Planning - Project Proposal

Introduction

Hello blog! My name is Christopher Villegas and for my portfolio, I chose to work with my friend Angely Borge to create a pet magazine, with our editions differing in pets, her doing dog, while I do cat subgenres. We're excited to work together since we both love animals and are in Yearbook together. With our experience, we are confidence in making a visually engaging magazine.

Target Audience 

The target audience is primarily 16-30 year olds, all genders, pet owners and animal lovers, as well as people who are interested in animal photography, lifestyle content, animal care and more animal-related things. Young adults are a strong audience because there are many new pet owners or people considering getting a pet. Furthermore, animal related content performs very well on social media and online platforms making this demographic likely to engage with our magazine. However, our magazine could also appeal to anyone who owns, works with, or is interested in animals.

Social Issues / Representation

In our magazine we want to address

    •    Responsible pet ownership

    •    Pet adoption vs. buying from breeders

    •    Animal welfare and proper care

    •    Representation of different pet breeds and mixed breeds

We want to promote positive messages about caring for animals responsibly and highlight the importance of adoption and animal shelters. Our goal is to create content that is both entertaining and educational.

Software / Hardware and Skills

To create our magazine we will be using

    •    Adobe InDesign for layout and design

    •    Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom for photo editing

    •    A Canon T8i or T7i Camera and Canon sx740hs camera for all pet photography

We would like to improve our skills in

    •    Magazine layout design

    •    Professional typography and font pairing

    •    Photo editing techniques (lighting, color correction)

    •    Creating strong cover designs and headlines

Learning more about design principles such as alignment, contrast, hierarchy, and spacing will help us make our magazine look professional.

Basic Plan for Our Magazine

Our plan is...

    1    Creating a masthead and magazine title

    2    Designing a professional cover page with a featured pet

    3    Including possible feature articles such as:

    ◦    “Top 5 Tips for First-Time Dog Owners”

    ◦    “Understanding Your Cat’s Behavior”

    ◦    “Adoption Spotlight”

    ◦    “Healthy Treat Recipes for Pets”

    4    Adding interviews with local pet owners or shelter workers (if possible)

    5    Designing a table of contents page and at least one double-page spread

Practice Exercises

To prepare for creating our final product we plan to

    •    Analyze existing pet magazines for layout inspiration

    •    Practice editing pet photos

    •    Experiment with headline fonts and color schemes

    •    Create mock cover drafts before finalizing the design

We are excited to begin working on this project and look forward to creating a magazine that is creative, visually appealing, and meaningful to animal lovers!