Decision Day

 Decision Day

    Initially, I was a bit overwhelmed by both InDesign and Premier Pro.  I had to stay focused during the tutorials.  I would get behind by getting stuck trying to figure out one feature.  However, I enjoyed learning about the programs and tried to spend more time testing them out.  Before we learned how to use the apps, I had already decided to do a magazine.  When we were learning Indesign I was careful.  Even though I learned a great deal, it will still take a lot of time to get used to the app and perfect what I wish to execute. 

    For my magazine, I would like to create an elegant literary magazine with culture, literature, art, etc. I will use features like text frame fitting to fit my texts around the images and make it symmetrical, with equal spacing.  I will use it on the content page with putting the article titles and descriptions in columns.  I want to be very precise and purposeful with spacing.  I think I will also set up a grid to work with first.  I learned how to put a running header, which I will use for my magazine, stating the issue number and name of the magazine.  I will also add borders to my layout.

    A couple articles I read on storytelling and magazines guided my thinking.  The article “Our Place in the Universe: The Importance of Story and Storytelling in the Classroom" by Wayne Cherry particularly resonated with me.  As someone whose favorite activity is reading and wants to tell stories through writing, I know how important stories are and the impact they have on people’s lives, even (or especially) at a young age.  I see how we learn through stories, through hearing of others' experiences.  I want my magazine to show a story and for the viewer to be able to see it as part of a larger narrative.  I want my magazine to inspire through its stories, fictional ones and those of the people interviewed for it.  A story form for the magazine articles will help them better absorb the information and ideas contained within them.  This is also helpful to my magazine as it aims to be intellectual and help people psychologically, and the article explained the brain's response to stories.  

    The second article, “Survival of the Fittest: Four Editors on the Future of Literary Magazines” by Joey Franklin was even more personally relevant than the first, not only because I would like to create a literary magazine as my project, but also as I wish to be an editor in the future.   It saddens me that magazines like these as well as other literary forms are dying, but I do think that they can adapt.  They must strive to adapt and figure out a way to stay relevant.  It is difficult to have a wide appeal and also make the content specific for a target audience.  It is also important to design for the web and keep in mind the ever-shortening attention span of humans.  Creators and designers of magazines and other media have to be aware of what will catch and hold people’s attention.  With literary content, which many may view as boring or old-fashioned, they must try to combine the more traditional with new effects and ideas.  This is what I will strive to do in the creation of my magazine.