Successful Group Meetings

I am going to try to briefly explain group meetings without boring you. Our teacher separated the groups (for the actual portfolio) and then put each member in a group with people who are working on both magazines or film opening. In the beginning, I was very hesitant with the group only because I was the only one in the group doing a magazine. But as the meeting continued I realized how it was probably better because the other group members could give me constructive criticism and opinions as the consumer standpoint, not so much the creator. Don’t get me wrong, I was left wondering what they would have said if they were also working on a magazine, but I figured out that it was a great opportunity to hear what people would think of the layout and stories I had in mind for my 2-page spread. A factor that wasn’t extremely reliable was that the students in my group were not part of my target audience (18-54 yr old middle-high class women). The 2 other girls in the group were helpful about the story of the 2-page spread to see what would at least appeal women, being that they are within the spectrum of my T.A.(not age wise, but gender). I was very satisfied that I had help with at least the story. 
Regarding the issue, all the group members agreed that I should do it based on spring. Mostly because spring is already here, therefore, spring trends are naturally coming back, but also because I mentioned how I wanted to challenge myself by using more colors since I tend to lean towards the same color schemes so they said making a spring issue should be ideal for the challenge. Spring issues also include many pictures that include plants as the background feature, which I also showed interest during the meeting. Pearse, one of the members, recommended that I buy an Adobe Program pack with a student discount that would total $20 per month. However, I don’t think that I will be using that because I don’t need all Adobe Programs and I rather use Canva for free than InDesign for $20 a month. Also, the project that our teacher, Mrs. Stoklosa, showed us that I personally adored, they used Canva. 
In regard to the group meetings and how helpful they were, I think we should do this more often! It helps catch mistakes that I couldn’t catch before and it also gives an audience perspective on the project. Which again, I believe is just as equally important as the creator perspective. 
Talk to you soon,
Tini 

InDesign vs. Canva

Hi, I’m glad you’re back!! As I began to research different programs I could use to edit my magazine, I noticed that most, if not all, are used by professionals and are also very expensive. However, there was one program that I am a little familiar with-Adobe InDesign. In my Interior Design class, I had the chance to get certified for this program, but that does not mean I am an expert. Still, I decided to research it some more and see if I get convinced to try it out for this. Something that I think is simple to achieve with InDesign is the ability to edit pictures and text to a more professional extent, meaning that more edit options are available. This program also has the availability to work with spreads and pages which is exactly what I need. The Master Page option is a lifesaver when it comes to editing magazines because it allows certain elements to appear on every page (page numbers, headings, etc). To continue with that point, I do think InDesign would be better to use in the sense that the internet is FILLED with video tutorials, textbooks, etc. and also it allows for digital design for ebooks, websites, and even more. I found really useful tutorials that I will make sure to include at the end of my posting, however, even with all those tutorials, I have to really think if I am willing to spend up to $52.00 monthly for InDesign. The only thing that is keeping me convinced right now is the ability to edit certain elements of a spread that will be much easier than other programs. I do remember that on the practice exams I took before the certification exam, that editing page numbers and layouts is very attainable since there are options to add it to all pages all out once. The good thing about that is that since a magazine’s page number has to go on the outside corner, InDesign adds it there automatically, as well as bylines, mastheads, etc. Anyways, I will keep my word and continue thinking if the price is worth it.

Since I already had an idea of the average price that InDesign would cost me, I looked for cheaper or free alternatives. A very good and free option is “Canva”. I am very familiar with this app/program because I used it for the first time on my previous AICE Media project and even though I did not have to design something as intricate and specific as a magazine, the free elements it offered were extremely useful. Some of the stickers or themes that included purchase were very specific and complex, which is something that I will not be using for my magazine since the backgrounds will either be white or consist of images. Another thing that “Canva” allows is to easily edit pictures, more in a more basic way than InDesign. They offer different filters, brightness settings, and other key elements of picture editing. I think “Canva” might be better to use for a cover page since it grants a very easy manipulation to text boxes which will result in effortless control of headlines and their placement. “Canva”  has templates that are available which includes magazine covers… can it be any easier?!

To end my train of thought, because trust me, it is going in circles, I will end by saying that I am leaning on using “Canva” because not only is it easy but it is FREE!! My teacher also took the time to show us examples and one of them that caught my attention used this program to edit, and trust me, I really enjoyed the cover.

This is where I sign off and say wish me luck!!

Citations:

Informit. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1914606&seqNum=10

How to Create Layouts for a Fashion Magazine in Adobe InDesign. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-create-layouts-for-a-fashion-magazine-in-adobe-indesign--cms-22860

Desktop publishing software | Download free Adobe InDesign CC trial. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.adobe.com/products/indesign.html

https://www.canva.com/

What genre did I end up choosing?

Welcome back!!! My group and I made the final decision for our genre and we chose… fashion and beauty!! We went back and forth whether we wanted to do travel or fashion and beauty but being that we cannot use pictures from the past, it made more sense to do beauty and fashion because our creativity and the progress of the images will be much easier to show if we take new images. We also agreed on the genre because we all did research about it on our previous posts, and personally I was mostly intrigued by it when I first did my post on the research I had acquired. This week, my research will be broader and more generic in the sense that I need to understand the target audience of this genre. Next week I will dig deeper and focus more on individual spreads to get inspiration and an entire realm of understanding. Baby steps!

The target audience for a beauty and fashion magazine is generally middle-high class women ages 18-54. I am saying generally because there are certain magazines that have a slightly different target audience, whether it is mainly targeting up to age 49, or there happen to be some beauty and fashion magazines that include a specific race or ethnicity in their T.A. “Cosmopolitan” magazine is a well-known beauty and fashion magazine that includes lifestyle articles and is notorious for their sex and career advice. They claim their target audience age ranges from 18-49 and has no specific race or ethnicity they seek to target. However “Essence” is also a beauty and fashion magazine with some hints of lifestyle, but this magazine increases their age to 54 and their main target is African-American women. Essence even has a slogan to promote this- “For the love of black women”. Even though magazines like “Essence” tend to target a very specific type of woman, they also tend to include men on their cover. Along with the alluring cover lines and pictures, when men are seen in an “Essence” cover, it is usually to attract women. For example, Michael B. Jordan is seen in a cover of this magazine with the cover line “Up close and personal with our fave bae”. This cover line intrigues ME! I don’t entirely think that a cover like this will draw in the majority of the men out there, but the female attraction is much more present. “Essence” also features many empowering women on their covers. By having women like Michelle Obama and Oprah, that immediately boosts the ‘empowering black women’ element that “Essence” is all about.  “Cosmopolitan” seems to have a pattern or continuity with how they show women on the cover page. It usually consists of a medium-long shot of a woman- actress, model, comedian, singer, etc. Staying true to their main source of attraction, Cosmo keeps it sexy with cover lines such as “Summer Sex Q&A” and “Let them Look”. Something that fashion and beauty magazines all have in common and seem to focus on one way or another is showing how women should be appreciated and empowered. The beauty in these magazines is not just focused on the physical. Yes, I know that does sound cheesy but it is the reality. These magazines also include online issues for easier and quicker access. Since beauty and fashion magazines include monthly issues, this calls for monthly subscriptions. The usual price is $9.95, but magazines that target higher end women, such as “Vogue”, can go up to $18.00 for a year’s worth of issues.

Now I feel like I have a general idea of a target audience to focus on as well as how truly impacting the cover is (thanks to “Essence” for being so good at that!). Hopefully, I will have some luck on my next posting finding some good editing programs as well as tips on how to make editing go smoothly, or well, as smoothly as possible.

Talk to you on my next post,

Tini

Citations:

Popular Women's Fashion Magazines. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://artsentertainment.knoji.com/top-5-womens-fashion-magazines/

A Deeper Look into Fashion and Beauty Magazines. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://sites.psu.edu/katewahlfye/2015/07/14/a-deeper-look-into-fashion-and-beauty-magazines/

Working with Music!

For the “Music Marketing Campaign” project, the objective was to create a full marketing campaign for a new band or artist, including a detailed process/plan, as well as a music video. The deeper meaning of this project was to be able to understand and apply all the techniques and elements that build the music industry ie. genre conventions, target audience, etc. One of the aspects of the project that was meant to be a challenge is the fact that we (groups) could not choose our song for the video. Along with that, whatever artist or band created that song, had to be completely forgotten and we had to envision an entire new band or artist. That process helped challenge and demonstrate our ability to build an image for the artist/band with the specific genre conventions and representations that we were given through the song. The plan had to plainly start from 0, no matter how popular or successful the original artist was. We came up with our band “Bondi”. The name came to me as I recalled my trip to Bondi Beach, Australia, and decided to begin the band’s story from there.

In order to get a better understanding of the genre conventions and representations that we needed to consider when constructing the campaign, research was indisputably a life saver and a necessity. The research that was part of the project’s rubric included our own choice of a record company corresponding to the genre of music, along with brief history, different artists and groups, and 2 case studies that discussed production, marketing, distribution, etc. For example, for my project, out of the 3 options, we chose “Spirits” by The Strumbellas, which is an indie band. And from there, our band “Bondi” was born.   Indie music is very specific since it focuses mostly on relating and interacting with the audience as well as sending out a message of free expression and love. When we began to research indie bands, we discovered that they were very specific about where they performed and how there music was released. Bands such as “Florence and the Machine” released studio albums, live albums, and as many as 26 music videos and singles. Indie artists are big on continuing to deliver music for their crowd so they continuously have content and their fans are not left waiting. By researching Florence and the Machine, we also came across the kind of ways they distribute their music to their fans with sites such as Spotify, Pandora, and iHeartRadio. Along with streaming sites, they utilized Instagram and Twitter to keep fans updated about tour dates, behind the scenes stuff, but also to be able to connect with them on a more personal level. Indie bands have a Target Audience of 16-30 year olds both male and female middle class. Since these bands promote equality, free spirits, and independence, they do not promote very expensive and materialistic items, which is why middle class is more their realm. Along with that, their choices of streaming and social media sites appeal to their T.A. since that is what they mostly use. Some bands also seemed to include a blog. However, the reason we decided to include everything BUT a blog ws because the bands whose blogs were still up were those who peaked in their career when their T.A. was not yet introduced to the sites we have today. So we decided to take a similar yet different approach. We included instagram, spotify, etc. but we decided to create Bondi’s profile as a more interactive and personal spot. For spotify, they would create and share their own playlists with their favorite songs, and on instagram, they would use the caption section to express themselves. So with that in mind we figured that 16-30 yr olds now do not go to blogs for artists, they use it more for personal reasons (how ironic is it that I’m a 17 yr old writing a blog right now, but hey it’s for personal reasons-proves my point!).

Our marketing creations included different options of merchandise, music festivals, website, and social media along with streaming sites. For our merchandise, there was A LOT of going back and forth in decided which font to use, which images to use, what colors, etc.

These two were our first choices for the band logo and what would be shown and printed on the merch. The one on the left, we thought was too distracting and not unique or abstract enough. The design on the right has a more rock vibe and the colors make it more serious, and we were looking for designs that left you open minded and that were also a bit brighter.

So we decided this would be the logo we would use for flyers and posts because there is a picture of Bondi Beach in the background and it has meaning since it has to do with the name and the bright colors make it stand out.

These next designs we thought fit better for the merch because the font is very upfront and obvious yet bold, and the waves do not have color (apart from the background color) and they are simple yet noticeable. The designs on the bottom are for the back of the hoodies and t-shirts. It is a quote from the single “Spirits” and it really caught our attention so we decided to make a statement by adding it to the back. We decided to make t-shirts and hoodies because it is a common merch item that the T.A. appeals to. The colors are neutral, except for blue obviously, but we wanted a color choice, and blue fits with the waves and beach theme of the name.

The choice to make beanies was simply to have a choice for those fans who either like to make fashion statements or have the classy and vintage style of wearing them even when it is not winter. Again, IT IS ALL ABOUT EXPRESSION!

Not many bands make pins or fabric patches, so we decided to stand out. These are 2 designs that represent indie bands. Dreaming big is not only a message many indie bands deliver, but the song we worked with also related to that. I will repeat myself over and over but it is important! We created them so the pins and patches could be plastered across backpacks and denim to create a sense of individuality and freedom.

Even though festivals are a way to distribute music, new bands can market and advertise their music along with selling their merchandise. By creating our own events, we are creating a way that our band can be seen and acknowledged.

A website is a quick and simple way fans, or anyone, can learn more about the band, how to contact them, find their social media quicker, buy their merch, etc. Our website fits our aesthetic of warm toned bright colors, which are also incorporated in the music video for “Spirits”. https://malenadiezg.wixsite.com/bondi

For our music video, we decided to take the song and play around with some symbolism. The video is a storytelling video with some artistic hints. The story is of a girl who finds herself surrounded with very similar, and regular people. She then decides she wants to embrace her fun and free side and takes that into her hand by being bold. We incorporated a lot of the color red in the video because red signifies power, strength and risk, which is embodied by the lyrics of the song. The video is also a great way to get a sense of the kind of songs and message Bondi creates and how that relates to the world of indie music.

https://www.wevideo.com/view/1308827162

I’d have to say that the most important thing I learned (through mistakes) from this project is just how important the target audience is, not just age, but gender and socioeconomic status as well. Especially because concerts, merch, music, etc. cost money! So how the artist approaches those things in order to appeal to their audience is very important. What we left out was gender and socioeconomic status. Now looking back I would add both female and male and middle class. How to appeal the target audience is also very crucial because it all comes down to the ways the audience relies on to connect with the artist. For my portfolio project I will consider this when designing my magazine. I do not have a genre yet, but with every genre the T.A. can vary, which sounds minimal but it’s not. For a magazine  the content and how it is delivered is especially relevant to the audience because that is how the interest will spark. I already have a genre in mind however I haven’t decided, but when I do I have to make sure i keep the target audience at the top of my priorities!!!