Task 5- Designers Technical Commentary

Compression and File Extension:
File extensions let the computer know which programme software an image was created from, therefore when saving images, it'll either be saved as a jpg, pdf, png etc... 
PSD is a file created from the photoshop software, and it allows you to work on each individual layer when editing the photo, whereas any other file extension wouldn't separate layers.
AI is created from Adobe Illustrator, which represent Vector Based drawings (2D).
Indd stands for In Design Document, which is used for desktop publishing, a software typically used for creating online magazines, brochures, newspapers etc.
A PNG means Portable Network Graphics it is a raster graphics file format that supports lossless data compression.
JPG is used when images are taken from cameras, they are typically used for larger images.
PDF is a Portable Document Format. Each PDF file contains a fixed description of a flat document layout, which includes texts, images, fonts etc.

Vector Images:
A vector based image is when an image is created using paths, which lead to control points. Vector Graphics are usually used for 2D images, they create a higher quality result for 2D shapes and pictures when zoomed in.
Bitmap Images:
A bitmap image is formed of several pixels to form an image. Therefore when zoomed in, it'll appear very pixelated. This is otherwise called a raster image. Each pixel has it's own colour or is formed of the two colours that it is places between, to create individual shades which creates a high quality and accurate image.

Image Capture:
Throughout the creation of my Interactive Magazine, I've used my phone to capture examples of magazines that I like and used them for inspiration. It is then automatically stored on dropbox. For my end product, I used QuickTime Player which allowed me to capture all the animation on my interactive magazine.

Workflow and Softwares Used:

I used youtube for my video content on my magazine. 


Asset management:

The whole project was created using InDesign. 

In order to keep my work organised I created a separate folder so that the whole article and all the work within it can be kept together. 

Folio Builder
My Folio Builder allowed me to add each article onto my Magazine Folder, which would then update each time onto my Adobe account, each time new content is added.

Once the Folio Builder is opened I can then add each article which will then appear on the iPAD once updated.

Production Log - Screen Recording

Production Log

I've added some pictures which is essential.

I've also included animation on my simple magazine. The videos can be paused, played, rewound, and fast forwarded. 

Here I created my advert which consists of a video related to the product being sold which is the 'Believe Tour Dance Experience DVD', and I've put an image of it to show the audience what they're buying.

On this last page, the text on the article can be clicked on which will then lead the viewer onto Justin Bieber's official website.

Production Log

On the third page I've created a page with articles and added some animation onto the images, however it doesn't support certain files, so it'd have to be saved as HTML to work for web.

Production Log

The process so far of creating the first page of my magazine. I've kept the colours and themes almost identical to my planning.

Planning- Layout ideas

Planning- Magazine Title idea

Planning - Colour Pallette

This is most likely the colour palette that i'll go for.

Planning - Preferred Idea modified

My favourite idea was the Film and Television magazine idea, as it is an interesting and not an often 'spoken about' topic.

I was keen on the idea of keeping the font and colours pretty much the same, however in order to appeal to younger people too I made some slight changes.

Below, I kept the font for the titles the same (Apple Chancery font), but changed the font of the articles to 'Nueva Standard'. I think the change of font would make it look slightly more interesting and keep things slightly different, rather than knowing what to expect on each page. I also kept the colour theme the same, however, for each title, I changed it to a different shade of blue, perhaps this could connote a new topic, and be more appealing to read. Also, the same with the articles, I've changed the colour from black to a dark blue, which adds some colour and I think makes it look more appealing to read.

Planning

Front Cover Idea

Colours: purple, Pink (fuchsia), black, Gold.

Second Idea.

Research into the Digital Magazine Market

Task 1. Pros and Cons of Digital Magazines:

Pros:

• You can access the internet almost anywhere, therefore the readers don't have to physically go to pick it up. This means it can be reached on a global scale.
• It's much more cheaper for the publisher as they do not require any printing costs.
• They feature advertisement that appeals to you, as it registers things that you've recently/often searched.
• It can look slightly more appealing, as there may be animation or movement on the pages.
• It allows the readers to interact, as there'll most likely be hyperlinks to go onto another page.
• The publishing company can now get a profit from advertisements that pay to be on their website.
• It's eco-friendly; it doesn't use resources.
• This could also give people more jobs as it's a new industry such as: editors, designers, web-coders etc.
• Also, with digital magazines, you only need one copy rather than several.

Cons:

• It requires some sort of connectivity, which may be hard to reach at times.
• You must have battery power in order to reach these.
• As digital magazines become more detailed and graphic, this may cause a longer loading process.
• There's naturally a smaller target audience, because not everyone carries a portable device in which you can read these kind of magazines.
• They also don't have the same value as printable copies.
• It can be harder to read, which can add confusion to some people.

Pros and Cons of Print Magazines:

Pros:

• They're taken more seriously by sources, as it is more reliable.
• you don't have to wait for anything to load, or require any internet.
• To get to another article, you have to flick through other articles, therefore not many articles will go to waste as most of them will be read.
• Print is much more superior to online because they're sold in shops, where the majority of people will come across it.
• It's very efficient as it is portable and can be used anywhere, for example airplanes.

Cons:

•  Each magazine aims to a particular target audience, whereas online can reach all.
• It is much more costly because of the printing.
• It's not Eco-friendly, as it uses huge amounts of paper.
• They can ruin easily, from water, tears, etc...They become old quickly.

Task 2. Analysis of 2 Digital Magazines:

Daily Mail Online - www.dailymail.co.uk

I've analysed the 'Daily Mail Online' and straight away from looking at the front page, there's a huge amount of text accompanied by a headlining picture. The reason being, is because it's based on a news paper. The colours are kept quite simple, the website consist of blue headlining titles, black writing and a white background. This website is kept simple because the articles are based on serious topics, therefore it is important that they don't stray away from the importance of the messages. Navigation on this website is quite simple with sub-titles at the top of the page, which then turns the font red when the cursor is over it. The use of this allows the highlighted text to become the main focus, among the large amount of surrounding writing. The way 'Daily Mail' is set out perhaps reflects their publisher 'DMG Media'. Animation is kept simple on this magazine, as the only uses of animation are: underlines under text, highlights on the text and boxes. The font on the website is all kept the same throughout. Personally I think the layout of this website is quite messy, which is probably a result of the large amounts of writing. However, at the same time is is quite easy to navigate yourself though, the reason being because everything is pretty much simply right there in front of you, and everything is there with just a click. Furthermore, the larger fonts on the headlines do make it clearer for the reader to see what the article is about, which does stand out among all the writing on the page. When you click on a specific article, the page layout becomes much clearer, with the simple article headline, bullet points stating the main parts of the story, an illustration to represent the headline, and the writing of the article itself. Further down into the article, there are other stories that may be related to the previous one, therefore it goes onto showing excess information about things that the reader could possibly be interested in. These include more pictures, information about other people, however it gets slightly less news related and slightly more based on the entertainment side. Another thing I discovered about the navigation, is when you're on a specific article you can share the whole article itself on social media, and  you can then hover the mouse over any of the pictures in the article and share the picture on several social media sites. This perhaps shows that the daily mail are also interested at targeting an audience who are slightly more involved in mainstream media. I'd say on the specific chosen article itself, the navigation becomes slightly more complex in terms of advertising other social media networks in order for sharing links (which then creates a pop up page). Speaking for myself I find the navigation and layout easy to get through, however I don't find it that appealing to look at, though the colours are kept simple as well as the font, I don't think it looks very neat, despite things being sectioned into categories, it still appears to be scattered.

Guitar Player - www.guitarplayer.com
The first thing that is shown on the screen when entering this online magazine is a popup which is extremely off putting. The front page is full of images with titles on them, to me it is much more appealing to look at, as it isn't filled with large amounts of text. This is probably purely on the fact that it is an entertainment magazine. The colours on this site consist of black, white, red and grey, and it is kept the same throughout. Throughout this whole magazine, it is based purely on music and things based around it. The animation and navigation on this website quite detailed. The text underlines when you hover over it, Key titles at the top are highlighted red and open up a drop tab with Sub-titles underneath, and there's a sliding toolbar which stops instantly as there's anything over it.