Planning my Magazine

Reflection of House Style Presentations:
          
          After creating a presentation on the house style of Money magazine and watching presentations analyzing nine other magazine's house styles, I can reflect on these to surface a magazine with a style of my own. I could take into account the main focus and theme of my magazine. Some concentrated on fashion and celebrities; on the other hand, others had a focus on aspects of nature, like National Geographic, or on technology, similar to the style of Wired. Although I am not yet clear about what I want the center focus of my magazine to be, I know it will be surrounded with aspects of serene nature.
     To compliment this theme of nature, I would have to take the color scheme into consideration. Some magazines stuck to the relatively same color schemes and patterns, while other magazines would drastically change their choices of colors with each issue. Having a color scheme that was closely related to all the issues seemed more appealing to me to have the audience easily recognize what magazine it is from afar and come to reach it and peak their interest. In my magazine, having it be about aspects of the natural world, I would include deep blues and purples, along with bright and sunny colors to give a tropical feel. I think this could attract audiences attracted to the captivating sights of nature.  This could be emphasized with the main image in the front page. This is one factor to strongly consider when designing a front page of an issue. 
       Photos of models or celebrities are many times included to appeal to the audience. The person included on the front page could possibly work in, be involved with, or be famous for concepts that the specific issue will be about. For example, in Money magazine, Anthony Bourdain is a TV personality who was very interested in traveling. It would make sense that he be included on that issue because its main focus was to give money saving tips when traveling, having a credible source to get this information from and a figure who represents the concept of travel. The relationship between the similarity in each issue is also something to consider. They could be significantly similar, having images of people be close-ups or having each issue be fairly different from the previous. For my magazine, I would like to maintain similar photos of mesmerizing and peaceful landscapes, taken from a far distance to create a big picture, instead of having a focus on a single object. Additionally, some magazines were more ornate than others. While some had a minimalist style with a sleek and to-the-point look, others provided intricate images and photos to call the audience's attention. 
        Another factor to consider with the main image is whether it would be a professional picture, similar to Vogue, animated, or a combination of both, similar to Wired. This applies to the masthead as well. At times, the masthead can maintain a single color throughout each issue or change with the shifting focus of each issue. The image might also cover sections of the masthead, perhaps depending on its importance. It may be covered with parts of a person or object. The letters in the masthead are also replaced with parts of the image to add a twist on the issue. The amount of space the masthead takes up may also remain constant or alter because of the sizing or importance of the main image. The small text on the side of the main image could also largely attract buyers. 
        Offers like gifts, prizes or tips could be highlighted to make the reader want to open up the magazine and look further than just the front page. Tips, personality quizzes and personal advice, like relationship advice are included at times to have a personal aspect, intended to attract readers to look over the pages as well because personal or health topics like this could apply to anyone, globally. There could also be the absence of these small texts all together, giving a more simple and straight-forward look to the cover, as I would like to replicate on my magazine design. This would allow all the focus to be on the images of the specific landscapes; however I am am not completely settled on this idea because since the landscapes could be so simple some of these texts could be necessary to indicate what could be found inside.
         Thus, I will keep all these elements in mind when creating my own magazine to keep a main focus and know what angle I'd like to approach it from. To do this effectively, all of this should come together, complementing the aspect of nature's landscapes, to target a certain audience. In order to further organize my ideas, I also created a mood board.

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        To begin organizing my magazines appearance and content, I developed a mood board as a way to plan and create a scheme of my desired content matter. I started by flipping through random magazines, of a variety of subjects, and I cut out particular pieces of random magazines. The ones I chose were ones I'd like to imitate when I think of what I'd prefer to include.               
     I found myself attracted to National Geographic's simple and natural theme. I started by cutting out some soft shades of purple. This could range from landscape pictures of skies to oceans. After cutting out a few of that disposition, I decided to add more vibrant colors and not have the board be too mellow. I did this by pasting some plants like flowers and grass to add life yet continue a layout that has the pieces evenly spread out.      
      As displayed on the mood board, I've chosen to develop an array of deep blues and purples, while adding some more vibrant colors, such as pink yellows and greens. The deeper colors are brought by the oceans and skies. Flowers, leaves, palm trees and fish contribute to the brighter color scheme. All these aspects will be reflected in my magazine, providing a calming disposition of undisturbed nature.      
       This is the beginning of my planning phase. It assisted me in the process of collecting my ideas properly and setting them out physically in front of me. Although I don't need to follow this arrangement or idea exactly, it is a place to start and observe what I think works and pieces I would like to exclude because they don't seem to fit.

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