After what feels like the longest time I finally decided what to do for my two page spread. So, ( Insert drumroll noise ) I am going to be doing my issue on... the best gifts for The holiday season! I chose to do this for my spread because it provides the best general foundation for me to gather the most information. Instead of focusing on the same exact group of individuals, I can give you different gifts from many different genres. I can examine different gifts from groups or people such as for babies, children, adults, teenagers, sports lovers etc. Another reason why I chose this topic is because of the easier ability it will require to take pictures. When having to take all original pictures yourself it is extremely important to have that in your mind when choosing a theme, and that is a major reason why I chose this one. When I was considering other spreads such as the 20 best Christmas movies of all time I failed at first to realize that I couldn't use the original movie poster art. This would make it almost impossible to demonstrate the movie without this. Because it's so hard to take pictures for those movies, that steered me away from that option. After that, I finally gained insight for this topic and I'm so excited to start getting this all together.

I am so indecisive regarding the content for my magazine’s two page spread. I have been debating back-and-forth between multiple ideas. The reason why I am so apprehensive about making this decision is because I will have to support his idea with so much background information. The two page spread will either make me or break me. After much deliberation, these are the few ideas that I am now focused on for my final decision:

Christmas movies: This two page spread will take readers back to a the good ‘ole days by providing a list of the greatest Christmas movie of all time from worst to best. 

• Warm holiday drinks: This two page spread will be used as a reminder for everyone dealing with the harsh winter weather and sick of hot tea. coffee, and hot chocolate. 

• Holiday food: This two page spread will explore what several teens eat at every Christmas dinner. I will vary the background of each individual in order to gain a more personal touch to the spread,

• Foods that are better than presents: This two page spread will attract readers who view eating as a hobby. I would demonstrate this by using foods that are externe visually appetizing to gain hungry individuals.

• Holiday gifts: This two page spread will help everyone who is clueless regarding gifts during the holiday season. This spread will help individuals find the perfect person for all different types of people. 

      My group and I finally agreed on our cover page layout! We want it to be minimalistic, but still appealing for our target audience. We are thrilled with The title of our magazine, Relatable. This title will be on the top middle of the spread and in large bold font. We really wanted it to stand out and be clear for the audience to view. As a group, we chose to have the title of our magazine in different colors for each spread. The colors will relate to each individual issue. Because I am doing the winter issue, I am most likely going to do a blue or white text with possibly a black border to make the word Relatable pop. For the cover art of my magazine, I have a couple ideas that my friend Gabi will portray. She has really bright blue eyes so I want to incorporate them into the winter issue to add a cool hue. Focusing on her eyes may be a great, bold, minimalistic way to convey what I want my readers to grasp. Unlike some magazines such as Tiger beat, we would rather not have so many different elements taking away from the focus of the bold image. I will have only a few headlines on the cover, foreshadowing the content and will be inside of the issue. These headlines will be in a small font, but still legible enough for the readers to view easily and will be in the same color as the main title, but just in a little lighter or darker shade which I haven't figured out yet. I also want to have a barcode on the bottom corner of the issue  resembling a magazine that can be picked up in stores, because if Relatable were to be published, I would want it to have the ability to be bought by consumers. I feel much better having that focus on what I want to do, so my main goal for the next couple of days is to knock out the pictures.

       Because my spread is focused on the December issue of the magazine, I want my spread to share holiday cheer and winter feels. I can focus that in two different directions. The first idea would pertain more to Christmas. I would use red and green highlights along with other Christmas elements. The other direction I can take is a winter wonderland atmosphere with white and blue highlights along with snowy features. My friend Gabi volunteered to model for the cover page which is great! Now I have to brainstorm what she would be doing on the cover page. Because the photographs will be taken in spring, it may be difficult to capture the winter elements. I think the easiest way to do this will be to photograph Gabi on a plain white background. The white background can substitute for the snowy atmosphere. I'll be back next time with up to date cover page ideas!

Works Cited

"Winter Luxury Lifestyle." SNOW Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2017. <http://thesnowmag.com/>.

       Today in class, we were split up in groups to analyze our foundation portfolios. Our teacher ensured that we were split up from our group members so we were able to get advice from other individuals. This experience extremely helped direct content for my spread. The group atmosphere contained nothing but positive feedback. At first I was super nervous that everyone would criticize my ideas and make fun of me, but I was wrong! Because we are all going through the same journey with this project, no one was completely confident with themselves. We were pleasantly surprised with how helpful it was to bounce ideas off of each other. They loved my idea of having a minimalistic cover with a bold title! With the help from my peers, I have a better understanding on what to include. 

   As I said in an earlier post, Seventeen Magazine has the most influence for my spread. Similarly to Seventeen, I aim to have my magazine be an outlet for teens to rely on when going through exciting events, conquering major milestones, and everything in between.

I decided to examine both the content and design of Seventeen and here are some reoccurring details of the cover page, two- page layout, and content!

Cover Layout:

• Mostly only one individual, but at times has two or three
• Backgrounds are colorful and bright
• Plain colored backgrounds 
• White backgrounds are the most frequent
• Sometimes the backgrounds are of faded scenery
• Mainly females on the cover
• Bold title font
• Many headlines on cover 
• The headline fonts and colors differ 

I love how the center focus is on the model of the cover, but I am not a fan of the scattered writing. I would like my cover to be as minimalistic as possible.

Two page layout:

• The design seems to resemble a scrapbook
• A lot going on
• Collage-like format
• Colorful
• Not a set layout in every issue
• Extremely diverse

I enjoy the scrapbook feel of the spread, but I would like mine to be more organized.

Content:

• Style, fashion, and beauty
• College 
• Careers
• Celebrities
• Love
• Health and fitness
• relationships with friends and guys
• Personality quizzes
• Music and film
• Trends
• Etc.

I want all of the above content to be featured in our magazine, but I'm still undecided on what the focus of my spread should be.

Works Cited

Abidor, Jen. "Zendaya Isn't Here For Social Media Haters: "If I Like It, I Like It"." Seventeen. N.p., 08 Sept. 2016. Web. 20 Mar. 2017. <http://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/news/a42695/our-social-media-issue-cover-star-has-some-pretty-big-goals/>. 

Devoe, Noelle, Hannah Orenstein, Alyssa Bailey, Kaitlin Menza, Kayleigh Roberts, Danielle Tullo, Brooke Shunatona, and Eliza Thompson. "Noelle Devoe." Seventeen. N.p., 25 Mar. 2017. Web. 20 Mar. 2017. <http://www.seventeen.com/>.

“Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.”

 -Zora Neale Hurston

Day number 2 of research! I feel as though progression is underway and I couldn't be happier! Today I have been noting what I like and don't like in magazines of the same genre. I was only focusing on the cover, but tomorrow maybe I’ll analyze the two-page layouts.

I want my title to be so attractive that the sight of it will draw people in to read. The font of the title is the most important element that grasps the readers. It should be big and clear at the top center of the page.

I have fixed feelings about the “Teen Vogue” covers. I love how each cover is focused on only one or two celebrities. This is a great advertisement strategy. The issue I have is with the font. In some issues, the title color is hard to read and looks washed away from the background.