Finally

   Wow guys, it's crazy to say that this is done. I hope you enjoy.

Creative Critical Reflection 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giahyc51szs

Magazine Layout

Love, 

Liz

Support Pt. 2

   Just because you can never have enough support, particularly with a shift in ideas I figured a second post wouldn't hurt. Wanted to find more research on food being considered to be an art and boy did I land bug when I stumbled upon a very pointed New York Times article. The article stated that “Like art, food is also a genuine passion that people like to share with their friends.” That, along with some research I gathered earlier and can be seen in an earlier post by Fast Company that states that there has been a trend in the food world of viewing food magazines as a statement piece for coffee tables. This gave me the inspiration I needed to confirm my magazine being a "food as art" theme. Doing this also gave me more leeway with my cover lines since many art magazines, such as Art in America keep their cover lines off the front to allow the cover image to be the focus. 

   And with that, I was now gaining inspiration from two types of magazines which meant my target audience morphed a little. Instead of now appealing more to the middle class, I also reigned in some people from the upper class. Thankfully, the two types of target audience merged pretty easily together which means success for me because now I am reaching an even broader range of people.

Love, 

Liz

Deresiewicz, W. (2012, October 27). A Matter of Taste? Retrieved April 10, 2017, from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/opinion/sunday/how-food-replaced-art-as-high-culture.html

Rubinstein, R., Small, Z., Iadarola, A., Khan, N., Vine, R., Owens, C., . . . Spivack, E. (n.d.). Art In America. Retrieved April 10, 2017, from http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/

Support

I am so excited.  But before I get to that, let me show you the rest of my completed double page spread.  I wanted to the image on the first page to be the focus and that, along with the white cover title, I think is a nice contrast that provides interest for the reader. The font I chose was the same one as earlier. On the second page, I showed two pictures of the completed donuts to show viewers what they have the potential to make. I provided a step by step guide on how to make the donuts. I got inspiration from magazines such as Cooking Light and Sift.

Now for the thing I am excited about! So I knew I wanted my cover lines of the cover page (shown below) to be on the bottom so that way I could showcase the image and have my magazine stand out against competitors. According to an article written by Canva. "Create a cover design that attracts attention for being unusual, extreme or prominent; a cover that stands out like a sore thumb on a crowded magazine rack. And as these striking magazine covers demonstrate, create a design concept that is closely tied to the theme of the magazine issue." Mine falls into the "striking" category because of the cover lines being at the bottom.

50 Design Techniques That Made These Magazine Covers Awesome [Epic Case Studies]. (2015, October 13). Retrieved April 09, 2017, from https://designschool.canva.com/blog/magazine-cover-design/

Coming Together

So I have started to do the final layout of my magazine and you guys better sit tight because its very different than what I originally thought of. But first, here are some videos of me in the process of editing. 

For this edit, I had done the bulk of the editing job on the earlier mentioned Corel PhotoPaint, however when I look back at it I noticed some minor imperfections that I wanted to touch up. To do this, I used Apple's IPhoto editor. In the video, you can see me brightening up the overall image and smoothing out some imperfections. 

Here is another video of me editing, this time on the layout itself. You'll notice in the rough draft I show later on that I changed a lot of elements since this edit. 

 I have been using the editing program called Canva that was recommended to me by a friend. Canva has been incredibly helpful and incredibly user friendly. They have multiple layouts that you can choose from and from their I just added the images and text I wanted. Simple!

As for the actual magazine, here is the rough draft I created.As you can see, I put the cover lines at the bottom of the magazine instead of the top. I thought I would go outside the box and differentiate my magazine from that of most food magazines. However, before I make this idea final I plan on researching doing this to make sure titles at the bottom of the magazine still appeal to my target audience. As for the font, I wanted to keep things simply, yet still classy which is the reason that I did not choose a cursive font because I felt it would've ruined some if the aesthetic that I was trying to create. In my table of contents, I made an image a half page on both of them to not only display the food, but to also reel in viewers enticing pictures. My table of contents and cover page (aside from the research for the cover lines) is pretty much done minus some minor edits. The double page spread is not done and will be different the next time you see it. I am planning on the double page spread being a recipe for yeast donuts done four ways, but I will show you the final product once it is done. 

As I assembled my magazine and become more familiar with the feel I was trying to create, I realized that the farm to table idea I had thought of earlier wasn't working with what I was creating. That is why you don't see that theme displayed throughout my layout. Instead of the farm to table idea, what I found myself creating was something more elegant and delicate. In the end I believe the message that I was always trying to portray is that food is an art form and if presented in the correct way, it can appear as art too. I think in the images I used and what I have created so far that food, specifically desserts does come off as an art form. 

Love, 

Liz

The Finals

   So I have finally completed taking all of my pictures-except for one of a farmer's market, but that shouldn't be too hard-- I already showed you guys in my last post what the raw pictures look like, but here is what they look like edited (and I think it's a lot better).

   I had originally intended for the first image to be the one I use in between my table of contents, but I didn't love the way it came out so now I am not sure. I was thinking the image of the bread may be able to be used instead because I really love the contrasting textures in that image. My plan is to lay it all out and decide from there...this is a very scientific process as you can see. If I don't like any of the pictures to be the in between image for my table of contents, then I may just do one page for the contents and not two. But once again, we'll see once I lay it out.

   The Photo of the raspberry tart from above is FOR SURE going to be the image I use in my table of contents to get this kind of an effect:

   I know I already showed you guys this picture, I just love how aesthetic it is. 

   I'll turn the image to the right, so that way it is more elongated. 

   As for the cover image, I am currently debating using the donut picture with the white background shown above and the one with the black background that I showed on an earlier post. I am planning on starting to put together the magazine soon, so we'll see.  

   Until then, stay hungry.

Love, 

Liz

Ritchie, A. (1970, January 01). Martha Stewart Living: 2011 In Review. Retrieved April 02, 2017, from http://marthamoments.blogspot.com/2011/12/martha-stewart-living-year-in-review.html

More Pics

   I had another successful night of food photography:

   While I was setting up my station and taking pictures, my dad had taken my phone and took a few pictures himself of me in action.  

 

   I wanted to get an overhead shot of the scene which is why I stood on the table like that. I was pretty sure I was going to fall off a few times, but I am still alive and kicking so everything worked out great.

   Here are some of the raw images I took:

   My plan for all of them is to enhance the images so that they come out brighter. In the case of the fruit, I added a little oil to them to make them shine a little more, but they still did not come out quite as bright as I hoped so I'll see what the editing software can do for me. In photos where the outside set came out, I am planning on cloning the gray wood and replacing the outside set so no one would ever know, but that'll be our secret.

   I'll show you guys the edited pictures next time. Until then, stay hungry.

Love,
Liz

Layout

   I have finally begun to finalize the designs of my,  I know, this took way to long.

   For the cover page, I want to keep things minimalistic and avoid crowding the page with cover titles. The focus of the cover page will be the picture of the donuts I blogged about earlier, however instead of the black background I may use a faded out white one.  

   For the table of contents I want it to be two pages. As can be seen below, I am planning on separating the pages by another that spans two pages.  I want the table of contents to be crisp and white to contrast the rustic-ness of the image that will be in between them.

                                                   

   Here was the inspiration for my table of contents nad the image in between them:

   I may change the table of contents to span one page, it depends what the finished pictures look like.

   Lastly, for my double page spread, the first page will be a short article on a local farmers market and the second page will be a recipe using ingredients from the farmers market. It will be two columns and at the top of the first page will be a large image of the farmer's market. Throughout the second page I will have images of the  recipe being made to illustrate the steps graphically.                            

P.S. Excuse my horrible drawing skills

Love, 

Liz

Ritchie, A. (1970, January 01). Martha Stewart Living: 2011 In Review. Retrieved March 31, 2017, from http://marthamoments.blogspot.com/2011/12/martha-stewart-living-year-in-review.html

Kārdinošie virtuļi / Tempting Donuts. (2014, June 09). Retrieved March 31, 2017, from https://amalijaandersone.wordpress.com/2014/06/09/kardinosie-virtuli-tempting-donuts/