HISTORY OF MAGAZINES PT1

 

Welcome back readers!

    For today's blog I wanted to talk about the history of magazines. I think that taking the time to research different components that make a magazine so diverting is to look at their origin. So by learning a little of where they came from I can therefore create a magazine that has all the right elements. 

     A magazine is described by Merriam Webster as a print periodical containing miscellaneous pieces that include articles, stories and poems and that they often have illustrations. Magazines are pieces of literature in a thin book that include images and various topics. Usually the creators of magazines have to do extensive research about the topics. The word Magazine comes from the Arabic word "Makhazin" which means storehouse and also similarity, the French word "magazine" means store. The reason behind it is that magazines are technically a storehouse for different information and are a collective under a name. Johannes Gutenberg invited the printing press in 1440. He created a way for newspaper, books, pamphlets and any other piece of literature everywhere to be mass-produced. The printing press became widespread through Europe before it was used anywhere else.

The first magazine ever published was in Germany from 1663 to 1668. German theologian and poet Johann Rist created a periodical called Erbauliche Monaths-Unterredungen (edifying monthly discussions). They began as brochures, pamphlets, and almanacs. This new innovation of publications inspired many others to put their own ideas on paper as well. For example, The Royal Society published the first and the longest running journal about science. It was launched in March of 1665 by Henry Oldenburg. He combined his wide range of European natural philosophers, the Royal Society's activities, and his expertise as a linguist and academic writer to create a new type of print. Its purpose was to further the cause of the early stages of scientific discovery with the possibility of profit.  The journal cost one shilling and was published once a month. Another example is Francesco Nazzari’s Giomale de’letterati. This journal was published in Rome, Italy in 1668. Nazzari wanted to provide summaries of literary and scientific findings that were happening in Europe. He wrote most of the articles but he also had help from others in the journals.  

     In 1672, the "periodical of amusements” was published, it was later changed to Mercure de France. It was created by French writer and playwright Jean Donneau de vizé. He would often talk about news, songs, short verses, gossip, and reviews.  He’s known to be one of the first to introduce the concepts of fashion into writing, being mentioned in this periodicals could sometimes be seen as scandalous. new way of writing became very popular, since it’s very distinct from others. This periodicals focused more of entertainment rather than education. In 1684 a French writer who had been exiled, Pierre Bayle published Novelles de la République des lettres. He published this in the Netherlands to escape from the French censorship. This caused for a revival in learning in the 1660s it inspired many to become more educated. As the 18th century arrived there was an increase in women literature. This helped magazines reach a larger audience as women saw publications to listen and also be entertained. Many magazines wanted to bring women into their audience. The Athenian Mercury was the first women’s magazine published in 1693.

  On the next blog I’ll explore more on the history of magazines, see you in the next blog!

Credits:

Cover graphic and timeline created/used from Canva.com

Articles:

1. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/magazine

2. https://open.lib.umn.edu/mediaandculture/chapter/5-2-history-of-magazine-publishing/

3. https://www.britannica.com/topic/publishing/The-19th-century-and-the-start-of-mass-circulation

4. https://www.britannica.com/topic/magazine-publishing

5. https://royalsociety.org/journals/publishing-activities/publishing350/history-philosophical-transactions/

6. https://thefashionglobe.com/fashion-journalism

7.https://www.tumblr.com/historyofthemagazine/96740396960/academic-journal-giornale-deletterati-1668

8.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercure_de_France

Pictures:

1. https://www.historycrunch.com/johannes-gutenbergó.html#/
2. https://oscarenfotos.com/2015/02/14/el-foto-ensayo-origen-y-definicion/erbauliche-monaths-unterredunge/
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_Transactions_of_the_Royal_Society
4. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giornale_de_Letterati-Tinassi.jpg
5. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nouvelles_de_la_république_des_lettre 
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1672_Mercure_Galant_January_title_page.png
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Athenian_Mercury

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD EXPLANATION

Welcome back!

    For todays blog we will be talking about the double page spread sheet. This part of the preliminary task required a lot of editing. But nevertheless here's the final result:

    In the previous blog it was shown how different the template is from my version. I went with a gradient black and white background so you can read the words better and for it to be more visually appealing. At the top it says "Different genres" as it was one of the topics in the table of contents. This font is the same as the one from the tittle of the cover so that things coincide. I added three different sub-heading each related to the main topic. In the beginning of page there is an introduction paragraph giving a little insight to what each sub-heading is going to talk about.

    I added a little graphic in the right which is a stack of books. This was part of the design of the template which I changed it to match the theme of the magazine. When writing the paragraphs I wanted to keep people entertained and tried to use a common language so that this magazine could be read by a wide range of audience. I wanted to keep things simple and well put together so that it looked organize. Everything is separate almost exactly the same and the pictures also of the perfect size within the magazine. 

    Now as for the pictures these were all original that I took from home or at school. There is two pictures of an open book and one of a person I interview for the magazine. The first picture is of a book but I cropped it so that you can see part of it. I thought that putting half of the book would reflect to what talking about. I wanted to show since the picture is closer it shows how we are diving into this world when we read. The second picture is a little more plain, in it you can see the structure of the book therefore it relates to the topic of a genre impacts a piece of writing. The last picture is of a friend whom I interview. I asked her questions and I took a picture of her reading the book mentioned in the magazine. Every picture was edited to be in black and white. I though that using color pictures would go with the theme and would make it look uncanny. 

    Overall, I had fun while making this magazine as it gave me some things that I can work on for future references. I think I leaned a lot and can also see many things that I could've done better. But regardless, I think it came out great for a first time.

Credits:

Cover and template graphic created /used in Canva.com

 Original photographs used

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

Nice to have you back readers!

    Let’s have a look at the double spread sheet. This was the most arduous part of the whole magazine making. It took a long time to design and come up with entertaining topics. 

    But here’s the before:

    And here’s the after:

Credits:

Cover and template graphic created /used in Canva.com

Original photographs used

TABLE ON CONTENT EXPLANATION

Welcome back to the blog!

    I now what to explain more about the table of content and what where my thoughts as I was editing it. I think the table of content matched well with the cover page and that’s why I choose it. Here’s the final result:

         

    For the tittle it simple just says “table of contents” that didn’t change from the original template. I believed it shouldn’t stayed the same since the two different fonts use looked good on the template. There was no need to change it since I wanted everything to be simplistic. 

    From the original template the only thing that changed was the tittles and the information below it. I also added different page numbers to go along with the pages of the magazine. The turtles are simple and one can basically gather what is going to be talked about it in the magazine. I also wanted to make them interesting enough to grasp the readers attention. The whole purpose of a magazine is to get people to read them just from glazing at them. 

    Overall, I think this template really suits the minimalistic colors and effects used in the cover magazine. I really wanted to make everything have the same palette to make it more organized and well put together. 

Credits:

Template created /used in Canva.com

TABLE OF CONTENT

Greetings blog!

    Now I will show what I came up with for my table of content. I think the template I choose really complimented the cover page. Both had similar designs.

    Here’s the template:

    And here’s the after:

Credits:

All graphics created/used in Canva.com

MAGAZINE COVER EXPLANATION

Welcome back to the blog!

    For todays blog I will breakdown the cover of the magazine. To start off the template I used is from Canva but all the pictures used I took them. 

    So let’s break it down:

    When choosing the topic of the magazine I wanted to do a magazine on something I found interesting and also liked to do.  So I decided to talk about books, I really like reading so it’s a topic I know a lot about.  I want breakdown and talk about each thing with an arrow to explain my thought process when creating the cover. 

Original photo:

    The photo I choose is an open book with a bookmark that I have. So as I was reading this book I took a picture to implement onto the cover. This picture is simple but still interesting enough to grab a readers attention. I adjusted the contrast, highlights, shadow, vibrance, and the saturation of the picture to enhance a darker tone. I also edited it for the viewers to see the words better. 

Issue number and date:

    In the template for magazines the issue number and date were at the top. This can make the magazine look more professional.

Masthead: 

    The main purpose of a tittle is to capture you and shook you at first glance of the magazine. Since the magazine is about books and reading, the tittle is “Life in books”. This tittle gives the emphasizes that the magazine would be about books. Everything in the magazine is related to books to make the topic known right from the first look at it. The font of the tittle uses two different fonts, this makes the reader more entertaining and inclined to read the tittle. 

Subheading and pull quote: 

    The subheading “Dive into new worlds”, Gives the further insight into the tittle of the magazines. This phrase may have the reader question what kinds of interesting things they might be inside the magazine. Then we have a pull quote, “Expand your knowledge of literature and interesting ways that it can impact your everyday life.” In this sentence the reader is more informed on what they might come across in the magazine. 

Magazine kicker:

    In this part of the magazine the reader now has the different specific topics that will be talked about in the magazine. When I thought of the topics that should be in the magazine I wanted them to be interesting enough for someone who doesn’t really like books to want to read the magazine. All the sentences have an exclamation for the reader to see how interesting the topics are.

Credits:

Cover created/used in Canva.com

 Original photographs used

MAGAZINE COVER

Hi again!

    Today I will be revealing the cover of the magazine for my preliminary task. To do this I used a canva template to make the cover more interesting. 

    Here is the before:

    Here is the after: 

Credits:

Cover and template created/used in Canva.com

Original photograph used