12/18/2019

     Today I finished the critical reflection question: "How does your product use or challenge conventions?". Answering this question was very easy because I mentioned the conventions I used from other magazines in my previous blogs. However, this did allow me to reflect and make note that my magazine's design is very similar to that of "Runner's World". This was the desired affect I wanted my magazine to have on the reader and I feel that I accomplished this the best I could.

     I divided this answer into four parts. I described the conventions used on each page in their own section and then I explained the social groups present in the magazine. I realized that I embodied my magazine with conventions in magazines like "National Geographic". My color scheme and cover was very similar. Tomorrow I plan on finishing another critical reflection question.

12/17/2019

     Today I finished the critical reflection question: "How did your production skills develop throughout this project?". I answered this question using a Prezi and after using the program once, I mastered it. This program gave me the opportunity to add animation and charming designs to answer the question. I gave the Prezi a similar yellow color scheme to relate it my finished product and it creates an exciting tone.

     The reason why I started with this question is because I just finished my magazine and the progress I made during the project was fresh in my mind. I split the Prezi into two sections titled "Programs" and "Techniques". In the "Programs" section I described how each program enhanced my production skills and the features of each that I took advantage of. In the "Techniques" section I expanded on the skills I learned throughout the process and how they made me more efficient. I plan on finishing another question tomorrow.

Hoyour production skills develop throughout this project

12/16/2019

     This week I plan on finishing the critical reflection questions and completing my project. I plan on completing the question, "How did your production skills develop throughout this project?" using prezi.com. I am unfamiliar with how to use this program but the website prides itself on being simple. I will use Prezi for most of my critical reflection questions because it offers more interesting feature than Power Point, like animations.

     Today I added two more articles to my table of contents. My cover page includes an article in the sweet spot titled "10 TIPS FOR A GREAT SEASON" and I needed to incorporate it into my table of contents. I placed in apart from the features section because an article like this is usually a half of a page long in running magazines. The other article I added was "TROY LEVET RUNS HIS FIRST MARATHON SUB 2:30". This article title using common running slang. the word "sub" is commonly used to describe when an athlete runs under a specific time. In this case Troy Levet ran under 2 hours and 30 minutes. I included this article in the features section due to the fact that marathon stories include a lot of details.

12/6/2019

     Today I made small edits to my magazine. I wanted to clean up some parts that were not aligned correctly. I edited the photo on the second page of my two-page spread by applying a filter that increased the brightness and saturation. This helped to blend the photo into the white background.

     On my cover page I deleted a stray line that ran across the center and aligned the border symmetrically. My cover is officially complete. When revising my table of contents, I noticed that the spacing between my articles was tight, therefore, I increased it. I revised my magazine to honor the editing phase in the traditional magazine production process. Next week I plan on answering the critical reflection questions.

   


   

12/5/2019

     Today I finished both pages of my two-page spread. This part of the magazine was the easiest in my opinion. This is due to the fact that I know how to use every feature of Canva by now. Uploading photos from my Iphone and inserting them into Canva is simple. Canva has a grid laid out on the page that allows me to line up text perfectly to really increase the beauty of my magazine.

     I wanted to change the color scheme and focus on orange. This helped Zachary pop on the page because I increased the saturation of his skin tone and the orange border helps to highlight it. The font of the quote connects with the title of the article and encourages the reader to focus on these parts of the page. I feel that I accomplished an upbeat tone by using the color orange and emphasizing Zachary's smile. I plan on editing some small parts of the magazine tomorrow.

12/3/2019

     Today I started to work on the second page of my two-page spread. I wanted to embody this page with an article that contained the interview I had with Zachary Jones. However, I wanted it to read like one complete body a text. I decided to not integrate the questions I asked Zachary because I felt that they would stop the flow of the article and cause the reader to lose focus.

     When planning the design of this page I became inspired by the two-page spread that I put in my most recent blog. The lack of clutter allowed me to focus on the article more and therefore I retained the information better. A commonality in most magazines is to divide the body of text into two columns, as I write more I will mimic this convention. This helps to add symmetry to the page and increases the appeal. I incorporated a photo of Zachary on the top part of the page. The focused look on Zachary's face alludes to the mentality he describes in the article.

12/2/2019

     Today I finished the first page of my two-page spread. This page mainly focuses on a picture of Zachary running from a profile point of view. I decided to use this photo to start my article because a full body shot is a common convention used in articles in "Runner's World" and "Men's Running Magazine. A huge emphases is put on great running form and Zachary was a perfect candidate to showcase this.

     On top of the photo I placed an inspirational quote. This is also a commonality in magazines and allows the reader to remember the main idea of the article. I wanted to create a lot of space in the first page of the spread to convey distance which is also a convention of running magazines. I plan on writing the article on the second page of my two-page spread tomorrow. This will complete the main components of my magazine.