31/08/17

Aims:

• Look at institutions

Reflection: 

I created a mindmap representing the four potential institutions that I could look at (including self publishing) This mindmap was to assess why I may or may not go with the presented option. I tried to look at both positives and negatives. At the end of this, I decided that the best option for me was likely to go with self publishing. Over the next few days, I will plan out how to construct a publishing company for my magazine. This will include drafting up logo's and choosing a name. 

Institution Research: Other Institutions

I looked into which institutions would publish my magazine and found three potential publishers. They had published some of the magazines that I took inspiration from. I looked at Condé Nast, the publishers of BRIDES magazine. I looked at Inka Publishing, the publishers of Belle Bridal. I also looked at Living North Ltd., the publishers of Living North. I don't think that Living North Ltd. or Inka Publishing would be likely to publish my product as they are private limited companies. Condé Nast has more potential and would potentially publish my product. However, I have also looked at self publishing. This is also a strong option. I made a mindmap to look at the pro's and con's of each option.

From this, it seems clear to me that self-publishing would be the most realistic and more suited to my magazine. From here, I just need to create a company name and logo that would suit my product. 

Competition Research: Competing T.A

These are the info-graphics available on the websites of of my competition - BRIDES and one of their other magazines You & Your Wedding. They showcase their T.A's.  Here, I will compare my T.A to their T.A to ensure that we have somewhat similar T.A's. This ensures that my survey was accurate. 

This presentation compares my T.A to their T.A and says how close I was. It also tells me what I can learn looking through these surveys. I can gain additional information on things that I did not think to survey. This helps me when deciding what my articles should be about.

30/08/17

Aims:

• Look at competition T.A

Reflection:

Today, I looked at the competition of my T.A. I found info graphics that showed off their T.A's and then created a presentation to compare that to my own survey results. I feel that today's efforts proved that my survey results were valid. 

Competition Research: Initial Research

In this Powtoon I have explored which magazines I feel that I am competing with and why. I also looked at potential ways in which I could beat these magazines. I acknowledged that Belle Bridal and BRIDES magazines - along with being a source of inspiration - are my competitors. I need to adjust pricing and content in order to be succeed over my competition.
What I have decided is that the price of my magazine should be 3.99 but I may have a lower price for the digital edition. Additionally, I can showcase a mix of luxury and affordable items to appeal to a range of audiences. Finally, I will appeal over BRIDES by virtue of being a regional magazine. These factors will help me greatly.

29/08/17

Aims:

• Look at competition

Reflection:

I created a PowToon today. In it, I looked at my competition and how I could rise above them.I looked at their prices and how I could beat them that way and how I could steal our potential target audience and make them purchase my product instead of the competition. 

22/08/17

Aims:

• Look at regional magazine and see how it is different

Reflection: 

I looked at Belle Bridal today, a regional bridal magazine. Therefore, this is the most relevant magazine as this is the same genre as my product. I looked at the feature which made it regional and why it worked as a regional cover. This will aid me in making my own regional product.

Regional Magazines: Belle Bridal

In this prezi, I looked at the regional magazine, Belle Bridal. This is the most relevant magazine I have looked at as I am also creating a regional bridal magazine. I looked at why I think it worked as a regional magazine.
It:
- Spaced out sell lines to make the page seem fuller
- Used a limited color scheme
- Sells luxury to a poorer area
- Features a mix of regular looking people and models
- Adds a personal touch to their articles via language
- Does not have entirely uniform layouts

17/08/17

Aims:

• Compare Living North to a national product (Not In Initial Plan)

Reflection:

I compared Living North to the national culture magazine of Cosmopolitan. I noticed many key differences which will help me when creating my own regional magazine. This allowed me to see how two products like this would differ. This will help me when choosing the features that will make my own magazine regional.

Regional Magazine: Living North vs Cosmopolitan

In this prezi, I compared the regional magazine, Living North, with the national magazine, Cosmopolitan. There were a lot of key differences. The ones that I picked up on were:

- The national edition used celebrities, the regional used local areas
- National edition photoshops models while the regional magazine features more natural models
- The articles in the regional magazine appeal to local families, national magazines appeal to specific genders, age groups ect.
- National articles appear more adult orientated
- Regional is more minimalist
- Regional has a more limited color scheme whilst national is vibrant
- National magazine publishes monthly, regional publishes seasonally
- Regional articles are more informal and humorous
- National edition is more uniform
- National focuses more on luxury whilst regional is more everyday items
- Regional magazines use less subimages
- Regional magazines focus on positives of the area and inspires local pride
- Regional news is often less life changing/more casual

15/08/17

Aims:

• Look at regional magazine and see how it is different

Reflection:

I looked at Living North today. This magazine is a regional culture magazine. I found a lot of features about it that I feel I could incorporate into a magazine of my own. I will look at another culture magazine; I will look at a national culture magazine and make note of the differences. This will help me when I make my own regional product.

Regional Magazine: Living North

In this prezi, I looked at the regional magazine, Living North, to see why it worked as a regional magazine. This is what I found:

- Has relevant sell lines
- Uses local colors
- Makes the area seem cultured
- Has relevant front cover images
- Uses Hyperbole
- Uses a limited color palette 
- Shows relevant producsts
- Uses models to represent the North East
- Uses informal and personal language
- Alternates between uniform and non-uniform layouts
- Minimalist

10/08/17

Aims:

• Compare Vibe to a regional magazine (Not In Initial Plan)

Reflection: 

I compared Vibe to the magazine People as they are both culture magazines. This meant that I could explore the key differences between the two as their main difference is that one is regional and the other is national. I noted key differences and these will be used to shape my work. 

Regional Magazines: Vibe VS People

In this, I looked at a national magazine, People, in comparison to a regional magazine, Vibe, to see what the main differences were. This will allows me to see which traits are specific to regional magazines.
 To summarize what I noticed:

- The national magazine uses celebrity models, the regional uses (presumably) locals
- The national magazine uses multiple sub images, the regional is minimalist
- Regional magazines use less sell lines
- The regional magazine uses lowercase sell lines whilst the national uses uppercase
- Regional magazines have a more limited color scheme
- The regional masthead stays the same color whilst the national changes
- National is monthly, regional is seasonal
- National magazine has a more uniform layout
- All regional photos were taken in a photo-shoot, no candids
- National magazines report national news, regional magazines must stay relevant to the region
- Regional magazine uses a editors note
- National magazines have more content 

08/08/17

Aims:

• Look at regional magazine and how it is different

Reflection:

I looked at the magazine: Vibe. This is a regional culture magazine. I made some observations about it and why it worked and what made it regional. Later, I will compare it with a national magazine to see what differences there are. This will help consolidate my ideas.

Regional Magazine: Vibe

Here is my analysis of the Regional Magazine: Vibe. In this Prezi, I look at why I think it works as a regional magazine and what makes it regional. It is clearly aimed at one area. This is something that I want for my own magazine, thus I must learn from this.

What I acknowledged from this was as follows:

Text was spread out to make page feel fuller

Magazine mad use of hyperbole

Layout was simplistic

Single word title was used to make it more memorable 

Masthead dominates page

Model represents real, diverse people in the area

Colour scheme fits the area

Publishes seasonally/4 times a year

Editors note makes it more personal 

Text heavy contents page

Direct mode of address used 

Was conversational when appropriate

Content relevant to the area

Aims to inspire local pride

03/08/17

Aims:

•  Evaluate and choose the most effective template

Reflection:

I allowed my audience to choose the template that they thought were best and then got feedback. I organised that feedback into a prezi presentation. I have chosen the template that I want and therefore know the layout I plan to use. I know that this layout will be popular with my T.A as they are the ones who selected it. 

Website Inspiration: Audience Feedback

This makes it obvious which template that my audience will respond to best. I also really liked the top template and how it focused on the visuals, how it was user-friendly, how it was simple and modern and minimalist. This website is the one that my audience responded best to and I feel that it will work well. I will use that template. 

When sending out this poll, I also asked for opinions and comments if people had any. I created this prezi to detail what I was told about each template from the point of view of the people I asked. These responses match my own personal viewpoint on the templates for the most part.

2/08/17

Aims:

• Write out a pitch

Reflection:

I would have liked to have had more research and planning done ahead of writing my pitch but I needed to get it done before college started again. Unfortunately, my pitch does not reveal my full ideas but it does well explaining the ideas that I have so far. 

Pitch

I have created this pitch to help me to organise my thoughts and ideas. This will help me when creating my product as I will have a clear view of what I want to create. I will also present this to the class and then receive feedback. Collecting this feedback will allow me to see what other people will think of my ideas and give me multiple view points on what I have researched so far. 

Calendar For August

For the month of August, I will be focusing on looking at other regional products. I have left some space free here as I will be going back to college next month and want to give myself more time to prepare. I also know that these will be long tasks and I do not want to overwork myself by setting small time frames for them.

1/08/17

Aims:

- Look at WIX templates

Reflection:

I found 4 templates that I particularity liked and could see working. I created a Powtoon that listed their strengths and acknowledged their weaknesses and what needed to be changed when I edited them. I also created a survey on AnonVote.com which is website that allows you to create image polls and would allow me to see which template my audience liked the best. 

Here is the layout of the website which I used. I uploaded the photos and called the poll "Which Template Is The Best." This is what the poll looked like. 

I will send this to women who I know to belong in my T.A (including my sister and her friends as well as my aunts and a few of my teachers) and check back in a few days.

Website Inspiration: WIX Template Research

I made this Powtoon to look at the types of templates available to me on WIX, which is what I will be using to create my website. I have looked at the templates available on the website and selected four that I particularly liked. From these four I have then evaluated them based on their strengths and weaknesses. I do not have a favorite at the moment as I feel that they are all strong templates so I have decided to seek audience feedback and ask them which template that they would feel is best. This ensures that the template that I choose is the most appropriate for my audience.