Revision #3- Article

For my 2 page article spread, I made a lot of changes, as it was the area needed for most improvement. The revisions I needed to make were decreasing picture opacity, making the font larger for the article and captions, adding more branding, and adjusting picture sizes. To start, I first decreased the opacity of my first article photo. I got many comments saying the photo was difficult to see and disrupted with the overall design/"look" of the page. I decreased it from brightness 70% contrast 40% to brightness 60% contrast 50%. This helped make the photo more visible and appealing. Next, I increased the font size of the article text because when I did a viewing of it, the article was hard to read due to the size of the words. I could only increase the font size so much, due to the long length of my article and the little space provided . I went from 10 - 11.5 on my article font size and 7 - 9/10 for my caption sizes. Next, I added more branding to the bottom of my page. I didn't want to add too much, so I added our Instagram/Twitter account name "@sotawellnessmag" to the bottom corner. I did this for both article pages, which then helps advertise our digital distribution more. Finally, I adjusted picture sizes. When moving around the font sizes, it varied the spacing more, causing me to decrease the first picture on my first page, decrease the picture of the food, and increase the picture of the restaurant. Doing this helped make my page more eligible and clear/easy to follow, as well as improve the look of the two-page article spread to look more like a realistic magazine article.

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Revision #2 - Cover

For my cover design I didn't receive very many improvements, but actually received many compliments. Many compliments said that it looked a lot like a real magazine cover page, especially the wellness type magazines. But, a few improvements were stated saying some of the fonts were bland, the background was white and too plain, and some of the subtexts needed to be moved around or enlarged. So, the first revision I made to the midterm cover page submission was move around and enlarge some of the subtexts. I enlarged the black circle and increased the font size by 4 points because during the viewing, the words were too small and hard to read. I made a few other small adjustments like moving "The Wellness Lifestyle" to the right to center out the page more, making it more eligible. Next, I changed the fonts from Calibri to Courier New on the pink and black captions under the subtexts. This made the fonts more fun and eye-catching, opposed to the bland and boring font they used to be. I decided to not revise any of the subtext fonts because they replicate how a real magazine cover looks, and are already so exciting and different. The final revision I made was changing the background from a white/light grey color to a darker grey color. I did this to make the cover "pop" more and blend the colors better, but to also keep with the simplistic/plain background style that is seen on almost every wellness magazine cover. Although all these revisions were very minimalistic, it did improve the overall look of the page, made it more pleasing to the eye, easier to read, and still mimic real wellness magazine covers.

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Distribution Plan

For my magazine, 'Sota Wellness, we have done the research and I have compiled a plan for distribution that consists of both traditional and digital methods. For traditional methods, we will want to use South Florida Premium Distribution as our distribution agency, or an alternate local distribution agency that delivers in the Florida state area. We will be distributing a new print issue every month, including new and up to date articles on wellness.  Our print magazine will be distributed to every city's local market store and premium doctors offices. This traditional method of distribution will be the way 'Sota Wellness can spread its knowledge through print magazine techniques as opposed to digital magazine techniques. For digital methods, we will want to distribute via a website, social media, and an app. For the website, it will be named 'SotaWellness.com, and we will distribute our monthly issue by category. Each category of wellness will feature articles from our recent issue. At the bottom of the website there will be alternate ways of distribution like digital subscriptions and emails, where readers can view our most recent issue online, being notified digitally or through email. For our social media, we will distribute our featured articles through apps like Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Facebook. For example, on Instagram, we will have an account called 'Sota Wellness and will make a post every day relating to wellness. But to distribute our magazine, we will advertise an article in a post and then link it to our website where the audience can view the full article. Through this, distribution will be effective for growing our audience due to recent increased interest in the digital versions of magazines. Finally, we will want to have our very own app, 'Sota Wellness. The app will include recent issues of the magazine and will feature the full length articles from them. The distribution of our magazine in digital form over an app will be a great way to find wellness tips and recent articles from our magazine, quick and easily. Doing this will achieve our ultimate goal of a wellness lifestyle for our audiences, as the digital age is growing. It will be easier to access our distribution of our magazine through app, website or social media form.

Distribution Research- Digital (Men's Health)

Men's Health Magazine has a similar target audience to my magazine, incorporating fitness and wellness lifestyles but specifically in men. Men's Health publishes their magazine digitally and traditionally. Through their digital distribution, they have a website (MensHealth.com) and an IPhone digital app (Men's Health Fitness Trainer). On their website they feature the main topics of weight loss, fitness, sex life, style and heart health. Through this they feature and distribute main articles and tips from their most recently published magazine of that month, expanding further upon them. On their app, Men's Health specifically focuses on distribution of their fitness articles of the recent monthly issue. They feature the new and improved workout techniques, individual exercises to perform for each specific body part and tips on how to stay fit and healthy. They launched the app back in 2009, being one of the first digital app distribution magazines, and has recently added style and grooming tips from recent monthly issues. Men's Health also distributes featured articles over several different social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and more. In these social media apps they will either distribute their magazine by advertising it on a post and linking it to their website where they can view the whole magazine, or will distribute by posting article titles and "sneak peeks" where readers can view some article content. Men's Health magazine helps distribute their magazine and articles via email as well. Through their website, readers can subscribe or be attached to their digital newsletter, and notifications will be sent to their device personally where the magazine distribution can be viewed from there. Through all these digital techniques, Men's Health is able to distribute their digital magazine and featured articles from their website, app, and social media. These are all techniques I would personally prefer to use when distributing my magazine, as I believe the use of social media, apps and websites will increase audience and grow the distribution of my magazine more. The use of digital distribution is effective to younger audiences or ages up to 40, which is my general target audience range, as social media and the digital age is continuing to grow everyday.

Distribution Research- Digital (Self Magazine)

Self Magazine is a wellness magazine that I had previously researched, that has a very similar target audience. For distribution of their magazine, back in 2016, Self magazine switched from both digital  and traditional distribution to only digital. They distribute on their website, Self.com, focusing on service, inclusivity and community. They now feature several wellness based celebrities as their exclusive digital contributors to grow their audience and apply to their "body positivity" goal as a magazine. They distribute their magazine monthly with new issues covering everything related to wellness and more. Self.com also includes ways to subscribe to their online magazine or sign up for their newsletter. Through this, self magazine can distribute their magazine via email or digital notifications to let readers know when there is a new issue out and how they can find it on their website. As a way to digitally distribute their articles, not through their website, Self magazine features articles and topics of their new issue through social media. They will post on their Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest and discuss their recent articles or pressing issues, regarding wellness, that are featured in their recent issue. From the distribution through social media, they will include links to their website to view the full article and any other articles that may catch their interest. These are all techniques I would like to use when I digitally distribute 'Sota Wellness. I would like to distribute specific articles and recent magazine issues through our own personal website, called 'SotaWellness.com. To grow my audience, I will distribute articles and topics featured in recent issues through social media posts. I would also like to have my own Snapchat story, where people who use Snapchat can subscribe to my magazine story where featured articles would be located. Through my own website and social media distribution, 'Sota Wellness will grow its audiences and readers.

Distribution Research- Traditional (Women's Health)

For Women's Health Magazine, they are one of the few magazines that still continues to distribute print versions of their magazine. Their leading distribution agency is RNA Distribution. Through this agency, Women's Health is able to distribute globally, but mostly in the UK and USA. With RNA Distribution, Women's Health Magazine is distributed in print throughout libraries, book stores, and local grocery stores throughout the front check lanes. At a local standpoint, magazines like Women's Health and other wellness magazines are distributed by South Florida Premium Distribution Inc. This is the top distribution agency of South Fl and circulate magazines by how and when the publisher would prefer. Then deliver is areas from Miami to Orlando and distribute weekly, in bulk, or zonal. Specifically for Women's Health, the magazine will agree to a partnership, decide on amount, when and how they would like it distributed, the distribution company will receive the bulk of magazines and the company will distribute to the specific locations. This is the effective, traditional way magazines like Women's Health can distribute their magazines when and where they prefer, to get their intended result. This way, print magazine distribution will increase target audiences and make their magazine more well-known to the public.

Revision #1 -Table of Contents

The first revision I decided to make to my Mid Term Submission was change the table of contents layout to be more easy to read and replicate a real table of contents more. Some suggestions that were given were to have a more inviting and exciting font, switch my pictures to match the theme of the page and replicate other group members magazines, add a background color to make the page more pleasing to the eye, and increase font size to make the information more eligible. The format for my table of contents was easy to follow and understand, as I got back in comments from my peers, so I decided not to change that. I got compliments on my pictures, saying that they match my overall theme very well, but a few of my peers let me know that the pictures would be better switched as the picture of the Ringling Bridge would appeal to more to my Sarasota residents target audience. So, I switched the pictures and decided to photoshop the now top picture model out from her background so it is just an image of her running. This was a technique used in another group members magazine, and Shape Magazine which is a magazine I researched. It helps create some separation between the identical images on the table of contents. Next, I made my font larger and more 'inviting/fun'. I got many comments saying the TOC font was hard to read (based on size) and was bland. So, I switched to teckton pro condensed font from calibri font and I changed the font size from 14-20. Changing the font style from basic lettering to a more fun and pleasing font helped add texture, variation and excitement to the page. I made the lettering larger from 14-20 to help make sure the words are eligible to the readers an our target audiences . Finally I added a background color to my TOC. Before it was a bland white color, but after comments saying the background was too plain, I changed it to a light grey color. I did this because I didn't want to stray too far away the theme colors of the page and wanted to create a sense of simplicity, but also wanted to add a little bit of color. 

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