My first group meeting! (& my new love for Canva)

Welcome back!

I had an amazing media class today. We were allocated into groups with other members of the class to have discussions about all of our projects and the ideas that we were thinking of doing. These meetings allowed us to get different points of view on our project ideas to see if an audience would like what we are creating. I found this meeting extremely helpful as I did not only get opinions on my ideas, but I also learned about so many new websites and softwares to help me with my project.

One member of my group introduced me to the website called https://www.canva.com/ and I am so excited to talk about it. Canva is a graphic-design website where you are able to create anything from flyers to social media posts to magazine spreads, which is what I will be using it for. Once this member introduced me to the idea of using Canva, I went home to look at some blogs from past years to see which other magazine producers used Canva. As it turns out, some of the best magazines I looked were created on Canva. This got me super excited.

I then made it my goal for the night to learn everything I possibly could about Canva to ensure I am creating the best magazine possible. I watched multiple Youtube videos on Canva tutorials and took a lot of notes. Here are some of the tutorials I watched in case you were interested.

How To Use Canva- Tutorial!
Graphic Design For Newbies (Canva Tutorial 2018)
Canva Tutorial|Canva Tutorial For Beginners|How To Use Canva

These videos taught me so many cool tips and tricks, as well as how to simply navigate throughout the website. I now feel super prepared to use this resource to create my magazine spread.

I also learned about an application called Lightroom. I am not going to talk about it much in this post because I am going to do a whole other post just on Lightroom.

Lastly, one of the members in my group is a photographer, so he also talked to me about camera tips for when I am taking pictures for my magazine. I have a Canon PowerShot G7 X and the member in my group had some helpful tips to share with me. I learned the benefits of taking raw photos and how to actually do that on my camera.

Overall, this group was extremely successful for me and I learned SO MUCH! I am beyond excited to start playing around with everything that I learned and I also can't wait till my next group meeting so I can learn even more.


So until next time!
XOXO, Sophie

My cover page idea!

Welcome back!

 Since my last blog post I have been doing more research for my magazine and focusing specifically on the cover page. I was really thinking about what I want my cover page to look like and how I can make it relate to my two page spread. I also want to make sure that my cover page is as inviting and attention-grabbing as possible.

I was brainstorming ideas for my cover story and I thought it would be really cool if I did something like " 10 Go Green products to amp up your daily routine", or something along those lines. Basically I think it will be really creative to combine the idea of a green makeup look as the cover for St. Patrick's Day with the idea of a "Go Green" cover story.

 I decided to go with this because I find that in a lot of makeup magazines, the cover photo is more just a model with a cool makeup look, rather than a photo that actually has to do with the main story within the magazine. I am going to combine this by having my model wear a cool makeup look, while also having it do with the main story within my magazine.


 I have also started thinking about my model. After reviewing many different cover pages I think that the photo I want to create will look best with a pale model with lighter hair. I also think that a pale model will help the green eyeshadow I plan on doing stand out. Here are some of the magazine covers I have been looking at to take inspiration from.

I love the way that the makeup stands out on the pale model and I think this is something that I am definitely going to do.

I plan on starting to play around with different makeup looks very soon as I just ordered a new eyeshadow palette with some cool green shades that I am thinking about using. Here is the palette.

Anyways, I will keep you updated on the different looks that I create once I receive the palette in the mail!

So until next time!
XOXO, Sophie

Genre Research

My magazine falls under the beauty genre of magazines. So, to learn more about some of the genre conventions of beauty magazines I have been doing some research.

The target audience for beauty magazines is females from ages 15-30 and are middle to high class.
Many beauty magazines rely heavily on online viewers because of the age range of the target audience. The brands use a lot of social media as well.

As I have been researching, I have been putting together a list of some of the common traits I have been noticing throughout all of the beauty magazines.

Some of these things are:
- The cover photo tends to be a close up of the models face
-The model is wearing bold makeup with intense colors
-The background of the photo is a solid color, usually a white or light color
-The hair of the models tends to be pulled back and not the focus of the picture
- Most ads within the magazine are for makeup and skin care products
- The color themes within the magazines are bright and fun colors
- The cover story titles and the cover lines on the front cover use play on words
-The magazines overall rely heavily on photos and graphics to enhance the issue
-A lot of the stories, photos, or ads within the magazines also feature celebrities
-Most beauty magazines are released monthly


These are the cover from the main magazines that I have been focusing on.

I will continue to research deeper into the beauty magazine genre and I plan on buying some beauty magazines so that I can highlight and cut out things that may be useful to me to include within my magazine.

My plans for my magazine!!

I am so excited to share my ideas that I have for my magazine!! I have decided that I am going to create a makeup/beauty magazine. I chose to go with this magazine because of my passion for makeup and skin care.

For the photos within my magazine I am going to personally do all of the makeup on the models and I am so excited. Over the years I have been obsessed with doing makeup on myself and others and I even have a makeup Instagram account where I post some of the looks that I create. I thought that it would be super fitting to create a makeup magazine so I could include my talent and passion for makeup within the issue. Here is a look that I recently created!!

 I have also started brainstorming titles for my magazine and cover story. Some cover story titles I have are "Five Steps to a Fast Face" and "The Best For Less". I also think I might want to name my magazine "Beauty Unfolded".

I have been looking at so many different beauty magazines to build up inspiration and I currently have an ongoing list of things I want to include within my magazine.

I also think that I am going to choose to do a March 2019 issue and make my front cover have lots of green because of St. Patrick's Day. I think that it will be really eye catching and interesting. I would love the model that is on the front cover to have makeup that looks somewhat like this. I can't wait to start playing around with different makeup looks!!

Also, to help improve my computer skills, I have been watching Youtube videos on different graphics and editing techniques that you can do on Photoshop. It's so much fun and there are so many cool things that you can do!!

I am beyond excited to go through the process of creating this magazine!!!

Music Marketing Project

SUMMARY

I have recently just completed my Music Marketing Project. Within this project I created a presentation in which I presented a marketing plan and a music video to my class about a new band that I created. My group received a song from my teacher and we had to take that song and create a whole new band and brand out of it. Our band that we created was called The Void. It was very exciting and and such a fun learning experience.




RESEARCH

Prior to creating my marketing plan, I first had to do research. My research consisted of me researching about companies and other bands that represent the same genre that The Void was going to be. By doing this research, I was able to learn different marketing and distribution methods that were successful and unsuccessful for the other bands. I could then use these methods to create my own version or stay away from them, depending on if they were successful or not. Without the detailed research that I did, I would not have been able to create a successful marketing and distribution plan.

My research also helped me learn everything that I needed to know about my target audience. This is important because my target audience is who I am trying to get to listen to my band’s music and buy the products. If I don’t know how to reach and attract my target audience, my band will not be successful.




MARKETING IDEAS

For the marketing portion of my project, I wanted to get as creative as I could. One of my methods was my creation of my very own merchandise line for my band. I think that this is a great way to get the band’s name out there as well as it also being fun and trendy. I wanted to keep the merchandise simple so that it was appealing to everyone within my target audience. Here are some samples of the merch I created!!










Another marketing strategy that I utilized is the heavy use of social media, and more specifically Instagram. After conducting my research about my target audience and genre, I decided that Instagram would be the best route to go. I also only chose to use Instagram because I wanted to solely focus on one form of social media. I wanted to do this so that I could ensure that the band would be constantly active and their fans would always know where to find them. On the Instagram account there would be active contests for a chance to win signed merchandise, as well as a chance to be featured on The Void’s Instagram page.









One last marketing idea I created was the use of the Youtube Originals feature. On this feature my band will be able to create a series about their life on the road and the behind the scenes of being a band. This is something that I felt would really appeal to my target audience and would help get the band’s name out there.



I also created a website for the band!! You can click the link to view it! https://voidband.weebly.com/




WHAT I LEARNED

This project really helped me learn and understand the importance of target audience. I always knew what a target audience was, but it wasn’t until this project that I realized that every marketing or distributing method that a company uses is based entirely off of the target audience. This is very important for me to understand when completing my portfolio project because it will help me complete my magazine. I will choose styles and techniques based off of what appeals to my specific target audience.