Creative Critical Reflection

Lastly, this is my creative critical reflection of Valor my magazine. I reflect upon my work and talk about how I enjoyed creating the magazine. Hope you guys enjoy it and learn more about my overall process. Thank you once again in being a part of this journey! 

Final Project!

I am finally done! Guys it was definitely a journey and I thank you all for being apart of it. The magazine is called Valor, it focuses on informing young girls on fitness and helping them achieve their mental and physical goals. I was able to change and add the finishing touches in order for my magazine to come out just like I wanted it to. I want to say thank you to my model/friend who helped me achieve the fierce cover image. Also, I want to give a huge thank you to Ariel and Gabriella who allowed me to interview them and create the story for my two-page spread. I am super happy of how it came out and I hope you all love it as much as I do. Let me know what you think. So without further ado here is my magazine Valor!

Adding the Final Touches...

I’m almost there! The magazine is coming out just like I wanted it to. This morning I was able to finish and edit my two-page article. After I finished writing the first draft, I realized that I was writing way too formal for a magazine. So, I went back and tried to use a more casual tone. I then added the images to the spread to bring it to life. Deciding which picture I wanted to use was definitely time consuming because I wanted each image to be a part of the story. At last, I’m in the process of adding the final touches for the magazine, such as changing some font colors and filling in more information on the table of contents to make it stand out. I will continue to finish up the magazine tomorrow. Also, tomorrow I will complete the CCR. Before filming I am going to create a script in order to have a fluid, straightforward reflection of my work. I’m really looking forward to showing you guys the final product!

PS: I wanted to let you guys know that I finally decided to keep the title of my magazine as Valor. I think the word, which stands for courage and bravery, is a great representation of what I want my magazine to stand for.

Working Hard

This weekend was very productive. Like I mentioned before, I finished taking all the images for my magazine, and I was able to set up the layout for the two-page spread and table of contents. I also began editing the cover image. However, I did encounter a few problems. After I edited it, I wanted to crop out the image without the white background, but I realized that I had no idea how to do it. My friend had showed me this app called PicsArt, but I felt it would take too long to download the images to my phone, crop the image on the app, and then send it back to my computer. Hence, I found a better approach. My brother had been apart of newspaper at school, so he figured out a way to crop an image on LunaPic. I was playing around with the tools and I was able to crop out an image I choose randomly. I placed it onto the magazine and I was surprised of how much I liked it. Thus, yesterday I was focusing on creating the cover image and cover lines for the magazine. I worked with the different fonts and colors in order to make it attractive to my target audience. Nevertheless, I can honestly say I really enjoy working on the magazine. It is time consuming, but, I’m having fun designing, taking photographs, and interviewing the girls. Next week, I’m planning to work on my magazine everyday in order to have enough time next weekend to complete my CCR. I’m so excited for you guys to see the final product. See you later!

PS: Regarding my title, I have come up with a few options, but I'm not so sure of them. I'm considering, Valor which stands for strength and bravery. However, I realized that the title has been used for other magazines in the past. Another idea I was brainstorming, was using numbers as the title. For example, Five magazine. I'm definitely closer to figuring it out, but I do not want to rush it because I believe a title should mean something towards the magazine.

One Step Closer!

Today I am happy to say that I finally have everything to complete my magazine. Yesterday, I took the final images for my cover and my table of contents. Also, this week I interviewed the two girls for my article. Now it’s go time, this weekend I will try to set up the layout for my magazine on Canva and start editing all the pictures. I’m getting a little overwhelmed, but I know I have a few more days to complete it then originally planned, and our teacher is giving us this whole week to work on it. Currently, I am creating the table of contents page and it’s coming out just like I planned, however, it definitely is going to need some retouching. Heres what I have so far:

Next, let me tell you a little bit about my day yesterday. After school on Friday, me and my friend headed to her house to get a few clothes and make-up for the shoot. Later we arrived to my house where I had set up a photo shoot studio in my living room. I choose that location because it is where I got good and natural lighting. I got a white bed sheet and taped it on the walls and floor to create a white background for my pictures.

Finally, I was able to capture my friend in different poses, as options when considering what image I should use for my cover. We then headed to the pool where I took some additional pictures of her swimming. At the end of the day, I was really proud of how they came out and very grateful for my friend that helped me. Here are some of the unedited images I took:

It's Coming Along!

Welcome back! I happy to tell you that my project is finally coming along. Yesterday I was able to take all the pictures for my two-page spread. However, I did experience a few problems. I had planned to take the pictures with my Nikon camera, but I never really learned how to take images in motion, such as a football game. So, I searched for a quick tutorial video on shutter speed. This feature freezes a moving image. Yet, I found nothing. I was getting so frustrated, but I realized that there's another feature which can automatically capture these images. I found it, changed it and I headed to the football fields! I went to my friend’s flag football practice, where I captured a few moments with the team and during the game. I then made another stop at the YMCA pool to take various action shots of the water polo team in practice. I was very happy of how my images came out and I can’t wait to start writing the two-page spread this weekend. Here is a sneak peek of some of the moments I managed to capture:

Before I sign out, let me announce a few updates. First off, I realized that my title for the magazine is already taken. This was very disappointing, however, I’m actually glad that I realized sooner before starting the magazine. I have not found the new title, but I am continuously searching and brainstorming other options. Next, I have finally narrowed down what I am going to write about in each page for the spread. On the first page, it will discuss background information of the two sports and why they might not be considered a girl sport. The next page will consist of an interview on the two athletes. These are some of the questions: 

On Friday, I will start the photoshoot for my cover image. My friend and I are coming up with a variety of ideas for different poses and different close-up shots we can take. I will talk further about my experience and show you some behind the scenes images on my next blog.

Sofia, signing out!

Tutorials For Canva

As I now start to create my magazine, I wanted to check out some software programs that are best to use. I came upon Canva, which my teacher had mentioned to us before, it is a free simple graphic design software. I made an account and started to play around with it. However, I wanted to understand the program a little better, so I watched some tutorial videos on YouTube.

In this video, they give an overview of how to use the tools in Canva, such as their writing tools and how to insert certain images.

In the second video, it demonstrate how to use Canva to create a magazine. The video shows how the user can start with a template and fix it to their likings, and how to also set up a two-page spread. The video also gave some tips on the downloading process. Nevertheless, both of these videos gave me a clearer understanding of how the program works and how I can use it when starting my magazine. These next two weeks are focused on getting the images and interviewing the girls, so I can incorporate it into the magazine using Canva.

Source:

T. (2015, June 18). Canva Tutorial: Create Beautiful Graphics Quickly, Easily, and for Free! Retrieved March 26, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-lB4Q-k1OI  

E. (2015, October 19). How to use Canva to Make a Magazine. Retrieved March 26, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suyGeN7ggFs&t=1s