3/09/16: Question 4 (Creative Critical Reflection)

We integrated technologies---software, hardware, and online for this magazine project.
   Software included the newest version of  'Publisher' from Mircosoft Office. We utilized this program in order to construct our individual magazine issues. In it, we added and edited photos, inserted text to our pages, etc.
   Hardware includes our computer and our cameras. The computers, I used either at school or at home to do work. The camera I used, happened to be from my own cell phone. My partner might have used a professional camera, but I cannot be sure at this time.
   Online technologies includes 'Blogger' by Google and any search engine on the web. The 'Blogger' allowed us to create our blog for this project and exam. It surely took some getting used to, but overall, it has been quite user friendly and my partner and I both feel it is a great way by which we could broadcast our progress to Cambridge exam graders. Best of all, there is also an app for it on my phone. Finally, Google searches online, allowed me and my partner to conduct independent research. Our research covered anything from how a magazine ought to look, to tailoring our marketing/distribution strategies to meet both the needs of a target audience and profit, while staying true to our mission of authenticity for our readers.
 

3/09/16: Question 3 (Creative Critical Reflection)

My production skills have definitely improved as this project wore on. For instance, by choosing to make a magazine, I was forced to acclimate to the newest software version of 'Publisher' from Mircosoft Office. This is because I volunteered to set up the house style of our magazine due to the fact that my partner is not tech savvy.
I also had to undertake independent and class research into various marketing/distribution tactics concerning magazines and print media along with looking at other conventional magazines to determine how my partner and I would want to produce our product. Many stylistic magazine conventions I was well aware of, being a consumer. Looking at that, I was able to produce something conventional and realize what I was doing that may be unconventional. Realizing what is unconventional and how to use it to our advantage was yet another magazine production strategy my partner and I had to grasp.
 Finally, presenting our project to the class allowed us to better present our magazine to the public due to the constructive criticism we had received from our classmates and our professor, thereby enhancing our production skills. (Such constructive criticism has been mentioned in prior blog posts and attended to the best we could.)

3/8/16: Product After All Revisions Thus Far (For 3rd Quarter Grade)

**Please be aware that clicking on these magazine page photos will make the text smaller and harder to read! If the magazine happens to be life-size or presented in this x-large format, there should be little issue with deciphering the font that is meant to resemble that of an average person for the sake of authenticity.

3/01/16: Question 2 (Creative Critical Reflection)

Our product engages with audiences who desire to travel and may want to go to south Florida. For any travelers that haven't thought about traveling to south Florida, they could possibly be persuaded to do so. The information is meant to be presented in a unconventional format to look like a traveler's journal. This format engages readers with its authentic appeal. However, conventional approaches are also utilized. Large title at the top, a photo on the cover in the background, same house font, bolded subtitles are examples. The decision to make our featured articles into interviews comprised of tourists and locals found in each of our designated locations...Sarasota, FL and Sanibel Island, FL was also an additional effort to showcase this air of authenticity to readers while keeping them engaged by offering them further insight into each tourist destination with primary, rather than secondary sources.
    As for getting the word out, my strategies were explicitly stated in the 12/19 marketing/distribution blog post and remain the same. 

    In order to get the word out, we would use the social media website, Facebook. (The only social media outlet to be utilized in developed as well as in some developing countries by persons of all ages) We would also reach out to many local newspapers such as, but not limited to, The Herald Tribune and The Tampa Times. Common sense tells us that you have to start small. Sales would be garnered by advertisements who would support us based on the views we would receive for the online magazine publication. Like certain apps intended for online/streaming purposes such as Pandora and Netflix, readers can pay a monthly fee to temporarily rid themselves of the ads.

We would charge $5.00 and as the magazine grows more popular, gradually raising this amount for new patrons. Any fees allotted to readers would be subject to contract. If fees were left unpaid by the time the next issue came around, they would be subject to ads for an additional three months (or three issues) as an incentive to pay.
          For distribution purposes: Considering what I know and what my partner knows from living and vacationing in the south Florida region, we are well aware how the most frequent and agile leisure travelers range between 40 and 65 years old.
They typically, thanks to the years on their lives, have the financial means in which they need for leisure travel and the physical ability to do it.
Also, while this group of people are on the older to middle aged side of the age spectrum, generally, they are no stranger to computers. Furthermore, while digital is difficult, as I previously stated in my 11/16 blog post, it allows access to this magazine on a much broader scope.
Armed with this reasoning, my partner and I both decided to make our magazine an 'online-only' publication. Issues would be monthly and a print copy for a $7.99 (plus $5.99 shipping and handling fee) will also be available upon request.

Research:
I did some research, aside from our own reasoning:

1) http://www.cnbc.com/id/44375222
~Online magazines draw the attention of celebrities and are exclusively funded by advertisements

2) Newsroom sitcom
~vividly depicted the need for viewers, which are directly linked to funds from advertising corporations

3) Further Marketing/Distribution Notes from (2/16/16 blog post)