Magic and Science- Good design evaluation

In what other ways have you considered the sustainability of your project process and outcomes?  I wouldn’t say for this project I particularly thought about the sustainability of your project process as I have been busy trying to manage two different projects at once. I definitely think this will be a target for the next project.

In what ways have you considered the ethical implications of your project process and outcomes? With the ethical implications of my topic, I wanted to make sure that the research into girl power/ women empowerment isn’t seen as man-hating but striving for gender equality. I didn’t want my research or work to offend people so I had to be really careful.

In sustainability and ethical terms in what ways was your work in this project an improvement or a backward step for you as a socially conscious designer? I wouldn’t say that it’s a step back or a step forward. I would say that being a conscious designer is always at the back of my mind, however, I don’t always apply it to my work.

What targets can you make at this point for your work in the future as a socially conscious designer? Targets I would set myself would be when designing think about the implications my design might have ethically and environmentally. Another would be to consider the sustainability of my design through the whole project not just in the evaluations.

Magic and science – Evaluation and Reflection

Visual Communication

• In what ways does the visual communication/message of the piece meet the needs of the brief? I would say that my design does meet the needs of the brief vis visual communication as I have used editing and photo manipulation to resemble the use of magic an create an eery effect, while also using my photography to create a spooky but empowering pose and imagery. This then also relates to my written article that appears on the page opposite the photograph.
• In what ways does the visual communication/message of the piece fail to meet the needs of the brief?  Honestly, I don’t think I failed to meet the brief as I kept referring back to during the project, also at the begging of this project I went through the brief and wrote what I needed to do blog and photography wise to fulfill the requirements of the brief.
• What are the strengths of the visual communication? Why? I would say one of the strengths of my project is how I have managed to create a photograph that also represents the use of magic and the empowerment of girls through magic fiction. I also think that another strength of my design is the magical additions to the image which I created in Photoshop, I was really proud of how they turned out as I’m not that great at using photoshop.
• What are the weaknesses of the visual communication? Why? I would say that one weakness of my design would have to be how I have crammed too much writing onto one page. The article I wrote was about 600 hundred words, however, in my design, I only added two columns so meaning there wasn’t a lot of space for too much text. This something I would try to improve on if I were to do this project again.
• In what ways could the piece be mis-read or misunderstood by the audience? Be specific about who the audience is. I have tried to make my designs as clear and easy to understand as possible however there is always going to be someone who misreads or misinterprets your design. Personally, I don’t think there is a way someone might not understand my double page spread, however, a way to solve this would be to get feedback from others to see how they interpret my designs.
• In what practical ways could the piece be developed or improved? I don’t think there are any practical ways in which my design could be developed. One thing I did think of would be experimenting with different paper types that could suit the double page spread better.

 

Reflection of own working practices:

How was my time keeping? I would say that for this project my time keeping was quite good, as I really enjoyed this topic I seemed to spend more time on it, meaning that the project was kept up to date.

How was my analysis of the brief? I think that my analysis of the brief was quite good, I knew what was being asked of me and I knew what I needed to do to achieve this.

How was my research? I thought my research was quite thorough and did a lot of research into the history of photography and research into the topic of my article.

How did I draw conclusions from my research? I used my research and made responses to it with my own work. By doing research this helps the idea generation process and the development of new or current ideas/ designs.

How did I use evaluations to help with my ideas generation and development? By evaluating my work as I went along really helped me reflect back on my work which also helped with the development of my work in progress. This also helped generate new ideas.

How did I use experimentation during the project? How can I make this more effective? I used experimentation with my photography, I went out beforehand and took some photographs so I could get an idea of the surrounds and what setting my camera needed to be on to be more effective. I could have used these photographs and experiment with editorial effects beforehand.

In what ways did I show that I had achieved the Learning Outcomes? How can I improve this next time?  The brief states  “Developed an understanding of different historical approaches to photography and the historical and cultural debates relevant to the medium”. I achieved this by doing research into the history of photography and the old techniques they used to use. Next time I could try these techniques myself and produce my own type of photography.

What parts of the project did I enjoy most? Why was this the case? I really enjoyed the whole project and I loved being able to develop my photography skills. I also really liked researching the magic girl power topic as I love the Harry Potter books so I thought it would be an interesting topic to cover.

What parts of the project did I enjoy least? Why was this the case? I enjoyed the whole project so there isn’t really anything to dislike.

At what times did I work best? Why might this be the case? How can I ensure that I work well at all times? I think I say this in every evaluation but with the practical work, I tend to work better at uni however when it comes to blogging I am more focused at home as there are fewer distractions. 

What areas inspired me? Why was this the case? How could I follow these up? By looking at existing photography with the same theme really inspired me, I wrote a blog post about this.

 

 

 

Target Audience

My target audience for this project I think is people who are regular readers of the “A new science magazine” or it could be someone who saw the new addition advertised and has bought this copy of the magazine just for your article such as Harry Potter fans as this is what my article is based on. Another type of target audience for this magazine could be a scientist that read it as a form of entertainment and enjoyment so the facts included in the magazine must be as accurate as possible. As the target audience is necessarily art based, there both had to be imagery and text, however, the image must justify whats written in the article. I feel like my design and content is suited to my target audience as it is clearly visible what the imagery represents and is backed by the text. I also had to make sure that if any Harry Potter fans saw the article that all the facts were correct but I also want them to be interested in how I’m taking a different approach to this Harry Potter themed design.  I think the balance of text and imagery worked well and that the amount of text will suit my target audience. I think it is clear to understand and the text is visible, meaning it isn’t too small and the typeface used isn’t too artistic and unreadable.  Reflecting on my project and if I have aimed my design at my target audience is good for evaluating my own work and will help the improvement of my own work and designs.

 

 

Final prints

These are my final prints for the magic and science brief. The brief stated that we must print our photography as a portfolio piece as well as in form of a double page spread. In InDesign, I exported the file with bleed and crop marks as this will make it easier to cut out when it comes to mounting it in my portfolio later on. I’m really pleased with how my prints have turned out. The paper type I used was Epsom glossy paper, however, if I had managed my time a bit better I could have got hold of some paper more similar to the paper used in the new scientist magazine. By reflecting back on my work I think I have met the needs of the brief and created work that fulfills the requirements while at the same time creating something truly unique that relates to the chosen article.

 

Final Digital Designs

Here are my final digital designs, when it comes to printing them I will export them with bleed and crop marks, this will give me guidelines to help cut out my designs, I’m happy with the final outcome as it has turned out how I planned which shows that by researching and experimenting you can produce high-quality work.

 

Digital Mock-ups

As I mentioned in the previous post why doing mock-ups are so important, I thought I would also create two digital mock-ups from different perspectives. Digital mock-ups give a cleaner and more professional finish while also showing you what your design would look like in a digital magazine. They are so easy to make and while they are presenting your work in the format intended these can also be great portfolio pieces and great to display your work to clients, so they can bring all your designs together.

Physical Mock-up

The image below shows the physical mock-up I made of my magazine double page spread. What I did was take one of my test prints and folded it so it looked like one of the pages from the magazine. This is an actual copy of the New Scientist magazine which I borrowed from Beth. I think by creating physical mock-ups it gives you a sense of achievement and pride as there is physical proof of you producing something and gives you a satisfying feeling. While also allowing you to see what your final outcome would look like if it were to be printed in a magazine. This also gives people an idea of the concept of your ideas which also might improve the appeal of it. By also creating mock-ups it allows you to view your design the way it is meant to be presented, plus if you don’t like how the mock-up looks there is always time to go back and edit and change your design to look the way you want and to fit with the style of the magazine.

Test Prints

Before printing off the final prints, it’s always good to do some test prints are you might see spelling mistakes, parts of your design falling off the page, missing elements etc. I did two test prints of my design. The first one I printed off and I saw that it was missing a page number, this was a good thing I saw this as I wouldn’t have wanted to print on expensive paper to find out it had a mistake on it. On the second test print, I asked Tim to do a quick spell check, here I found that my auto-correct had changed the word behaviour to the American spelling. There were also a few widows within the text that needed adjusting. Without doing the test prints I would never have noticed.

My Time Turner Imagery

The photography for the time turner was very last-minute as I didn’t think I was going to get the opportunity to have in my design, however, when I came up with the idea I didn’t have my camera on me so I took the photo with my phone. The actual quality of the photo isn’t that bad plus because it wasn’t going to be on a big scale it didn’t really matter that much. I took three or four photos of the timer turner as I found quite hard to get the right angle.

I had to prop up the timer turner as it kept lying flat on the table. I wanted to show the different layers to it and all the words engraved on it. Once I had chosen the one I liked the most I then opened it up in Photoshop and edited the colour and brightness.

This is the final image that ended up on my double page spread. The focus is actually really good which surprises me as it was taken on my phone. I think by adding this into my work it adds that little bit of Harry Potter magic while also breaking up the text making more aesthetically pleasing and easier to read.

My Article

For copyright reasons, I wanted to write my own article. I had done a lot of research into my chosen character. I have used the found article for inspiration and taken their ideas and put it into my own works. Some of the articles are my own opinions and what I have learned from this project. I found writing the article quite easy as I have done projects on women empowerment before and by doing a lot of research on this project I felt quite comfortable writing about it. Below I will insert my article plus I will link the article website I used which helped my me write my own article and it also helped inspire my whole approach to the project.

https://etd.ohiolink.edu/rws_etd/document/get/bgsu1300467946/inline

MAGIC GIRL POWER:

The Harry Potter franchise is one of the best-selling book and film series of all time, selling 6.9 million books on publication day and being translated into 67 different languages. It allows people to escape reality and enter a world of magic, fantasy, and danger. Just when reading was becoming a thing of the past and a dying form of entertainment, J.K Rowling encouraged children (and adults) to love reading again. However, the J.K Rowling ‘Harry Potter’ series achieves much more than just encouraging children to read.
The Harry Potter books allow young people to search for empowerment and individualism, which is represented through characters. Rowling’s character’s challenge authority, we see how they overcome personal battles, while also seeing the growth and development of the characters. The readers develop a certain bond with these characters as they have grown up with the books meaning they have grown up alongside these characters, having a big impact on their childhood. The characters represent empowerment and become respective role models for the readers of the books. One thing I wanted to focus on in this article is the empowerment the character portrays, especially the female characters. The books include so many power and inspirational females who take control of their own destinies and use their intelligence to solve problems and conflict. These females are much more than just secondary characters, without the presence of these powerful females, the Harry Potter books wouldn’t be what they are today.
One character that caught my eye the most is Hermione Granger. At times Hermione can be viewed as a stereotypical teenager as she displays typical teenage girl behavior. However, Hermione also has moments where she shows leadership, uses her intelligence which results in positive outcomes, while also using her unique talents to accomplish almost anything.
Initially, Hermione is seen as a social outcast and has very little friends. She spends a lot of her spare time in the Library researching and practicing potions.  In the first book, Hermione displays the traits of a teenage girl with her behavior. This includes Hermione winning a lot, whimpering, isolating herself from other people in corners of the room and becoming emotional over things that don’t seem important. However, where at the beginning of the books Hermione may seem weak and incapable of showing any empowerment, her talent and intellect far exceed her stereotypical expectations.  Hermione can conjure difficult spells that no witch of her age would be able to produce, “The brightest witch of her age”. She is also able to use her intellect and knowledge to help resolve and reach conclusions, resulting in positive outcomes.
The reason for in the earlier books, Hermione showing stereotypical teenage behavior, is to make her more relatable to her audience, which created empathy and allows her to become a role model to some of her readers. This could result in girls of all ages seeing themselves mirroring Hermione’s character and her personality. If boy’s and teenage males can also see her in the same way, they will recognize that they can overcome stereotypes and make a strong, influential impact which will make such a difference to society.
In the later novels, Hermione’s empowerment truly begins to shine through as well as other female characters featured in the books such as Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood, and Professor McGonagall. These female characters provide empowerment throughout the whole book series and in fact encouraging Hermione Granger to become the inspiring character she is.
The use of empowerment for girls through fiction is so very important for the future generations, as we need to change the way women are perceived and what their place in society is. I feel by having more characters like Hermione Granger the battle for gender equality would become a lot easier as we would be teaching children from a young age there shouldn’t be a more dominant sex and both men and women are equal. This is such an important part of children’s education and expanding their knowledge of the world around them. If children can overcome stereotypes and accept equality so can the rest of the world.