How Has This Helped Guide my Study?

PIT STOP!

This post will cover: MY PROGRESS SO FAR / HOW RESEARCH HAS HELPED GUIDE MY STUDY / AIMS AND OBJECTIVES / WORK EXPERIENCE / HOW I HOPE TO CONTINUE MY STUDY.

Delving deeper into the discovery of what it is that makes a magazine, single careers or organisations recognisable in an ever-changing and contemporary industry has engaged many more aspects of displaying and sending out information than previously assumed before this study began its course.

The magazines I am studying differ from each other in such extreme instances that to compare them has felt somewhat like comparing magazines featuring totally different stories, focuses and aimed at a different age of target audience. However, every magazine I have looked at already has been extremely helpful in terms of their layout and have all offered such diverse ranges in these layouts, in their content (on fashion, beauty, entertainment and places of interest) and in the overall personality of the magazines. 

At this point through my study, it's really helped guide me into what direction I want my magazine to go in, and I've already been making these active steps towards achieving my goals. My aims and objectives since the beginning of this study have been to:

1) Appreciate what it is that makes fashion and beauty magazines so successful in today's world.

2) Understand the correlation between magazines and the online community - particularly social networking sites such as Blogger, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

3) Enrich my knowledge on the intricate details of design and layout in magazines.

4) Design a taster magazine for my company 'The British Trend' alongside 4 seasonal covers.

5) Discover how the fashion and beauty magazines of today remain recognisable despite the call for constant changes in cover and content, due to season and trend changes. 

So far, my journey through this study has been ticking all of the boxes, and I'm learning so much more about design than ever hoped. Whether that be through research into magazines, books, journals and web pages, self-teaching the use of software such as Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, or as a part of WORK EXPERIENCE that I have been taking part in since 14th February 2013.

This work experience has taken place in Cheltenham, at Archant Publishing House, where I have been shadowing Mr. Steve Rayner, the Editorial Designer for 'Discover Britain' magazine and 'Wild Travel' magazine, and Ms. Ruth Sargison, Art Editor for 'The British Home' magazine. This experience has been irreplaceable, as I have gained the knowledge of what it takes to work within a professional design environment as a part of Publication Design, and both of these mentors have given me the opportunities to gain experience in almost every aspect - on Picture Research for the magazines, analysinng Mr. Rayner's work on 'Wild Travel, working on Photoshop (image manipulation), InDesign and QuarkXpress (page and cover layout).  

All of my experiences, learning curves and research so far is certainly leading me in the right direction. I feel I have accurate insight into every aspect of magazine design under the umbrella of Publication Design, and I look forward to seeing the final 'The British Trend' products.