CCR!

HEY!

So, the Critical Creative Reflection. I didn't want it to sound scripted at all, so, I just outlined briefly what I wanted to say. At point I may have gotten a bit rambly, however, I think it turned out well.

CCR is below!

The Final Project!

HI!!

We're done! At least with the magazine. Click HERE to view it in all of its beauty. 

New Plans!

Hello!

So, since the original plans for Saturday were canceled, I need to come up with new plans. They are as follows: 

1. Purchasing of props, such as hair accessories, doggy clothes, ribbons, etc.: Tuesday 
2. Bathing of Lola: Tuesday
3. Actual photo shoot: Tuesday into Wednesday and maybe Thursday
4. Editing of photos and assembling of magazine: Thursday into Friday
5. CCR: Friday into Saturday
6. FINAL SUBMISSION: Saturday 

This post basically turned into an outline of my plan for completion this week. I really hope I stick to this plan and I hope I don't procrastinate because the due date is right around the corner. 

Anyways, see you all next time. 
Kristen

Where's the Drafts?

Hi! 

So, I haven't really posted anything about how I'm going to design my cover or double-page spread. This is because I find it hard to without having the content that's going to be on the page, the content being the pictures that I'm going to take. 

However, what I do know is that I want both to look relatively simple. What I mean by simple is not overwhelmingly busy with cover lines, different colors and fonts, etc. 

I want the magazine to be more minimalistic and simplistic. I feel like the end result is going to be a merge between the typical dog magazines and the more photography oriented magazines (I discussed both in my first few blog posts). 

Anyways, see you next time!
Kristen 

Saturday Plans

Hey!

So, unfortunately, the plans that I had laid out in my previous blog post for Saturday, April 8th, had to be canceled. The reason was that Mia's dog, Pandora, hadn't been groomed in a while and Mia seemingly didn't really want to do the shoot, so, we just canceled it. 

I have to develop a new plan, fortunately, I still have time before the deadline but I need to do this fast. I'll detail the plan in the next blog post. 

I'm honestly a little bit frustrated and annoyed, however, I'll just have to deal with it 

Anyways, see you next time. 
Kristen

The Two Page Spread

Hello! 

So, for the two-page spread, since it was decided in the previous post that I was writing about Mia and her dog, I need to interview Mia and, while shooting on Saturday, I need to be sure to take photos of them together. 

I also need to figure out what specifically I'm going to ask her. So, here I'll develop a list of questions that I'll ask her. Also, this actually really helps me decide how I'll format my double page spread, I'll detail this in another post. 

Time for the questions:
(1) Tell me a bit about Pandora (age, breed, personality, etc.).
(2) Why did you decide to get Pandora? Why her breed? Why Pandora specifically?
(3) How'd you come up with the name Pandora? Were there any other options?
(4) I know that currently, Pandora doesn't live with you. Do you mind explaining the situation?
(5) Do you plan on getting any other dogs in the future? If so, what kind of dogs. 

For the questions, I'd need to record her responses, which I'll do on my phone using the audio recording feature. I don't think I'll take a video because I think that it isn't necessary, since I don't want to include any videos in my magazine (because I want it to be as realistic as possible). 

I might ask more questions in addition to the five listed above, but knowing Mia, I feel like she'd give me an ample response.

EDIT: I had to make a new post because the formatting for this post was really messed up and I couldn't fix it.

Anyways, see you next time! 

Kristen

Cover Photo and Double Page Spread

Hi!

So, now that we've decided the models, now it's time to chose which dog is going to be on the cover and which dog is the double page spread going to be. 

While writing the very beginning of this post, I just had a really good idea for the double page spread: a monthly spot-light on a dog and it's owner. So, I already solved the issue, this was quicker than I thought. The cover dog will be my own dog, Lola, and the dog in the double page spready will be Pandora.

On a side note, I talked about when I can come and take pictures of Pandora and here is what we've come up with: 

• We'll shoot Saturday (April 6th) morning, I'll have to go pick Mia and a few other friends first,
• Then, we'll pick up Pandora from her aunts house and take her back to Mia's house, where we'll shoot until the afternoon,
• Then, we go to dinner, leaving Pandora at her house for a bit, 
• Finally we go back to her house, pick up Pandora and take everyone home.

Hopefully, we'll finish with the shoot by 3ish so we can have some time to hangout and go to an early dinner. Everyone will be home by 6ish depending on traffic. 

Anyways, see you next time. 
Kristen 

Dog Models?

Hey!

Before I get into this post, I just want to say that, at this point, I have not decided what I'm going to do for both my cover photo and my two-page spread. However, I have ideas that will go in a separate post. 

So, now to get into it, I need dog models, since all of the photos have to be my own. I have a few options for dogs that I could photograph. However, I think I've decided to make this issue focused on small dogs and I've done this for a couple reasons: 

1. I've grown up with ONLY small dogs, so I feel like I'd be more comfortable with smaller dogs rather than bigger dogs.
2. It's easier me to photograph bigger dogs rather than photographing larger dogs. 

Now, time for the line-up. This line-up is finalized. Firstly, I could use my dog, Lola. She's an all white and spoiled Havanese. Secondly, I could use the dog of my one of my closest friend, Mia. Her name is Pandora and she is a Tea-Cup Yorkie. Hence the focus on small dogs. 

Here are pictures of them both, respectively: 

Anyways, see you next time!

Kristen

Fonts Galore!

Hey!

Now that we have a title, it's time for the fonts. To view the different fonts, I just used Microsoft word.

Now, here are the options: 

Times New Roman

Algerian

Cambria

Castellar

With these choices, I was going for more of a classic and professional look. This is because when I looked at the fonts used in The New Yorker, it's timeless and clean-cut. It's simple, yet it stands out against the cover itself. It's iconic: no other magazine has the simplicity yet elegance that is The New Yorker. 

Retrieved from here

So, of course, I wanted to integrate this simplicity in my own magazine through the fonts that I chose, which is why I chose to consider the fonts above. 

I think that for the purposes of my magazine, and also to satisfy my own personal tastes and aesthetics, I'm going to use the Castellar font. I feel that it's similar to the font used for the masthead in The New Yorker, yet it's uniquely different from it. 

Anyways, see you next time!

Kristen

The Schedule Update!

Hello!

Like I said in the post where I outline my schedule, I'm planning on doing a post a week detailing what I accomplished last week in relation to my schedule and if I'm ahead or behind schedule. 

As of this moment, I am behind schedule. I didn't anticipate the amount of work that I would have over the weekend nor did I account for what I had planned over the weekend. However, prior to publishing this post, I published a post about the fonts. Soooo, the only thing left is the post about the font and color and then I'm golden. 

So, the schedule for this week is the fonts post and then everything that's included in the first scheduled post, which is linked here and in the first paragraph. 

Anyways, see you soon! 

Kristen 

We've Got a Winner: The Title

Hey!

So, I didn't make a blog post detailing the process by which I chose a title for my magazine. However, before I reveal what title I have chosen, I will the options that I came up with and why I came up with those options. 

Let's get started: 

Retrieved from here.

1. The Dog Times - play off of the The New York Times, 
2. Dog Weekly - play off of the magazine Entertainment Weekly,
3. Cosmodoglotan - play off of Cosmopolitan, 
4. The New Borker - play off of The New Yorker,
5. Bork! Bork! - I really have no reasoning besides that bork is commonly used to refer to the bark of a dog.

A lot of the names that I've come up with are inspired off of popular newspapers and magazines. I've done this because it's relatively comical and light-hearted, and all the names of existing dog magazines are boring to me (Modern Dog, Dog Fancy, Dog Friendly, etc.). 

Now for the grand reveal, drum roll please: The New Borker. I really like the way this sounds and I feel like, all of the names, it would suit my magazine, however, I feel that this title would suit it best. Additionally, I like the way it sounds better than the other options I proposed. 

Also! I'm sorry I didn't post this last week like I was planning on, I ended up being really busy and I was swamped with work, so sorry. :(

See you all next time!

Kristen

About Me: Volunteering at the HSBC

Hello!

I'm writing this blog post because my groupmates recommended that I should as it is relevant to the process of creating the foundation portfolio. 

So, here it is: I volunteer at the Humane Society of Broward County (HSBC). To give some background, the HSBC is a not-for-profit shelter that houses dogs, cats, bunnies, hamsters, sometimes even pigs. I volunteer in the kennels, where I perform tasks ranging from cleaning cages to distributing new dog toys to refilling waters. Basically, I try and make their quality of life better. 

Below is a video of two of the puppies that are at the shelter. I cleaned their ENTIRE cage and they were super cute and hyper.

Both my groupmates and I figured it would be important to mention because the HSBC acts as a potential source of material for me to use. What I mean is that I can possibly use the HSBC for my two-page spread or even my cover page. There's a lot of potential when it comes to the HSBC and my foundation portfolio. 

Schedule: March 14th - March 31st

Hello!

Below is the plan for the rest of March. I've set up these goals/plans in order to keep myself on track and centralize the process of creating the foundation portfolio. 

3/14-3/17

• publish the four posts that I'm drafting  (schedule, fonts, title, volunteering at HSBC)
• start designing the magazine layout on Joomag or Canva 
• blog about what I accomplished this week (this would probably go up early next week)  

3/18-3/24

• finish designing the rough draft of the magazine cover
• brainstorm ideas for the two-page spread 
• brainstorm ideas for the cover photo, headlines, and the main headline 

3/25-3/31

• obtain permission to photograph dogs at HSBC (IF NEEDED)
• organize photo shoots with my friends that have dogs (IF NEEDED) 
• ask my good friend Mia (she's an amateur photographer that has a lot of talent)  if she has any camera equipment that I could use and coordinate with her

Also! A goal of mine is to post every week about what I accomplished the previous week, if I'm ahead or behind schedule, what else I did in addition to what I've outlined in the schedule, and talk about if I wished I would've done anything different/things I wished I did.

This will be my working calendar for the remainder of March. I'll make another one for the two weeks in April that we have to work on the foundation portfolio. It's hard for me to make one for April right now because I still need to brainstorm and plan for certain things and I also don't want to get ahead of myself. 

Anyways, have a lovely day and see you next time!

Kristen