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Creative Critical Reflection 1

For my product, I made a fashion magazine named Émouvant. My goal was to try and empower youth to be who they are and be confident and free to be who they are. While making my magazine, I had to perform research on how to layout everything to be just like the magazines I saw on the racks at the supermarket; but some of them, I felt as if they were too much, so I didn't use any of them.

Based on what I researched, some of the most pristine magazines, I believe, out there had a simplistic layouts. Magazines like Seventeen, or Fashion, or In Style were a little too much for me. Those magazines had a little too much information in the cover and despite the one or two texts on the cover,
they weren't subtle at all. Their cover photos weren't too striking for me either because they simply had a solid color background and there wasn't much to see there. The clothing and model option of the covers are sufficient, although. There is still coordination in the magazine, but I believe that they were just too basic, monochromatic, nothing new. When I looked inside of the magazine, I wasn't too impressed either because the table of contents didn't look that appealing. They were all so basic and it just wasn't my idea of aesthetics. Most of the words were bold and there were different pictures on the side of the page, that made it look messy. When I peeked at some of their articles, they were actually not that bad. The layout was not as messy as the rest of the pages and the colors were somewhat coordinated, which I really liked. So, the conventions on the magazines I had challenged were the somewhat overcrowded texts in the cover, the basic background of the cover, the excessive use of bold of texts in the table of contents/ the cover, the many pictures in the table of contents, and the basic fonts that they used throughout the magazine. Those magazines weren't bad, I just personally believe that the conventions they used were not compatible with my vision of aesthetics. 

Going back to what I said about some of the most pristine magazines, I believe, that're out there have simplistic and aesthetically-pleasing layouts like Vogue, Elle, and Porter. These magazines effectively came through and produced a magazine that really shows their artistic capabilities. These magazines simply had the name of the model and some of the featured articles inside the magazine, which I loved. The cover photo itself is taken with so much precision and beauty, good lighting, not as basic as every other fashion magazine -- they really contrast from others. The texts embedded on the cover was simple, had a good choice of font, and was taken outside of a studio; making the cover extremely striking and alluring. Coordination was also key in these magazines. If the clothing of the model was blue and white, the title would be black, the background would be green, and the texts beside the model would be white. The overall presentation and color coordination of more than two colors of those magazines really got me loving those magazines. Looking inside, the table of contents were simple, but they were more organized than the other magazines I've seen. They were different in a sense of subtlety and or simplicity. Everything was so coordinated with the table of contents and the one photo on top or
within it. They also provided some description of each section of the magazine, which I liked because it seemed like a good idea to have somewhat of a prelude to the contents of the magazine. Based on their articles, they were actually meaningful and the overall layout was different than the rest, with some quotes in the middle, etc. So, the conventions on the magazines that I personally used were the color coordination of the cover to the rest of the magazine, the smart choice on the fonts, the simplistic look of the cover, the simplistic yet aesthetically-pleasing layout of the table of contents, and the quotes in the middle of the articles. A lot of my magazine was based on those magazines and I am proud of using them because my magazine looks as aesthetically-pleasing as those magazines. 

With my magazine having the goal of promoting self-confidence and self-respect to different types of people, the people I chose or believed to have represented are the people who think that they can't be model because of the posed beauty standards that the fashion industry have. These beauty standards are overwhelming and doesn't measure the entire population of people around them. Since these people were young, they are shown to believe that they can't be as beautiful as they are because they don't have slim bodies, or fair skin, or silky hair. I believe that the beauty standards that the fashion industry enforces should be somewhat broken down because anyone should be able to feel that they can be models because they are beautiful just the way they are. Promoting self-confidence and self-respect to everyone is a goal in mind that should be met, respected and accepted.





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