11/21/2019

     Earlier this week I conducted my interview after I finished my last photoshoot with Zachary. The process of conducting the interview was met with no problems. Zachary was very cooperative and answered the questions I asked thoroughly. The questions I asked are the original questions I generated and posted in my blog on November 6th 2019:

• How have possible struggles during your season helped to strengthen your mindset?
• What steps have you taken to positively change your mentality?
• What is your top priority for next season?
• What has fueled your love for running?
• What advice might you give to other high school runners who may be experiencing some struggle as well?

     The answers to these questions will embody the article about Zachary on the second page of my two page spread. I have researched how magazines write articles based on interviews and many use a question and answer format. However, I am going to incorporate the answers that Zachary gave without including the questions. This will help the article flow and allow the reader to make connections about how the answers relate to one another. After finishing the second page of my two page spread, the magazine will be close to finished. I will do some final design tweaking to maximize the appeal and ability for it to grab a reader's attention.11/

11/20/2019

     Yesterday I accomplished my original goal of taking photos of Zachary from a profile point of view. The brick wall background of the photo allows Zachary to pop. Throughout this process I learned how to take better photographs of a moving subject by photographing Zachary while he was running. It took 14 shots to capture a photo that didn't blur Zachary. Zachary varied the speed at which he ran past the camera and we found that when running slower the picture would appear clearer. 

     I decided to incorporate the first photo below into the first page of the two page spread. The photo will be surrounded by a border, however, the color scheme will be different from the table of contents and cover. I decided to highlight orange in my color scheme to keep the reader excited and looking at something new. According to hartdesign.com, "Orange is a youthful color often related to creativity." The shade of orange I will be using increases the focus on Zachary as it is a similar color to his skin tone. I will edit the photo by enhancing the saturation and contrast to highlight the orange tone of Zachary's skin. This first page will then be covered by a quote from the interview to finish the page.

11/19/2019

     Today I finished the design for my Table of Contents. I still need to add two more articles but the design will remain the same. I added another yellow border around the the side and top of the page to enhance the color and fill some of the white space. My masthead from the cover is placed in the upper left corner to maintain a commonality with conventions in other magazines.

     I replicated the color scheme from my cover to allow the reader to feel that each part connects. I used sharp yellow borders similar to the one I used on my cover. This helps the picture of Zachary to pop and unify the conventions. Without the yellow border the picture would not look like it belonged on the page due to the fact that there is no yellow within the photo. I will start my two-page spread this week.

Magazine Project 11/18/19

This week i would like to make drastic changes to my project. I am unhappy with the photos I have taken so far, as they showcase my model in clothing that is not traditional running-wear. I also do not have any photos of my model running through downtown Sarasota, despite that being our original plan. I need to figure out a time this week to take my model downtown and take photos there.

I am going to use the photos I have taken as a reference for future decisions on how to shoot my model. I have noticed that the cover photos of most running magazines contain a full shot of the model running towards the camera or from a profile point of view. I am going to try and replicate this common theme in running magazines like,"Runner's World", and "Men's Running Magazine". My model will be wearing running shorts, running shoes, and no shirt. I will take full shot of my model from a profile point of view while he is running. This week I want to finish the photos portion of the project so that next week I can construct the magazine using Canva.com.

11/17/2019

     Today I started to construct my table of contents page. Outlining my plane and layout has helped me keep track of articles and colors in need to include on the page. I researched the table of contents of other magazines like "Enduro Magazine", and "Runner's World". I tried to replicate the layout of the table of contents from the "Runner's World" magazine because it was easy to incorporate the photos of Zachary I already took. I added a caption to the photo of Zachary to give extra explanation and focus to his article. I decided to make my article the issue published in December as this is the month throughout the U.S. when most high school runners start to train for track.

     The "Runner's World" table of contents has a photo taking up the left side of the page which is what I had already planned on. The articles are listed on the right side of the page which fills up all of the blank space. Replicating this layout will allow my table of contents to embody the entire page without clutter. I plan on adding more yellow accents and creating more articles. Throughout this process, I have learned how to occupy space on a page efficiently. The table of contents should be completed by the end of this week.

11/16/19

     This week I plan on making the table of contents for my magazine and finishing one page of my two page spread. I would like to include another picture of Zachary in the table of contents to emphasize the focus on him. I will divide the table of contents into "Features" and other articles. I want to keep the same fonts, color scheme, and sharp look present throughout the table of contents to match the cover page.

     I want to incorporate the puffs from my cover in addition to other articles in my table of contents page. Then, I will write a one sentence summary that follows each article to entertain and occupy the reader. I will include a photo of Zachary running up the bleachers to add focus to his related article. The photo will be placed on the left side of the page to help take away empty space on the page.

     I will maintain my color scheme throughout the table of contents by including a yellow border around the photo of Zachary similar to the border that surrounds the cover image. The article titles will be colored yellow to create a unified look. The right side of the page will contain 8 articles that clearly relate to high school running.

Magazine project 11/15/19

     Yesterday I took photos of my model Zachary Jones. We used our school track as our set and background for our photos which coincides with the theme of my magazine. I had Zachary pose doing sprints. I think this is a great start, however, I do not think I will use the majority of these photos.

     In the photos I took, Zachary is not in the appropriate running attire that I would like him to be in. He needs to be in running shorts with no shirt. This will honor the common attire in "Elite Runner" and "Men's Running Magazine". The lighting of the photo is gloomy and the sky reflects that. I want the pictures I take in the future to showcase a cheerful tone.

11/15/19

Today I finalized the cover of my magazine. I applied filters to my cover photo and increased the contrast, brightness, and saturation of my photo. When doing this process I became familiar with editing and cropping photos to increase their appeal. The original photo was taking with Zachary in an upside-down position, therefore, I oriented the photo to make him upright.

I finished placing all of the puffs of my magazine. My magazine includes four puffs:

• "Most Competitive Season Yet?"
• "Ethan Geiger: EAGER FOR A NEW STATE RECORD"
• "COACH TOM SCHWARTS: AND HIS UNBEATABLE ATHLETES
• "TOP TRACK SPIKES OF 2019!"

These puffs are surrounding the subject and allow the audience to easily view them without obstructing Zachary.

11/13/19

Today I used the photo I took of Zachary an decided that it meets the needs to appeal to a high school running audience. Zachary is in the proper attire; running shorts. His facial expression contributes to the exciting tone of the magazine. I want to satisfy this tone by adding puffs that ask questions the audience wants answered.

I have started to think about the topics I would like the puffs to cover. Since this magazine is focused on high school running and the sports related to it, the puffs must be specific enough to portray that. I want to use key words like "Track", and "State Record", that offer focus on the main topics of my magazine.

Magazine Project 11/12/19

Recently my group and I have been met with some problems. We have not been able to take photos of the quantity and quality we initially planned on. We have not had sufficient time to take photos as of yet. The photos I have taken of my model Zachary Jones have turned out great and I am pleased with the results so far. This excites me to take more photos and to take the photos I had originally planned on taking in downtown Sarasota, Florida. I plan on using the first photo to create the cover.

I will use an application called VSCO to apply filters to my photos and make them look more professional. I have started to gather inspiration from magazines other than running oriented magazines. I have drawn elements from Heaven's Door magazine, and National geographic to help learn about appealing placement.
  

11/6/2019

     Today I started to prepare interview questions for my interviewee, Zachary Jones. I decided to watch multiple interviews of high school runners on fl.milesplit.com. Common questions that are asked include:

• "How does your team feel about this coming track season?
• "How do you plan on keeping the momentum from last season into this season?"
• "What are your goals for this up and coming track season?"
• "How did you feeling running the race today?"

     These interviews included individualized questions that related to the interviewees previous accomplishments. However, in my interview I would like to get a deeper understanding of Zachary's emotions and how he coped with possible mental and physical barriers during his recent cross country season. The questions I have generated include:

• How have possible struggles during your season helped to strengthen your mindset?
• What steps have you taken to positively change your mentality?
• What is your top priority for next season?
• What has fueled your love for running?
• What advice might you give to other high school runners who may be experiencing some struggle as well?

     These questions demand a more detailed answer than the ones typically asked on fl.milesplit.com. Asking these question will allow my article to feature a sense of intimacy between the audience and Zachary and potentially increase the magazine's appeal.

Magazine Project 11/5/19

     Today my team and I discussed our color theme that will be prevalent in our magazines. Initially, We liked the idea to use orange and black as it creates a great contrast between the colors and we were going to use orange to color our title of the magazine. After more thought, Zachary suggested that we each have an individual color scheme to create an exciting theme for our individual editions.

     I decided to look at color schemes to draw more inspiration. I pulled my color scheme from National Geographic and further studied how their theme of yellow may increase appeal to the consumers. According to packaging design creative strategist, Jenn David Connolly, “color influences consumers not only on the conscious level but also on the subconscious level." In addition, a study published in Tufts University Health and Nutrition Letter concluded that yellow tends to make people feel optimistic and cheerful. Before researching this I had no previous knowledge on the psychological benefits of using different colors to increase appeal to a mass market.

Magazine project 11/4/19

My group and I decided to move our photo shoot to November 4th, 2019 because Robert has work today and we didn't want to rush. Tomorrow we plan to take photos in downtown Sarasota. Downtown Sarasota is a great place to take photos of runner because the buildings offer a beautiful backdrop and match the common settings of "Runner's World" and "Men's Running Magazine". We have decided to take photos of our models at profile because it captures the beautiful running form of the subject. There is a restaurant on main street called The Gaitor Club and it is a brick building. We want to try and take photos using the brick because it offers a great background that keeps the focus of the subject.

11/1/2019

     Today I made the decision to not use my teammate Hieu Hoang as my model due to the fact that he does not have enough time to schedule a photoshoot. Despite this, my teammate Zachary Jones has volunteered to be the subject and focus of my magazine. Zachary will be the perfect person to write about because he has been running since elementary school and his knowledge on high school running is vast. He is a very accomplished runner and he exudes confidence, which will increase the attractiveness of my magazine.

     Zachary's character is extremely unique. His afro draws attention which can benefit my magazine and possibly lead to creative phrases. I will no longer use the interview questions I had originally planned on asking Hieu because they relate to the fact that he had been only running for a year. Since Zachary has more experience, I can ask questions that demand a higher knowledge of the sport, inevitably making my magazine sound more professional. I plan on making these question next week.