Audience Engagement Research- Vactions

Vacations Magazine uses practicality in their articles which is what I am trying to do when including the different personal opinions and being 100% honest with the reader. They also center their articles on giving advice which i also do meaning we both are drawing the attention of people who are willing to trust our personal opinions and our facts and trust us on saving and activities.

Audience Engagement Research- Cruising World

Cruising World is also aiming for the same viewers as I am by Including the personal feedback attracts the middle aged person as they trust others rather then just a random paper. They are also aiming towards the sea adventure that i am going for giving facts and fun activities to include when in the water. 

Revised Table of Contents

My table of contents now looks very organized and completely cleaner the before i changed the font to match with the rest of my pages. I also kept it simple then before so that its not two distracting as its just suppose to tell the reader what the magazine includes. I used In Design rather the Publisher to put together this new layout I believe InDesign helped a lot with the variety of options and more of an editing format which is what I was looking for.

Quarter 3 Submission

I changed the font of all of my text to give it a cleaner look then before i also used a new platform for my two page article which helped me clean up the look and organize the text with the images a lot better. the cover and table of contents stayed the same for the most part however i did add some more text to the front cover to draw the readers eye a little more then before, in the table of contents I cleaned it up a lot by making it very open and to the point without much of a distraction. My submission is very clean and organized then before which makes it look more presentable and official. I did use InDesign for this submission rather then publisher as it give me more options and choices of how to really improve my work. 

Revised Title Page

For my title paged I used InDesign rather then publisher, i changed all of the fonts to match with the rest of my article. As well as adding some more catchy text to really intrigue the reader to want to read the magazine. The cover is more organized and looks more official its also a lot cleaner and neat looking then before.

Revised Two Page Spread

For my two page spread I redid the layout of everything and instead of using publisher I used InDesign. I changed the font and the way things were typed as well as the photo layout as it looks cleaner and more appealing to the eye while also being easier to follow along with. 

Audience Engagement Research: Sunset

Sunset is a magazine company who writes issues based on traveling places to travel activities located in the places which is how I created my magazine issues. The target audience is similar to mine due to the issues they created with the topics including traveling and depending on the places they list they are trying to target middle aged people, people who are out of school and adults with decent paying jobs that would love to go on a vacation to take a break from work and everyday life.

Distribution Plan

  For magazines traditional distribution is having the magazine be in super markets, drug stores, transportation outlets, and convenient stores. When you go to the grocery store and your are checking out, all of the new issues about some famous person new recipes or even the gossip going through the press the issues are placed right where you have to look so that one may catch your eye. Magazine companies must distribute their magazines according to what the issues is about. In food stores you mainly see recipe articles or new food diets, anything relating to food that may make you pick that magazine up buy it and subscribe to get the issue every month.
Other magazines like travel or activity may be seen in airports, hotels, near beaches, etc. The distribution is based on the theme based on the target audience and who they want to interest and persuade the most, distributing the issue is the main way to get your magazine out there ad grab peoples eye.
 For distributing my product I am looking to include it within similar magazines with the same target audience. I want my magazine to be distributed into hotels so that the audience can read it and be intrigued. Traditional distribution would work well with my target audience by having my magazines be in stores, hotels, even resorts. The magazines in these stores hotels, etc. will be free to theses companies and ads of these companies will be included in the issues to help distribute not just my product but theirs as well. I would create a mailing list to have sample issues sent out containing just some of the issues for the season which would push the reader into subscribing to the magazine.
  The Magazine will be a seasonal magazine meaning it would only go out every three months. when placings it in hotels it could include ads for the same hotels with more information on them and even coupons. I could work with bigger companies in distributing the magazine by having it be advertised in other states. The 'snowbirds' would be a huge audience since they could subscribe see whats going on during the seasons and plan there trips accordingly. The magazine will encourage people to visit Sarasota.
  Having a website for the magazine will help distribute the magazine also more through out the states. On the sample issues the website is listed at the bottom to also interest the readers to subscribe which will take them to the website and many more issues and information. Having PDF versions of the issues each season will also help with E-readers which goes along with my target audience trying to distribute the magazine through to middle class people.

Marketing Plan

Based on the research i have done on the way magazines are marketed and specifically travel magazines. To advertise and get the word out about my magazine i would deliver free samples. Therefore i can sell more then just the context i can sell the benefits through the magazine such as hotel tips, Vacation, Tips, coupons, which will not only improve my magazine but help boost hotels and certain vacations spots popularity. I will also have a digital online website for the magazine where people can read the articles and issues with out lugging around the paper copy. I would also want to attract the younger audience so making a social media account such as Facebook or Instagram that gives a summary of a different issues each day with a link to the digital website if they are interested in reading more or getting the coupons which would also keep our rating up and invite more people of all ages to read our issues.

Indesign Class Activity

Today in class we utilized adobe indesign to layout our two page spread. The software was a little confusing and difficult at first because I had never used indesign before but after using it for the class I got the hang of it and it became a lot easier to understand and use. I was somewhat overwhelmed having to learn how to use a brand new software and trying to remember where everything is what the tools are used for and which tools I mostly needed for my page layout. I do believe i will use indesign to make my page layout since it is a lot cleaner when making the magazine type layout. It also looks more like a magazine when created in indesign. 

Use of Conventions

My magazine uses conventions of my genre by the set up of the table of contents i tried to make my tale of contents similar to the one in Tampa Bay Times Magazine because it looked very organized with only two photos and the photos described the articles. I challenged them by the fonts i used i used a very non-professional font that i thought would go well with the whole beach relaxing theme however it wasn't very interesting. I tried to stay with the same format and way that they typed their articles which mad mine very organized and professional. On my contact sheet i used the same type of layout that the magazine Travel + Leisure with the article title the periods and then the page number with only a few photos that helped explain what the articles where going to include.

My Target Audience

The target audience I am going for is family oriented people, who may not live near beaches , that enjoy soaking up the sun, outdoor activities, and adventures. They are mostly going to be in their thirties early forties. people who have had time to start there family who are physically and mentally stable where they are. target people who make at least $25,000- $40,000 a year because the beach area is typically very expensive since it is on the water and many people go as tourist or for vacation. The views the coupons all the information and personal experiences will very much intrigue the readers to enjoy the issues and go on these trips to take our advise and use these hotels and activity sites which could make the reader feel more comfortable and eventually trust what we have to say.

Feedback and Revisions

I plan to change my fonts make them more professional and bold so that they are easier to read and look more like a professional magazine. I am also going to take some more photos so that i can have more of a election then mainly sunsets. I am going to take more pictures with people and families maybe doing some activity or playing in the water or sand. I'm also going to change up the layout by making my text into columns and having a main picture above and then just sub-pictures through out the text just to give some visuals along the way. The cover layout is also going to be switched up to make it more interesting and fun while taking away the transparency on the photo laying the article titles in the little puddle of water that runs through the picture and moving up the title while changing the fonts. I believe theses revisions will improve my magazine because it will make it look more professional and appealing to my audience so that more people will me intrigued. As well it will look more organized with the new layouts by being easier to read and understand, the more pictures will look better as its a travel magazine its all about where you are going so the pictures will be good visuals to keep the reader interested and more likely to visit the beaches.

Mid Term Submission