1st Draft: What's Poppin?

    Are you a guy looking to spice up your relationship? Do you have no experience in cooking? Are you ready to create a spark with your significant other? Then take a look at my magazine, What's Poppin? My feature article includes cooking tips for guys who want to impress your partner. You get interviews, tips, and even recipes to get you started on the right path. So take a peek into your guide for improving your relationship.  

 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qIXx5QSh-15y0zty4fSdZMokb5lW-py4/view?usp=sharing

Production 4- "Final Edits"

     I was able to solicit my peer review with Keara Curry, the light person, for my magazine. Even though she is not in the Media Studies class, she is in the AICE program with high marks in English and literature. Keara complimented my attention to detail at the typography. She noticed the special looking k's throughout the entire passage and noticed that I filled the letters in the topic headings. She pointed out the fact the my title page could probably use some more unique ideas to create impact. She stated that, "this cover page looks like everyone else's who try to create impact, come up with something new." I thought about that for a while, and I'm still looking for a new technique. I will hopefully find one before the end of the project. Keara also mentioned that, the boundaries of the page look uneven and that could probably be fixed with some changes of the pictures, and some added text to fill the page." I have been at other magazines, and I have found a couple of different ways to fix this problem. I am going to apply it and ask her before I publish the magazine.

     Moreover, I solicited a review with Emma Mancini, who helped me acquire the restaurant for some of my photos. Emma is also in the Media Studies class, who can give great advice for trying to fix it. Emma thought my article was very good, she didn't have much to add to what Keara said. Emma did mention that, "Your images could of been a little cleaner and more about the interviewed people." I took that into consideration and told her if I had more time I would of done that. With my two reviews, I'm am going to make some adjustments to the magazine, and the proofread the final product before publishing. 

     After careful editing and touches, I believe the magazine is ready to be uploaded. I was able to do more final edits to make the final product look as clean as possible. I discovered the feature that in the letters, you can change the color of the inside and boundary of the letter. This was extremely useful for creating my impactful cover page. I could intertwine different usages of the colors and they all brought out the house style concept. I also implicated some impact style font to draw attention. The coolest feature I figured out how to do, was the pen tool. I wanted to infuse a wave into the text to make a really cool transition into the next text. All you had to do was click and drag and the wave would follow. I also put in a straight line as like a lighting bolt as a transition. I couldn't figure out how to put text over pictures, but I figured out that you have to select the box and click object, then textbox options, then select ignore text wrap. I figured out that my text wrap was on to make sure the text didn't go on the pictures. I also decided that I wanted to create a logo to go with the magazine. So I found a hexagon shape tool that you could expand to put in letters. The logo needed to be unique so I created an abbreviation. Also, the question mark should be part of it, but I wanted to make it cool, so I flipped it upside down. With this final product, I am happy with my first magazine result.

Production 3- "Photo shooting and Integrating"

     With proper lighting, most of the photos were captured with a phone camera. I was able to snag a kitchen and capture some clean photo shot of a dinner table set up for a nice dinner date. I used all the props borrowed from Jaqueline Hamilton, and then set it up using her kitchen. I used some natural lighting from the windows that really highlighted the home feeling date. I also managed to snag some photos at one the highest rated restaurants in my city. I am friends with the niece of the owner, who asked him if I could come by and take photos before they opened. I am going to use a picture of the outside setup as the cover, to create a dreamy feeling to appeal to the audience. This photo looks like a nature paradise. I will use the picture of the dining hall in my feature article when mentioning the establishment. I was also able to get a picture of Greg cooking in his kitchen. I want to use this for the content page as a background for what is going to be in the magazine. I am going to do a dramatic color scheme to make it bold and impactful. Lastly, I got a couple of recipes that I want to implement to give a start to the aspired cookers. I am going to take a close up shot to get all of the steps and I will crop it to look like just a page from a persons notebook. 

    Moreover, I have started to set my outline for my feature article on In Design. It is going to be four pages with a cover page, content page, and two pages of information and photos. The first page will be with impactful writing to influence people to turn the page. The content page will be bold, with a message for the audience about what they are reading. The information pages will be detailed notes and quotes with images to co-align. I have started importing photos, and will start to input text as well.

    I ended up with six photos for my feature article. This includes: Cover image, content image, dinning table, picture of cook, and two recipes. This is going to give me a lot of room to write and convince my audience to cook. I set up the last four pictures as image then recipe, and on the next page image then recipe. I also created an interesting photo idea where the images are proportionately opposite of each other, with designs coming off of them and flowing into the text. I thought this idea would be something an audience hasn't really seen before, and would make them interested. The importing of the photos went smoothly, with the assistance of a peer I figured out how to actually download the photos and put it onto the page. I added all the people accredited with helping me for this project. This people I interviewed, people I borrowed props and locations from, and people who helped with lighting. 

    The typography of the content page is a hype and hip style with a low key feeling but still getting the point across. The typography on the front cover is mostly impactful headings and impactful subheadings. The only text that doesn't stand out is the writing in parenthesis as this is added information. Lastly, the typography in the information pages are pretty basic and easy to read, because I wanted these pages to look serious and easy to remember. 

    After completing the feature article, I'm very satisfied with the result. I would of captured more photos, but I focused more on the typography then everything else. It took a while to import a lot of the statements from the interviews. I was able to get lengthy quotes from all of the people interviewed. I also had some corresponding images with the quotes to bring imagery to the text. I managed to change some of the color tones of the photos as a more deep background. This was created to make a subtle impact for the reader, but not change the house style of the article. I included all of the people credited to helping in the project. I also am looking to solicit two peer reviews to fully round off the feature article. I am hoping for my light person Keara curry, because she is my peer at school. Also, I'm hoping to get a review from Emma Mancini, who is in my class for media studies. 

    Next, I have been researching ways to make my article unique, and I have found a couple techniques. I discovered that you can edit points on the letter to either take away part of it, or move it around. I am going to fill the open letters a little more, to give that uniqueness. I believe that not a lot of articles has this, and I believe readers would be interested and not distract them from the text. I also am specifically manipulating the k in one the paragraphs. It is to make the k a little bit longer on its leg, I thought it looked cool. Only problem is I haven't figured out how to apply it to the whole magazine, but I will figure it out.

Production 2- "Interviews"

    I have finished conducting some very sufficient interviews to write my feature article. My highly regarded interview with the culinary teacher went well. Her name is Mrs. Rumph, and she is the culinary teacher at my school. She has a husband and cooks for him very often. On the other hand, he cooks for her sometimes too. I asked about what kind of things would she like to see from him on a romantic date. She told me, "Elegant meals and proper manners are huge on dates." She continued, "If your cooking for your significant other, you have to give off the appeal of five star service." This means fine dinning, elegant attire, proper dishes, beautiful surrounding scenery, clean aroma, and attention to detail. She gave me a recipe for a dish that her husband makes for her that she likes. I am going to import this into my feature article. 

    I interviewed a younger and older man, and a younger and older woman. The younger man I interviewed was Chris Leiper, he is a teacher at my school. He is dating a lovely girl and he has a huge interest in food. He stated, "I am not the cook for us, but sometimes I like to surprise her with nice dinner date." He said that, "Not everyone can cook well, but it's the thought that counts." I also interviewed an older man, Greg Thomas . He is a co-worker at my moms job. Greg has been cooking for many decades. I asked what has changed in the cooking community about cooking for your lover. Greg said, "Cooking for someone is the easiest way to enhance your love ability, that has not changed. The taste of the recipient will change though, and that is an easy fix as you can adapt to learn a different date dish." The types of food have changed according to change of taste. As new food ideas are released, more people will want to try something new to spice up the meal. 

    Then, I interviewed a younger lady named, Payton Ebby. She is a close family friend and an avid cooker. Payton's boyfriend is not a native and is adjusting to the American cooking style. Payton remarked that, " Cooking for someone not from America is a challenge, but just like you would do for your significant other, you adjust and make it work out." I asked what meal does he like when she is cooking, she said, "I cook meals from his home country, he is reminded about his younger life and falls in love with what I cooked for him, just like the scene in Ratatouille." The scene in Ratatouille is a food critic who eats a meal(Ratatouille) from his childhood, and as soon as he eats it, he gets flashbacks of his childhood which ultimately makes him fall in love with the meal. 

    Also, I interviewed an older woman, named Jaqueline Hamilton, who has been cooking for 70 years! Her loved one unfortunately passed away a couple years ago, but she remembers cooking for him for many years. I asked her if he ever cooked for you, she said, "He rarely cooked for me, but when he did it was a wonderful treat." I also asked how has the cooking for each other changed over the years, and she said, "As we got older we didn't really need all the whole fancy spancy meals, I was just happy about the idea of him letting me rest for a night, and have something still cooked." This made me realize that cooking for someone, is really special and I want to write this feature article about how special it is, and why you should go an do it.