A Week of Choices

A lot has happened over this past week that has changed the course for how my project will be executed. Let me explain what happened in order.

First, we had our second project presentation among our peers, but this time between much smaller groups, so we were able to discuss each individual project for a greater amount of time. Everyone thought my fashion show idea was pretty cool, and thought that the concept went well with my target audience. They also thought my research was well done since I was able to answer any questions that they had. This whole experience made me feel lot more confident about my project since I now know that people understand and like my ideas.

Next, a whole new problem arrived, the web browser I was using was not cooperating. I originally started using Joomag because I thought it offered me a variety of different options to edit my magazine. I watched online tutorials, asked questions at the help center, and even messed around with the software system, but I was still not able to decorate everything the way I wanted. I asked my friends Paloma and Sofi what software they were using, and they both told me Canva. I had used Canva before on school projects, but I didn't know that I was able to create my own magazine as well. I made the switch, and I like this program way more since it's much easier to use

In addition, I finished my table of contents, and I really like the color scheme I chose for my magazine. Here's where I got my inspiration:

Finally, I have everything set for my two page spread. Tomorrow, I will be attending the Underground Fort Lauderdale Fashion Show to see the Zoey Reva and Alice & Trixie spring collections. In my two page spread, I will talk about my experience, the clothing I saw, some of the trends, and then focus the other half of my story on talking about dupes for the clothing.

The only thing I have to schedule are the photoshoots because none of my friends were available for this week, but I already made plans for next week. Stay tunned to hear about my fashion show experience!

Schedules in Place

I feel like I have everything set in order to create my magazine. Today I went to Aventura Mall and looked at different clothing, in order to find looks for my models to wear. I went to Top Shop, FOREVER 21, H&M, GAP, and purchased several items of clothing. However, for the most part, I'm going to be using clothing I already have from those stores in order to avoid spending so much money. I'm really excited to start the photoshoots because it's going to feel like an actual professional shoot. 

I'm going to attempt to take all of my pictures by the end of this week, that way I have all of next week to edit in order to get things done on time. As far as creating the product of my magazine, I started using Joomag in order to set up the layout and to choose the themes that best represent my target audience. I have chosen the classic, white, background with  black, elegant font, just like most beauty and fashion magazines. In addition, I will include elements of bright colors in order to give the magazine a more juvenile appearance. There's not much I've placed on the magazine, since I still don't have any pictures or my story, but I will fill out all of my information as I go along.

Most importantly, I have finally chosen a name for my magazine... BERSERI. I have chosen this name because it means "radiant" in Malay, which is what my target audience, and all women in the world are. To be radiant (in the figurative sense), is to be happy, joyful, outspoken, beaming. In the literal sense, it means to emit rays of light or heat. To me, it having it as my title personifies the idea that every woman is influential, independent, and important, since they spread their talents, ideas, and morals everyday in order to make the world a better place. The masthead will be in all caps, but I don't know what color I will choose for it.

I've already acquired all of my tools and have all of the blueprints to bring my vision to life. Now is the time to actually start building the bridge...

Plan B

I was really looking forward to go to a fashion show and be able to write about it for my magazine spread, however, some complications have come forth.

First of all, for some reason, every major fashion show in Miami needs to take place in May/April. Unfortunately, not many shows were scheduled for March so it did not give me a lot of options. The first fashion show I encoutered happened at the exact same time I had a doctor's appointment, so I couldn't attend. The other fashion show I found, happened to be starting two hours after I found it... IN ORLANDO. Option number three seemed promising, until I found out it was a couple's lingerie fashion show, so that's a no. Finally, I found a fashion weekend event in Fort Lauderdale, Underground Lauderdale, but it does not appeal to my target audience.

I went on the website for Undergound Lauderdale, and saw that it was a high-end event, since there were a lot of semi-famous designer collections, and the revenue was very expensive. I went to the website to search up the schedule, and it's a total four day event filled with cocktail parties, dinners, preformances, and several fashion shows. The first thing I realized, there's no way I can interview any of the designers. 1. Many of them won't even be there, but only their collection will. 2. There's over 2,000 people attending including actual media sources, so the chances they'll want to talk to a high school student is unlikely. 3. These are high-end designers, which means they'll probably have an entourage behind them at all times.

My next idea, was to talk about the clothing, describing the trends for this spring, prices, popular looks, and new accessories. Unfortunately,  I went on the website for each individual designer, and came to the conclusion that this is not going to work for my target audience. The clothing was very expensive, and almost every article of clothing sold was at least 200$.  My 18-25 year olds will not be able to afford any of this, and if they are, then they can't purchase that many articles of clothing. However, while scrolling through the galleries in the designers' websites I'm thinking to myself, "This was totally made for 18-25 year olds, no one else would wear this.", which is when the idea came for me- Fashion dupes.

"Dupes" are products that are similar in appearance and function as a high-end product, but are way cheaper in price. They are basically the equivalence of having purchased the same product but under a more reasonable, affordable brand. Example:

                                               

So what I'm going to do is attend the fashion show for one designer, I'm still not sure which one because one date is more expensive than the other, but the other offers more content, so I'll have to decide according to cost difference and my schedule. Out of all of the collections featured, the ones that would appeal most to my target audience would be Nicole Miller, Zoey Reva and Alice and Trixie, which are the events I'm hoping to attend. I'll take pictures of as many outfits as I can during the show, and then afterward I'll go to Top Shop, H&M, gap, and the other stores featured in my research. The reason why I'm going to go look for clothes in these stores is because they were the most popular among women ages 18-25, despite socioeconomic status. Once I'm at these stores, I'll try to find replicas but at a cheaper price, and I'll write about it in my article. That way, women will understand that you can still have a great, tendy, new look despite the price.


Schedule - 3 Days Of Fashion By The Beach. (n.d.). Retrieved March 25, 2017, from http://www.undergroundlauderdalefashionweekend.com/schedule

Peer Review

Monday in AICE Media class, we were made to present our ideas to six other students in the class, and offer commentary on any ideas, questions, or opinions about everyone's individual projects. This discussion was very helpful because we were able to get feedback and guidance, incase there is any type of creative block. What this activity made me realize, is that everyone is as confused, undecided, and uncertain as I am about how to approach this project. Maybe everyone is just overthinking, but these last two weeks are critical in order to get everything completed and revised.

When it was time to discuss my project, the boys in the group were completely quiet, which did not surprise me since I figured they could not relate to my magazine topic. I also didn't have that many concerns about what to do, since I already have an idea about what my magazine will look like and the type of layout I want. The real issue I needed to be addressed was my two page spread, since I had no idea what I wanted to talk about. The girls suggested that a  "What to wear to..." column would be a really good idea to execute. They said that this story was very relatable since it can apply to any type of girl, even the ones that are not into fashion. As my classmate Natasha stated, "Everytime I go out somewhere, I always ask my friends what they are wearing.", which sounds very logical, since I'm always asking the same question to my friends. The only issue I have with this idea, is that I don't know if I can contextualize it enough to be written through a two page spread. I've seen those stories displayed in magazines, but they usually don't consists of much text, but rather a combination of images such as this:

      

They also don't take up two pages, so the only way that this idea would work is if I combined multiple events and gave distinct outfits to each different event, which would be too much information thrown together in the spread. Maybe this idea would be good for a bonus column, but I don't know if I have time for that, since I need to focus on my two page spread.

Another idea that I think would be pretty cool is if I went to a fashion show and interviewed one of the designers. I'm aware that the idea seems pretty ambitious, but fashion shows are really common in Miami, so maybe I could pull it off. I need to research if there are any upcoming events, who the designers are, if their clothing appeals to my target audience, and if I'll even be given the chance to interview them. Seems like impossible to achieve, but, I insist that if this could be pulled off, it would make the perfect story for my two page spread. I guess I'll have to research more and see...

Image in my Head

Today I went to Wynwood, which is a popular neighborhood with street murals all around the block, and the entire time I was there, I could not stop thinking about the project. For the first time, I finally got some insight as to what direction I'll be heading in.
Here are my thoughts:

The magazine will be laid out in this order-
Front Cover
Table of Contents
Advertisement
Table of Contents part two
Two Page Spread

I have already considered 5 "models " to be used throughout the entire magazine, however that number might change according to how everyone's schedules work out. I also would love to take all of my pictures in Wynwood Walls, since I feel like there is so much option available for different themes to be represented with aesthetically pleasing backgrounds. If it doesn't work out, Miami has a lot of exciting locales available, so it won't be hard trying to find another place to shoot. As far as camera equipment goes, I have several lenses that attach to the iPhone for higher quality pictures, as well as a video camera in case it doesn't workout. I will have to use the sun's lighting because lighting equipment is really expensive, but if anything happens, I downloaded several photo editing apps like Photo Editor and Pics Art that are supposed to fix lighting issues, if all else fails.

The visual aspects of my magazine are still a mystery, but I already know what my Table of Contents will look like. I went to the store and looked at Vanity Fair, Cosmopolitan, InStyle, Glamour, Elle, Allure (pretty much all the fashion magazines they had available), and realized most were arranged the same way. These are the trends:

-white background
-black style text with a nice font
-most featured only 6-8 stories listed
-written in one column
-took up only half the page, both vertically and horizontally
-the other half of the page featured models, articles of clothing, and makeup products, along the page number of where they are featured
-the majority of them had at least one advertisement separating the two pages of the table of contents

My table of contents will include all of these factors, since they are what proves to be successful in displaying their information about fashion and beauty. It's clean, organized, well structured, and will include popular beauty products along with pictures of my models to set the tone for the rest of the spread. The stories featured will follow the same idea as the ones I discovered while doing research on Vogue and Cosmopolitan: beauty tips, fashion trends, strong women in society, self motivation ideas, fashion and beauty "DIY's", fun places to visit, and editor's choice.

All of the clothing and makeup will appear to my target audience meaning that it won't feature too many high end products, or expensive articles of clothing. I would also love to include a "unique photo shoot" like Vogue does because I think it will look super cool. With regards to the magazine theme and layout, I already downloaded ePage Creator and joomag, so I'll have to play around with both systems to see which I like best.

Finally, I still don't know what I want my two page spread to be about. I think I might try to interview someone in the fashion industry, but I'm still not sure.
It's finally great to see how pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together, but there's still a lot of work to be done.

TIPS From Experts

My head is currently in every direction right now, constantly changing my opinion as to what I want to do for my magazine spread. In order to get some tips on what to include and how to layout my magazine, I started watching a two videos about people who are in the fashion industry and know what works towards the general audience.

The first video I watched is about Louis Todescato, an art director for fashion magazines. In the video, he comprised a series of steps he takes in order to make a successful photo spread. The first thing he does is look at the clothing and critique it from a literary perspective, rather than an artistic perspective. What type of message is the clothing sending? Who would wear it? What's the history behind it? Once he answers all of those questions, he acquires a better understanding of the mood and theme his photos will possess. According to Todescato, the public is becoming more educated and has a more critical eye than in the past, meaning that the images should evoke some outside thought, since fashion is a reflection of society. Finally, I learned that photoshop is key when there's a small budget, which means I'll probably have to get acquainted with it pretty soon.

The second video I watched was actually an HBO documentary, In Vogue-The Editor's Eye, which talks about the creative aspect of being a top editor at Vogue. The video included commentary from Anna Wintour, Grace Coddington, Hamish Bowels, and other editors who talked about the history of Vogue and where their ideas come from. The first thing they established is the importance of their photo spreads to be unique and unusual, in order to transport the reader to a "fairy tale world". I looked up some of their spreads, including their Alice in Wonderland spread (which is discussed in the video), and decided I want my photo spread to take the same crazy, artistic route because I find it highly aesthetically pleasing. However, unlike Vogue, I already established I'm not going to use high-end clothing, since that doesn't appeal to my target audience. Instead, I will specifically use clothing from the stores GAP, River Island, Top Shop, and  H&M, based on findings I discussed in my previous post. 

Another theme that was highly emphasized is that both the photo spreads and articles need have a meaning. MEANING MEANING MEANING. The editors all spoke about how every shoot or article they did had to be symbolic towards women, politics, social conflicts, or any relevant issue in the world. Just like Todescato, they think storytelling in the most important factor that makes a magazine successful. Like directors during film making, every choice the editor makes matters and has a purpose behind it and helps the story progress for the audience. It's clearly not only about appearance, but what the magazine is selling to the readers. 

Although the video focused a mostly about the history of Vogue, the most important thing I can probably take away is the importance of having a vision. As Phyllis Posnick said, "If I don't have a picture in my mind, it is not going to work.", which totally changed the way I'm going to approach this project. I'm usually a "go with the flow" type of person, that waits to see how things turn out. I now realize I need to do a lot of planning and have to slowly figure out what I want, in order to execute it in the most efficient way possible. Hopefully a lot of my confussion will clear up pretty soon.

Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato (Directors), In Vogue: The Editor's Eye, (2012), HBO Documentaries, Retrieved March18, 2017

U.n. director The Secret of Fashion Editorial Magazines- Fashion, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbTHTmRd94E, Retrieved March 18, 2017

Target Audience Research

For the past few days I started to do research on who my target audience is, and what type of trends they are associated with. I had decided that I was targeting women between the ages of 18-25, who are most likely in college, or beginning their professional careers. This means that these women, for the most part, are not economically independent, which means I should probably stay away from discussing high end clothing and products, like Vogue does. However, I still needed more insight as to what my audience is interested about, in case any of my predictions prove to be false.

 I first began researching beauty products, and the first thing that I found was an article by the Huffington Post , discussing a survey that was done a couple of years ago concerning makeup trends with women ages 18-25. What I discovered was that even though makeup sales have been steadily increasing over the past few years, 67% of women between the ages of 18-25 use 0-3 makeup products everyday. However, that percentage is just a general average, but there are many factors underlining why that was the most common response, since results varied by region and age. The study pointed out that East Coast women living in cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Boston were more likely to wear more makeup than West Coast women living in cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco. In addition, they noticed 21 year olds, on average, used 8-12 products daily, while 25 year olds used 0-3 products daily. This means, that the older women get, the less likely they are to use more makeup products.

Another study I found done by LIM College , showed me that the number of people that shop online is being highly overestimated. In reality, 68% of the 18-25 surveyed said that they rather shop in person than online, since they are able to feel the texture of the clothes, and are also able to try them on. However, it was revealed that 66% did use the web to search for clothes and compare prices. I could use this information, to possibly provide access to a website that does the comparison for customers, or offer a column that gives the audience online tricks that makes shopping easier.

My favorite piece of information, is a PDF file that personifies women's shopping trends and styles based on age, socioeconomic status, and style preferences. For my target audience, (ages 18-25) they were labeled into five different categories: Ana, Katie, Natasha, Tammy, and Annabel

Ana

Ana- Young, urban women with confident style and mid-range spending habits
-Tend to live in urban flats, upmarket areas, and most likely have roommates
-Buy for themselves, full price is paid
-2.32% of total females
-Major emphasis on individuality expressed through clothing
-Fashion conscious & Style Driven
-Favorite stores include Gap, H&M, Next Directory and many small boutiques

Katie

Katie-  Young women who are keen fashion followers and who skillfully crafted their wardrobes from within their budgets

-Live at home with parents, low income

-Buys latest trends, below average overall spend

-7.76% of total females

-Fashion conscious, style driven, and high spend

-Favorite stores are H&M, Top Shop, Dorothy Perkins, River Island

Natasha

Natasha-  Young women who care about fashion but who can only afford a few items
-Share flats, live in urban areas, low income
-Buy budget basics, fewer items
-2.95% of total females
-Experimental with fashion, style-driven
-Favorite stores are Top Shop, H&M, River Island, TJ Maxx

Tammy

Tammy-   Young women who achieve peer approval through clothing on a very limited budget
-Live with parents, low income, low-value housing
-Lowest spending, fashion is very important, brand and style matter

Annabel

-6.15% of total females
-Low spend and quality driven

-Favorite stores are River Island, New Look, Top Shop, Dorothy Perkin





Annabel-  Young women with a high spending capacity who dress in the best labels
-Often living with parents, wealthy homes, high disposable income-Very high spend per
purchase, Designer brands, use sales
  -4.55% of total females
-Fashion conscious, high price, quality driven
-Favorite stores include Gap, John Lewis, River Island, and Independent shops



    Based on the information that I have gathered, I will use some of the trends that apply to all five categories in order to address all of my target audience equally. I will also be addressing back to the PDF a lot, since it offers me a variety of information I can use.


Fashion Segments. (n.d.). Retrieved March 16, 20017, from http://www.experian.co.uk/assets/business-strategies/brochures/fashion_segments_handbook_females_small[1].pdf

College, L. (2015, April 09). LIM College Study of Shopping Trends Among 18-25 Year-Olds Reveals Millennials Not Loyal to Fashion Brands. Retrieved March 16, 2017, from http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lim-college-study-shopping-trends-among-18-25-year-olds-reveals-millennials-not-loyal-to-fashion-brands-300062949.html

Krupnick, Ellie. "Study: Young Women Aren't Actually Using That Many Beauty Products." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 28 Aug. 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.

Case Study 2- Cosmopolitan

The second magazine I researched is one that I'm much more familiarized with because I read their snapchat edition everyday, Cosmopolitan. Cosmopolitan is one of the most purchased magazines for women, having 64 international editions, and being distributed in 110 countries. Unlike Vogue, who focuses mainly on bookstore and subscription distribution, Cosmopolitan is easily accessible in grocery markets, making a lot of their target audience middle class women.

The  frequently discussed topics include beauty, style, relationships, food, career, college, politics, health & fitness, and celebrities. Since they don't  focus mainly on fashion and beauty, it would be most appropriate to label the magazine as a Women's Lifestyle, rather than fashion. However, when they do discuss beauty and fashion, the magazine often features styling tips, makeup "how to's", cosmo "beauty closet" (featuring products the reader is suggested to try out), and beauty advice.

Another feature the the magazine frequently uses is focusing on entertainment and tourism articles for their readers. Cosmopolitan often comes up with "Best Restaurants in Each City", "Top 10 Vacation Spots to Visit this Summer", or "Must Visit Amusement Parks " that offer their audience a variety of activities to do in different places across the US and in the world. This includes giving a list of places, restaurants, and popular plates to order, following a review or description of what they are promoting. I would love to possibly include this theme somewhere in my magazine since I love to travel, and often read them.

Cosmopolitan is also really big on feminism and self empowerment, since they often focus on stories featuring how raise self esteem, and eliminating gender roles, and criticizing beauty standards. They are also not shy from stating their opinions concerning the government's restrictions on abortion and contraceptives, racism towards immigrants, and issues women face in sex trafficking. These topics are often discussed through interviews, op-eds pieces, or columns that give insight to global problems that should be addressed on a much larger scale.

To the quantity of information the magazine offers to its audience, it is no wonder why they are so influential. Many of these ideas I have discussed inspire me to take a similar approach on my magazine, but mostly centered towards a different crowd.


Beck, L., Tower, A., Bailey, A., O'Malley, K., Roberts, K., Davison, C. B., & Editors, T. (n.d.). Cosmopolitan.com. Retrieved March 12, 2017, from http://www.cosmopolitan.com/

Case Study- Vogue

After much debate and constant trailing back and forth on ideas, I decided to do a fashion/ beauty/ lifestyle magazine. This magazine would be centered towards middle class women, ages 18-25. The people I am targeting with this demographic are most likely in college, or starting their professional careers. I need to do further research on trends associated with this group of people, but as of right now, I'm looking at other women-centered magazines for inspiration.

The first magazine I did research on was Vogue, by going on their website and reading some of their issues. First thing that I noticed is that they don't only distribute their American edition across the world. They have British, Chinese, Indian, Italian, French, Middle Eastern, men, and teen editions available. This allows them to reach out to multiple people across the world because the brand realizes that not all countries have the same beauty standards. Based on the American edition, I realized that most of the fashion styles they focus on tend to be high-end clothing, made by exclusive designers. Recently they have placed greater emphasis on fashion runaway do to NYC, London, Milan, and Paris fashion weeks that have been occurring this past month. As I looked at different editions that came out last year, I noticed most of the trends, styles of the week, and season fashion editions were also focused on popular designers and expensive clothing. However, due to the fact that my target audience for the most part isn't economically independent yet, I don't think I'm going to go the same route.

 When it comes to celebrities, they don't really focus on gossip or rumors, except for when they do celebrity editions that usually involve an interview and a photo spread. As far as beauty is concerned, the magazine also likes to discuss topics such as makeup, skin care, hair, nail care, and health & fitness. However, there is far greater emphasis on clothing.


Recently, Vogue has been heavily criticized for its ethnic representation methods and attempts to promote diversity. Their March issue that celebrated "The Modern American Woman", was heavily criticized by social media and other news outlets for failing to promote differences between women. The cover featured mostly Caucasian models being placed at the center, and featured only one plus sized model. In that same issue, another problem exploded when model Karlie Kloss was featured in a traditional Japanese Photoshoot. People were outraged that the magazine did not choose Asian model, Liu Wen, for the shoot, and Kloss faced a lot of yellowface allegations. These events make it clear that accurate representation is extremely important when releasing an edition since it can upset a lot of audiences.
                                                               

                

               

However, Vogue does place a lot of emphasis on female empowerment. They often feature a variety of articles that focus on powerful women across the world. They discuss topics such as: what it's like to be a refugee, women in the military, and the life of female Native Americans, and women in powerful places, such as NASA. This is something that intrigues me because it shows that the magazine is aware of the social issues that women face , and wants to spread a message
about it to their audience.



Larkin, A. (n.d.). Vogue's 'diverse' cover slammed as not diverse. Retrieved March 12, 2017, from http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/09/us/vogue-diverse-cover-trnd/

Lang, C. (2017, February 10). Vogue 2017: Karlie Kloss Controversial Japan Shoot Response. Retrieved March 11, 2017, from http://time.com/4671287/karlie-kloss-vogue-backlash/

Fashion, Beauty, Celebrity, Fashion Shows. (1969, December 31). Retrieved March 9, 2017, from http://www.vogue.com/

Thought Bubbles

It is finally the time of the year to take everything I have learned in throughout course and apply it to create a final product. I am well aware that this will require a tremendous amount of time and effort, but I'm excited to get things started. Ever since this project was first announced, I immediately knew I wanted to do a magazine spread. I've always considered myself the type of person that  expresses themselves better in writing, so I feel like I can execute more ideas through the method that I'm most comfortable in by choosing this option. Although throughout the year, we've done numerous short films that were very fun to make, I know that this will be more entertaining and interesting for me to create. In addition, if I were to go into the media industry, I would most likely find myself in journalism or publishing, rather than film production. Consequently, this project will give me a chance to simulate working in that branch in order to determine whether it is something I enjoy, and could potentially consider to study.

As all of our projects have demonstrated, there are certain steps I need to take before I start designing the magazine.
First I need to determine the genre for my magazine. I have considered fashion, travel, health & fitness, and interior design, but I'm still undecided on what I want to do. Once I can determine my genre, I'll have a better understanding of who my target audience is, and what they are interested about reading.
Next, comes the research, which will probably be the most important part in creating my project. I need to fully understand the demographics of my target audience, and popular consumption methods in order to try to get my message across in the most suitable way. Also, I need to take note of design trends in order to make my magazine aesthetically pleasing, which will ultimately engage the audience.
Finally, I will have to start making my magazine from scratch, which will not be easy at all.

The one thing so far that I have clear about my magazine, is that I want it to be subscription based because of an article I recently read. The article basically described how magazine stands have been in great decline over the past years as people focus more on subscription magazines.

I'm a little nervous and anxious about how things will turn out, but I'm hoping for the best, willing to try my hardest in order to make this a successful project.

"Behind Magazines’ Decline on the Newsstand." Behind Magazines' Decline on the Newsstand - Media Life Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2017.