Creativity & Genre

             The creative process is extremely important when embarking upon a new endeavor in a field ripe with choices. When going over the TED talk last week, the speaker talked about how when you think creatively, you can come up with unique solutions. While at places such as work, people have a concrete idea of what to do and how to do, they are unable to think outside the box, and in a competitive market, that means you don’t stand out against a sea of other people. When I worked on the New Introductions activity, I experienced the difficulty in coming up with new ways of going about something, even in something as simple as an introduction. The interview with Ron Beghetto, an article written by Michael Shaughnessy in September 2020, was also useful in realizing the importance of creativity. One example that Beghetto gave was teaching. With standardized testing, teaching in a creative way can be difficult, as you have to teach one very specific curriculum, but when teachers are able to teach creatively, it can force students to find solutions in new and unique ways, and to see new perspectives. In a market where there are countless magazines for everyone, you need to be creative to stand out, and Beghetto demonstrates that in his interview. 

When researching others in my chosen genre and medium, I noticed that, while not the most creative, they did manage to capture the attention of readers with a few tricks. An editor in moderndog magazine managed to create a sense of brand loyalty through the mood she creates, as she uses specific word choices to invoke a happy mood among readers. The typography she used also worked well along side this, a font that was not too serious or formal, rather, it was more informal or colloquial which fit the happier mood she was creating. This, combined with the bright colors and large photos that are present throughout the whole magazine, serves to put the reader at ease, making reading her work more enjoyable for many. This focus on happiness, bright colors, and large images does seem to be a trend within these types of magazines, they are the tropes typically found in such articles. As such, while I intend to put a greater focus on the information itself, I do not believe that at my present skill level, I can completely avoid these tropes, and therefore feel I will have to give in to them somewhat. This is not entirely unfortunate however, as I will have magazines and editors such as these to help me, for me to use as a model of what is popular. 

In The Bark however, one editor was less creative, but he did manage to convey all the necessary information he had in a timely manner, and considering there are many editors in dog related magazines that try to keep people upbeat, it was refreshing to see readers can simply get the information they need without much unnecessary wording. Naturally, as a result from this, the magazine seemed to be focusing less on typography or the masthead, not to say it was not considered, but the information itself seemed to be the primary focus. What I personally enjoyed from the first editor, and therefore wish to emulate, was the photos used in her work. While I do wish to convey the information I have as quickly as possible, which is what I intend to emulate from the second editor, I do believe that using brightly colored photos would help attract the attention of readers who are less concerned about delivering information at a quick pace. This would help attract both people who simply want information and people who prefer to feel relaxed or happy when reading, which in a real magazine would prove both profitable and helpful. 

My overall vision for my portfolio project is to create a special interest magazine about dogs, which I have referred to in my references to the editors from moderndog and The Bark. I believe this would be the best vehicle to share ‘my story’ as it would allow me to convey useful information about dogs. The reason why this is my preference is that I often find myself lacking in concern for other people and their issues, while I am concerned about dogs and the treatment they receive from owners. Because of this, if I were to make a real magazine article, there is a decent chance it would relate to this, and as such, I feel it is only appropriate to base my project around this.