Photoshoot

 Photoshoot:

      I went to the gym and took multiple pictures for my magazine. I'm testing out the angles and analyzing the best possible pictures to include in my content and front cover. I asked a close friend of mine if he could be in my magazine and he said yes. He's a young male and athletic. I chose him because he matches the description of the type of person I want to be in my magazine.

     I'm currently posting unedited raw images.I used my iPhone 12 to take these pictures. In the future I will edit it and blur out the faces in the background so that it can focus on the front cover person.

I will still be adding more photos to my collection and constantly finding better angles and ways to improve my Fitness Magazine.

Lighting

 Lighting:

      Lighting is the most important component of any picture. Without light you won't even be able to see the image. The two main types of lighting are natural and artificial lighting. My magazine is going to consist mainly of natural lighting. The location of my my magazine is going to be the gym and in my gym there is a lot of windows, which sunlight comes through and ignites the place. And I'm taking the shots in the daytime in order to take full advantage of this lighting because I believe that natural lighting is the best type of lighting. Of course my magazine is not just going to contain natural lighting but also some artificial lighting. 

Here's an example of one of the artificial lighting shots that I took for my magazine:

I like the color of the whole room, it's a blueish purple color. It also sets out a mood or tone for the reader to grasp.

   The location of a photoshoot determines the lighting. If the images are taken in a room without windows, natural lighting won't even be an option. The most common use of lighting for fitness magazines are is natural lighting, they mostly use lighting equipment hat prevail different types of artificial lighting. But in contrast, my magazine is going to use mainly natural lighting. However some fitness magazine do use natural lighting but the location is almost never at the gym it's mostly outdoor at like beaches and parks. Here's an example of a magazines using natural lighting.

    In both pictures use can clearly see the use of natural lighting. In the first image, the face of the women is shined on by the natural rays of the sun, making her skin glow as its said in the magazine. On the second image the whole frame is filled with natural lighting. This type of lighting attracts reader's as it gives out a beautiful scenery, concluding that it is probably a sunrise or sundown. 

         Lighting is an extraordinary key factor in creating successful shots. Natural lighting gives out features that no other type of lighting can give out. I'm going to take advantage of natural lighting so my shots are going to be mostly in the daytime where natural lighting comes in my gym. Natural lighting gives out a more vibrant feeling that I personally think will make my magazine more aesthetically pleasing.

https://markbrion.com/the-importance-of-light-in-photography/

Color

 Color:

        Color is extremely important in every aspect, especially on deciding what color is going to be my magazine. Color influences the audience. A way that makes any magazine page outstanding is the colors that are used. The colors can reflect on the mood of the reader. Color adds meaning to a page instead of having a plain white page. 

Selecting the wrong color can cause disengagement of reader's. There are three primary colors which are: blue, red, and yellow.

Warm colors: Orange, Red, Yellow. These colors evoke energy and passion.

Neutral Colors: Black, Brown, White. Used very often as background colors. White and Black are one of the most used colors in magazines, they match and go along with any layout or color. And then brown gives out a very funky feeling.

The masthead of my fitness magazine is going to be Red. I'm choosing red because it's a very vibrant color, it could be seen from far away and also catches the attention of the reader from the rest of the colors. Red is also a vey popular color among fitness magazines.

Here is an example of a masthead in Red

   

       According to the institute of Color Research, people make judgement on your content "in 90 seconds or less", and the majority of the judgement is based out of color. My magazine is going to have a more sense of different coloring, due to the background being the gym. I'm going to use white as the color of my content in the front cover and then black inside the content of the magazine, paragraphs, articles etc. I'm going to use many different other bright colors because color is important and using different colors is more amusing than being plain. The audience's eyes are more likely to catch the eye of rainbow colors than just plain dark gloomy colors.

https://www.flip180media.com/tips-for-periodical-publishers/color-theory-designing-your-digital-publication/

Layout/Preliminary Sketches

 Experimenting Front Cover Layout:

             I'm experimenting with what could be the possible layout of my front cover fitness magazine. I started with the Masthead being titled "THE PUMP", it was personally my favorite title and also was the most popular in the magazine survey I created earlier. I might color it a bright red in the future. I used bubble letters because I think it's one of the most creative ways on how to draws it, instead of just writing it in bigger letters, because it does look better in creativity.

        Below the Masthead I have a male, lifting up an olympic barbell with weights on it. If I decide to change the pose in the future it would still be a pose involving the person holding some sort of weights. I'm not a good drawer but I tried my best to include some muscular features on the sketch, obviously having a fit person on my front cover. Also, in my survey I gave multiple options on what the person should be doing, between lifting weights, stretching etc, and lifting weights was the most popular choice. I'm not solely depending on my survey but it does work as a guide. I made it for the weights to be holding it above the head so that in the future when we take the actual pictures, the person's facial features won't be covered by the weights.

      I decided that I also wanted to sketch the location (gym), which in my case it would be seen in the background of the magazine. Some of the equipment seen are dumbbells, benchpress and a treadmill. These are all types of equipment that are going to be used in the content of my magazine. I want to make it clear in my blog, the environment.

       On the final layout I'm going to have quotes and content all over the front cover regarding fitness, as these are major features of a fitness magazine. The content is going to be in large letters, so that the reader can see it from far away. I included a dumbbell rack next to the person so that you can still have a felling of the background through just the sketch. 

Location

 Location:

      The gym is a conventional place for exercising. Obviously there are other places like a park or the beach where you could exercise but that is also because exercising can take place anywhere. But in a gym, it is full with all different types of machines that all serve the same purpose regarding fitness.

     As soon as a person sees the setting of a gym they immediately know that there is fitness involve, and personally knowing that I believe that the gym is a perfect location for a fitness magazine.

   The gym is full of equipment and having equipment in the background, creates a great photoshoot where its not just a picture of a person but also a picture of the whole environment. These type of shots can catch the eyes of more readers, increasing the sells of magazines.

    I've been scouting for locations and I decided that my local gym that I go to is the best location to have my fitness magazine settings as. It's full of modern equipment, natural lighting, and big overall atmosphere.

     Below are some pictures that I took of my local gym, where I'm going to shoot my magazine.

    As you can see there is a lot of natural lightning in the above picture, it's perfect for a front cover magazine page. 

Masthead

 Mastheads:

        Mastheads are considered the big bold large letters in the top of a page, most commonly referred as the tittle. Mastheads come in all shapes and sizes. The color of the masthead is a big feature. Big bright colored lettering would attract people. Especially if it's a nice soothing color like red or blue.

      

        The typical design of a masthead of a fitness magazine are usually in bold with very common colors like the one above. When it comes to different genre's of a magazine, the design varies. A magazine about fashion is most likely to have a masthead of italics than a fitness magazine because it has a more classical and creative layout.

     For my Fitness Magazine I'm most likely going to have large bold lettering as this is also the most conventional. I've thought of many colors and so far I'm liking the color red for my Masthead. I also want a basic bold lettering, not the italics one but a more basic and simple feeling. It's important to have an aesthetically pleasing title as this is one of the first things a reader sees in a magazine. The title can be even seen from far away. 

Fitness Magazine Survey

 Fitness Magazine Survey:

      I conducted a survey about Fitness Magazines to a random set of audience. The survey was used to see what are the best options for my personal magazine and to see individuals perspectives on how they see Fitness Magazines conventionally as. My survey was successful. 

        The majority of the people, 37%, decided that the title "The Pump" is most suitable for a Fitness Magazine. I agree with the survey. My second preference was "Gainz" and it came in second place with 14.7%. All the title options are associated with Fitness, in particular, after a certain amount of lifting weights a person gets a tight feeling in their muscle, that feeling is called a Pump. Secondly, Gainz is used to refer the muscle mass of your body.

      What's on the cover of a page is extremely important, in this scenario, a person lifting weights was voted as the most reasonable thing a person should being doing on a front cover fitness magazine. Person lifting weights won with 45.3% of the vote.

        The gym as the location of the photoshoots overwhelmingly surpassed the rest of the options, with a total of 68% (51 people). Usually when thinking of fitness, the first thing that comes into mind is the gym. The gym is a perfect place where to exercise, all parts of the body.

           Out of all the survey questions, the font style of the magazine came in with the most diverse feedback. Calibri and Merriweather tied together in first with 21.3%, Arial 20%, and Helvetica and Courier New in 3rd with 18.7%. All the decisions were in very close proximity of each other.

         Clothing is an important part of fitness. The type of clothing you are wearing can determine the performance. Different brands come with different features of look and feeling of the clothing. Nike came in first place with a total of 73.3%, the majority of the audience agreed that Nike is a top brand that should be included in the magazine. Second came Gymshark 62.7%, a brand that specifically focuses on gym attire. I personally believe Adidas is the best clothing option, with the most comfortableness and affordability. 

      The appearance of who is on the front cover can determine the audience it will attract. A young female would attract a more feminine audience and vice versa. Having a young male on the front cover won with a total of 45.3% (34 people), it was almost half of the people.

   
    One of the first things a viewer see's on a magazine is what the person is wearing. Athletic clothing clothing has direct correlation with theme of fitness and for that reason, it overwhelmingly came in first place with 60%, more than half of the people agreeing.

      The whole purpose of a Fitness Magazine is to guide a person on how to get into shape. There are many different types of body forms people want and see as most ethically pleasing. In this scenario, 40% of people believe that a person in a fitness magazine should have a shredded physique, right behind it a lean body physique came in with 37.3%. 

Costumes/Props/Mis-en-scene

 Clothing:

    In a Fitness magazine it's important to have an outfit that goes with the theme. If the front cover magazine picture settings is in the gym then the model should be wearing fitness attire, like nike Dri-FIT. Usually they are not wearing khaki's with a polo shirt, as that is the opposite of a fitness magazine concept. Specifically on my front cover image, the person is going to be wearing athletic clothing like Dri-FIT, muscle shirts, jerseys, etc. If the picture that is taken is a wide body shot, wearing sneakers is a must. Sneakers convey a message of athleticism. Sneakers are portrayed as good quality shoes to do exercises with. I personally want to have bright colorful sneakers on my model, I believe that the shoes would catch the attention of viewers and also work as advertisement for the shoe itself and the brand. Clothing affects the performance of exercising, athletic clothes are purposely made to enhance performance and in my case  it would enhance my front cover image. My front cover model will most likely be wearing a darker color muscle shirt with Dri-FIT shorts that match and colorful bright sneakers. Overall, the usage of athletic clothing is extremely important on a Fitness Magazine.

These type of clothing provides the most support, comfort, and functionality do to fitness in. It is vital for these outfits to be used throughout a fitness magazine.

Props:

   In Fitness Magazines it's very normal for models to be holding on/using exercise equipment.Some examples of these equipment include dumbbells, benches, rubber bands, etc. These equipments are associated with the exercise they are specifically doing. Having these things in the picture frame can also be used as advertisement. If the viewer decides to try and attempt an exercise shown, they are going to be basically obligated to use the equipment and increase the overall customer sales of the product. For example, if somebody wants to attempt a bicep curl and continues to regularly do it, the only conventional way is to do it with a dumbbell, that could be seen in a Fitness Magazine. My magazine front cover person would most likely be carrying some sort of exercise equipment whether it's weights or rubber bands. Exercise equipment is regulary used as props all throughout the magazines. 

Appearance: 

    Aesthetically pleasing models is EXTREMELY important in catching the attention of the audience. For that reason producers specifically find people that meet that criteria and also target a specific audience. The appearance of the people correlate with society's views, a big muscular man with a long sleeve tattoos conveys a message to the audience that he is masculine and somewhat intimidating . A lot of men will feel that they have something in common and would want to maybe get the magazine. 

      On front cover fitness magazines the model is sometimes splashed with some water so that they can give out a sweaty appearance like that they just worked out. For girls this can mean that they hair is tied up so that the body can cool down. Many females correlate with that feeling. Facial expression is also important, as if the person is lifting weights they can be showing a grinding face, showing the difficulty of their exercise and the amount of exhaust it requires.  

Models For Fitness Magazine

Models:

               It's extremely important to have an aesthetically pleasing and good looking person on the cover of a magazine and within the rest of the content. Without that major element, the audience wouldn't be so attracted to the magazine as they could be. A fit person with good physical features would immediately capture the eyes of viewers. The people found in Fitness Magazines are usually always young and very attractive. The males are always sought to be muscular, broad, masculine and tall. Lighting and different camera angles are used to make a male model tall even if they aren't tall. Female models are sought to be lean with a curvy body, a lot of make up is used to make the skin glow. Due to modern technology, a person's body can be edited to have something that they don't have in real life. For example, a female with small breasts can get photshoped to have bigger breasts, catching the attention more of the audience, even from both genders. 

Here below is a perfect example of how I mentioned in the first paragraph that sometimes physical features can be edited to be found more aesthetically pleasing. On the picture on the left the person is unedited, showing his natural muscular appearance. On the right the same exact person is found to be bigger and have more prominent muscle mass and features. His shoulders are broader, his abdominals are more scultptured, his quads are bigger. His overall physical appearance has changed. The picture was edited. These techniques are used in the magazine industry ALL the time. Lighting and camera angles all come into play also with how the appearance can be made to look for viewers to get attracted more.

    Overall, the person (model) in a magazine can influence the audience and the sales of a specific magazine. How a person looks is the first thing a viewer see's when passing by a magazine. If the person isn't attractive it won't really grab the viewer's attention. Younger people have a smoother and more natural vibrant look, as they are featured more in Fitness Magazines than the older people. I personally would want to use a young model for my magazine. The model would have to be in physical good shape so that he or she is able to promote a fitness lifestyle through the concept of a magazine. Also, the aesthetic appearance is extremely important because I want to attract the most audience possible.

Audience Profile

 Audience Profile:

https://adtargeting.io/facebook-ad-targeting/mens-fitness

https://adtargeting.io/facebook-ad-targeting/womens-fitness-magazine