Creative Critical Reflection

CCR #1

https://prezi.com/view/CVmvVWlFuPPeSdh9niw9/ 

CCR#2

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gww2jzVxPAWQFLX2t0gc67a4jImV4w5d/view?usp=sharing

0:37

0:47

1:01

CCR#3

https://prezi.com/view/uOohnj0743YQYqprzc8x/

CCR#4

https://www.kapwing.com/videos/626094437c7e9f00e47e3a12

Final Product

Final Product

Cover

Table of Contents

Two-Page Spread

 

Two Page Spread Feedback and Revisions

Two-Page Spread Feedback and Revisions

The process of completing my authentic two-page spread is almost complete and, in this post, I will be using feedback I got on my current design to improve the final version.

Comments and Design Changes

This is my original two-page spread that received feedback. 

A comment that I received from many of my peers was that the alignment of my text needs much improvement, especially with the left page's margins. Two of my peers listed that the placement of my text on the second page was too close to the separation between the pages so that was the first thing that I changed. When I did this I also moved the byline because it was too close to the page number, and I put it at the top. The margins are not identical on both sides but that would be impossible since the image is present on both pages in a different way.

I received a comment to change the dimensions of the image so that it was only present on the left page, and although I feel it would be conflicting with the conventions, I will try it just to see. While you can see the layout isn't exactly diminished from the picture being limited to one page, but the image is much more involved in the layout when it is in both pages and it's in line with conventions described in, Making a Magazine. 

I attempted to change the way that the pull quote was formatted but was not able to implement it in a way that is readable in Canva.

I made a few of my own alterations instead. I changed the font size of the main text so it would be readable and had to shorten the article somewhat. I then relocated the pull quote to the other page and at that point had to also change the font size and the text of the pull quote, so the layout remained readable.

Final Design

Conclusion

In conclusion, I feel that the final design of my two-page spread fits in well with both the conventions of video game magazines and the characteristics laid out by the cover and table of contents. Most of the feedback I received was about the spacing of the text and other elements which I felt was entirely necessary after it was brought to my attention. Other comments, like changing the position or size of the image I felt did not fit into the conventions of video game magazines I previously described. In all, I feel I have done well in this project and have improved in my overall production skills.

Spread Mockup

Spread Mockup

For this post I will be creating a mock-up of the two-page spread that will be based on Draft #2 from my previous post Two-Page Spread Planning. I will be using Canva to create the mockup.

Process

I started out by just laying out the design elements in the same way I had it on Draft #2 in Canva. The next thing I did was change the color headings to the same cyan color of the title.

I added in the byline at the end of the final paragraph in the same color and font as the headings, but I emboldened it, so it was clear. I then began editing the photo I used. I started off by using the Auto Enhance tool and setting its intensity to 70.

I then applied the Dalliance filter and felt that aspects of it were in need of improvement still. So, I changed the tint of it so it would be more blueish and would fit in with the color scheme, lowered the brightness to -5, and increased contrast slightly, and set Highlights to -67, These things all made the image look much more high quality which I feel was important for it to make up not being conventional in featuring a picture rather than an artwork or screenshot of a video game.

Final Design and Choices

For the title I used the Squada sans serif font because sans-serif fonts were common, and I feel that Squada had a technological aspect about it, which I felt went well with video game magazines. I placed it centered at the top of the page because it was clearly readable and gave it importance in the layout. Under it I put the "Which is Best?" part of the title under the title as additional descriptor text. I did this because otherwise it would make the title much longer and simply be redundant to have in the title because the sentences are very similar. I had the first paragraph with a drop cap and emboldened because it was always present in my research described in Writing Style and Audience.

The placing of the heading was under the first paragraph and slightly above the second, I wanted it to be closer to the second paragraph on that range because it would create more of an association between the heading and the second paragraph, but I did not place it right on top of the paragraph, so it did not become cluttered in that area. I arranged the paragraphs of the first page as two separate columns because they were of equal size and because they were discussing two sides to one topic it felt suitable. I put the large pull-quote at the bottom of the page to make the design more interesting and because I did not want it to be too close to the sentence that it was pulled from to prevent any redundancy. For the second page I placed the heading similarly to the first and had the fourth paragraph end and the fifth start in the same column because it added some variation in the layout and also was more efficient in standardizing a font size. I placed the final heading in the same way as the others and then finished the last paragraph with a byline which was in the same font as the headings but emboldened to give it more importance. I placed the page numbers in their respective corners at the bottom of the page to not be as noticeable, but I made them large enough so that they would be visible if necessary. 

I placed the image in the top of the second page and had part of it spread out to the first page as well. By doing this I feel that I have used conventional methods in making a two-page spread as stated in Making a Magazine. I feel that having it take up part of the other page in the layout gives the image more significance and more quickly draws the eye to the image which in turn creates more of a mental image of the article for the reader.

I used Roboto Condensed for the normal text as well as the pull-quote which was emboldened for distinctiveness. The Roboto Condensed font was sans serif, so it conveyed a sense of modernity, and the font was, as the name implies, condensed so it was easy to have more text in the same area. I chose the Robot Mono Regular font for the headings and other important text that was not the title or pull-quote, another sans-serif font so it conveyed a sense of digitalization, but it also had a more retro look to it, so it felt more important, so it was used for important text. I used a white and cyan on black color scheme. I used this color scheme because it was very futuristic in nature with the contrast between the neon vibrance of the cyan and the darkness of the black background. It also connected to the previously used color scheme of the table of contents without the red because I felt that another hue would clutter the layout. The futuristic color scheme was in line with the trendiness of video game magazines.

Conclusion

The mockup of the two-page spread is promising. I feel that it is in line with many of the conventions that have been described in previous blogs, aside from the use of an actual picture instead of art. I am sure that after receiving comments and feedback from my peers I will be changing some things, but those changes will be for the better. 

Two Page Spread Planning

Planning for Two-Page Spread

In this post I will be brainstorming three possible layouts for my two-page spread based on my previous research on how articles typically are written conventionally in video game magazines. 

Draft #1

Starting with the title of the article, I placed it at the top of the page for readability and placed the title in the center of the page because in my research of articles that was very common. I placed a drop cap as the first word of the introduction paragraph because it was something present in every article I looked at as I stated in Writing Style and Audience. I have a heading and then a column of text under it and next to the column a pull quote, and then a continuation of the text from before. The pull quote was added because like I stated before in Writing Style and Audience, pull quotes are extremely common and are often used to grab the readers' attention. I placed two images under the text with a caption to describe them. I plan for these images to be connected as they will compare the button layout of two different types of controllers. The page numbers will be at the bottom of the page, on the bottom right for the page on the right and the bottom left for the left page.  I will place a large image on the right, this image will be the hands of two people playing a video game, the two people using the two different controllers being compared in the article. Under that image I will have a heading and more text, an image of more controllers will be next to this column, and under that will be the continuation of the text. I will have a heading under the column and text under that finishing with the byline. For the color scheme I think I will go for white and blue/cyan on black, this is because it is the same color scheme that I used in the table of contents so it will create a visual connection between the articles. I plan to use two to three sans-serif fonts for the text, most likely one or two fonts for the important text like the title and headings, and one font for the normal text and captions.

I plan for the title to be read first and the image on the left to be seen right after so that a connection will be made in the reader's mind to solidify the subject of the article. Next, after reading the reader's attention will be caught by the pull quote which I plan to be a very opinionated statement because the article is about a debate. Then the reader will read the text, look at the images which will further the article and then they will read the text on the other page, see the image relating to the text and then finish the article and see the byline.

Draft #2

For the title, I put it at the top and had it formatted so that it was on the left edge of the page. This was less common, but I saw it in some articles during my research. I started the article with a drop cap because it was always used in my research. There is the rest of the paragraph of text after the drop cap and this is also left aligned like the title to create some uniformity. There is a column of text with an underlined heading to give it some importance. More text follows and then another box of text with an underlined heading. Under the two columns is a pull quote which will be from one of the paragraphs of text and will be large enough and close enough to the text to catch the reader's attention. Page number would go in the bottom left corner on the left page and the bottom right corner on the right because it is conventional. The majority of the right page will be taken up by the large image, which I plan to be an image of the hands of two people playing a video game, the two people using the two different controllers being compared in the article like in the first drafts. Under the image will be a continuation of the text in a column. Next to this will be a wider column of text with another underlined heading, ending with a byline under it because in my research bylines were often at the end of the article. The color scheme I plan to use will be a dark gray background, with a blue color for the accent and white text because it will match the images that will be used. I will use one serif font for the title and two sans-serif fonts for the headings, pull quote, and normal text. The serif font will invoke an intelligent feel, and the sans-serif fonts will be to feel more modern, as previously said in Psychology of Fonts.

Similar to the first draft I plan for the title to be read first in this layout, I plan for the first paragraph to be emboldened so it will most likely get read after that. The large image crosses over to the other page slightly and this is to make it more eye-catching so it would likely be viewed soon after and the main idea of the article will be solidified in the readers' minds. The pull quote should catch the readers' attention with an attention-grabbing statement and then the text will be read from left to right as normal and will finish with the byline of the author's name.

Draft #3

The left page of this layout is much different from the first two, it starts with a series of images and captions with a large central image at the bottom that crosses the edge of the pages slightly. This was an idea that challenges conventions because it puts the images on the other side to inform the reader with visual information before information through text. The images will compare the two controllers and be the main image of the hands of two people playing a video game, the two people using the two different controllers being compared in the article. There are page numbers in the two corners of each page. The title on the right will be centered at the top of the page so that it is clearly visible.  The byline will be right under the title so it will be immediately apparent to the reader. There will be two columns of text separated by headings and the first paragraph will be started with a drop cap. I am considering a white background with cyan for important text and black for normal text. I will use two to three sans-serif fonts to invoke a modern feel in the article. 

As stated before, my plan for this article layout is for the images to provide the reader with immediate visual information about the article and then they would look at the next biggest thing in the spread, the title and form a complete mental idea of the article. I chose to not have a pull quote in this design because all of the eye-catching has already been done by the images. Then, the reader would read the rest of the article normally and the captions would provide further insight into the images.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the method I used to create the drafts worked well creating mostly conventional two-page spreads. I am leaning towards Draft #2 because I think it is very conventional, but I may add some features of Draft #1 to it to make it even better. I have high hopes for my final design of the two-page spread.

Writing Style and Audience

Writing Style and Audience

In this post I will be analyzing the writing style as well as the target audience of gaming magazines. I will do this by reading articles from a gaming magazine and describing key aspects of them here to determine the writing style and audience.

Writing Style

The magazine I will be reading is PC Gamer from February 2022, the 353rd issue. I have noticed that in the articles a very casual tone is held. The articles often use the words "I, we, and you," this means that the articles are written in direct address, because they speak directly to the reader as not a narrator but another individual or individuals. The informal tone is evidenced by the word choice, often writers will make references to popular culture or jokes to illustrate their points. I will use an example from the magazine I listed above, the article I will be quoting is, Gloomhaven: Sword and Board, “If you feast on this kind of tactical play like I do, then Gloomhaven’s ruggedly narrated adventures are exactly what you want from the genre.” We can see the direct address and first person in this quote as the writer speaks directly to the reader as an individual using the words “you,” and “like I do,”. We can also see the informal language and jokes used in the article, Inscryption: Die Card, “TRAP CARD: The second act of Inscryption is a 2D pixel-art RPG in the style of Game Boy Pokémon Trading Card Game. It trades horror for whimsy, and calling it ‘a bit different’ would be an understatement.” We can see that the title of the section was a pun based on popular culture referencing the card game Yu-gi-oh and also making an allusion to how the game confused the writer by changing its direction, and we see the casual language by saying calling it different would be an understatement which is not often said in formal essays. There is also a use of technical terms in this quote as words specific to gaming like "2D pixel-art," and "RPG," are used, this shows how the articles can connect with their target audience by using terms that their viewers are familiar with.

Articles are almost always started with a drop cap and a short paragraph that describes what the article will entail which is usually included with information about the game it covers and possible opinions on it. The same causal tone is kept and some of the articles will start off with directly talking to the reader. When articles are concluded they typically are a short blurb restating the points made previously in the articles. In reviews, articles are ended with an additional shorter blurb as well and then a rating which describes how "good" the game is. These ending blurbs keep the same informal tone and usually use direct address because they directly speak to the reader on if the game may appeal to them.

Pull quotes are very common in gaming magazine articles. In each of the articles I researched at least one pull quote was there. These pull quotes are pulled directly from the text of the article and made much larger than the regular text, they are placed away from the line that they are pulled from. This is most likely done to attract the readers' attention by using an intriguing or flashy quote so that the reader wants to read the rest of the article.

Captions have been used in every article that I have researched. In each article at least one image, either a screenshot for a game already released or a promotional image for a game in development, has been used and at least one of the images used will have a caption describing what it is. This is a common practice because it allows the writers to illustrate their points further to the audience but when using captions, it can be better explained how the images directly relate to the points.

This image of the article titled, The Monster Within, describes the game, how it works and specifically the different ways the game plays out. The captions to the image at the top and the one under it on the page on the left describe the images' purpose in relation to the article. This description allows readers to better understand the article and the game that the article is focused on.

Target Audience

Gaming magazines have the same target audience as video games themselves which is mostly teenagers and young adults in the 30s and 20s range. Their audience is also almost exclusively people who play video games. This is because video games directly relate and interact with their audience through talking about video games. The articles' use of casual language and jokes appeals to this younger audience as it makes the viewers feel that the magazine is equally young and hip as theirselves. The previously mentioned use of technical terms related to gaming also illustrates how video game magazines connect to their audience because the use of video game specific jargon allows the video game playing audience to better understand as well as feel in the loop about these terms. These features of the articles all create a sense of connection between video game magazines and their audience.

Conclusion

In conclusion, articles of gaming magazines use an informal tone and reference pop culture to connect to their predominantly younger audience. The writers' use of technical terms relating to video games is to connect to the audience and give a sense of inclusivity since most if not all of the readers will be accustomed to video games. These things are imperative to establishing a connection to the readers who will return to purchase their magazines and thus it is imperative to my own magazine to be as authentic as possible.

Filipstojcic. “Gaming Magazine.” SlideShare, 28 Jan. 2016, www.slideshare.net/Filipstojcic/gaming-magazine-57593615.

freeportpressd. “Game Informer Continues to Power up the Print Subscribers.” Freeport Press, 21 Mar. 2018, freeportpress.com/game-informer-continues-to-power-up-the-print-subscribers/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CGame%20Informer%20magazine%20is%20the%20most%20efficient%20and. Accessed 2 Mar. 2022.

T.O.C. Feedback and Revision

Table of Contents Feedback and Revision

In this post I will be discussing the feedback I got for my table of contents and which elements I will be changing and incorporating because of it.

This is the original design I am going with and the design that I received feedback on and will be altering in accordance with that feedback.

Feedback

I received feedback from six of my peers, overall, the general consensus was that the organization of the text needed to be adjusted. Some suggested reducing the number of articles, while most suggested to standardize the spacing of the page numbers and articles. This I then realized was a major issue with my design that I would have to fix. With this change, there was another issue that I myself noticed that was not mentioned in any of my feedback which was the two bottom images not being at the same angle nor are their angles even, so I will change this as well.

This is the design with the changes in alignment and spacing of the articles and page numbers. This is a change that I will definitely keep because it does nothing to impede upon the gaming magazine conventions and makes the table of contents look much more professional. 

I received a suggestion from one of my peers to move the articles to create margins at the edge of the page. I attempted this, but ultimately it reduced the quality of the table of contents because it required me to rearrange the text and size down the images in the center which took away from the composition of the article.

I received another suggestion from a peer to reduce the number of articles which, could be plausible but I did not attempt this because it goes against the conventions of gaming magazines' tables of contents.

This last edit I made to the design was to the images, it was not a comment I received but I had previously mentioned in my post, Table of Contents Mockup, that the bottom two images were not even nor were there edges straight and this was something that bothered me personally. I resolved this issue through great trial and error. First, I attempted to combine the images together so I could erase the images at the same time and their edges would be aligned but this still left the issue of the straightness of the edges. Then, I struggled, after that, I found a method of using Windows' Paint 38 to create an area that I wanted to be transparent by first making it white, I created straight edges to the images by using Paint 3D's line tool. Finally, I imported the image into PowerPoint and used the color tool to set the color white as transparent. This also created problems because then I had to change the color of the "WINNER" text in the image on the left to a light gray so that it too did not become transparent. 

Conclusion

This is the final design for my gaming magazine's table of contents, with all of the edits according to peer review and criticism. I think that it works very well with the previously established themes of the Cover and is in line with the conventions that I described in Table of Contents Research and Drafts. I think that in the future I may have to change the color of the text in the second image but for now I think that it does not diminish the professional nature of the layout at all. I have high hopes for the final product of my magazine.