CCR Draft #1

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

When creating my DIY Christmas craft magazine, I used many of the conventions, layout, and design of similar magazines I had analyzed previously. When analyzing other magazines, I found a table of contents layout that had 2 columns for the titles of the pages and had 2 pictures above the text of what some of the projects end results looked like. I used that layout for my magazine because I thought it was very creative and different from a regular table of contents layout that usually just has 1 column and pictures on the right. I made the "Contents" title bold and red which I had also saw in one other magazine. Along with that, I found a magazine that colored the numbers in the table of contents, so I went along with that design and made my numbers green.

For my article, I designed the layout similar to one I saw in a magazine that had the heading run all the way across the top with simple but bold text. I placed the list of materials for the project on the left hand side and imported more the important photos of the steps around the list, leaving space for directions of the project. For this layout, I used the Do it Yourself magazine as my inspiration. In the magazine I analyzed, it had the text "step 1" and the following step texts colored and fancy fonts. I went ahead and took up that design in my magazine and I feel it made the page have more character.

Lastly, for my cover photo I started out with a photo of a living room with a Christmas tree in a living room with decor. It didn't look as professional as I'd like so I revised it to being mini projects in a room together. For instance, I put the paper Christmas lights and deer head painting on a shelf together. I used this design from another Do it Yourself  magazine I analyzed. My magazine represents and supports the DIY interested group on Youtube. Many youtubers such as Aspyn Ovard and Sarah Betts make DIY projects to make life easier and affordable.