Sike! ESS 2.0

Hello World.

Surprise! Yes, I know I said you wouldn't be hearing from me again. However, life doesn't always turn out as planned. Here's what happened:

My good friend and model for my magazine, Cheyenne showed me some of my peers' magazines. That initiated a steady stream of stress, panic, and dissatisfaction. I was unsatisfied with my own project, panicked because I didn't feel mine was good enough, and stressed because I had very little time to do anything about it. So, I decided that I was most certainly NOT going to turn in anything to Cambridge that I was unhappy with and I thought that if I knew I could do better I was definitely to prove it. Thus began my magazine 2.0.

After talking with another friend, I chose what elements of my magazine I was going to fix, or essentially do over. I loved my cover and chose to keep it as is but I needed to change my advertisement and double-page spread. I cringed while flipping through the pages of my digital magazine. From Day 1 of this project I wanted to get a good grade on this project because it meant validation to me. To me, it was a "you are good enough, talented enough, and smart enough to succeed in this field." Something I craved from Cambridge. I thought to myself, how can I expect them to give me validation when I don't even feel confident in the product I am offering them. So with that being said, I scratched my advertisement and dropped the double-page spread to plan B.

After frantically texting everyone I knew, I gathered my models for the shoot I planned for my new double-page spread and advertisement. I realized that my original advertisement didn't feel like an advertisement to me. After researching beauty product magazine advertisement conventions, I realized why. I decided to start over and follow the advertisement conventions established for my type of product. For my double-page spread I gained some inspiration from the Dove Real Beauty campaign. I wanted a picture of a small group of differing ethnicities and body types smiling and laughing. The message I was trying to promote was to love yourself because there is no one type of beauty.

I also added a promotion for the online edition of my magazine at the end of my double-page spread. One of the question on our Creative Critical Reflection was asking us how we plan on distributing our project. It prompted me to consider that technology and social media had a very prevalent role in my target audience's, female millennial and feminists, lives.

As of right now, I am officially done with my magazine and the script of my Creative Critical Reflection. I am in the process of recording my Creative Critical Reflection in a screencast format. This will be my last blog post sharing the ups and downs of the process with you. I sincerely hope you enjoyed the journey and are pleased with my final product.

Goodbye World.

"Infographic: Women's Media Consumption Habits." Ad Week. N.p., 5 Apr. 2015. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.<http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/infographic-womens-media-consumption-habits-163886>. 

"The Dove® Campaign for Real Beauty." Dove. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2016. <http://www.dove.us/Social-Mission/campaign-for-real-beauty.aspx>.