Alessandra's Blog

A common trend I noticed among teen fashion magazines was that the background was mainly white. Also, each article title and page number tends to be bold. Pictures on the magazines are used to represent an article. Some pictures are used to connect an image to an article in the table of contents. For example, an image might have a page number next to it but no description. However, the description will be located in the same table of contents, but just under the article. Other times a picture will be used to represent a magazine itself. The picture will have a page number and description next to it, but it will not be under the traditional list of table of contents. The final trend I noticed is that magazine companies do not exactly have the same format for the table of contents for each magazine they publish. For example, pictures may be placed in different spots or there may be a different set of colors. Since I am doing a group magazine, all of my group needed to decide on a forma

Now that I am done with my cover page of my magazine, it is time to create my table of contents. In order to create my table of contents, I first need to look at the table of contents on teen fashion magazines. Here are some table of contents' I found...  On this table of contents, it does not directly state anywhere that it's a table of contents; it is implied. Starting from the top, there is the magazine title along with the edition of the magazine. Below it, there are numbers with bold wording next to them. The bold numbers indicate the article title and the numbers indicate the page the article is located on. Underneath each article is a blurb explaining what the article is about. Some of the articles in the table of contents have text next to them that say "ON THE COVER", highlighting that the article in the table of contents was featured on the cover. This table of contents has one picture with the caption "Get to know the real Taylor Swift" and

When comparing the sweet spots on both teen fashion and environmental magazines, I noticed that teen fashion magazines use their sweet spots for a variety of things, while environmental magazines tend to have no sweet spots. Of course, I want to fill up the empty space in the top right area of my magazine because my genre is teen fashion. Teen fashion magazines have a lot of words and color everywhere, while environmental magazines are more simpler. However, when researching about sweet spots on environmental magazines, I was hoping that I would get some ideas of a way to include the environment aspect in my specific magazine edition. The funny thing is, when typing that last sentence, I got an idea of what to put in my sweet spot. Today, the first thought that came to my head was about putting "2019 edition" into the sweet spot, but the more I thought about it the more dumb it sounded to me. There would be more Off-The-Rack magazines published in this year, so they would

Now that I have found some examples of sweet spots used in teen fashion magazines, I now have to look at sweet spots used in environmental magazines to see if there are any key similarities or differences between the two. Here are some of the following environmental magazines covers I found with sweet spots... In this magazine, the sweet spot is located in the bottom right corner. The text in it says,"Visualizing Carbon Because seeing is believing p.24". In this case the sweet spot is being used some what as a puff by promoting an article in the magazine. In fact, it is the only article on the cover besides the one in the head line.  On this magazine, the sweet spot is located in the upper right area. It states,"SPECIAL REPORT The Future of Our Environment". The sweet spot is, again, being used to promote a specific article in the magazine besides the one in the headline. Putting another article in the sweet spot draws attention to the article and hel

When putting together my magazine cover with the new photo, it came out pretty nice. However, there was a big blank spot near the top right corner underneath the slogan, so I though I would use this space and put a sweet spot there. I tried looking up sweet spot on the internet and I only got definitions and pictures of the magazine "Sweet Spot". I then went back to my blog post #2 and #3 to look for a sweet spot on both teen fashion and environmental magazines, but, surprisingly, none of them had any. Because of this, I had to do some more research on sweet spots on both teen fashion and environmental magazines. Today, I focused on finding the sweet spots on teen fashion magazines. I focused on two teen fashion magazines: seventeen and teen vogue. Here are some covers with sweet spots I found... On this magazine, the sweet spot is located near the upper right corner. In states,"Enter for a chance to win SO MANY FREEBIES FASHION BEAUTY + TECH plus promo codes to

Because I needed to look for a new photo, I referred back to one of my previous blog posts where I talked about my favorite photos from the photo shoot. However, when viewing them I realized that all of the photos shared the same problem; they lacked space. I realized than since my shot of the model was too close up, I did not have enough space in the margins and bottom to put my puffs and headline/strapline. In some photos, one side of the margin had enough room, but the other side had barely any. Because of this issue, I had to go deep into my recently deleted to find my other photos from the photo shoot. One of the only photo I could find with enough room on the sides and bottom was this: I chose this photo primarily because of the space in the margins and on the bottom, but I also loved how much light there was in this photos compared to the others. Since the shadowing is only on the upper side of the cover, it leaves enough light on the bottom to put my black headline and s

Now that my group has decided on common fonts for our cover page, I was able to design my final cover page. Using the picture I chose and the puffs, headline, etc I created on my cover page sketch, I created my supposed to be final magazine cover. However, while adding the puffs, etc to my picture, I encountered a number of problems. The biggest problems was with my headline and strap line. In the last post, our group decided to have the head line and strap lie black. However, The area I wanted to put my headline and strap line is was shaded, making it harder to see what it said. I couldn't move it to the bottom right, either, because it covered the Pacsun bag. Another problem was the fact that my model and props were so close to the frame, that I felt that there was not enough room to put my puffs and masthead in. I wanted them both to be bigger, but I could not make them as big as I wanted with the space I had with this photo. No matter how much I rearranged the puffs

Around a week ago I planned on making my final magazine cover page. However, I encountered a problem. Since I'm in a group, we all are doing different editions of the same magazine. This means that we all need to have the same format for each of our magazines. My group mate, Remy, created out house style and sample cover pages on an app on her phone called PicsArt. However, I planned on making my specific magazine on the website Canva. When trying to make my magazine cover, I looked for the font, 6caps, but it was not avaliable on there. I then decided to download the PicsArt app on my phone and create my magazine on there. Since the app is not specifically made for making magazines, I decided to look up dimensions of the average magazine online, and the majority of the results were around 8.5" wide and 15" tall. When trying to enter these dimensions onto my intended cover photo. It would not work, stating that they were too small. This was really confusing to me, so I ta

The following pictures were taken for my main article picture... For my main article I wanted to have my model, Alexa, laying down on the ground with clothes and/or shopping bags surrounding her. This would help convey the idea that the clothes from major teen fashion industries is hurting their consumers; teens. I also made sure that the clothing and shopping bags were colorful so that the magazine would draw in and appeal to teens, our intended audience. Taking the photo on the grass, again, helped bring a pop of color to the magazine but also help connect the cover picture with my main article, considering that both of the pictures were taken outside. Out of all the photos, I feel that the one to the bottom left looks the most appealing because the photo is the most filled with shopping bags and clothing. Having more clothing and shopping bags taking up the frame helps intensify the overwhelming feeling of them around Alexa. Empty spacing is not needed anyways becaus

Yesterday I took pictures for my cover page and main article at my group mate Remy's house. It was a great day to take pictures because it was cool outside and the skies were clear. We got together some shopping bags and clothing, dressed my model, Alexa, up, and went out to take some pictures.   These are the photos I took that are intended to be for the cover page. While taking these photos, I wanted Alexa to have a serious expression to emphasize that fast fashion isn't a good thing, and also to make the reader curious as to why she is so serious. While all the clothing in the photo shoot were name brand, it was hard to tell what brands they were, so I decided to incorporate some popular teen shopping bags. This helped emphasize that the clothes featured are from popular teen stores and may also help draw in potential readers. At first, I wanted Alexa to be wearing name brand clothing, but I realized that having her wear name brand clothing would provide

Tomorrow and Sunday, the plan is to go out with my group mate Remy and take photos for our cover page and main article. I have an picture idea for my cover page, but I need to think of a picture for my main article. We plan on taking the photos for my article and cover page. The setting will either be at the mall or at her house in her backyard. I feel that the mall is a good place to take photos because a lot of teen stores are in there and many of the stores in the mall are contributors to fast fashion, including Zara and H&M. However, I feel that taking the pictures at her house is better because it's more convenient for Remy and her backyard has greenery, so it will incorporate more colors into my cover and article. Having color is important to my magazine because our main audience are teens and they tend not to read a lot about the environmental impacts of most fashion stores, so having a colorful, trendy magazine color will be more likely to make them want to read it. Her

Here is how my rough draft of my intended magazine cover turned out. In general, most of my ideas from the previous post are included in the rough draft. However, I added a couple of things. To start, our group came up with the slogan "Explore Your True Style" and decided to place it into the banner. We decided that this would be a good slogan because many people develop their own sense of style during their teenage years, and since our fashion magazine is directed towards teens, they are exposed to different styles in our magazine. Additionally, there was space on the right side of my magazine and I felt that it looked too empty, so I want to put something in there as a sweet spot. I'm currently not sure what specifically to put in it yet, but it might have something to do with a petition, an animal shelter, or a thrift store. One last change to my cover involves the model. Our group had no luck finding a teen male that wanted to be a model for our magazine, so we d

My friend Remy and I plan on taking photos this Sunday for both of our magazines. However, that is five days from now. Today I decided to draw out a plan for what my magazine cover will look like... I plan on having my mast head at the top of the magazine, with my model directly below it. My model will be wearing trendy clothing with recognizable brands on them, such as Hollister or Tommy Hilfiger. The model will be holding an article of clothing in each hand, both of them also being name brand, over a trash can. I would prefer than my model is a girl because girls tend to go shopping for clothes more, but if I can't find a girl model I would be fine with a guy. My headline will have something to do with fast fashion, but I'm not sure what it will specifically say yet. Here are some possible headline and strapline combo ideas for my magazine... 1) The Hidden Cost of Fashion      And It's Hidden Effects On You 2) The Fast Effect of Fast Fashion      It's Quicke

After deciding on our magazine title, we needed to chose a common house style to represent our magazine. My group mates decided to mess around with the fonts and colors on an app called PicsArt and produced example cover pages to show what the house style would look like on it. Personally, I liked the color red as the main color in our title because it grabs the reader's attention. It would also go good with my specific magazine because my magazine will talk about the environmental impact of teen fashion, which will hopefully incorporate the color of green. I feel that the green and red will go good together. However, I feel that the font seems a bit tacky because of how curvy and fat it is. I think that we should choose a font that's more bold and sharp because it's more likely to draw attention from a potential buyer to our magazine. Additionally, I would prefer that the font is just red, rather than it being red and black. It again seems too tacky. I expressed t