Audience Engagement Research- Real Simple

Real Simple has a total of 7 million readers. Most of the readers are women since they advertise it as a "women's magazine." 82% of the readers own a home. The median age is 52. Our target audiences are similar because the magazine is meant for homeowners since most of the articles are about improving your home, cooking, and decorating. Our target age is similar because it is meant more for adults, since they have their own home.

I researched how this magazine markets their product. They have a press release saying that Real Simple launched their own online shop where consumers can buy clothes, furniture, and more. Another marketing technique was an event created by Real Simple. In 2019, they had their own "home idea" located in Brooklyn, New York. They transformed a townhouse into their own designed home that give strategies to other homeowners. People can take a 360 degree video tour of the house.

To market my product, I would create an event with other magazines of my genre and other home decorators to sell our very own products. Some products would be the ones featured in the articles, while others could be newer. At the event, I could subscription papers there so people can subscribe to the magazine if they liked the event.

InDesign Class Activity

Today in class we utilized Adobe InDesign to lay out our 2 page spread. The features on the software were very useful and it had many different options for editing. We learned how to use the select tool, type tool, and picture box tool. These are the main tools we would need to create the basis of our article. It was a bit overwhelming for me though. I did not feel fully comfortable working with this software on my own because there was a lot of features I did not understand. Also, the tools we used in class were kind of confusing to me. There were a lot of steps to fix the text we put in and adding in the pictures confused me and I didn't get to it. I don't think I will be using InDesign to make my revisions or the third quarter submission. I will probably keep using Microsoft Publisher because I am familiar with it and know how to use it. My layout that I made using InDesign is not complete or the final look I want. I was just practicing putting in pictures and formatting text, so the pictures I chose are not the correct ones.

My Target Audience

My magazine has a target audience with many different qualities and characteristics. My magazine is aimed at people who are aged between 25 and 60. It is not really meant for younger people. It can be for all genders, although much more women may want to read it than men. It is meant to be read by homeowners so they can spark up their house. It is also aimed at people who are part of the middle class because the magazine has simple ideas that can be used by those who might be on a budget and don't want to spend money on elaborate decorations. Personal interests of the audience could include cooing, baking, arts and crafts, fashion, and personal care. The product will be appealing to the audience because it has a variety of decorations to make for the current holiday, it is easy to read, and it is relatable to help people better themselves.

Feedback and Revisions

After getting some feedback on my magazine from my midterm submission, there are revisions I need to make before my final submission. For my cover page, I need to expand my picture so that it fills the whole page instead of having a white border. Then I need to move my article titles so that most of it is not covering the main picture. I want the picture to be seen so I just have to move my title up and some of the articles to the sides. I don't want to much revision with my table of contents because I felt that it was formatted well. The only thing I need to add to it is a page number in the bottom corner. For my two page article, I need to get a picture of the person I am interviewing to show who she is and to add to the variety of pictures. I think I should also add a main photo to the top of the page above the title. These changes will improve my product because it will make it look more organized and professional. To make these changes happen, I am going to start working on the cover page first and then keep going from there. I am using Microsoft Publisher to create my magazine and make any changes.

Use of Conventions

My magazine that I made uses many different conventions of my genre that I am able to recognize because of the magazine research I did. On my cover page, the font of the title of my magazine was very similar to other magazines that I saw. They both have a clean, simple look that is bold and stands out. I have some other features on my cover page that were similar to other magazines, such as having a colored circle around one of the featured articles. I put the main article on the cover in a bigger font, since the other magazines in my genre also had that. My table of contents is very organized and symmetrical. The other table of contents' in other magazines I looked at had multiple sections that had different articles listed underneath them. This is what I did with my magazine because I have four different topics related to my magazine genre. My article is similar to the other magazines because there are pictures scattered throughout the article. I do not have a main picture at the top on the first page of the article, even though some of the magazines I saw did have this.

My magazine is meant for homeowners who are most likely in the middle class because my magazine has articles that are for people who want to buy or make things on a budget for their home.

Midterm Submission

My magazine is called Celebration because it gives advice on how to decorate, make food, and stay under control during many different holidays/events we celebrate. For my cover, I chose to make the title red because of the theme of my magazine. It stands out at the very top. For some of my articles on the cover, I used different fonts so that the main article would stand out and to make some of the smaller articles look appealing. My picture is very colorful in the background and clearly shows that the consumer will be reading something about Christmas. My table of contents has four different sections with multiple articles listed under them. The picture of the ornament is to give a sneak peek of what the person will be seeing later on in the magazine. For my article, I chose a dark, plum colored title and there is a small description of the article under the title. I added a brief description of who the person I interviewed is. My pictures were of the the different DIY decorations that she described how to make so that the magazine shows an example of it.

Camera Shot Activity

Our teacher made us practice taking different camera shots with a group. Our shots included a high angle, low angle, extreme close-up, mid-shot, canted angle, and a wide shot.

high angle

low angle

extreme close-up

mid-shot

canted angle

wide shot

Planning Activity- Schedule Photo Shoot

I have not had my complete photo shoot yet. I know what I want to take pictures of, but a time is needed to take these photos. I want to dedicate a week to taking all of my pictures and making sure I have a variety of good photos. Time is always available to take my phone out and take some pictures, so the scheduling should be easy. My main article is going to be about making your own home decor for Christmas, so I will need to make some decorations myself that I can take pictures of. I am going to take pictures of a decoration made of ornaments that hangs on a window, all the different ornaments in the store to show the many options, a mason jar decoration that has lights inside with winter decor sticking out of it, and my friend putting one of these crafts together. I will have four different photos in my main article, but many more for my photoshoot to make sure I get the perfect picture. My table of contents is going to have a picture of a holiday food that will have its recipe in a smaller article. My cover is going to be a picture of my Christmas tree to show it is a Christmas themed magazine.

Planing Activity- Scout Locations

One of my pictures is in Target because I wanted to show the product being bought that needs to be used for one of the DIYs. Target is a good place to get materials for DIY crafts, so I chose this for one of my picture locations. Another location I am using is my own house. I am going to make the DIYs and decorations to put in my bedroom to take a picture of because it would normally be put in this type of location. Another area of my house is where I am taking my picture for my magazine cover because my Christmas tree will go there.

Planning Activity- Schedule Interview/Questions

I will be interviewing Jaqueline Taylor. She is an adult friend of mine who is an interior designer. She has many skills in improving people's living space and also creating DIY ideas to spark up the home. I have not scheduled my interview yet because I am trying to find a time that works best for us both. We both have busy schedules to work around. I will need to find a time over a weekend where we can both sit down so I can get her answers to my questions. Some questions I will be asking her are:

• If I want a themed Christmas tree, what are some important things I should keep in mind when decorating the theme?
• I don't have a lot of time to decorate. What are the most important areas of my home that I should focus on decorating?
• What are some simple, but cute holiday decorating ideas that are inexpensive?
• How can I create a fancy dinner table set-up for Christmas?

The answers will be important for the readers because it will guide them into having a nice looking home that family and friends will enjoy, especially if they are in a rush.

Planning Activity- Flat Plan

The sections in my flat plan include family, home decor, food, and self care. There are some additional articles for people to read also. Some articles listed are "Cheap, But Thoughtful Gifts Under $30," "DIY Snowy Mason Jars," "Comfort Christmas Cookies," "Dealing With Hectic Holiday Stress," and an additional article is "Comfy and Cozy Winter Fashion." These will engage the audience because it gives them the opportunity to make their own decorations and food, which is fun when you do it yourself. The people reading my magazine will find it helpful that there are tips and advice included in the articles. As in similar magazines I have seen, I placed a lot of ads in the very beginning before the table of contents and multiple ads in between articles. Towards the middle and the end, the number of ads in a row decreased a little bit, but are still evenly scattered throughout. During my magazine research, I found that there was not as many ads from the middle of the magazine till the end.

Planing Activity- Table of Contents

I don't have the names of the articles yet, but I am putting the main article towards the center of the magazine so that it is the main focus. My articles will be about making your own Christmas decorations, food recipes, and much more. I am using one photo on my table of contents to make a simple look. I don't want to add too many pictures because I want the readers to see most of them when they are actually reading the articles. For my title that says contents, it is in the font called "Bernard MT Condensed." It is a bold font that stands out. I liked how the letters were closer together than my title was. I didn't want the letters to be too spaced out. I put side bars on the side to make it look more aesthetically pleasing and other magazines I researched had figures like this around the word. For my section titles, I used the font "Cambria" because it is easy to read and looks very classic and simple. My articles are in the font "Verdana" because I wanted to match this font to the articles that are on my cover so that it looks similar. It is a basic, easy to read font.

Planning Activity- Cover Template

For my title, I wanted to have a something that was short and catchy. This way it is easy for people to remember and recognize. My magazine genre is home decor and DIY, so I wanted to pick a title that was related to that. It was a long process of trying to come up with something, but in the end I thought of the name "Celebration." I thought of this because every issue of my magazine would be decorations, food recipes, and crafts for a holiday or event to celebrate that usually occurs during that month. The issue I decided to make is a winter/Christmas one. The font of my title is called "Berlin Sans FB." It looks similar to some of the magazines I researched such as Good Housekeeping and Real Simple. It wanted it to have a bold look, but not boring. Instead of having big, straight-edged, bulky letters, I chose a font that had some curves in it so that it looked slightly different and more interesting to look at. I chose to write my main article in the font "Nueva Std Cond." I chose this because it is more of a creative look than the other fonts i used, but still has a simple, aesthetic look. I wanted the main article's name to be eye-catching. My other fonts are called "Verdana." This is for my other articles and I chose it because I wanted the smaller articles to have a basic look.