Cover research

Before I move on to plan my magazine, I wanted to see helpful tips and ideas that I can benefit from to make my cover page. I found a few websites that guided me in making my cover. They emphasized the true importance of cover images and how they are the key of first impression to the magazine. The cover should contain the main topic covered in the magazine and be pleasing to intrigue the viewer to want more.

Another helpful tip mentioned is that magazines that use the pop of color as a style in the magazine are often a good idea in that they catch the reader's attention.A magazine's font is also an essential aspect in that it could interfere with the reading and it brings on a different mood/tone to the magazine. Speaking of style, it was also mentioned that if a style is used it should be consistent throughout the magazine. These are all helpful ideas that I may incorporate in my magazine.

In addition,  I found a few interesting cover page looks on my Pinterest account. These cover images followed a few of the conventions that the websites went over.



 For example this cover page that I found on my Pinterest follows the pop of color technique with the font color and the landscape image to attract viewers. In addition, the font style is unique and it changes the mood of the magazine making it more peaceful. This magazine follows a minimalistic style that I really enjoy and may incorporate to my magazine cover.









Resources:

“10 Tips for Designing High-Impact Magazines.” Design & Illustration Envato Tuts+, design.tutsplus.com/articles/10-tips-for-designing-high-impact-magazines--cms-25956.


“Magazine Design: 9 Incredible Tips You Can Try Now.” MagLoft, 29 June 2018, www.magloft.com/blog/incredible-magazine-design-tips/.

Travel magazine but what is the main focus?

Living in South Florida fortunately gives me the advantage on creating my travel magazine about cities around here.  Throughout my time here I have visited cities such as West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, and Miami. All of these places have great potential to be talked about in my magazine. However, I believe I should choose a city that I am most familiar with and it will be Miami. This city is just forty minutes away and it won't be much of a hassle to go there!


I have the city I am going to talk about, but... I am not really sure what I should include in the magazine. Which is why I did research on travel articles. Most of the articles I discovered featured relatively the same thing. These articles were about new/upcoming places that the magazine promotes, others are about a number of touristy attractions that people can enjoy in a certain place, a few mentioned helpful tips on traveling, and someone's experience visiting a certain place.

I believe that these articles have been helpful because I now know what direction to head. When writing my double-page spread as well as coming up with different article, my magazine should feature various information.


Resources:

“Travel Articles.” Travel + Leisure, 2018, www.travelandleisure.com/travel-articles.

The Target Audience

Now that I am going to make a travel magazine I can’t wait to start making it! However, before I begin planning a cover and all that fun stuff I should learn a little bit about the target audience in travel magazines. This is important because I am able to get a general idea of who views travel magazines and be able to attract them to mine.

Thankfully, I was able to find plenty of information on the target audience with the use of
National Geographic's media kit. These are documents that businesses publish to provide the public with information on their products.

According to National Geographic Travel magazine media kit:

- 34% of the viewers are from the age range 18-34
-the average magazine reader is 45 years old
-they have a high percentage of employed workers that view it
-about 53% of the readers are male and about 46% is female 

I believe I am going to use the same target audience as theirs, since a younger audience is an easier approach since I am young as well. This information directs me to what content should be featured in my magazine.

“NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVEL MEDIA INFORMATION KIT.” National Geographic Travel, 2019, www.nationalgeographic.com/mediakit/assets/img/downloads/2018/NGT_2018_Media_Kit.pdf

Magazine inspiration

Today I visited my local Barnes and Noble in order to get inspiration on my upcoming traveling magazine. I picked up several magazines that I recognized and others that caught my eye.

Below are the ones that I was interested in:

The Travel and Leisure magazine inspired me to create a magazine that does not include several cover lines, but keep what the information on the magazine simple, instead of overwhelming the reader with many things to read.


The Suitcase magazine's minimal features on its front page inspired me to create a minimal look for my cover page as well. I really liked mysterious feel that the picture provides since it interests the viewer to flip the pages of the issue.

When I was looking at the magazines on the stand, those that were crowded and busy made me feel like there was just too much information in a page. I plan on incorporating the techniques that the two magazines show in order to attract more viewers but also make it pleasing. In addition, I enjoyed reading a few of the stories featured and it encouraged me to create something unique and intriguing like theirs.

Overall, I can't wait to start the process for my magazine. However, I've got a long way to go before I start on anything.

What to do... What to do...

The moment has arrived and it is time to start planning my magazine!
When thinking about what genre to choose for the magazine, I did not know what to do. I have a passion for food and I love discovering new places. Which is why I had to do research on both subjects to help me decide what I am officially going to do.

When researching about the cooking/food genre (which is something you should not do on an empty stomach) I looked into well-known magazines of this genre such as bon appetit and Food Network. I found that these kind of magazines normally consist of recipes, current food trends, interviews with experienced chefs and much more. In addition, when creating a food magazine the chef has to create an aesthetically pleasing dish, make it look presentable, and have the picture taken in the perfect setting to have the dish look appealing to the audience.

In my research about traveling magazines I based it off famous magazines such as Travel & Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler. These magazine genres promote tourism by featuring seasonal recommendations of places to visit, interviews with travelers, tips on traveling and more. Moreover, most of the pictures on the magazines all are executed on location rather than having a studio.


Based on my research I finally came to the conclusion and decided that I will do a travel magazine. I believe that a cooking/food magazine will be a harder genre for me to execute since I do not have so much experience in cooking and I am not as interested in taking pictures of food. On the other hand, I am more experienced taking pictures of landscapes and this is something that interests me more. I really look forward into doing this traveling magazine and I hope you will enjoy it!

Media Representation-- "Blog Post #2"

Media representation that I may use in my project


For my project I will perhaps do a magazine with the food/cooking genre. This type of magazine oftentimes features articles about living healthier and uses healthier ingredients/ recipes. Therefore, an issue that I may represent in my project is obesity. Obesity is a global problem affecting people from all over the world which is a topic that I would like to discuss. In my project I would discuss ways to a healthy living to help the prevention of obesity.


One example obesity is represented in media is in the documentary movie, Super Size Me. This movie is about a man that tries to eat unhealthy for a period of time, to prove that eating fast foods have a terrible effect on us and could lead to being overweight. The documentary provides the representation of how obesity is a problem based on the menus of fast foods and also based on the person. Therefore, this is something that I would like to represent perhaps in my magazine article. I would like to talk about the negative effects that eating unhealthy foods could do and that gaining weight could be prevented.


Another example this issue is represented in media is in the Tv series The Biggest Loser. This series is about contestants that are obese and overweight that compete to win a prize by trying to lose the most weight. Just by the name, it can be seen that this platform of media represents people that are overweight as “losers”. I believe that this may bring a bad connotation to these kinds of people, which is something that should not be done. Instead, in my project I would discuss the ways this group of people could reduce their weight but in an effective manner that does not deal with a temporary satisfaction.


Overall, I do not agree with all types of media representation with people that are obese. I believe that they should be represented as people that are struggling to try and eat the healthier way. Which is why I would represent people obese that they are in the need for help eating a healthier way.

Genre Research #2-- "Blog post #1"

1. Genre:

Travel Magazine

2. Genre Conventions- content

The main purpose of a travel magazine is to promote tourism and also to inform and entertain those who love to travel with articles. Therefore, this genre normally features seasonal recommendations of places to visit, interviews with experienced travelers, and traveling tips when traveling far from home. The front covers of travel magazines always consist of the name of the magazine in large colorful font to attract viewers. In addition, the front cover of these magazines have large pictures of extravagant landscapes to show the main topic discussed in the issue.



3. Genre Conventions- Production techniques

Most of the pictures for a travel magazine are shot on location rather than a studio this is because these magazines are about promoting people to visit a location. Location shootings can often be quite difficult since it often requires clearing people from a location to take a decent picture, it is especially hard for places that have a lot of tourism. In order to provide beautiful high resolution pictures of a location, photographers are required to take them in professional cameras. In addition, photographers have to be aware of conventions such as composition and angles to create a nice looking picture. Travel magazine production can take a long time, since it requires patience to take good pictures when visiting a place, and then must need the help with editing.



4. Sample #1

Travel + Leisure March 2013 issue

This sample embodies the travel magazine since it contains most of the features that a travel magazine would have. For example, the front cover of this magazine depicts the title in large bolded letters to grab any reader’s attention. It also contains large picture of a well known Roman building to show the main topic discussed in the magazine. In addition, just how travel magazines are, this magazine shows tips on traveling and recommendations in places in Rome. As for production techniques, the pictures show that these were photos taken on location, just like any travel magazine. It also looks to have been taken by a professional camera as well as taken the time of having it edited since the front cover picture looking to be in high resolution and have a nice filter over the original.






5. Sample #2
Condé Nast Traveler April 2015 issue

This second sample embodies the travel magazine genre in many ways. Content wise, just like any travel magazine, this magazine has its title in large letters to attract viewers and depicts one main focus that is going to be featured based on the front cover picture. It also features other main points that relate to traveling around Europe, informing what articles will be shown throughout the magazine. For production techniques, it uses everything that a travel magazine would do, the pictures were shot on location with a professional camera to show the picture in high definition. All of the edited techniques of the photograph and design create an aesthetically pleasing front cover, just like other travel magazines.










6. A list of travel magazines


Afar







National Geographic Traveler December 2016/ January 2017 issue







Wanderlust August/September 2010 issue







Sunset





Escapism issue 24