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Sunday, October 29, 2023

Technical Skills (Online)

Throughout the project I encountered a lot of technical problems. In this blog post I will detail how I solved the problems. 


Reflection
At first I thought that it was going to be complicated as it involved codes, however the video was clear with their step-by-step instructions and because I can pause every now and then too, I could follow along with my own pace and therefore, it was solved simply and quite fast. Because I noted down the steps I followed in this blogpost, I can always refer back to it in the case where I encounter the same problem and forget how to fix it. Furthermore, due to this problem, it reminded me that I have all the resources I would be needing whenever I have technical issues, which is the Internet whether It'd be YouTube to search for verbal and visual tutorials or websites to find testimonies from other people and how they solved problems that I may be dealing with in the future.


Problem: Unable to embed Google Document into Blogger 

I had previously did my Statement of Intent in a Google Document so that the format of the table is nice and organized. After that, I planned to embed the Google Document directly into my Statement of Intent Blogpost however the size that came out was really compressed to a small layout where it made it unclear and complicated to read. I was really confused of this occurrence as from my past experiences with embedding external documents, such as embedding Google Slides into my brief blogpost, nothing like this happened before. 



I used the same techniques in the process of embedding the Google Document to the blogpost where I:
1. Gave access to everyone with the link 
2. Published the document to web 
3. Copy pasted the embedding code to the Blogpost's HTML view
However when I saved/updated and checked my blog, It was compressed into this small layout below:



Solution: I went to YouTube to fond a tutorial on how to correctly embed an external document to a Blogpost. 

The YouTube video:


Link to the YouTube tutorial: https://youtu.be/PtlTH-GePw8?si=V3cAsfbdLEDsFSI1

The steps that I followed to fix it:
1. Download the Google Document as a PDF 
2. Upload the PDF to Google Drive 
3. Change the access of the PDF to "anyone with the link can access" 
4. Copy the changed link 
5. Go to the Statement of Intent blogpost and change it to HTML view 
6. Paste the link 
7. Delete "usp=sharing" 
8. Change view to preview 
9. Add the code <iframe src=" " width="640" height="480"></iframe> 
10. Between the " " after the src= add the modified PDF link 
11. Publish

Edited code:


Result: Now it's bigger and everything's visible within the layout compared to previously. 


Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Magazines: Targeting audiences through Demographics + Psychographics

Here are my notes for my lesson about how media companies target audience. I worked as a part of a group but participated in the discussion. (Sorry that the notes are quite messy)

Name: Britney Spears - Teen Magazine  
Issue (date): August 1999
Publisher: A Petersen Publication 


Name: ELLE - Shiny Jennie 
Issue (date): February 2022 
Publisher: Hachette Livre, Lagardère Group

This is the photo of our notes based on the 2 magazines above: 

Reflection - How will it help me in my magazine project (Comp 1):
This magazine research will not really help with my magazine project as the genre between them are completely different where here I researched about fashion magazines while I'm creating a travel magazine. However, from this research I learned more about how different designs and typographies such as the fonts and color connotations are used to target different target audiences as per concluded from the photo of my notes. Therefore, I can apply this knowledge to my own magazine that is targeting old people where I have to choose specific typographies, layout, and overall design that will most likely represent and attract them. 

This is my unit test that I did in class where I had to write a response to how different target audiences are targeted by the media according to their demographics and psychographics. 

One way on how media targets different target audiences are through the psychographics which includes their interest, aspirations or goals and through their demographics that includes age and income. These factors targets different target audiences as it categorizes a wide range of readers into a more niche and specific group of audiences. Demographics classifies them by their age, gender, income, and location while psychographics classifies them by their personality, interests, values, and goals as these are all more generalized and are more common to identify as some people would have the same general identification with the others. I am using Round the Table magazine published by Randy L. Scritchfield, CFP, LUTCF that was released on May-June 2023. It is a Business magazine targeted towards workers from any income group who works in the business field. This statement can be identified firstly in terms of their psychographics such as having interests of interpretations of the human mind. This is shown by the main cover image being a close-up illustration of a person’s head and a stairway inside it, therefore since the main cover image is used to give a hint of the overall content of the magazine, the content would be similar and related to it which may be about how people think, why they think that way, and possibly how readers can change that mindset. Because of this reason, the target audience would be people who studies the mindset of people, which may include psychologists, marketers, and business owners who wants to learn about the mindset of their consumers. According to the uses and gratification theory, they would read this magazine for surveillance as they aspire to attain more knowledge of how to understand the minds of their buyers and how they can go inside their audience’s minds in terms of persuading them to buy their product which can be implied from the illustration of stairway inside the person’s head. Furthermore, The font in the main cover line is sharp, bolded, and is in capital letters. This connotes seriousness and gives a sense of professionalism that is typically displayed as the personality and impression of business workers. Another example on how media targets different audiences would be the different demographics and psychographics they use in the magazine All Nissan X-Trail published by the Nissan Automobile company in the year 2018. It is a automobile magazine targeted towards the young to old middle age group as firstly, since it’s an automobile magazine that involves cars, the user’s age would be limited to the legal age, which is above 19. As the main cover image is a long shot image of a Nissan car and it shows both the exterior design and the interior, we can imply several implications and connotations that the company is trying to convey by showing the whole car. Firstly, the color of the car showcased in the cover is orange, this connotes liviness and energy that is typically represented as the personality of young people. However, in order to own a car, a specific income level should be reached and typically, people above their mid 20s have a stable income, therefore enabling them to purchase a car. In addition to that, the long shot camera angle allows us to see a hint of the interior design of the car which shows a 5 seater car. This implies that the car may be used for family purposes as it is spacious and more stable therefore, able to occupy a lot of people. 
 
My teacher's feedback towards it:
- So why are they using a ‘young’ colourful car to target older people? Maybe they want the audience to feel young. Discuss further. 
- Try and include more examples from the magazine that targets specific examples. (visuals, cover lines etc)

Reflection
Doing this unit test was quite stressful as I was pressured by the limited amount of time that I thought was not enough for me but in the end, I got a satisfying score so It made me happier and even though I didn't like the pressure, I see this as a a practice for my upcoming exam and my teacher's feedback towards it was helpful as it shows that I have lots of room for improvement so that next time, I can get a better understanding of what I have to write and get a better score. When learning for my unit test, I had to explore the connotations of specific things such as color and typography and this really showed me that even simple things as such has deeper meanings behind them and certain reasons as to why writers use them and how the usage has to be relevant with the demographics and/or psychographics their targeting. Not only that, in the process of learning for this unit test, I was rereading the research I made (in the research blogpost) and also researching more magazines, both that are related and not related and that really broaden my knowledge that targeting audiences from different demographics and psychographics are not just limited to the colors and typography used in this magazine, but everything else has to be taken into account such as the language (whether it should be informal or formal and that depends on the demographic of age) and the presence of websites and social media for further mode of engagement which may imply that the magazine is targeted towards young to middle aged readers as they are more involved in the social media world. After all this research did I realize that everything should be thought about in detail as before that I only thought of these factors briefly and therefore, this realization will really help in improving the making of my own magazine as I will be more careful in what I use and I put in my magazine so that everything goes well together consistently to align correctly with my target audience's interests and preferences. 

Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Stuart Hall: Representation Theory

This is my post about Stuart Hall's representation theory 

What is a representation?

Representation is when media gives meaning to a subject that originally has no fixed meaning, however media does not reflect meaning, it creates meaning. 

What is a stereotype and why are they used? 

Stereotype is when a group or an individual is reduced or classified into a limited set of preconceived ideas that already exists about those particular group in society. It is created to quickly construct representations in an easily accessible way for the audience and to make it easier for them to interpret it. They are also used due to the lack of diversity in the writing room/production. 

What are the social groups represented in the media? 

Religion, gender, age, race/ethnicity, social class, LGBTQ+, disability, places, events, social issues, and identity. 


Two social groups that are stereotyped in Indonesian Media

Positive

What is the group

Place 

How are they represented (mis-en-scene, sound, etc) and what is the reason for this:

They are represented positively in the media, usually with either establishing shots or long shots to show that it's not just a small part of Indonesia that looks "clean, nice, attractive, etc." but it's a large amount of area that are visually pleasing and appealing. An example would be establishing shots of Bali where they mostly show the rice paddies, beaches, mountains, and nature related places in general with the dominant color of green to connote freshness and tranquility. Not only that, they would include soundtracks (ND) of Traditional Balinese Music 

in order to attract foreigners who enjoys and increase the tourism business. 

How does the audience receive this message: 


Examples from media texts (include images/screenshots, video, etc)

- name and year (from the last 5 years): 


Negative

What is the group:

LGBTQ+

How are they represented (mise-en-scene, sound, etc):

They are presented negatively in the media, most of the time in news channels 




Sunday, October 8, 2023

Statement of Intent

This is my Statement of Intent for my magazine project 


(The last 1 and a half page is an example and guideline given by my teacher to help me in answering my statement of intent.)

Reflection

When I first skimmed through the document to see the types of questions asked and how much I have to fill in and even though I already expected that I had to write in so much details regarding the information of my target audience and the overview of my magazine, I was still quite overwhelmed as at that time, I haven't really thought about what my magazine will be about in detail so I already felt like it was going to be really time-consuming. However I realized the importance of this assignment as It will give a clear direction to support the making of magazine project as I have all the details laid out where It will be a guide that I will use to remind myself what I will include in the content and so that I don't forget about who my primary and secondary target audiences are and track off the way I write to target them as different demographics and psychographics of target audiences have different ways to being targeted such as language, tone, and design layout. This is as I have to consistently write content that resonates with their interests and preferences in order to attract them and have them keep reading my magazine. 


I changed a few things in my statement of intent, below is the new one. 


Reflection
I have to match the content with the pictures I took and because I made this statement of intent before I went to the locations to scout it in detail, some of the places and activities are unfortunately already closed down, therefore I can’t put them in my magazine. This revision helps me realize the importance of planning and making preparations thoroughly because I didn't take account enough of the possibilities that will limit me in the making of this magazine and because of that, I have to change a few things which is quite a hassle including changing some of the content in my magazine article and my double-page spread as they are directly connected towards my plans written in the statement of intent. However, this tells me that there are always room for improvement and this gave me the chance to make my overall magazine better than it was. 

Thursday, October 5, 2023

Magazine Research

These are my research for various genre magazines to expose myself with different genre conventions and the general necessary contents writers put in. My research for specifically travel genre magazines are in my front cover, content, and double-page research and development blog posts. 

Reflection on the entire research:
Conducting this research was really tiring, very time-consuming, and gradually got boring as it took me 3 days of repetitively answering the same questions over and over again. The 2 big detailed research was especially quite stressful to do as even though I was analyzing only the cover of the magazine, there were so much parts of the magazine that I had to decode, find the implied meaning, and the connotations of. The 4 small detailed research was equally as stressful as I misunderstood the instructions when I did my first one, leading to me answering the wrong set of questions and made it more time-consuming than it should've been. This gave me a lesson that next time, if an instruction is unclear to me, I should ask my teacher rather than having to do it incorrectly and making it more complicated. Even though the whole process of completing this research was frustrating and draining, in the end it expanded my knowledge of the media terminologies, media theories and their theorists, and media concepts such as connotations and effects of certain features that they have towards the readers which will definitely help in my section A and B in the exam. Before this, I struggled with applying media terminologies, media theories, and media concepts in my works as I'm new to everything and I wasn't used to it yet. However, because I was repetitively using them non-stop throughout the research, for me it became the same thing as practicing and therefore, I became more familiar with it and understood it more where I eventually could add more and more to my section A and B and I was gradually improving compared to when I was first introduced to all of them. 

This is an analysis of the magazine terminologies found in the front cover of my magazine and their possible effects on the reader. 
If it's not clear enough:
https://www.canva.com/design/DAFwcTFBl7Q/ue9BGIuBjkJ7sC3blb_Erw/edit?utm_content=DAFwcTFBl7Q&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton


Round the Table 
Author: Randy L. Scritchfield, CFP, LUTCF
Edition: May-June 2023

Round the Table is a magazine for the world's best financial professionals that delivers business solutions, management practice and technology tips. It provides content to aid producers at every career stage and connects them with readers around the world. 


Media Language 
The codes and conventions for typical business magazines is to feature a close-up shot picture of a popular and influential businessman or woman to attract attentions of reader's that are interested in their business strategies and advices. However, the image placed on the cover appears to go against the code and convention as it's an abstract image of a person's head, which is considered less engaging as according to research, readers are more naturally drawn to human faces and expressions. Though, it may still work for people that enjoys interpreting and digging meaning to stimulate the reader's imagination and since it's targeted to workers in the marketing field, they may already be used to decoding things to create messages that connects with the consumers. A direct example would be by the implied meaning of a pathway to someone's mind decoded by the image of a stairway in someone's mind. Not only that, the base color of the magazine cover is green and when associated with business, it is a connotation of growth, may it be financial or personal development. The color green also gives a meaning of safety and trust, which correlates with the content of the magazine on how to gain the trust of consumers. All these connotations links with the genre of the magazine being business where they typically promote growth. 

Representations
There are not many representations that are displayed in the cover of the magazine aside from the image of the stairs in the person's head that keeps going upward. This may represent the desire of workers in the business industry to keep growing more and the desire for improvement in their career, making a clearer idea that there is a representation of the target audience being workers in a business or a profit-driven related industry. Not only that, the font of the masthead is in a DM Sans. This gives off a sense of modern and clean look and can help convey professionalism that is typically displayed as the personality and impression of business workers. 

Audience 
The target audience for Round the Table are typically workers who works in the marketing field, specifically in the insurance industry. Based on the uses and gratification theory, workers may want to read this magazine for surveillance, which is to attain knowledge about the effective ways of how to understand the mind of consumers and how those workers can effect the way they think. Marketers would be attracted by the main image that displays a stairway in a person's implies a pathway to someone's mind where this implied meaning would easily be noticeable by people in general and not just workers in that field as not only is it a simple, direct, and not out of the box picture, it is also supported by the curved words surrounding it that means 'examining customer's thoughts'. The image of someone's head itself implies that the content has something to do with people's minds, therefore it may be targeted to either psychologists, marketers, and etc. It engages the readers by encouraging interpretations and gets people to think of the deeper meaning behind the picture, where in the business world, this is something they most likely do regularly. Since the interpretation of the image in the cover is simple and easily decoded, it may appeal to the target audience as a mode of inspiration to be practiced in their own workplace. 

Industry 
Round the Table publishes their magazines not only as a hard copy, but also digitally in the internet to follow the evolution of technology and the fact that almost everyone now has access to technology. Publishing it in the internet allows Round the Table to gain recognitions from online consumers and allows for a broader range of consumers. With marketing and business in general evolving with technology as well and specifically, marketers working in social media platforms and online websites, it will be much easier and faster to get to them that way instead of publishing hard copies in local stores that either not everyone can access or in the case that it's not published in the specific country they're in. With the fact that the target audience, marketers, spends time working in social medias and websites and that technology is now able to collect and analyze data on reader behavior and preferences. This data can then be used for magazine companies like Round the Table to reach their target audiences in a more accurate and faster way. 

All New Nissan X-trail
Author: Unknown
Edition: 2014

All New Nissan X-Trail is a magazine published by the Nissan Automobile manufacturer company particularly for the "Indonesia eXtreme 4x4 team 2014 final battle" and "GIXA SUMUT 2014" event. This magazine features articles on multiple types of vehicles such as 4 seaters suvs that may be targeted to families and off roader vehicles like trucks. The content also includes the new features added to their automobiles and the benefits it brings to the users. 


Media Language
The codes and conventions for typical automobile advertisement magazines are to feature a high quality low angle and long shot of the vehicles being advertised with the purpose of attracting the attention of the reader's to the car's overall mechanical features and design which is done by the long shot that captures the whole of the car that shows both the exterior and the interior and not just for example, the front, the side, and etc. This magazine follows the general codes and conventions where it is showcasing their newly invented car in a low angle shot to make it appear powerful where readers can imply that the car has new and added features that may be different to other cars, giving buyers the upper-hand benefit if they were to buy the car. In addition to this, the supporting phrase saying "all new" is bolded and designed to have the largest font when compared to the rest of the texts on the cover as the writer may want to attract the readers by making it more noticeable so that it's the first thing they see to help emphasize the significance of the phrase to them. Not only that, the usage of Dutch angle gives a sense of playfulness, edginess, and trendiness to the car where it may bring out a feeling of intrigue and excitement towards the readers. Because their target audience are most likely automobile enthusiasts, the lighting is mostly focused and projected towards the car to make it look gleaming and give a sense of modern and sleekness to make it more visually appealing and trendy and stand out to their target audience, adding to them usage of the color orange that contrasts with the car's background.

Representations
The identity (or type) of the car have been represented clearly on the front cover of this magazine, in correlation to the age group represented and the features of the car. The choice of having the car shot in a long shot is key to this where it has made the not only the exterior clearly visible where the car looks like a medium to a big size car, but also the interior of the car, which is an important factor in figuring out the age group the car is targeted to. In addition to the size of the car being a medium to a big size car, the snip of the interior shows more or less a 5 seater space where this can typically imply to be a representation of the car's identity to being a family car since it means the car can hold a significant amount of passengers where according to the stereotypes of buyers of 4 and above seater cars, it would usually be children. Not only that, the long shot of the car also showed the location it's in. The location having trees in the back may connote nature and typically cars in nature suggest road trips. This may imply that the car is suitable for long-duration road trips and taking into account that it's on grass, it may imply that it can withstand unstable ground roads and has good stability, suggesting safe and comfort that would appeal to families with toddlers, making us believe more that this Nissan X-Trail car is represented to be family car with representations as such that would appeal to families. 

Audience
The target audience for this All New Nissan X-trail magazine are specifically young middle-age couples who may want to explore more about suitable cars for them to use. According to the Uses and Gratification theory, they would want to consume this media text for personal identity. This is as they may feel that the features of the Nissan X-trail may align with their personal identity of being future parents or currently, parents to toddlers where they prioritize their safety at most and may also align with their lifestyle of liking adventures and road trips. Since it's an advertisement magazine for cars, we can already narrow it down to people who are above 20. Furthermore, with the help of the long shot of the car showing a spacious 5 seater medium size car, we can narrow it further down to possibly target audiences such as young middle age couples with toddlers. If we were to follow the common stereotypes, young single people would more likely use a small 4-5 seater car due to efficiency, affordability, etc., therefore ruling out that age group. To support this statement, the usage of the color orange for the color of the car connotes liveliness and energy that generally represents young middle-aged people and in addition to that, the Dutch angle portraying this connotation implies this age group as not only does it match their personality, they are often more exposed and are used to things that evokes energy and uniqueness, making it an important factor when trying to attract that age group as they may be used to that standard when consuming advertisements.

Industry
This edition is a special edition release in regards to the "Indonesia eXtreme 4x4 team 2014 final battle" and "GIXA SUMUT 2014" event. This is a great way to gain brand recognition taking into account the many people joining the event as not only will it be full of car enthusiasts and people who knows significant knowledge about cars, there will be a high chance that their target audience is also there and with the appealing features the magazine has, it may serve as a direct approach to their target audience right on the spot. However, this publishing and advertisement media technique may not work as well in correlation to the continuing evolution of technology and the more people being exposed to it. If this company decides to continue this technique by publishing only hard covers, they may attract less to no consumers as the more people being exposed to technology, the more they use and depend on it to gain information instead of using physical copies of them. Nevertheless, this technique is understandable when looking at the year it was published. To follow the common trend of publishing companies to have an online presence, this company has gradually seem to successfully adapt to the development of technology as upon researching, they have published several magazines online, making it more widely accessible and with the help of websites being able to collect data on reader preferences, it is easier and faster for them to reach right to their specific target audience, especially if they are young people since they spend quite a lot of time in social media platforms, the internet, and etc. 


Asri
Author: Imelda Anwar
Edition: December 2015 

Asri is a magazine mainly targeted towards architects that seeks inspiration for the current trends of home, cafe, and restaurant designs for them to use it for their future creations. It provides contents such as images of real life locations (such as existing restaurants), the designs that they use, and the positive effects it has on their customers. 


 

Masthead/Title
The Masthead of this magazine is the logo of the company so that it is easily recognizable to the target audience. Furthermore, "Asri" is a real word from the Indonesian dictionary and not just a made up word where it means an area that is clean, has lots of trees and far from pollution. Since it's a real and also simple word, the readers can easily imply that the content of the magazine would have relations to nature such as gardens, wood, plants, and etc. 

Typography
The font used by the masthead is a normal, simple, and curvy font. This is so that it stands out differently with all the other sharp fonts used and capture the reader's attention that that word is what the company wants them to read first. It may even be beneficial when attracting the reader's attention if the company has a good brand reputation and their logo is the first thing they recognize, therefore they are more willing to pick it up. To further support that statement, the masthead is placed on the upper left third of the magazine, this is the first thing buyers will see amongst the other parts of the magazine when put in the shelf with other magazines, therefore, drawing the reader's attention immediately towards the logo and its typography which again, may be the first thing the company wants the readers to see. The masthead using a bold yellow color in an architecture magazine in this case may suggest the association with sun, sunlight, and freshness, all incorporating with the nature theme. 

Image 
The image selected for the cover is a long shot showing the interior and exterior of a house. It mainly focuses on the interior, showing a lot of wooden materials used as the design of the furniture such as the table, chair, glass frame, and ceiling. This gives a hint on the type of designs going to be shown in the content of this architecture magazine and reflects on the overall type of magazine it is. The lighting throughout the image is equally bright and spread across the room so that it is visually clear for the readers to see all the architectural features, elements, and structures of the house. It makes the space look more open as it minimizes shadows and clearly shows the length of the area, even if in the case of this magazine, it's only a part of the house. In contrast to if it was dark, it will make the space look smaller from the limited visibility of the length and width of the structure of the house. 

Language
The main coverline found in the cover is the phrase "Identitas Tradisional" along with the other coverlines such as the phrases "variasi ekspresi, unpretentious beauty, when tropical meets vintage, and garden by the bay." The words tropical, traditional, garden, suggests that the magazine relates with nature elements. Therefore this suggests that the target audience may be architects who are looking for ideas on how to incorporate nature elements with interior and exterior designs. It may also be directed towards people looking to build or renovate their homes to have these type of designs. This gives a diversity of the target audience for this type of company which allows them to have a broader range of possible buyers. 

Representation
This magazine does not have a clear representation however it may be middle-aged adults as It showcases a house, may it be architectures or home owners. This is as this age group are typically more eligible to be related to the production of houses in general with their expected level of income and the expected age group to have their own families. Furthermore, this age group are stereotypically known to value health and well-being and the incorporation of natural elements such as wooden furniture, gardens, and other forms of greeneries can contribute to a sense of freshness and relaxation, making it more appealing to this age group. 

Adverts 
Advertisements for furniture, lighting, and home decor products such as cabinets, couches, tables and building materials, such as flooring, tiles, countertops, are common to reach architects, interior designers, and home owners that are seeking for inspiration for their own projects. 

What inspires you, What do you dislike, and Relevance
I like that in this cover of the magazine, the lighting throughout the image is equally bright and spreads across the room, making the space look more open as it minimizes shadows and clearly shows the length of the area. In contrast to if it was dark, it will make the space look smaller from the limited visibility of the length and width of the structure of the house. I can use this method of lighting in my travel magazine to make it visually clear, give my target audience a bold sense of freshness and to help them capture and emphasize important details in the images I will provide. However I dislike the color and position of the coverline "variasi ekspresi, unpretentious beauty, when tropical meets vintage, and garden by the bay." as the color crashes against the color of the background, making it look less clear to read. 

Reflection 
My teacher told me to do 4 less detailed research and it starts with this magazine and up to this point, I thought that this was the format. However, I recently asked my friend about it and he told me that I only needed to write about what inspired me, what i like and dislike in the magazine and the relevance of its features towards my magazine project, for instance, what I would steal to use on my own magazine project. Therefore next time, when an instruction is unclear to me, I should ask the teacher about it and not just rely on my own understanding and beliefs. I can classify this part as additional research as thankfully, I can use some of its features on my own magazine project. 


A-One
Author: Unknown
Edition: March 2013 - June 2013 (Limited Edition)

A-One is a magazine mainly targeted towards young to old middle-aged Asian women, ranging from 20-40 years old who are interested and has the desire to firstly, be exposed to the varieties of culture related fashions and secondly, gain knowledge of beauty, fashion, and dietary tips. 




What inspires you, What do you dislike, and Relevance
I like the typography used in the cover of the magazine where they used a bold and sharp font for the masthead and the headlines of the coverlines as it makes the magazine appear more minimalist, modern, and aesthetically pleasing to the eye. I also like how the color of all the words are within the same color palette, therefore they don't overcrowd the space and instead, appears neat and organized. There is nothing I dislike in this magazine as everything came together well and looks visually appealing to me however, I am not going to use any of these features and the other features present in the cover in my own magazine as It does not really align with the type of magazine and my target audience. 


Lionmag
Author: Unknown
Edition: June - July 2022

Lionmag is a travel magazine, specifically for travelling in Bali, that is targeted towards travelling enthusiasts and people in general that is planning to travel to Bali. This is as it provides content such as information on popular travelling destinations and the culinary in Bali such as their traditional food. 




What inspires you, What do you dislike, and Relevance
I really like that there are a minimal amount of words in the cover to emphasis the main image used instead where this may help catch the reader's attentions more when compared to numerous words crowding and covering the main image in a travel magazine which will make it less visually appealing. In addition to that, I also like the white background in the contents page and the double page as it gives the magazine a light, minimalist, and modern look that is again, aesthetically pleasing to the eyes and therefore, I may steal this kind of format for my own travel magazine as for me, I would definitely buy magazines with this format as It feels pleasing to read even amongst the long informations. Furthermore, there is nothing I dislike in the feature of this magazine as everything came together perfectly. 


Linkers
Author: Unknown, however it may be someone within the "Contributors" list. 
Edition: January 2020

Linkers is a travelling magazine that may be targeted towards travel enthusiasts and people who are interested in the cultures of other countries. This is as this magazine provides a variety of content such as historical locations in a specific country, a traditional food of another country, and a tourist spot for another different country. It also provides recent news of the country displayed, therefore readers can stay up-to-date on what's happening in that country in the case where they are planning to travel there. 




What inspires you, What do you dislike, and Relevance
I like that there are minimal amount of words in the cover to divert the focus of the readers towards the main image used instead to catch the reader's attentions as according to research, people tend to be more attracted to visually appealing images rather than just words. In addition to that, I personally like the warm tone used in the image as it's light on the eyes though it may not stand out when placed amongst all the other magazines next to it. What i dislike in this magazine are the color of the words "content" and "contributor" as it's completely out of the color palette, It doesn't look appealing, and may as well look disturbing, according to me personally. Not only that, I feel like the contributors could've been placed on another page by itself, rather than cramped in the contents page, making the informations look overcrowded and less pleasing to see. On the other hand, similar to the previous travel magazine, I like how they used the white background in the double page as it contrasts to the color of the texts and the pictures. Therefore, it makes them stand out more and look clearer to the reader, so I would possibly use this format for my own travel magazine as since I found this format twice already amongst travel magazines, it means that it's a effective format. 

Here is a link to my Double Page Spread research + development
https://cherylregentsmedia.blogspot.com/2023/11/double-page-spread-research-development.html


Weekly Progress and Plan

Here is my weekly progress for the Magazine project and also a rough plan. 


Week 

Term 2

Week 

Term 3

1

(2 Oct)

Brief, Research

8

( 8 Jan)

Development

2

Research

9

Shoot

3

Research

10

Shoot, Self Reflection

4

Proposal 

11

Post Production

5

Development

12

Post Production

6

Development

13

(12 Feb)

Deadline (Monday 12th February)

7

Development

14

 


Semester 1

Week 1 

- Our teacher introduced us to the magazine brief and it sounds really interesting to me
- Today we learned about magazine terminologies and thankfully, I understood most of them 
- I also started to label my magazine and I found it easy as my magazine had a lot of terminologies found in the cover and the contents. 

Week 2
- Today I started my magazine research where I should research about 6 different magazines and it sound really tiring already because I have to write 2 really detailed analysis however, because Mr Nick has already put the guideline questions for what I should write, it makes it less hard. 
- This week I learned about representation theory by Stuart Hall where meaning is not reflected by the media, it is created by the media after the occurrence which might be useful in my magazine so that I'm more careful when displaying the content of the magazine. 

Week 3
- This week I analyzed two front cover in detail and it was really time-consuming for me as there were many aspects of the magazine's features that I had to analyze; color, typography, main image, and etc.
- I started a mini analysis of the content and double page spread and even though I started early and wanted to finish it early too, there weren't enough magazines that were gathered in my teacher's slides for me to use, so I had to postpone doing it for several days. 
- Problems: This week was really busy for me as I was clouded with tests and quizzes almost everyday so it was difficult trying to juggle both the big analysis part while learning for my tests as they are both equally important to me. 
- Solutions: I can start slipping in doing my magazine analysis in between my little free times whether it's in classes or breaks so after school, I can focus in learning for my tests without worrying about the deadline for the magazine analysis task. 
- To-do: Finish my statement of intent and finish my 4 less detailed magazine analysis before next Friday. 

Week 4
- This week I finished my magazine research analysis where I did 2 big detailed ones and 4 small detailed ones where I had to analyze the media language, audience, representation, and industry. 
- I also worked on my statement of intent for my magazine project where I had to create the demographics, psychographics, dominant reading, and etc. 
- We learned about the genre theory by Steve Neale where a text must be similar enough to be recognized as a particular genre but it also different enough to be new and exciting. We applied this knowledge on a writing practice that compared two media texts in the same genre but with different conventions. 
- Problems: I struggled when working on my magazine research analysis because It turns out to be so long and repetitive and It demotivated me to do more of them as even though I did the 2 big detailed one a week earlier than the due date, It drained my motivation to do the rest. Not only that, for the small detailed ones, I misunderstood the instructions and wrote longer than I should have and wasted my time but thankfully I realized it before I finished it. 
- Solutions: Next time, when an instruction is unclear to me, I should ask the teacher about it and not just rely on my own understanding and beliefs. Furthermore, I should find ways to motivate myself when I'm demotivated during the working of a project as It is really important and even if I have no motivation, I can't procrastinate it to the last minute and rush it as the result will be bad. 
- To-do: In my free time I want to continue my Stuart hall: representation theory research in blog, Magazines: Targeting audiences through Demographics + Psychographics, and magazine development

Week 5 
- This week my class were grouped into groups of 3-4 people where each of the groups were assigned different media theories. My group had to write about the Uses and Gratification theory for social relationships and surveillance including the definition, case studies, our personal anecdote and how this theory is applied in the exam about. 
- This week I also did a research of double page spreads from my 2 chosen travel magazines to help my main magazine project 
- Problems: I still struggle quite a bit to remember the people who created the media theories as there are a lot. 
- Solutions: Every now and then, I should practice my section A and B writing and whilst I do that, I can reread all the materials given about the theory, therefore I'll be more familiar with it and not only will i remember it, I will understand it more. 
- To-do: In my free time, I have to finish Stuart hall: representation theory research in blog, Magazines: Targeting audiences through Demographics + Psychographics, and magazine development and before week 6 Thursday, i have to finish my double-page spread research + development and my blog task about terminology + technical skills (online). 

Week 6 
- This week I practiced section A where I planned the paragraphs with my partner and we wrote about the movie scene's media representation, language, theory, industry, and audience. 
- I also learned about traditional media and new media and how they are connected to each other. 
- I started my 1st draft of my magazine article for my magazine project and I feel like it's going to be really time consuming but nevertheless, It's going to be fun as I'll be talking about the place I've lived all my life and some of my own personal experiences. 
- Problems: I still struggle in my section A writing skills in parts where I have to write about how the media communicate meanings through the use of forms, codes, conventions and techniques as until now, my answers are still lacking of few media terms. 
- Solutions: Read the answers of my classmates that received high scores for their section A writing, analyze what I'm lacking and practice my own writing from that. I can also ask feedbacks from my teacher whenever we're doing the practice and ask what else I need to include and what I'm doing wrong. 
- To-do: In my free time, for my blog, I have to finish my Stuart hall: representation theory research, terminologies, technical skills (online), magazine development, and the 1st draft of my magazine article. 

Week 7 
- Completed a checklist provided by my teacher to make sure I have everything in my blog labeled, whether or not it's completed, and if I have already written reflections for it. 
- This is the end of my first semester and I will go for a semester break for about 1 month and throughout the break my teacher assigned me to go for a location scout where I have to take minimum 3 pictures of the locations I want to add into my magazine. After my semester break, I will be continuing my magazine project. 
- Problems: Managing my time to complete my 1st draft of my magazine article before this week Thursday in addition to completing all the other incomplete tasks in my checklist and juggling with assignments from other classes too. 
- Solutions: When I have free time at home or self-study sessions in school, I will use those time to add as much as I can to my 1st draft article as it's my priority. The rest I will be doing at home and I should finish at least 1-2 tasks each day before Thursday. 
- To-do and homework: Before this week Thursday, I need to write reflections for all the blogposts under the label "Comp 1", complete my 1st draft magazine article, and fill in the terminologies and technical skills (online) blogpost. 

Reflection 














Making a weekly progress where I listed out all my to-do's and homework helped me organize my time in the midst of juggling other assignments from other classes as throughout these 7 weeks, I've been working on big assignments in this class that requires good time management and because of this class, I've learned the importance of good time management and lately, have been improving it compared to before I joined this class. Furthermore, listing out the solutions to problems I experienced will be helpful in the future where whenever I experience the same problem, I can just look back to this blogpost and see how I previously solved it. Overall, this term was really fun and hectic but since the lessons are organized nicely by the teacher, everything finished up well and I'm looking forward to the next term where we begin shooting images for our magazine and producing it entirely. 

Semester 2

Week 1 
- This is the start of semester 2, so I will go back to week 1 to avoid making it confusing. 
- To start the first lesson, my teacher gave me a feedback (attached below) for my semester 1 work which will be really helpful especially in fixing and improving my magazine article. 


- This week my teacher introduced a new study system to the whole class where we were told to make a connect diary digitally in a Google Document. My teacher will regularly ask a few questions about a certain topic before he introduces us to it and after the lesson, he'll ask a few more questions to reflect on what we just learned.    
- I learned about the three stages of media text such as production, distribution, and exhibition and how media ownership affects those stages. Not only that, i learned that media production can be divided into 2 types and how each type earns money and are funded differently.
- I continued on my magazine project by starting a location scout and risk assessment of the locations I have chosen to shoot the images for my magazine. 
- Problems: I didn't really have any problems in understanding the new material as it's clear and straightforward. 
- Solutions: - 
- To-do: Complete my location scout and risk assessments of the locations I chose 

Week 2
- This week I learned about media consolidation by vertical integration and horizontal integration and their advantages and disadvantages. 
- I sketched 6 front cover ideas and I used them to do a photography test with my friends as my models for front cover drafts. Not only that, my teacher taught me on how different border placements, hierarchy of type, type face, and colors chosen for the front cover of the magazine affects the readers differently. After that, he gave us the time to design those drafts on our own. 
- Problems: When I was experimenting in Google Draw with the layouts my teacher prepared, I had trouble creating ideas on how to format the hierarchy of type, type face, and colors all together to make it make sense and work well together in addition to the position of the model. 
- Solutions: I started scrolling through real magazine front covers in the internet for ideas to see what colors schemes they use and what type faces they use to match with the genre of their magazines. 
- To-do:
    -> Make 2 more drafts to Google Draw file where I did experimenting
    -> Design the drafts with the photography test pictures with my friends in Canva. 
    -> Shooting Schedule: 20 January in Sanur beach and 27 January in Kuta beach 

Week 3 
- This week I learned about cross media convergence where a brand can be showcased in different medias to promote it and this may be a beneficial promotional strategy for both parties.
- In addition to that, I learned on what news stories are selected based on and how they perform agenda setting and framing in order to tell the audiences what to think and influence their opinions.
- This week I also continued my magazine's front cover development where I have to use my 4 thumbnail sketches and photography practice, choose 2 and develop digitally, choose 1 and experiment a lot, and make evidences on all the changes you make.
- Problems: It was quite difficult to design my photography practice images as I had to think about the connotations of all the colors and typography I experimented with as my teacher told me that everything I chose has to have meaning related to my genre. 
- Solutions: I searched for similar travel magazines for typography ideas and searched through Pinterest for color palettes so that I can put everything well together. 
- To-do: Finish designing another 2 of my photography practice images for magazine's front cover development.

Week 4 
(I realized that in my weekly progress and plan, I'm supposed to only be typing down things related to my magazine and my magazine project progress, so starting from now, It will only be just that.)
- This week my teacher introduced the critical self-reflection presentation and we had to start brainstorming our answers to the guideline questions in our reflective diary. When we finished brainstorming, he gave us time to start the actual presentation and I chose to do it in Canva.
- Problems: When I was brainstorming my answers, I was quite overwhelmed as there were so many things I had to think about and in addition to that, I haven't done a critical self reflection since the storyboard project so I was worried that I'll do worse than my first one. 
- Solutions: I opened my previous critical self reflection to refresh my memories on what I'm supposed to do and how detailed my answers in the actual presentation should be. Not only that, I also read the feedback that my teacher gave me to know what I had to improve so that my critical self-reflection this time will be better than the last one. 
- To-do: I will divide the task of completing the critical self-reflection into 2 weeks where this week I will try to finish answering question 1 and half of question 2. Next week I plan to continue finishing half of question 2 and the entire of question 3. 

Week 5 
- This week I continued developing my front cover in Canva however this time, I started creating the final drafts with the real pictures and not the experiment ones. Because up to this point, my teacher has kept reminding and teaching the class about the use of borders and typographies, It was much more easier than the first time I practiced. 
- Problem: I had a few difficulties in designing my front cover magazine to put everything well together, two of them being picking the correct font that matches with my genre and the design as well as placing the main coverline and the other coverlines in the correct place and the need to still be able to make it look minimalistic and clean as that's the overall design of the magazine. 
- Solution: I did several research of other minimalist travel magazines in Google and Pinterest and found multiple ideas for my own design and layout. 
- To-do: Finish the final drafts of my front cover development and put the results of the researches, developments, and self-reflection of it in a blog post. 

Week 6
- This week I continued my front cover development and started my contents page and double-page spread research and development where my teacher taught me how to use guides in Canva to organize columns and make everything look neater. 
- Problem: There was a ceremony near school resulting the roads to close down and students having to come at a later time, therefore my class time was cut off my a half and I had less time to work on my magazine with my teacher's supervision and I also received less feedbacks because I managed to only work on further developing my front cover development and less of my contents page and double-page.
- Solution: Because I didn't manage to finish it at school, I'll have to continue the rest at home. 
- To-do: Finish my front cover, contents page, and double page research and development. 

Week 7
- This week my teacher gave me time to finish my front cover, contents page, double page spread, and critical self-reflection in all the classes this week. In addition to that, I got to receive feedbacks and advices to improve my work, which really helped me a lot especially when I'm not sure how to continue certain things. 
- Problem: I was going too slow in developing my front cover, contents page, and double page spread, so I was struggling in finishing them on time before the deadline as it's a really big project. I was also pressured by other things going on in my other classes such as unit tests and mocks and I was really overwhelmed and frustrated on how I can balance all of them equally and not miss the deadline. Because of this, I rushed some things and I fear that the outcome might not be as good as now that I'm looking back to my finished work, I definitely could have done better. 
- Solution: I came up with the idea to use my Google Calendar to divide the days in which I do other class's tasks and media projects equally as they are all as important as the other and I can't prioritize one of them over the others. Therefore, the only solution i can think of right now is that and putting the reminder notification on to avoid forgetting about it. 
- To-do: The deadline for the entire magazine project is 22 February 2024 midnight. 

Self-reflection
My weekly progress tracker helped me organized and remind me of what needed to be done every week as I get to list down my to-do's and their deadlines. Therefore, I can efficiently divide the time to do my work and not fall behind as again, I'll know what has to be done every week. Not only that since I had to list down the solution to the problems I've encountered, whenever I encounter the same problem in the future, I can go back here to know how to solve it in case I've forgotten about it. Since this is the first term after coming back from a long semester break, I became less discipline in my time management and ended up procrastinating a lot, which was a huge mistake as it effects the result of my magazine project, which is also a big graded project. In the end, I had to grind and rush to finish everything in the last 3-4 days instead of dividing the tasks each day consistently. I lost a lot of sleep and energy because of this, and I never want to experience that again. Making this weekly progress help me get used in becoming consistent whether it'd be doing something I like or something I dislike since here, I have to update my weekly progress every week and do the same repetitive questions. 

Bonus week 
- This week I worked on improving my overall magazines based on the feedbacks I received from my teacher and the corrections from peer checking with my friends, in which I have listed all in each of the blog posts, specifically for contents page and double-page spreads. This was really helpful for me as it turns out, I did a few silly mistakes that I didn't even realize I did even after double-checking them myself. 
Problems: I was quite overwhelmed with the amount of things I had to improve as there were multiple amount of feedbacks for my contents page and double-page spread. Not only that, after I fixed them, I had to update my final magazine blog post, the flipbook, and the google drive as well where this process was quite complicated to do as I had to convert files to another file type and organize them. 
Solutions: I wrote down what I had to do on a notes app online therefore it was easier to follow along the steps I had to take as all I had to do was follow it and check them when I'm done with one of them.