Critical Question 4

4. How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?

Prezi presentation on how I integrated on supplies and their use in my project.

Critical Question 3

3. How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

CQ#1 and #3 were recorded the same day but posted on different days

Critical Question 2

2. How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

Prezi presentation

Critical Question 1

1. How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

Contrast emphasizes self-confidence through its visuals. though I spent countless hours on this project I made sure to leave the editing on the picture of my models very minimal, which is completely inverse to what other beauty magazines like Vogue do. I want to depict all of my models' raw beauty mainly because my magazine is all about confidence in one's image. Thankfully, Contrast, being a small contained project, doesn't have the same media appeal as the aforementioned Vogue thus does not need to include heavy amount of makeup and editing on my models to be considered a consumer worthy product. Less involved with my topic but with the same idea in mind, I followed an eccentric format similar to RayGun's, I did not want to abide by the standard 3-4 columns of text. Another reason why I preferred this format, was simply because I'm accustomed to editing the Yearbook.Where we do not organize our text into rows, rather into patches of an image then a caption.

Final edits for Cambridge- 4 page magazine

In the end, It was hard sticking to only the required cover, table of contents, and a two-page feature.  Mainly because I feel so incomplete, for that reason I am including two versions of the final product; this version and an eight-page long version with the rest of the articles. Since I prioritized the completion of my Cambridge media product, I will be including the final touches and writing process of those pages as my last few post.

Below is my finalized product

Final Cover layout

To make It more professional looking I masked out the background giving it that blank background that draws the eye directly to the model. At first, I had created this very chunky, childish-looking outline. In order to make sure that my cover lines stuff out but in the next snapshot, you will see that I not only played around with their organization but I fixed the outline issue. Afterward, I also added a layer filter to increase the contrast on background elements to create this final image.

Creating the my Cover Image

Due to many exceptions and compromises, I've had to make a few revisions to my original design. Photoshoots and didn't go as smoothly as I planned due to many time limitations. I had to change My featured article from Love, You to my Body Identity article, and combined the two focuses: Getting to know Kyra and informing the reader about the transgender struggle. Another significant change was the new Masthead, only the text will be the same.

 The assets I used to create the embellishments to the sides were reused from an earlier project for my school's yearbook. They are paint strokes I made into PNG transparent and recolored with layer filters. I stretched and warped them to make this lovely pillar frame. The font used for my masthead is Elephant which came with my photoshop, the other fonts are tweaked versions of Freestyle script which is a freeware font I got from Dafont.com. I created the interesting "Contrast" font by rasterizing the font then creating various layer masks which I then filled with the background color.

The masthead is now in a font called Elephant Italic, this font came default with my photoshop. From an artistic perspective, It looks on par with the font of  Vogue. As for my cover-lines, some are attention-grabbers like "What is beauty?" which is a line that belongs to my "Love, You" article, and the use of "more" in all capitals to make it look enticing. At the top, I included the same tagline from before along with the volume and publication date. Towards the end, I created the "equal representation" line because I figured that I should include a text that introduces the theme of the articles.

Table of Contents - Final Design Process

Added Design Elements

To each article, I assigned a custom photoshop pattern to occupy empty space like the number boxes. For this page, I used a total of 3 fonts, the  Free Script Italic font for the title, Script MT Bold for the numbers, and Book Antiqua for the title text.

I wanted to give it to keep that retro feel with this heavily serifed fonts. I italicized the numbers and made them taller. The title fonts also had a good bit of tweaking done to make them stand out on the patterns like a slightly dark overlaying stroke that makes the white pop subtly and the size variations.

As you can see, one of the cover pictures for Body Identity is from the prior batch of 6 that was unedited. I decided to include it because I was seeking variety and this photo shines with Kyra's personality. So, I made it transparent and used it for the table of contents.

Table of Content - Laying Out Different Elements

Appearance

I choose to create a "vaporwave" pastel feel with my choice of semi-cursive font with a thick outline. The font I will be constantly using for this project is called Freestyle Script which was designed by Martin Wait. Besides adding a stroke to the font, I also tweaked things like letter height, kerning and added a drop shadow to make it flow with my retro computer aesthetic. The background is made up of muted pinks and cyan blues that come together for a clean welcoming look.

Layout

Closely referenced The Smithsonian with the way I have unconventionally gridded my table of contents. Both the 4- page and the Uncut will have the same table of contents including all 3 articles. The large black blocks signify where I will be placing imagery, the small grey blocks are for numbers and the long grey boxes are for text. The plan with the long grey boxes is to include the title and a phrase but I might change that and just stick to doing only titles.

Exploring Audience Theories

In this post, I will be explaining what theories I have observed apply to the production and distribution of magazines.

http://media-studies.mrshollyenglish.com/theory/audiences-institutions/audience-theory

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
This is an audience theory that sees consumers as following the climb up this pyramid for gratification and Self-actualization.
It was discovered by Abraham Maslow, a psychologist who believed that people have layers of needs.  These layers in ascending in fulfillment are physiological, security, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualizing needs. Physiological covers all the common need people have like water and health, the next caste establishes the need for things like a home, stability, and income. Then there are more emotion-based tiers like love and relationships and high self-esteem that needs to be built in order to feel fulfilled. The last tier at the top is the need for fulfillment itself because after all the tiers have been surpassed that's the only way you can reach it. Companies still theorize that consumers go through this process thus market their products around this way of thinking, especially with literature or anything tells a story. That's why knowing this theory is crucial to creating any written media because people need a guide to know what structure a story should follow to ensure its effectiveness.

Another heavily used audience theory is Cultivation theory which paints consumers as a passive audience that when subjected to the same false information over and over again, will start to believe it is true. This way of thinking was constructed by a screenwriter, Larry Gross, and professor in communications, George Gerbner. At its core, it is the effect that long term media consumption specifically with TV, has on people. This same theory is the basis for the argument that video games make people violent, though there is no link there scientifically. Advertisements use this theory's mechanics in how they distribute their promotions, making sure that people see a company's ad more than once a day.

Featured Article - Body Identity - Final Design Process

My dimensions for my cover and table of contents were 9 by 12 inches so I am setting the dimensions of my double page spread to 18 by 12. I decided to do it this way instead of going sheet by sheet because I did not want to continuously click back and forth through them, this way I can establish a visual harmony without that hassle. My first step in building this was simply throwing all the assets I had made into the workspace. After adjusting the sizes, I hid all my pictures and began creating color blocks for the text and images. If you look closely, you will see that all typed text is Lorem Ipsum, meant to be a placeholder so that I can test out my font options and tweak it. After gathering my page composition, I unhid the pictures and tweaked my color blocks to work with them.

Next, I input what I had of the article done at the time and had noticed that I had too much. I added another block on the Meet Kyra page but that did not help the abundance of text I had on the other. After some advice from my teacher, I had noticed where I made my grand error, I had not properly written my interview. Instead, I had taken more of a Q&A(question and answer) approach. To fit with the writing style of magazine journalist, I have to actually mix the interview with the information I gathered on the topic. In this snapshot, I also added a subtitle to the article and masked some of the assets out.

I then drew these platinum sparkles to go with some of the descriptors in the Meet Kyra portion, playing off of electronic music that she listens to which associates with similar-looking motifs. These bright sparkles and posture also work well to represent her personality which can be Narcissistic at times.

This is the final edit. I fixed the content and added the sparkles. I had a couple of my friends review the article for any grammatical or literary errors, which I had many of. Thankfully I had their assistance and was able to fix how broken it seemed initially.

Body Identity- Feature Article Mood board

In Ru Paul's Paper Magazine cover, they pulled off having both cold and warm colors. The editor masked out Ru's face and hair in order to keep them warm colored and this effect really stands out when you compare the skin and shadow on the skin. The hue contrast is really popped. Unfortunately, I couldn't replicate this look due to harsh shadows which would have messed up the look entirely.

The image to the right was created by me that's why it's not linked to anything.

Kyra likes the Pop "vaporwave" aesthetic that comes with PC electronic music. I tried to infuse some of this look into my layout for the feature, with the pinks and other assets. I added the reddish hue to set it apart from the Love, You articles and to make it more harmonic with the pictures which have many warm hues. While I was editing the pictures, I experimented with colder overlaid colors but it didn't compliment her skin and looked off-putting.

I included this image because it was my inspiration for the text title art this is what I looked to. To emphasize the 'Meet Kyra' section, I am creating PNG transparents of the different attributes mentioned.

"Body Identity" - Final Article Writing Process

After gathering my interview answers, I began to work on the other portion which was all about transgenderism. My first paragraph had to be about media representation since that was the theme I had established with my cover. My next paragraph was transitioning into the describing the struggle transexuals go through, this relates to the motive of my article - to inform the reader. Towards the end, I also wanted to include a statement that directly tells the reader to be accepting them. Over the course of the second and third paragraphs, I want the reader to understand the effects being ostracized can have on Transgendered people. It was important to mention how medical factors played into the stress and depression that they feel, specifically, gender dysphoria and the attributes of body dysmorphia.
I want to be clear that I am not trying concrete the idea that all transexuals have body dysmorphia because that condition has far more serious implications and attitudes towards it. People suffering from this condition tend to focus on some physical attributes of themselves so strongly that it ends in them hurting themselves.

Initial Draft

I started with a brief background on who Kyra Francois is. after which I had directly moved onto the informative portion of my article. Since this is just the first draft, I just threw all my ideas and info together. So the actual writing does not have much profoundness or structure. There are also frequent grammatical errors. After consulting with my teacher, she advised that I fix the writing to fit a more conventional interview article. Using a Rihanna interview I read for my Love, You article as a frame of reference, I revised it. I mixed my long interview with my informative writing, using quotes from the interview to support the points I was making in the article. 

Final Draft

Besides fixing the Dysphoria and Dysmorphia section, I also fixed the perspective I was writing from in all sections. In order to properly write like a journalist, I must talk in the third perspective and I had made the mistake of writing everything in the first person. I also closed off the last section better, clearly stating the importance of acceptance and relating it back to how the two conditions are linked.

Works Cited

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/body-dysmorphic-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20353938

https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/gender-dysphoria/

https://www.glaad.org/transgender/transfaq

https://www.healthpartners.com/blog/mental-health-in-the-transgender-community/

"Love, you" - Article Writing Process - model Interviews

Questions asked

1.would you consider yourself a confident person?

2. how have beauty standards affected you?

3.whag do you find most useful when you're trying to express yourself? Art, makeup, music, or fashion?

Priscilla's responses

- No, I wouldn’t consider myself really a confident person.

- I wouldn’t say beauty standards have affected me. the only way they could affect me is if I really cared about what “standards” I should follow or look like but I really don't.

- I find music and my art to use to express myself.

.

Kelsey's responses

- Yes.

- It affected me because I always have clear skin so when bumps appear I do my best to remove them.

- Fashion, I dress according to my body, I can wear anything and still look good.

"Body Identity" Feature - Article Writing Process - model Interview

"Short Kings" - Article Writing Process - model Interviews

Short King Interview Responses

Questions

1. Do you consider yourself short? If so do you think you get called out for it often?

2. how has being under 5'9" affected your social standing or confidence?

3. How do you Express for confidence most? Through fashion or some other way?

Ruben's response

1) I don't think of my self as short because some people like myself actually view being 5'4' as a somewhat normal height. I also don't really get called out for my height either, most people usually don't pay mind to my height when talking to me unless they're really tall because the major height difference between us can be used as a segue into a conversation 

2) being under 5'9' hasn't really affected my social standing or confidence because my height isn't what I need to be confident in myself or to have a very high social status; further more, a lot of critically acclaimed individuals that are short didn't just get to where they are because of their height, they got there because of the talents and skills that each of them used to provide usefulness to their surroundings 

3) I think I express for my confidence by the way I talk. People may say someone looks confident but I dress pretty normal in my opinion, so I would have to guess that my appearance isn't what people would think of when they talk about me as a person. My confidence, so to speak, comes from what I say or the way I say things and even from things I do. I'm told that I say weird or zany stuff in a non-offensive way and people think about that stuff if so happen pop into their conversations.

Alejandro's response:

1) Yes I consider myself short and sometimes yea 

2) It's harder to do things especially with taller friends 

3) Express my confidence with my jokes and personality

Joseph's response:

1. No, not really. Most of the people around me are either my height or shorter. I've never been called out for being short either.

2. Being under 5'9" hasn't affected my social standing either. I feel pretty average, to be honest. Most people I hang out with are almost as tall as me. I don't really feel a difference when hanging out with people who are shorter than me or taller than me. As long as they're cool people then I'm cool with them. So my confidence doesn't really change either.

3. I express my confidence through how I carry myself. Smelling good, having good hygiene, and dressing good really boost my confidence

"Short Kings" Photoshoot 3

 Ruben solo shot

Similar to the other pics from this shoot, this picture had a problem with harsh shadows. I used the same trick to solve the problem.

1. Opened a new layer went back to the original layer
2. Color range selected all the dark areas 
3. Moved into the layer I made on top of it
4. I placed a white gradient in that layer and set the blending mode to soft light.
5. When I noticed that I would need to give special work to the face
6. I opened a new layer, set the blending mode to overlay
7. I used a brush with the hardness set to zero in the color white to brush on light onto his face.

This is the finish product....there is a slight graininess but that's fine because I don't plan to use it at this size.

Alejandro Solo Shot

For this picture, I didn't do any significant edits
I just fixed some tones and cropped it

"Body Identity" - Photoshoot Redo

In total, I had around 26 shots of Kyra for this second photoshoot so it was hard to conclude it to only these 6 pictures. I Judged them based on composition, how the high and low lights looked, and on the posture of the picture. In reality, there was around 8 that I deemed of high quality based on those factors. I then had to extract the 3 best shots from those 6, which are located at the bottom. I used similar adjustment presets from "Love, You" final shots to edit these 3 shots but I saturated oranges and warm tones to complement Kyra's complexion and used some minor blur on the backgrounds. When you compare the 3 unedited pictures with my final ones, you can see how lifeless their cold tones looked, they also look slightly more uninteresting.

"Love, You"- Title Art

Similar to the title art process for Short Kings, I relied on hand-drawing my font. The workspace is also similar, I have my palette in the corner and my sketch at low opacity on another layer. As you can see, to save file space and time I made all the title arts on the same Photoshop file.

 Finished product...

"Body Identity"-Title Art

This a snapshot of my 3 choice fonts, the bottom one was already in the midst of editing. From to bottom, the fonts are Kingthings_trypewriter, moms_typewriter, and what was originally, stampwriter_kit. I source them all from dafont.com, a website that specializes in free and donationware fonts. These three specifically, are 100%  free fonts who were mainly sourced from real typewrite that was then scanned and vectorized.

I asked my friends which I should choose initially but I just figured I might as well just mix them. My original concept is for it to look mismatched and tense to portray the discomfort that comes with body dysmorphia and transitioning. The reason I only use typewriter was because of the setting and professional feel I was trying to portray a pressing ambiance while also choosing something that seemed to fit the background.

Finished PNG...

Works Cited

Mom'sTypewriter is copyright Christoph Mueller 1997

www.kingthingsfonts.co.uk