Final Submission with Prezi

Prezi: https://prezi.com/view/WeoHc8CInwjYeJRFEY9A/

Magazine Cover

Table of Contents

Two-Page Article

MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATION

For my multimedia presentation, I used Prezi. By using Prezi, I was able to display each of my four creative critical reflection topics clearly and efficiently.

My link is below!

https://prezi.com/view/WeoHc8CInwjYeJRFEY9A/

CCR #4

Throughout the course of the project, I integrated multiple technologies. As my device to complete all of the necessary processes, I used a 2018 Apple MacBook Air. My MacBook came with several pre-installed programs such as Pages where I typed and edited my pages and made my layouts. In order to take the photos, I used a Canon EOS Rebel TC6. In order to take action shots during the basketball game, I put the camera sports mode in order to get some quality action shots. I also used portrait mode when taking my cover photo of the main athlete in the magazine. Using portrait mode allowed me to take a quality professional photo of the athlete. I used online programs such as ColorPop to edit the photo that I used on the cover of the magazine.

                                                                ColorPop App Logo

CCR #3

Throughout the course of the project, my production skills developed by leaps and bounds. At the beginning of the project, I was worried about how I would be able to take photos that are magazine worthy, and concerned as to how I would make a professional magazine layout.

In order to ensure professional quality photos for my magazine, I spent some time researching different angles and techniques for taking action photos and what type of photo would be best for my cover photo. The research I gathered helped me to take a cover photo that displayed the player's dominance and confidence. The techniques I used during the basketball game were effective in helping me to high-quality action shots.

My production skills also developed with my use of computer software such as pages and adobe in order to edit photos and create magazine pages. Before this project, I had never had to put together any type of magazine. This made the idea of making a magazine from scratch seem insurmountable. However, as I continued to mess around with the software and editing of the photos I became more comfortable with it and developed a very professional magazine.

CCR #2

My product is very efficient in getting the target audience engaged. Because HSSN has a very targeted audience, when that specific audience is reached engagement is instantaneous. My targeted audience is athletes in high school and the parents of high school athletes. The current updates on the top-ranked teams in each sport, highlights of big games, and publicity of individual athletes reel my targeted audience in. However, for people who are not interested in high school sports, my magazine is not eye-catching or engaging.

Magazine distribution is the way a magazine is obtained by the public. While magazines use to be easily sold in storefronts, times have changed. Today, magazines are often distributed through online subscriptions where customers can have the magazine delivered to their home or pay to read the magazine online. By allowing customers to subscribe, sales increase for today's society loves the instant gratification and easy access to the articles.

SLAM is a sports magazine company who publishes magazines based on sports that are in season. SLAM, like other companies, use to only sell their hardcopy magazines in stores, however, they have since moved to a digital distribution like many other companies. SLAM offers a subscription process where customers can pay a small fee for 6 issues a year. SLAM is able to increase their amount of subscribers and increase their range of customers by implementing online subscriptions.

Baseball America is a baseball magazine that features college athletes, draft prospects, MLB players, and Hall of Famers. Baseball America offers an e-edition only so subscribers can pay a low fee to see a high-quality magazine from their computer. An e-edition has a multitude of benefits for it does not use paper, is cheaper for both the company and the customers, and it is instant access for the customer.

In order to raise revenue of my magazine article, I plan to distribute my magazine in each of the three ways listed above. By doing this my magazine will be read by as many high school sports loving people as possible. 

In order to market my product, I plan on posting my magazine title, company name, and a photo of a cover story on a billboard in front of the local high school. By putting a billboard add of my magazine in front of a high school, more high school students will be introduced to a way to stay in tune with their high school's sports news. My second form of marketing will be social media. In today's world, teenagers gravitate towards information they can get instantly. By having a social media page such as Instagram, teenagers will be able to easily see what the new issue will feature and maybe spark an interest to get the teenagers to buy the magazine. I will also make movie-sized posters that can be hung up around the schools to spark the student's interest in the cover story.

CCR #1

Front Cover: 

For my front cover I did not challenge conventions and rather stayed pretty traditional to the basic sports magazine cover. I have my headlining story portrayed to provide readers an insight as to what the headlining article will be about. I took the cover photo from a low angle in order to make the athlete look bigger, taller, and stronger. I then edited the photo using the free Apple app Color Pop. This app allowed me to make the background black and white while still have the athlete be in color. The purpose of this was to make the athlete stand out to grab the readers attention. I followed very conventional styles such as the ones seen on “US” magazines. The font I used for the company logo is bold to provide a sense of dominance which is a common attitude for athletes. The font I used for the headline title is also large in order to draw readers to the thought of what is “EVERYTHING MATTERS”. By doing this readers are more likely to pick up the magazine due to the suspense that was created by the headline. I continued to follow conventions by placing the month/year and issue number on the top right corner. 

Table of Contents:

For my table of contents I did not follow conventions. I created a very untraditional table of contents page. I used an array of sports or athlete photos I took over the course of a couple months to display what the article on that page will be about. This was a very untraditional style that I had not seen done yet before. On Pages I was able to edit the photos and decrease the opacity to make the page numbers and titles of the article stand out. Furthermore, I put my issue number on the top right corner and the month/year on the top left corner. 

Two-Page Article: 

For my two-page article I used a template I found on Apple Pages as an outline. The template gave me a good idea of how to layout my article. While I did use a template, I arranged the text boxes and photos differently in order to make it an original. For example, I made the text boxes uneven as a way to positively challenge conventions. I continued to put the month/year and issue date on the top right and left corners. On the bottom left I added the magazine company to meet conventions as well as a twitter @ on the bottom right corner. 

Third-Quarter Submission

Distribution Research 3

Baseball America is a baseball magazine that features college athletes, draft prospects, MLB players, and Hall of Famers. Baseball America offers an e-edition only so subscribers can pay a low fee to see a high-quality magazine from their computer. An e-edition has a multitude of benefits for it does not use paper, is cheaper for both the company and the customers, and it is instant access for the customer.

Distribution Research 2

SLAM is a sports magazine company who publishes magazines based on sports that are in season. SLAM, like other companies, use to only sell their hardcopy magazines in stores, however, they have since moved to a digital distribution like many other companies. SLAM offers a subscription process where customers can pay a small fee for 6 issues a year. SLAM is able to increase their amount of subscribers and increase their range of customers by implementing online subscriptions.

Distribution Research

Magazine distribution is the way a magazine is obtained by the public. While magazines use to be easily sold in storefronts, times have changed. Today, magazines are often distributed through online subscriptions where customers can have the magazine delivered to their home or pay to read the magazine online. By allowing customers to subscribe, sales increase for today's society loves the instant gratification and easy access to the articles.

Marketing Plan

In order to market my product, I plan on posting my magazine title, company name, and a photo of a cover story on a billboard in front of the local high school. By putting a billboard add of my magazine in front of a high school, more high school students will be introduced to a way to stay in tune with their high school's sports news. My second form of marketing will be social media. In today's world, teenagers gravitate towards information they can get instantly. By having a social media page such as Instagram, teenagers will be able to easily see what the new issue will feature and maybe spark an interest to get the teenagers to buy the magazine. I will also make movie-sized posters that can be hung up around the schools to spark the student's interest in the cover story.

Target Audience #3

Magazine: Sports Illustrated Kids

Title: What A Catch!

Audience:
    Age- 8-15
    Gender- Males
    Geography- United States
    Income Level- Any
    Education Level- Any

Sports Illustrated Kids targeted audience in What A Catch is 8-15 year old boys who play baseball. This article could also be aimed at young girls who play softball or baseball, however, the article features a MLB player on the cover. The reason the age begins at 8 is the reading lexial level of the article. The reason the age range ends at 15 is because most high schoolers read adult magazines. The income level is any for the cost of a magazine is not very expensive. As well as income, the education level is any for no certain education is needed to read a Sports Illustrated article. 

Target Audience Research #2

Magazine: Sporting News

Title: The ultimate sports fans gift guide

Audience:
    Age- 18-30
    Gender- Females
    Geography- United States
    Income Level- Any
    Education Level- Any

Sporting News's target audience in the Gift Guide edition is young adult females who have significant others or family members who are intrigued by sports. The purpose of this edition is to give females an idea of what to get a sports lover. The age range seems to be 18-30 because the cover photo is borderline risk ai, however the age gap closes around 30 for most older women would not read a sports article. This magazine is using their print media to promote the sale of some of their holiday gifts they sell. This magazine is similar to mine for they both relate to sports, however, my magazine is target towards younger males.  

Target Audience Research #1

Magazine: ESPN

Title: The Man, The Myth, The Number, RG3.

Audience:
    Age- 18-40
    Gender- Males
    Geography- United States
    Income Level- Any
    Education Level- Any

ESPN's target audience with the RG3 article is young adult males to males in their mid-forties. ESPN marketed their product on a pro-football player to advertise the upcoming televised NFL draft. The reason the age of the target audience does not include younger children is that the article discusses the statistics and in-depth details of the draft. The picture of RG3 was used to bring attention to the draft for the prospected draft picks could one day be as good as him. This magazine is print media which is used to promote their televised showing of the NFL draft. This magazine is similar to mine where the audience can come from a wide range of income and education levels, however, my article focuses on high school sports and is targeted at a younger demographic.

Peer Review Feedback

My peer feedback came back very positive. Along with many positive comments, constructive criticisms were also provided. My most common pieces of critiques included: the font on the front cover for the subtitles blending in with the main focus, the bland font for my titles, and adjusting the pages numbers in the table of contents to go in order. Positive comments included: great photographs, professional/clean layout, and unique editing of the photos. Based on my feedback I will adjust the page numbers on the table of contents, edit the subtitle font to stand out more, and jazz up the font used in my titles.

Conventions

In order to create a professional magazine cover, table of contents, and two-page article I looked for inspiration in popular published sports magazines such as Sports Illustrated and ESPN. Along with the published sports articles, I also used the "Classic Newsletter" template in Pages as an outline when outlaying my two-page article.

For my cover page, I mimicked Sports Illustrated most common layout where the headliner story's subject or person is covering the length of the cover. In my case, the subject was basketball player Jack Duffy sitting on the bleachers holding a basketball between his legs. I took the photo from ground level and had Jack sit about five rows up. By doing this I was able to get a shot that incorporated depth making Jack seem higher which connotes power and excellence which he has in his sport. For the Branding of the magazine company, I mimicked ESPN's style with HSSN. In today's media industry abbreviations have become increasingly popular for they are easy to remember and often catchy.

For my table of contents, I filled the page with photos that I have taken over the course of the past couple of months as a background. Each photo relates directly to the title of the article. In order to make the titles standout and legible, I made the opacity of the images 63%.

For my two-page article, I used the Pages template as a guide in outlaying my article. To make it my own I added photos, moved and deleted text boxes, changed the fonts, and edited the photo properties and outlines. In addition to several action shots throughout the article, I also put a game schedule to encourage readers to attend the basketball games and support the local high schools.

Midterm Submission