{Blog 7} ~ Magazine Evaluation

Link to my magazine:

https://www.flipsnack.com/ChloeCatalogue1/weebtoon-magazine.html

Link to my survey:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScQUl6VhaGQ2GWCXsQy-FAHcArMkI20eMxUeoVFslBvq-3sRw/viewform?usp=sf_link

Audience feedback:

How have I met the target audience?

For the target audience, I have included most of the magazine elements and topics that a person with a certain age will love such as posters, activities and tutorials they would like trying out. I was able to research the ideas first, things that will inspire either a child or an adult to do in their everyday routine. I love how this all turned out as a result.

What I hope to achieve?

What I hoped to achieve, is to know the main elements of a magazine and to know how magazines are laid out. How I can inspire children to expand their talents and hobbies they will do in the future. If I keep this up, then more people will get inspiration.

Has it changed?/Reason?/ What was most successful?/Which part were you proud of?

I feel like it has changed a lot with comparing my original ideas with the new ones, When I was getting research off the internet, I've been getting A LOT of creative ideas just whizzing through my head because I'm picking up information as I go. As for the original ideas I had in mind, I wanted to expand them a little bit more if that makes sense. I honestly feel like improving my original ideas, was a great choice to make for this project because the more you expand your ideas, the audience can understand what my intentions are and what I'm trying to explicitly say to them, even though it's not in person.

The reason for these changes, is to make my magazine a lot greater with the feedback I had received, since it will give me more advice and plans about what I should do next time and for my production to rise up.

What I found most successful about my magazine, is the front cover, the main image I have used, which took (probably) an hour to do since it takes dedication to get the drawing just like you want it to turn out. I also like the style I have used such as the masthead at the top which is a sans serif font, since I want it to make it more original and not like the magazines we usually buy and admire in stores. I also like the fact that I used the following photo I took off the internet for the colour scheme, by using high saturations of colours such as: green, pink, cyan, purple, white and all that jazz. Not only did I use those colours I had in mind, I wanted to test out the filter scales and mess around with the hue scale to see which one was more preferable. It was an art platform I used to make the main image and to change the hue scale to how I wanted it. Furthermore, I went with the style I really like, which is more futuristic anime type, so I tried to use that genre, and adding it to my new ideas to create something that the audience will find interesting and admirable. Also not only the front cover I was really surprised as a result, it was everything in general.

Even though I had slow processing, getting the pages to how I want it, overall I'm really proud at how I managed to complete this before the due date and I hope to do something similar like this again. So that's going to be great.

What areas need further development and to change?/What would you do differently if you repeated the project in the future?

I think the area I could have improved on, is page 3 (stickers page). I didn't really put that much detail in it, since it's just stickers for the audience to cut out. I would've changed it to something better or get rid of that page completely and leaving the rest, since it's not really much about the production, it's how you came to that goal.

What would I do differently? I would probably go into more depth with the whole research thing BEFORE jotting things down, when I said I had slow processing into getting the magazine to how I want it. So hopefully that's what I would do differently in the next future media projects.

{Blog 6} ~ Mock ups (My plan for my real magazine cover)

My ideas:

Colour Scheme

With awesome assistance from the internet, I have been gathering a lot of inspiration.

First thing I'm going to plan out, is my colour scheme.

After taking a look through google images, I suddenly came across this photo.

As you can see in this photo, it has a compound of high saturations of colours.

- Pink

- Purple

- Cyan

- Green

I want to use this photo's colours to make my magazine cover presentable so the audience can see what my intentions are, also because I want to focus my style on the sci-fi/futuristic side, to make it stand out to other viewers.

Main image

I have decided to draw my own main image for my magazine.

This is what I have decided to create:

Cover lines

For my cover lines, I went with something similar to the ones I used for my practice magazine cover. Here are some cover lines I came up with:

- Get a chance to WIN a FREE plushie.

- Tips on drawing in manga STYLE!

- COMICS INSIDE for you to READ!

- Let CREATIVITY be your #1 HOBBY!

Main cover line:

'Take a journey through the magazine and EXPLORE the wonders of ANIME.'

I've noticed that most magazines have plugs with their cover lines.

Here's an example:

Layout

Here is the layout I have chosen for my front cover of my magazine:

Target Audience

12+

Masthead

I'm going to pick the same title as my practice cover, 'WeebToon'.

Also, it's going to have a main feature, 'barcode' at the bottom left corner.

Creating front cover

Masthead/cover lines (font and colour):

For my title/cover lines, I'm going to be using a compound of colours, to see which one goes well with the background/matches with the main image. As I did with the practice magazine, I'm going to be adding a ray of glow onto the title as well, just to make it stand out more, and to make the reader's eyes fixed to the title. Furthermore, for the style of the font, I will be using sans serif fonts, since they have more varieties of styles. Also, the writing will be in a sans serif font as well, just to make it more original.

Page colour:

For the front cover page colour, I will be using the same colours, as to what I have picked out on google.

As long as these pigments match the main image and the font colours.

Article page

Layout:

For inside of the magazine, I have gathered information about LiSA, who is a music artist, and she sung for anime shows/What she does in her everyday life/Target audience.

Also, for my article page I'm going to be stealing this layout for the article.

What I'm going to be including:

- Interviews with her.

- Pictures of her and her band/concerts she's been involved in.

- Q&A's/Questions she answered.

- Quotes that she has mentioned in her interview.

- How many anime songs she's published so far.

- Including her CD's/Songs that she's been releasing.

Other topics:

- How to get better at manga drawing

- Comics inside

- Posters

- Stickers to cut out

My journey through making my magazine

Front cover improvements:

Before I started making my front cover for my magazine, I was going to use this main image. However, I noticed that the colours didn't go with the ideas I have chosen. So I've changed it to this instead. I tested out filter scales such as hue/saturation/brightness/contrast/sepia/tint, to see which one suited better with the background, so I could make it more colourful to the audience to attract a lot of sales.

Improving results:

The last picture I did, is my final result for my front cover. I'm actually really proud of this because I made some changes to cover lines, which sounded a lot better. Also I decreased the main image brightness and hue saturation, so I could focus more on the reader, when they take a look at it.

Contents page improvements:

Comparing the 2 (my first attempt for the contents page), I have changed the background to give the audience my style of background. Also, I've noticed that the text wasn't accurately lined up, so by re-typing it (separating the boxes and the guides included), I now find it a lot easier to line them up so the reader can find the page more clearly.

Taken a step up into the contents page, by adding my own art work as the main image for my contents cover, as the reader starts to take a look inside.

Improvements:

Like I did for the front cover, I used the same patterns for the background. For example:

I have taken the liberty of changing the hue/saturation scales, so that it matches the pictures I have included in there as well.

Article page improvements:

As I have a taken a look at my article page, I have changed it's background to give the audience a better understanding to what the article is about.

I've made changes to the background, since the image I have used was stretched. As for the title of the article page, I increased it's size a little bit, so the reader can see it a lot more accurately.

For the background, last time I included an image which was completely stretched out. So it's layout didn't really go well with the magazine. So I have decided to choose whether to include an image or not. In conclusion, I added no image for the background and left it plain.

I loved the fact that I used the stickers to make the page stand out a bit more. I made the layout just like the practice layout I have stolen off google, just to get an idea of what I should do.

Final result:

I added the 'One-Punch Man' slogan to give the audience an idea of what the article is about, since I want my article to be a bit obvious.

Tutorial page:

1) For my tutorial page , I have included a title at the very top (e.g. black, bold sans serif). Also along with the subtitles. Furthermore, I have also taken the liberty of changing the article colour (e.g. From blue to pink) and font (e.g. sans serif) I have used these elements to make the reader understand what the page is about, clearly. After going through a lot of research on magazine layouts, I have decided to make some changes to it, as you can see in the pictures shown.

Or

Throughout making changes to the page, I've been picking up more ideas on improving it.

As you can see in the image below, I definitely did some updates on the colour and font of the titles/blurb.

Now I began making some changes again to the tutorial page, since some of the pink backgrounds I have used off google were very pixelated and boring. Instead, I have made up my choice to choose a cyberpunk art background, since I want to make it more of the 'action, futuristic style'.

This is the image I have chosen:

As for the title and blurb font/colour:

I think I did well with my recent changes. This page background really brings the futuristic vibe to the audience. Also going through the colours of the titles and writing, I've noticed that I was unable to see them all clearly, due to the background being so high saturated. So I've made up my mind in keeping it the same.

My sudden changes:

Changing the background:

Moreover, I have made a change to the background, since I want the background to be a little less dark and a little less bright. So I needed to have the right amount of colours to have the exact balance. Other than that, I think I am pretty happy with this sudden change.

Final result:

Made some changes with this page. (e.g. page numbers, added pictures)

I feel like this is a lot better than the one I originally did. There's more space for the page numbers, the paragraphs have all been lined up properly, decreased the brightness scale for the background a bit darker so the reader can see what this page is about.

Next page on tutorials:

For my next page on tutorials, this time it's going to be about 'How to do drawings on digital'.

I want to give the audience a better understanding that there are other ways of drawing art, and that drawing on digital gives people more varieties of how to make their art even better, including:

- More brushes

- Filters

- Layers

- Stencils

For my background, I have chosen this image:

It really brings out the readers eyes, thinking that it may give them motivation into drawing something like this.

Finished result:

I've added social media links to the page, so the audience can see where they can get more tutorials from and how to improve their drawings.

Improvements:

Same for this page:

If you can compare the 2 finished results, you'll notice that the backgrounds have gone from bright, to dark, since I want to think more about the reader when he views it, and will be easier for them to ponder through the magazine.

Back Cover improvements:

I re-sized the price tag, since I don't want it to fill the side of the page.

At first for my back cover, I was going to include the same main image I have used for my front, but I went with something different by adding my art work to the back instead. I have also included a price tag at the bottom just so the reader can see how much the magazine is worth. As for the title, I have changed it's colour from green to white, since I wanted to paste the same design idea, just like I did for my front cover. Lastly, I've added a QR code for people to scan, which leads to the vizmedia YouTube channel about anime series/updates on behind the scenes etc.

Since I wanted to focus more on the reader, for people who are using android phones, they won't be able to scan the QR since android doesn't have the app for it. So I also added a YouTube interaction so they'll be able to view it, whether they choose to scan the QR code or not.

Here's my final result for my back cover.

Final result for back cover:

Images I have used for my magazine:

This is the image I have used for the background of the magazine.

This is the image I have used for the magazine plugs for the front and the back.

Image I have included for my article page.

The image I have used for my contents page.

The main image from the article page. I was going to copy the layouts for articles, but I just went with what I had in mind.

Blog 5 - Mocking up front cover using audience research

Individual responses:

Here's the link to my survey:

https://www.survey-maker.com/QPREVIEW

Regarding the questions I have asked you in the survey, how useful do you think they were?

Looking through the positive responses from my survey, many people gave a range of different answers that would suit their interest and style. Before this, I had difficulties building up ideas for my magazine cover. After people have given their responses, I think it really increased my creativity and I will now have a better understanding in what type of magazine I want to promote.

My original ideas:

At first, I was going to use pastel colours instead of using bright, bold pigments.

For the style of the font, I wanted to go for serif fonts, since that style of the font was already used in newspapers and all sorts of books and magazines. Instead, I came to the conclusion where I wanted to make my anime magazine more original and my own style. So, I had a change of plan with my previous ideas, by changing the style of font (serif to sans serif), and changing the colours from pastel to bright and bold.