Media Studies Blog

Revised  Original The last page of my article needed similar revisions as my first. I performed the same steps in changing the background for the same purposes. I got rid of one picture that wasn't mine and replaced it with a picture from a rehabilitation aquarium that saves sea turtles (on right). The other picture (left) was taken on a family vacation where we actually got an opportunity to swim with sea turtles. That was one of my main reasons why I thought of writing about them. I added the same border to continue with the format in order to show organization and I added branding to my page. Last but not least, I justified my columns to even out the text. 

Revised Original The article pages were probably most in need of revisions out of the whole magazine. First things first is the colored background. It was brought to my attention that publishing hundreds of magazines with colored ink would cost much more for production rather than printing with less color and not spending as much on production. I changed the background to white and added a border for a little pop of color and design. The pictures in the original were not my own and were mainly there just for temporary purposes until I had my real pictures. I inserted a picture of a turtles nest to represent the beginning of the article and the beginning of life. I made my title simple and easy to read to make sure that i was getting the reader straight to the point. I added branding to my page to show professionalism and i justified my text to make the column appear more even and organized. The justification of the text also left out unwanted white space. After changing the ...

Revised Original For my table of contents i wasn't planning on revising anything because i thought it was perfect until my classmates opened my eyes to some of the problems. The two inserted pictures in the top right corner on the original were mainly to cover the blank space considering we just started the project and I didn't have any solid pictures yet. My classmates said that the pictures didn't fit in and just felt unneeded. I then inserted a different picture of my dad that could go in for one of the articles listed to show connections to the pages. Once I revised the pictures, I then was made aware of the overlapping of the words and the background horizon line and needed to change it because it made it the background look tilted and made he words more difficult to read. I also added branding to my page to add a professional touch.  The color scheme at the final seemed to flow a lot more than the original. After all the revisions, I felt that there was n...

Revised Original From my first setup of my cover I had several different fonts thinking that they would be more attractive to look at and catch my reader's eye. However, my classmates, during feedback, informed me that the many different fonts made it a little confusing to read and looked unorganized. Therefore, I revised the fonts to 3 different types. My classmates also informed me that the blank space under the title in the top left made the page boring and lacking. To fix this, I inserted another article title that I thought was important from my flat plan. To make the page look more professional and to show editing skills I added in the duplicate insert and a shadow effect to the title hoping it would make it stand out more.     

How did you integrate technologies - software, hardware and online - in this project? I used a school computer, specifically an HP EliteBook, throughout class to produce my magazine. I used Publisher to create my magazine layout and to type out all of my content. I was more familiar with using Publisher considering I took a class to get my Publisher certification. In Design conducts more professional looking products, but takes much more time to create the magazine setup. I used Word to type out my article which I then inserted it into text boxes on Publisher in order to get the maximum space of content that I needed to efficiently support my topic. I also used Publisher to create my flat plan for my magazine at the very beginning of the project. I used my flash drive to insert pictures from my computer at home of turtles that I took on vacation and at aquariums where they rehabilitate turtles. At some points I also used pictures from my phone using a USB charger. I would screens...

How did your production skills develop throughout this project? During the beginning of the project, I was just developing skills that make magazines successful and all the factors that go into production, themes, and what connects my article to target audiences. Throughout I had to focus on my topic and target audience and what will help make my magazine more popular. I relate to the audience and families throughout my article by providing situations that would be effected by the problem with turtles being harmed. For example, you wouldn't be able to see as many turtles, and instead of marveling at them lay their eggs you would see one wash up on shore dead. I revised my cover and article pages to look more professional and use up less color to print and simpler fonts so that less money would be spent in the long run, as colored font costs more money. As production continued I tried to incorporate more information that would be interesting to the environmental activists.

How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text? My magazine engages with the audiences in spiking their interests in what is going on in the environment during every issue. In my layout I included local cleanups and volunteering opportunities that could engage the audience to help the environment. I also include problems and solutions to fix those problems that my audience can participate in. Participation include donations to local websites where the audience can join monthly donations to organizations that use the donations to help with cleanups and supplies. They could also go on my website or participate in purchasing my magazine from my distribution sites in their city.

How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues? My magazine, like many other environmental related magazines, connect pictures to distribution sites, to color themes to relate it back to the main articles. For example, my magazine cover shows a turtle on it which relates to my main article which is about turtles and ocean pollution. I had to include themes, titles, and fonts along with font sizes and styles to appeal to all age audiences. I have a wide range of social groups due to the topic that my magazine covers. Wealthy and lower class people have the ability to get access to the magazine and enjoy the content. However, people who enjoy the environment and care about the health of the environment will be more attracted to read about the issues covering pollution and endangering marine life. With the problem of pollution and environmental dangers always being around, I will always have news to publish which will keep my audienc...

My second distribution research post was focusing more towards sites that wouldn't necessarily be related to my article topic. I focused more on target audience which would vary from all ages. I might look for a cheaper company to distribute my magazine considering that I will put it up on a wider variety of sites so that the revenue would equal out to be the same as if I posted on less sites that would get more attention. MagCloud is cheaper than the previous company for distribution and they can distribute to a wider variety of sites in a group plan. My magazine would attract all ages and catch the eye of people that might not even favor reading about the environment.