Practice Interview Questions #31

 

Welcome to another blog!

        In this exercise, we practiced asking questions such "Who," "What," "Where," "When," "Why," and "How" when interviewing a classmate, we were unfamiliar with. I asked Yianel Rivera the questions listed below.

1. What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

2. Who is someone that you look up to?

3. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

4.  Who is your inspiration?

5. Why are you in the Cambridge Program?

6. How do you look at life?

7. When was the first time you step out of your comfort zone?

8. Who is someone you never want to forget?

9. How do you handle criticism?

10. When do you believe you grew out of your childhood mentality?

        In the next blog, I'll go and ask Yianel these questions and see what he responds with. 

Cover: Canva

Writing Leads p.3 #30

 

Welcome back!

        We are now going to move on to the third writing lead that can help with my writing. 

Title of Lead: 

Twist

Definition:
Prepares the reader for a specific tone before startling them with a twist.

The Factsheet Paragraph: 

        Someone called 18 people in the city last night. The caller identified himself as the president of Rutherford Ford, Inc., 2780 Doss Boulevard. He told each of the people that they had just won a new car from his dealership. Interviewed by reporters today, most of the people who received the calls said that at first they just couldn't believe it. And they were right. They couldn't. The person who called was a prankster, and Allen Rutherford, president of the dealership, says he has no idea who placed he calls, and that he's spending all his time today trying to explain the situation to those 18 people. "Someone apparently has a sick idea of humor," Rutherford said. After convincing people they had won a new car, the caller asked them to drop by the dealership this morning to pick it up. All 18 were there when the dealership opened its doors at 9 a.m. "I told them we never offered to give away a car," Rutherford said. "One woman told me she couldn't believe she'd won, and then she told me she couldn't believe it when I told her she hadn't. Two other women began to cry, and a man is threatening to sue me."

Created Lead:

        When coins started to fall, Orange Avenue residents were taken aback, but it wasn't an accident.

That is all for today!

Cover: Canva

Writing Leads p.2 #29

 

Great to see you again!

        We are going to talk about the second type of writing leads. 

Title of Lead:
Startling Statement

Definition:
        Drama is produced by a startling statement. Readers are flabbergasted because they weren't expecting to read such a shocking line. Although it baffles the reader, it also entertains them and makes them want to read more.

The Factsheet Paragraph: 

        There is a trend in dogs. People no longer like full-sized dogs. Big dogs—those over 40 pounds, especially5-year-old-and-up dogs—are about as much in demand these days as big cars. "About the only people who come in here and want to adopt a big dog are businesses or crime victims—after something has happened to them," says the Humane Society's director, Rika Brill. Even then, people tend to tire of the animal and return it to the shelter once their fear abates. Full-sized dogs, like Great Danes, Saint Bernards, Russian wolfhounds and German shepherds, are being unloaded for some of the same reasons: cost and space. The cost of owning a big dog averages about $500 a year—just for the bare essentials. Also, more and more apartment complexes are banning or restricting pets. Most limit the size of pets to no more than 15 or 20 pounds, and charge a refundable damage deposit—in many cases, several hundred dollars. Some charge a $250 non-refundable pet fee. Other apartment complexes charge a monthly fee of $10 to $20. So fewer people are willing to adopt a big dog. Also, people are turning big dogs in to the shelter at an alarming rate. Each year, the county's Humane Society takes in more than 20,000 homeless animals. Only 27 percent are adopted. Of the 27 percent fortunate enough to find new homes, fewer and fewer are large dogs. Which means they constitute the majority of the nearly 200 dogs and cats put to sleep each week at the Humane Society.

Created Lead: 

        They were born that way; it is not their fault. 

Thank you!

Cover: Canva

Writing Leads p.1 #28

 

Hi, blog!

        I'm going to practice writing some of the leads that we covered in class today. This will help me in creating a great story for my magazine.

Title of Lead: 

Direct Quote

Definition:
        When someone else's words are cited directly in a text, they must be contained in quotation marks to keep the reader from figuring out who said them. Plagiarism also happens if quotation marks are not used. To help readers understand the meaning of these quotes, the speaker's name needs to be included after them. For this, usual phrases like "He said" or "She stated" are often used.

The Factsheet Paragraph: 

        The police in this municipality received a call at 3:45 p.m. yesterday afternoon. A woman shouted at the sergeant who answered the telephone. She said: "My son's been beaten. His teacher whipped him this afternoon, and he's all red where she paddled him. Can teachers do that? That's assault and battery, and I want her arrested." Two police officers were sent to the home. They questioned the boy, who is 9 years old. At his mother's insistence, the police officers also inspected the boy's reported injuries. They reported: "We couldn't tell that the boy had been paddled. His fanny didn't look red to us, but we did notice that his pants legs were wet and muddy. As we talked, it became obvious that he boy was lying. He finally admitted that he had stopped to play on the way home from school, forgot the time and got home late. He told his mother that the teacher had spanked him and kept him after school. His mother was there with us and heard the whole story. She said she'd take of the situation, and we're quite certain that she will, as she was very embarrassed. In fact, we could hear her giving the kid a real paddling as we left—and a hard one."

Created Lead: 

 “My son’s been beaten.”

On the phone, a mother who was concerned shouts. As the mother expresses her anger with the situation, a police officer on the other side listens.

  “His teacher whipped him this afternoon, and he's all red where she paddled him.” The Mother says as she is getting more angry and frustrated. She continues, “Can teachers do that? That's assault and battery, and I want her arrested.”

Thank you for reading!

Cover: Canva

Production Timeline #27

 

Lovely to see you again!

        For today, I will be showing you my production calendar and I will be going over it. For February, I planned out the days that I would be dedicating my time to the magazine. The layout of the calendar fits into my schedule. This is perfect since nothing will be colliding with the magazine. I have also reached out to my interviewees to see when a good time for the interview and the photoshoot would be. We all figured out what days would work out for us. Although I would be working back-to-back most weeks, I do have a couple of rest days to focus on other important matters. 

        Thank you for reading, see you in the next blog!

Cover: Canva

Calendar: Canva

Mood Board #26

 

Welcome back, everyone!

        In today's blog, I will be showing you my mood board. This is the vibe I want my magazine to have. The pictures I used make it easy to understand why I chose them. The colors from my mood board are going to be in my magazine. I want to catch the reader's attention when they read it and be fascinated with the colors along with the information that is being given to them. As I was making this mood board, it made me excited to start my magazine.

Cover: Canva

Photos: Canva

Inside the Survey p.2 #25

 Hi guys!

        Today we are going to continue where we left off from our survey. 

        This response helps see how the audience reads their magazines. This helps my group, and me tailor the quality of the magazine to fit digital or print. To our benefit, the majority of our demographic read their magazines digitally. This is good since we can focus on making the magazine look good without worrying about the magazine looking differently when printed.

        Now, when it came to what the audience was looking for in a magazine, I was not expecting this outcome. I assumed that many would be interested in the information on the fashion topic. However, 53.3% of the demographic preferred aesthetic over information, which was 30%. I am still going to make my magazine extremely informative, but I'll need to make sure that the overall aesthetic pleases the audience.

        Onto the important question of the survey, what subject the audience would prefer to read. When it came down to me, I did not have any preference. I wrote the options that I thought were interesting enough for the audience. 53.3% of the participants chose trend analysis, which I wasn't expecting at all. I assumed that they would go to fashion psychology, which was the runner-up of 26.7%. Trend analysis is a good topic to go over, especially during this generation since there are a lot of fashion trends. 

        The color scheme was fairly easy with 53.3% of the participants choosing bright colors. I had a feeling that was going to win due to fashion always having that pop of color. I am glad that bright colors is the final decision and the audience chose it because picking the color scheme wouldn't be too hard. 

        Moving on to the last question, the title. I wanted the title to have an aesthetic appeal to it. I wanted it to sound foreign yet appealing when the audience says it. With 56.7%, Seraphique won the majority of the vote. Seraphique means beautiful in a way that someone is good and pure. It has aesthetic appeal and definitely caught the audience attention. Personally, I expected Reluire to get the majority of the votes rather than 20%.  

        Well, that was my survey. Next, I am going to go in depth of my magazine. 

Cover: Canva

Pictures: Survey

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ptmfVC-W2YqCYsHoys-7Tev9f8AEzDwhumD3TiTuZAQ/edit#responses

Inside the Survey p.1 #24

 Howdy!

        Today I want to discuss some of the questions I put into the survey. I also wanted to share the reasons for selecting them for the survey.

To begin with, I would like to say that my group and I contributed to the magazine somehow. While deciding how we all wanted our magazine to look, we came up with at least four ideas.

        Besides asking for my participants' emails, I decided to add some stereotypical questions. This was mainly to see who my demographic was. I want to tailor my magazine to my target market. With these questions, I can help critique anything based on the demographic of my audience. From what I have gathered from this, 60% of my demographic are females and 40% are males. All of them are between the ages of sixteen to eighteen. Everyone is a young adult; the magazine will fit into that category rather than kid-like.

        This question is also another broad question. 70% of my audience will consist of seniors and 30% of juniors. This question is to add more depth to the demographic analysis of the survey. The participant's response can be influenced due to their experiences or perspectives. 

        With this question, I wanted to see if the participants were interested in a fashion magazine. I want to make a magazine that is fit for the audience. Seeing if they would like a fashion magazine will help me decide what my topic will be on and if it the audience will enjoy reading it. Luckily, 66% of the participants are interested in reading a fashion magazine. I was relieved when I saw this because I am invested in creating a fashion magazine. 

        I was curious to see what type of masthead the audience would like. I provided four options with images of the fonts. The majority of the audience chose the font 'London'. I wanted a font that was very eye-catching and not boring to the audience. This font is bold and fun, definitely meant to be the masthead of my magazine!

        The cover is the most important thing according to this survey. A total of 4.37 stars out of five stars say that the cover is important. It is understandable because it is supposed to draw the audience to the magazine. It makes people stop what they're doing to go and open up the magazine. I am going to do a great cover where everyone stops to look at it. 

        This is part one of the analysis of the survey. We will continue in the next blog. 

Cover: Canva

Photos: Google forms 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ptmfVC-W2YqCYsHoys-7Tev9f8AEzDwhumD3TiTuZAQ/edit

My Survey #23

 

Is that you peaking in? Welcome back!

        I cannot skip straight to the magazine without fully knowing what to do. My group and I decided to focus on fashion. However, my task is to focus on the people's clothing choices. To get an idea, I made a survey to help figure out what else I should add to my magazine. I made around eleven questions for my classmates to choose from and see what their thoughts are. My main priority other than what else to add, is that people enjoy my magazine. I want them to read it and enjoy what they read and see without making it feel boring. 

Here is the link to my survey: 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScBEhJQtJTW-fk1qrpNpI0qkkwFWaJKKXEJAA7o_biCDKG1ig/viewform?usp=header

Here is my group's survey: 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf-CfU9PLrP_gLVqnTo46gLiq8xgjomNVi60BJxScaQaFGvfA/viewform

        That is all for today, In the next blog I'll go on a deep dive on the results. 

Photo: Canva

Magazine Production #22

Great to see you again!

        What happens after a magazine gets published? I've been pondering this question, and looking into related topics. For instance, how are magazines published and printed? Due to this, I decided to devote this blog to this topic. Together, we will learn about this important part so we can better understand magazines. 

        When it comes to publishing a magazine, there should be three parts to it. Those parts are production, printing and distribution. 

        The main goal of magazine production is to make ideas come to life in a way that appeals to readers. Determining the purpose of the magazine and its target audience is the first step. Editors then arrange the stories and themes for every issue. After that, writers and photographers take control to provide content that matches the vibe. Meanwhile, designers try to use the suitable fonts, layouts, and images to make the pages look good. Everything is checked for errors and accuracy one more time before printing. 

        The process of printing changes digital magazine designs into physical objects that can be held and viewed. To make the colors stand out and the pages feel just right, it all begins with choosing the appropriate paper and ink. A test copy, known as a proof, is made to find any mistakes or color problems before printing. After everything is in order, the magazine is run through big printing presses that quickly cut, fold, and print the pages. Depending on the style, the pages are bound together after printing, typically using glue or staples.

       Getting the printed papers into the hands of readers is the main goal of distribution. Copies are handled and prepared for shipping as soon as they are printed. While some magazines are distributed to retailers, newsstands, and even airports, others arrive directly in the mailboxes of subscribers. For those who would rather swipe than turn pages, digital copies are also posted to platforms. Publishers collaborate with distribution firms that manage logistics and shipping to ensure the publications reach the intended audience.

        Thus, this would help a magazine to become widespread and successful. 

Photos: Canva

Source: https://emagazines.com/blog/magazine-production-steps-to-produce-print-digital-magazines/

Magazine Demographic #21

 

Welcome back everyone!!

        Let's discuss the topic of magazine demographics. Knowing who reads magazines is important for industries because it allows them to reach the ideal demographic and maintain high sales. We're looking at the most recent data on how much both men and women love magazines today!

        Nearly 90% of adults read magazine products, based on recent surveys. This staggering number would have seemed impossible only a few decades ago. Magazines are popular with all sexes, as proven by research that found that 84% of women and 75% of men read at least one. In terms of genre-specific habits, it's interesting to note that about 45 percent of men and 20% of women read men's magazines, but around 71% of women and 31% of men read the pages of women's magazines.

    The evidence shows some fascinating trends when looking at genre-specific habits: Men's magazines are usually viewed by 45% of men and 20% of women, while women's magazines are read by 71% of women and 31% of men. This crossover suggests that but readers typically choose content that is important to their interests, there is genuine interest in what the magazines of the other gender have to offer.

    Print is still useful despite of the digital revolution. Around 43 million magazine copies were printed in the United States in 2019, and about 33 million of those copies were handed out across the country. The significant trust factor that supports this ongoing circulation—roughly 87% of print magazine readers say they believe the content they see—highlights the physical publications' ongoing reliability.

       34% of individuals regularly read magazines on their mobile devices, giving an average of 50 minutes a month to digital magazine material. However, a lot of readers—women in particular—still prefer the tactile feel of print. For example, roughly 70% of Houstonia magazine's female audience preferred genuine documents rather than looking through screens, according to the publication's advertising pack.

        In conclusion, although magazines tend to be especially popular among women, there remains a significant and engaged male readership. Both print and digital formats continue to thrive, proving that even in our digital era, magazines remain a trusted and influential medium.

                                                                       Thank you!

Photos: Canva

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houstonia_%28magazine%29

https://www.statista.com/statistics/272898/digital-and-print-magazine-reader-demographics-in-the-us/