Creative Critical Reflection

Here is the link for the final Creative Critical Reflection on Prezi. 

https://prezi.com/6_iqs5p91ek2/aice-media-studies-creative-critical-reflection/

Final Product

Magazine Flatplan

Above is the flat plan for my magazine issue. 

Magazine Revisions: Table of Contents Draft #3

The final revision to be made came in the table of contents. I replaced the deleted photos with my own, and I also changed one article title and the description for it (Renewable Plastic from Plants?) in order to match up with the plant picture. The second picture that was inserted was an image of baking soda and white vinegar. This was used for the Spectacular Science article because when baking soda and vinegar are mixed, a bubbling and fizzing which is exciting to observe and learn about. The page numbers were then added to each picture for the final touch. This revised table of contents produces an overall appealing look and shows authenticity as each picture is my own. All in all, I believe this page will continue to invoke a high interest in the reader/student that will make them want to keep reading and even contribute to their interest in the science field.

Magazine Revisions: Title Page Draft #3

For the cover page of the magazine, the original picture of the Earth in someone's hands was deleted as it was not my own. Now, a picture of the beach has been uploaded to the cover page and that is my own. I decided to use the picture of the beach because it ties in with desalination, due to the fact that it is a large body of salt water that is constantly used for desalination. Also, I think this particular image looks visually appealing and would interest readers/students.

Creative Critical Reflection Question 4

How did you integrate technologies - software, hardware, and online - in this project?

Three specific forms of technology were used in the development of this project. First, the Internet was used to research various science kids magazines. Research was conducted in order to see conventions on these types of magazines, as well as to observe the method in which these magazines promoted interest in the readers and generated revenue (bright colors, cool pictures, large font size, and interesting articles). After observing this, I was able to create a magazine that I thought would be visually appealing to students' and contain fun, interesting articles which could be discussed in classrooms. Second, the editing software known as Publisher was used. Microsoft Publisher is an entry-level desktop publishing application from Microsoft which emphasizes its page layouts and design templates. A template was provided for me regarding the general format for the magazine, and from there I picked out different colors, fonts, sizes, and formatting options to develop my product. The third piece of technology utilized in the development of this project was an iPhone 6, which deems decent quality and resolution, to capture photos of Skyler experimenting and completing her research project. Since I know how my phone works and I use it every day, it was fairly easy to take numerous pictures in all different angles/shots of Skyler in action. From there, I cut the most unimportant photos out and kept the ones to be used throughout the two page article in the magazine.

Creative Critical Reflection Question 3

How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

During the decision-making process of which project to complete (magazine or film), I knew I would benefit in completing the magazine as I have strengths in informing/explaining using written words and descriptive details. Also, I knew I was able to organize information thoroughly and in a visually appealing manner. However, I was doubtful in my ability to be patient with the creation of the magazine. I am a person who prefers getting things done right away, and the magazine takes a while to fully develop, especially with the process of using Publisher and taking numerous pictures until the perfect ones are found. Moreover, I was afraid to experience the interview part, because I am a bashful person and it is difficult for me to just talk with people that I am initially unfamiliar with. Although these were concerns, looking back now, I can see that these skills have grown and it has affected me for the better. As the process of developing the magazine continued, I learned that in order for the finished product to look great and have the ability to promote the best interest in students', I would have to be patient and consistently work at it, working through the issues faced with the Publisher software and overcoming trial and error with the formatting of the pictures. I became patient and now I am extremely happy with how my product is about to turn out. Conducting the interview was much more of a concern to me, but, in the end, I was again able to teach myself a lesson and learn that there is no need to be as bashful when it comes to talking to unfamiliar people. I told myself this because I learned a lot about Skyler regarding her research, her experimentation, and the major problem of desalination that is currently occurring worldwide that was discussed. This interview process made me observe that there are people out there who want to help the world, who are interested in what science is able to accomplish, and who will show persistence in figuring out these methods to help.

Creative Critical Reflection Question 2

How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

My product includes a featured, two page science article that focuses on the current issue of desalination, or removing salt from water. Also, it includes a table of contents with a list of other articles that would potentially be in the magazine, if ever actually produced in reality. This product will engage kids, students, and even teachers as they read and discuss in their classes. The more interested the students are in the articles/product, the more there will be to talk about and discuss. My product also engages with audiences as I have included "Letters to the Editor" as one of the pieces in the table of contents. Letters to the Editor is meant to be an interactive method to write with my readers, answer any questions, and receive feedback on the product. I believe if I am interacting with readers, I can help promote their interest and thus generate continuous revenue on the magazine edition. This way, the audience is engaged with their peers and teachers regarding the product, along with myself.

As a real media text, this product would be distributed to science teachers in schools. The school would be charged a subscription fee of $5.99 per student, similar to that of Upfront Magazine by The New York Times. Also, a digital form would be available to subscribing teachers that they could access in the classroom. Younger students also find technology interesting and are beginning to use such devices on a daily basis. Then, the teachers can provide their students with the pdf version for use on devices such as a tablet. The school would pay a recurring fee for each issue, which would appear in the school's hands approximately every three months. This aspect of distributing is important due to the rapidly increasing role that technology is playing in journalism and in society. Therefore, providing a technological source is essential. As for advertising the magazine, the plan would be to set up a social media account, preferably Twitter, which would have updates and informational posts on Teen Scientists and its magazines. Since many people use social media today, this would be a great way to advertise the magazine. The ultimate goal would be upgrading this to a full-blown website, including all the magazine issues that Teen Scientists have produced. A website would be highly beneficial as it would aid in advertising for the magazine due to the fact that today's generation is constantly discovering companies, ideas, and events on the Internet.

Creative Critical Reflection Question 1

How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

Instead of challenging, my product utilizes conventions that are normally used throughout various types of kids magazines. I chose to use conventions due to the fact that they have had the ability to produce interest in readers. Following this creation of interest in the reader, a profit would thus be able to be made as many would be intrigued and want to purchase the magazine issue. Junior Scholastic, ScienceWorld, as well as an Upfront magazine were examined during the research process. In this process of researching different science kids magazines, I observed several different conventions that were common throughout each issue. I realized that these should then be integrated into my magazine in order to develop a product that was authentic, yet unique to grab the students' attention. These conventions include the large text size, bright colors throughout the entire magazine, and a large, "fun" front cover image. The large text was chosen to stand out to readers, bright colors to attract the readers, and the large front cover image to appeal to the students' interests.


This product represents social groups and social issues. As previously stated in prior posts, the magazine is aimed to interest kids/students' in the science field, therefore making them more likely to pursue a career in the field of science. This is my main goal as everything revolves around science. Not only this, but science is extremely essential to the world, and it can simply be fun to learn about and experiment with. Connected to this is the representation of the social issue of desalination portrayed in the magazine. Water scarcity is a major problem in many third world countries. Although there are several techniques to remove salt from water, they all use ample amounts of energy and are highly expensive. My two page article focuses on an innovative method for desalination, which could potentially cure the costly methodology that occurs today. 

Magazine Revisions: Two Page Article Draft #2

Revisions to the two page article have been made. First, the spacing in the beginning of the article has been fixed to decrease the gap between the first and second sentence. Also, the pictures on the second page have been arranged to look more symmetrical and the last two contain captions, now describing Skyler's actions. Lastly, page numbers have been added to each page, following the table of contents. This way, I believe this article portrays much more realism and authenticity regarding modern science magazines today.

Magazine Revisions: Title Page Draft #2

Revisions were continued to my magazine today, on the cover page and the table of contents. For the cover page, the color of the titled and the phrase "Chemistry Edition" was changed to white with a green outline to, again, fit the house style. Also, the page number for the description of the featured article was changed from page 3 to page 13. This was changed in order to portray the featured article in the middle of the magazine, making the product as realistic as possible. Some more of the table of contents was revised including the page number attached to the photo of Skyler, and one of the articles listed (Page 5) was changed to "Chemistry Conundrum". This was added in order to include ethics of science, specifically chemistry, within the magazine. Below are both the revised cover page and table of contents.

Magazine Revisions: Table of Contents Draft #2

I have started revisions on the table of contents for my magazine. In order to make the product as authentic as possible, I want to upload only my own pictures that I have taken to the magazine. Thus, I have deleted all the ones that were retrieved from google images for the other articles. So far, only the picture of Skyler remains in the table of contents. I will be taking more pictures soon to upload so the white space can be filled and the magazine includes only my own pictures. Due to the fact that I had to delete the other pictures, some of the article titles may have to be changed in order to correspond with the future pictures taken. Also, the font of the articles, the "Chemistry edition", the title, and the phrase "features" was changed as well as the color in order to keep the house style the same for both issues. Here is the first draft of the revision.

Super Bowl Advertisements

Every year, numerous Super Bowl advertisements are used to persuade consumers to buy the products and to create emotional appeals within the viewer. One ad that does this is a skittles ad. To create an emotional appeal, a celebrity, (Steven Tyler), starred in this ad. Also, the ad created a sense of humor which makes the product more convincing to buy as well. The target audience for this ad is around 40-60 year olds as the presence of Steven Tyler engages an older generation/audience. A second ad from this year's Super Bowl is promoting a Hyundai with an app called Car Finder that can track the car at all times. This ad creates an emotional appeal as the celebrity starred in it is comedian and actor Kevin Hart. Kevin Hart brings about humor to this ad as well and at one take during the ad, a helicopter is shown with army print hovering in the sky. These all create emotional appeals in the viewer, making it more convincing to buy the Hyundai. The target audience for this ad is around 18-40 year olds as Kevin Hart is widely known in the younger generation as well as the older one. The third ad promoted a Honda Ridgeline truck with an audio system built in to the bed of the truck. This ad incorporated humor, singing sheep, outside work, music by Queen, and appeal to nostalgia. A lot of emotions are conveyed while watching this ad which creates a persuasive effect to purchase the new truck. Due to the fact that the music playing is by Queen and the product is a vehicle, the target audience is older generation, around people aged 30-50. After analyzing these ads, I can use this to market my media product by using the emotional appeal of humor. Many kids and students could become interested in my magazine issue if they see a humorous title for the articles. By incorporating humor into the science magazine, not only is it educational, it is persuasive for the students to read it.

Media Project Feedback

After presenting my magazine to the class, I received some kind observations and some helpful comments in revising my product. Some things that the class thought I did well on include the eye-catching colors, the table of contents layout, and the font size. Some things that the class thought I could make some changes to include the same house style as Dylan's edition for the table of contents, include page numbers on the two page article, format the pictures to make them more symmetrical in the two page article, and move the featured article from the beginning of the magazine to the middle, and either add captions to the pictures in the two page article or make sure to describe the actions that are taking place in those photos. An additional revision that Dylan and I have discussed is replacing one of the articles in the table of contents to include an "Ethics of Science" to create more meaning and to convince schools to purchase the magazine. This would also allow student to become more informed in scientific issues and further progress their interest in the science field. In order to make these revisions for the magazine, all of the changes will take place in Publisher. Dylan and I will agree on the same house style for the table of contents and that will be fixed, the page numbers will be added to the bottom right hand corners of the two page article, the pictures in the two page article will be played around with/formatted until they are symmetrical in the article pages along with a caption or more description in the article referring to the photos, the featured article will be moved from the beginning of the magazine to the middle using Publisher, and the new "Ethics of Science" will be added in the table of contents using Publisher as well.

Mid Year Draft

Two-Page Article Draft

In the creation of the two page article, I wanted to make it as intriguing as possible, as this is the main article in the issue. I decided to place two pictures on the top, one of Skyler holding the filters, and one with the container of the carbon nanotubes. Out of all the pictures I took, I believe these two are the best ones to place in the beginning of the article, because they obtain the most significance with her project and the information given about it. The title and description under it was kept the same color theme as the rest of the magazine, blue and green. I wrote the article with regards to some information about Skyler, stats on the worlwide salinity crisis, her project, and her plans for the future. Ultimately, I think this would be a great read for students and I think that they would definitely become interested or want to take up an interest in science after reading this magazine, and specifically, this article.

Table of Contents Draft

When thinking about the layout for the table of contents and the process in which I wanted to complete everything, I had a few things to think about. I automatically knew I needed the title, the edition, and the word features at the top of the page, just like any normal table of contents. I chose to keep the title the same font, font size, and color in order to maintain consistency throughout the magazine. I was able to find the perfect layout for the table of contents, one where the article pictures could be placed on the far right and the article titles and explanations could be typed out starting from the far left and moving across the page, like a book. I chose to use the color blue for the page numbers in order to stay with the theme of the Earth colors, green and blue. There would be 4 articles in the magazine, then two running pieces. Each article title and the running pieces both had brief explanations of what they would be about. This gives the reader a bit more information on the article, but not too much to where they wouldn't have to read it. For each main article, I placed a picture on the right hand side of the magazine with page numbers on them as well. This is to make the magazine appeal more to kids by giving them an interest in the articles listed, so they would want to read the entire magazine. Last but not least, I placed a picture of 5 pieces of lab equipment all with different colored solutions in them and all smoking. This is located under the Spectacular Science title, which places emphasis on the fact that science is super cool and fun to read about, encouraging them to search for page 21 in the magazine and read interesting facts and stories about science.

Title Page Draft

During the process of developing this magazine, there was lots of adversity, especially with the computer program, Publisher, and the layout of the pages. It took ample amounts of continous time to change and fix each issue that came up (freezing, image sizing and placing, and formatting each piece of text into the text boxes). Thus, the drafts of each page and the step by step process as we went along is not given. However, here is the overall procedure of making the front cover. As I started the front cover of the magazine, I already knew I wanted a large, appealing image that will pop out to kids, and I also wanted to use bright colors. These ideas were based off the front cover analysis I completed on the scholastic magazines. Dylan and I came up with the title, Teen Science. We chose this to keep the title short and sweet, yet maintain the importance that this magazine is science-based and targeted specifically towards teens. My issue is the chemistry edition so I typed that out under the title. Then, I chose to use word art for the main article title on the front cover in order to make it pop, just like the photo. This will get the readers attention and make them want to search the magazine for this article. I typed out a brief explanation of what the article entails, making sure not to explain too much, as that is what the reader is for. The photo chosen depicts hands cupped around the Earth, while its water is swaying back and forth. I chose this photo as it is a perfect example of desalination, which is the main article in this issue of the magazine. 

Marketing Distrubtion

Goal - To encourage interest in the field of science through the showcase of hands-on applications and interesting articles that would appeal to students.

How this can be achieved- In a theoretical situation, we would distribute these magazines to science teachers in schools, charging them a subscription fee similar to that of one for a magazine such as Upfront by The New York Times. The school would pay a recurring fee for each issue. In the meantime, while the magazine acquires revenue, an online pdf version of the magazine would be available to subscribing teachers to provide to their students for use on electronic devices such as a tablet. The end goal would be upgrading this to a full-blown website.This aspect of distribution is important, because of the ever-increasing role that technology is playing in journalism. Students also find technology interesting, so providing a technological source is a necessity.

Further Ideas - It has been discussed that teachers should participate in the reading of the magazine with the students, and try their best to provoke their interests in science.

Magazine Photo Cuts

Out of the photos taken for the magazine, several will be cut in order to use the best photos that appeal most to students.

Although computers do appeal to kids, this photo will be cut as it can not be easily observed what she is working on, due to the fact that the computer screen was not close enough to the camera.

There were two of these high-angle shots with Skyler using the pressure vacuum. This one will be cut as it is at an odd angle, and unclear what she is trying to accomplish. The other shot shows the rest of the filter and the action of the shot can be recognized. 

This shot will be cut as the substance, PVDF, is not as relevant as say the carbon nanotubes. Although, the white power of the substance could prove fascinating to kids, it does not place much importance as other pictures do. 

This shot will be cut for the same reason above. The substance, PVDF, is not as relevant as say the carbon nanotubes. Although, the white power of the substance could prove fascinating to kids, it does not place much importance as other pictures do. 

This last shot will be cut as it did not turn out the way I wanted. The goal was to capture the water looking cool as it was being poured into the flask. However, it did not come out that way, and it is best to cut this one and save room for the better pictures.

Magazine Photos

Today, I captured photos for the magazine on Skyler working on her project.

This is a wide shot of Skyler presenting her membrane filters. This photo was taken in order to show students how science can make one excited and/or happy.

This is a mid-shot of Skyler working with the microscope. This photo was taken in order to show an interesting and cool scientific instrument that can appeal to the younger generation.

This is a mid-shot of Skyler pouring deionized water into her funnel for filtering. This photo was taken in order to demonstrate the set-up of a procedure that students build themselves and work with.

This is an over-the-shoulder shot of Skyler working on her poster board on the computer. This photo was taken as computers appeal to the younger generation.

This is close-up of a flask with carbon nanotubes in it, resting in a heater, as part of Skyler's research. This photo was taken to show another fascinating scientific instrument that students are able to use in the lab.

This is a high-angle shot of Skyler adjusting her pressure vacuum. This photo was taken as it helps one to see the subject from a higher perspective, showing her in greater detail.

This is another high-angle shot of Skyler adjusting her pressure vacuum. This photo was taken for the same reason as the last, it helps one to see the subject from a higher perspective, showing her in greater detail.

This is a close-up of the container of carbon nanotubes that Skyler used in her experiment. This was taken to show the exact name and detail of a material being used, which would help the reader of the magazine understand more about science. 

This is another close-up of a substance known as PVDF, which Skyler also uses. This was taken in order to create a sense of realism when the reader views what this substance looks like.

This is another shot of the same substance taken to differentiate and try to find the best picture for the magazine. 

This is a shot of Skyler pouring deionized water into a flask, a step in one of her procedures. This was taken in order to show "cool" chemical equipment and then general idea that Skyler, a high school student, is able to complete these steps for science by herself based off her own research.

Magazine Cover Analysis

Below are two attachments of scholastic magazine covers for kids. The first references a social media election from junior scholastic. As you can see, this magazine appeals to kids/students due to the bright colors, the large font, and the 3-D like popping image. The second magazine is a science issue from scholastic which is most similar to what my issue will entail. You can further observe that this magazine targets a young audience as the colors include white and bright blue, the font is large, and the main image is a horse, which most children are familiar with. These two examples portray the kind of cover design I am going to create. I aim to specifically focus on the large font, bright colors, and making science the topic that will be focused on, in order to put an interest for science in readers/students and to convince them that science is a great field to pursue a career path in.