Getting Started On The Content

I know I'm going off task (technically I'm still on task because I'm still working on my project, but off task because I'm not working on the aspect I should be 😬) but today I wanted to focus on learning how to write a travel article. I wouldn't say I'm the best writer, but I wouldn't say I'm bad either. I've read a couple articles and learned some tips on how to write my article and started making a sort of outline which will be shared when it is done.

On Writer's Digest, I was looking to get some tips and reading the article, "Breaking into Travel Writing: The 5 Elements of Writing Travel Articles" on how to write a travel article when I was introduced to this checklist. Now, it's not a very detailed, very specific set of guidelines, but I think it'll be handy to make sure my article meets its full potential. I have now decided that the main story will be a testimony as I briefly mentioned in my last post, and obviously since it has to tie into the cover image, it will be about Maui, Hawaii (the setting of the image).

So... I just realized I hadn't even told you guys that I chose my final image!!! I decided going with the more adventurous choice:

Like I've said before, this image is still subject to some changes. For example, I am planning on focusing the subject either the left or right third, enhancing the colors, and sharpening up a little bit.













Back to what I was saying about writing the content. The focus will be Maui, Hawaii. I have not yet chosen if I will do it from my own point of view but acting as if someone else is telling the story, or interviewing one of my parents who came on the trip, and doing the article from his or her point of view. I think making them my subjects would diversify the magazine a little bit because I'm already in full control of the rest of the writing (headlines, titles, table of contents, images, any extra writing, etc.). Another person would give it a different touch. I am conflicted, though, because interviewing them will take a lot more time than just writing what is at the top of MY head. Putting my thoughts into words will definitely be less of a challenge than taking someone else's and putting it all together.

I want my writing to evoke a sense of curiosity, adventure, and contempt. It will be specific and sophisticated, while still fun & personal. In order to do this I found more tips. For example, using dialogue. "10 tips for writing travel articles" says, "Dialogue brings a scene to life, gives personality to the people in your story, & allows you to convey important information in a punchy way." I will make sure to include some in mine.

Lastly for the night, I will let you guys know (in all caps so you can feel my fury):
I JUST FOUND ANOTHER TRAVEL MAGAZINE CALLED 'WANDERLUST TRAVEL MAGAZINE.' YES. WANDERLUST. LIKE MINE. I HADN'T THOUGHT TO CHECK IF THERE WAS ANY OTHER MAGAZINE WITH THAT SAME TITLE... SO NOW WERE BACK TO SQUARE ONE. I GUESS I WILL HAVE TO SLEEP ON A NEW NAME. IM ANNOYED. GOOD NIGHT READERS.

currently.

Layout/Content Ideas

While doing my cover I realized how important it is to know your content, for it is reflected on the first page of your magazine. This is making me jump a little back and forth in my schedule because now I have to focus more on what's going to be inside, taking me to the 2-page spread, and back to the title... I'm getting overwhelmed!!

I've started to look more into what I will be writing about and how. I don't know what I want my main story to be about... or anything else in the content, really. This has me pretty stuck because without an idea of this, I can't proceed to start my headlines. Here are some ideas I have so far:

• A poll 
• Options: Favorite island, Favorite type of vacation (surfing, skiing, sight-seeing, etc.) 

• A testimony
• I'm thinking this would be the main story, as well as a monthly feature. It is something the audience looks forward to. This one would include a lot of visuals and the written story as well, of course. 

While looking at other travel articles and their layouts, I picked out somethings I like and don't:

❌

This one, for example, is one that I don't like. First of all, the pictures don't match. It looks messy and not simple to understand at all. The pictures are so close together and so crowded, and the captions under just maximize that cramped feeling. I would not want to read this, nor do I think that my audience would. I want something simple & enticing. 

❌

This layout is a little better, yet still not what I'm looking for. In this one, the images work well together, as well as the font and image colors... the one thing that throws me off, though, is the positioning of the writing and the images. Yes, they both look clean and organized but they are too separate for my liking. I'd prefer the images to be more embedded in the story and spread throughout rather than completely separate from the content itself. This looks more like a book to me... so this layout is discarded as well. 

✅

Now here's a little something I do like. This story is pretty much how I imagine mine being.. the color scheme works beautifully & the images are spread throughout the story with good sized captions. The content itself is easy to follow, the headlines are short & grab attention but aren't too cheesy. 2 thumbs up for this layout! :) Definitely what I will be using as my guideline.

Peer Review & Changes

Yesterday in class we met up in groups to do some peer critiques. I'm very glad we did so because I was pretty lost prior to this & I can really say they gave me some direction. They gave me some great advice and I think I too, was helpful to them. My classmates aided me in reducing my cover choices to the following two:

The reason why these two beat the others is because of the human touch to them. My peers helped me realize that although this is a travel magazine & scenery is of the utmost importance, it's important to show something human in order to establish a connection. This will allow the viewer to see themselves at the scene & it will be more engaging to them, as they will feel more of a need to visit and explore.  Keep in mind that the cover lines on the bottom & the title are just default at the moment and not a stylistic choice. Also, the pictures shown aren't edited to their          perfection yet, & these images are just a VERY rough draft. 

Another plus to these pictures is the colors. As you can see in these options, as well as the past options, I am trying to work with fresh, light colors - a lot of blues & greens. This is not done mindlessly... In "10 Brilliant Color Psychology Infographics," I learned a lot about how color can affect & influence the reader. 

For example, I found that green & blue's positive moods include strength, health, peace & trust. This seemed perfect to me... how else would you want to feel on a trip? In my opinion, all of these feelings tie into empowerment, which is exactly what I want to awaken in my readers. Like I said before, in this magazine, I want my audience to feel strong. My goal is to create a sense of extremeness & adventure, it'll be fun & relaxing & everything euphoric so it completely calls their names.

On the negative side, green also symbolizes envy, which I still find effective. This could inspire envy in a reader, but an envy of the kind that makes them want to be in the photographer's shoes.

I also realized the importance of color in one of the informercials that says "people make a subconscious judgment about a product in less than 90 seconds of viewing, and a majority of these people base that assessment on color alone. In fact, almost 85% of consumers cite color as the primary reason they buy a particular product, and 80% of people believe color increases brand recognition." 

My cover lines will contrast whichever cover image I choose so that they're easy to read & stand out to the reader, which I will begin working on today.

Check back soon :)

Explorin' Canva

In my last post I mentioned how I was going to try out Canva, I now report to you that I LOVE it. 10/10, highly recommend. I was really worried about how I was going to make my title page look neat since like I mentioned before, I'm not too tech-savvy, but this platform is so user-friendly while still offering a great variety of layouts and ideas. I also pretty much finished gathering all my pictures, something that excites me but also makes me a little nervous... I have no problem with having to use my own pictures, I just wish I could take some specifically for this project. Seeing as I won't be traveling for these couple weeks, I have to rely solely on what I've taken on past journeys. This will be a challenge because I have to work with the pictures that I've taken for no apparent reason (other than for personal memoirs), and it would be so much easier if I could take certain pictures the way I want in according to my ideas. It's alright, though. That's on me for choosing this topic.. I still think it'll be fun to put together anyway.

With that being said, I've begun my constructing my title page. I know that in my last post I showed a whole layout I had in mine, but reading the article "Creative Layout Ideas From 50 Beautiful Print and Digital Photo Collages," I think my ideas have taken a turn. I like how the titles look more on the top of the page rather than the bottom. 

I started designing my cover page and as of right now I am choosing what my background will be.... this part is vital to the magazine, for it is the first thing the consumer will see. I am aiming for something colorful, that'll look fun & enticing. I am stopping for a while because the platform is giving me trouble uploading more pictures (not fun & I really hope I fix this soon today). As of now these are my options: 

I will keep you guys posted :) 

Brief update

Throughout the week I've been woking on the gathering and organizing of my pictures. It has taken much longer than expected, and if I'm completely honest I'm growing a little impatient because I'm wasted more time on it than I planned. I hope to finish this part today though and use the weekend to try and complete my cover as expected, but I really don't know if I'll make it considering the end of the quarter next week... it's a busy weekend, but I'll do my very best.

I'm currently downloading Canva. I will check it out today and see if I like it (hopefully I will) so that I can begin my actual design. If not, I'll proceed to look at other platforms until I find one I can understand & I like. The clock is ticking & I really need to move quick!! 

#MOOD

Title & selling line development

Hey guys!!! It's been a hectic week and I apologize for taking so long to post but here I am. I've compiled more research, much more extensively, and I think I'm beginning to get an idea of what I want my title page to look like.

As I progress in explaining what I have down until now, I'll incorporate pictures so you can see how I've gone developing the ideas for my title page.

As I had mentioned before, NatGeo Traveler will serve to be my main inspiration. I want to follow a similar guide but use less headings on the title page. Or less writing, a little more concise so that the focus is solely an image. Below you'll find one of my favorite covers of the magazine that I've seen- this was has considerably less headings and is less wordy, the main focus is the image. The colors are vibrant and the picture, in my opinion, is interactive & entices the reader.

I'll begin with the title of course, which has to be the same in every issue. Since my magazine's focus is its aesthetics and I want the colors to be vibrant and matching, when it comes to colors my title will change according to the color scheme of each issue. The font & name, of course, will remain the same... that goes without saying. I'll now elaborate on my selling line, as promised in my last post. "A taste of your world," is an elegant statement. I used the word "your" so that it's a direct address to the reader & gives them a sense of ownership & connection with this world I am showing through my magazine. If it's THEIR world, shouldn't they get to know it? 

I have yet to choose a font but my title will be in all caps. I want to place it at the bottom of my page, as I've seen that most of these magazine covers have it on the top (right), this would be a different layout & could make it interesting for readers. 

Below you'll find two sketches of where I plan to place my title & my selling line. Both visible & first sight areas. 

Title

Selling Line

Some ideas

I began a little bit of my research and got an idea of travel magazines I liked and disliked, as well as to check who my competition would be. I'm a big fan of simplicity and know for sure that I want my magazine to be appealing to the eye, at the least, and clear/easy to follow.

One magazine I didn't really like was Sunset. The reason why is because although simpler than tabloids, it still seems pretty attacked to me. All the words in different sizes, fonts, and colors, make remind me a lot of those types of magazines and that's the opposite of what I'm going for. I'm looking to go for a more artistic approach. This magazine has a lot of words on its cover and I'd say depends more on the headlines to attract their readers. Obviously, all magazines need words and headlines, but I hope to make mine more minimalistic. 

I did come across another magazine that focused more on my type of approach: National Geographic Traveler. This magazine is highly dependent on its images just like all travel magazines, but this one excels in its pictures. Here you'll find some of Traveler's best magazine covers, displaying that artistic focus, each more beautiful than the last. I will use this one as an inspiration and for certain guidelines to follow. 

According to my schedule, I should begin working on organizing my pictures and begin my title page  next week. I'll dedicate tomorrow to the brainstorming of the design of my logo. If I'm 100% honest, I'm pretty nervous to actually start the whole design part. Ive never had to design something from scratch and so meticulous and I have a feeling the whole part of putting it together will give me a hard time (I''m not too tech-savvy). I'm psyched to incorporate my own pictures and writing, I just hope I can make it all look smooth. I'll let you know how it goes, though. 

I've decided my title is going to be "Wanderlust" (Luckily enough, inspiration struck just in time). It's a word that makes it clear to the audience what they'll be reading, and overall encompasses the mood I am trying to set: for people to desire to get out there and appreciate the world. Actually, I just thought of a selling line I really like... "A taste of your world". I'll elaborate more on the selling line in my next post, along with some more research.