazines. My groups
magazine stands out from competitors as it has no filler information and
contains only information that the audience is interested in, like how to get
stronger and how to get more fit as fast as possible.
My magazine would be easy to publish, as the color scheme is very basic yet
very eye appealing. The cost would be pretty cheap, especially when our
magazine will have high selling rates. Monthly magazines generally work 3
months in advance so I need to plan ahead when producing a magazine
for print. The issue dates will refer to the current month and depending on
the season, I will tell the audience about how to either get bigger or how to
get more toned.
9. # 3 HOW DID YOUR PRODUCTION SKILLS
DEVELOP THROUGHOUT THIS PROJECT?
These are most of my rough drafts leading up to my final product. I believe that as
I went along I started to improve. In the beginning, my layouts were not as
complex as they are now. The amount of Photoshop I used as well as my mastery
of it came around towards the end. My ideas also weren’t as well thought out as
they are now. I now have better articles and more towards the interest of my
audience. The color scheme of my articles also became a lot more complex. I
started to use more contrasting colors like red and black rather than just black
and white. Overall, I see a lot of improvement in my work.
10. 4. HOW DID YOU INTEGRATE TECHNOLOGIES
SOFTWARE, HARDWARE AND ONLINE IN THIS
PROJECT?
- The type of computer I used for the magazines was a Dell Optiplex 3010.
- I used the chart option in PowerPoint to show my demographics of Male and Female
audience. This is not the first time that I’ve tried to incorporate a chart into a PowerPoint.
- I used Photoshop mainly throughout my making of the magazines. I tried to use Indesign to
make a couple of the two page spreads, but it didn’t come out right so I decided to just
stick to Photoshop.
- PowerPoint was used to make slideshows for the research of my magazine genre a few
times and to be posted on EduBlogs.
