'The Pen'-House'

From the hard times when quills were only present in rooms of writers and men of business, to the days of the ubiquitous biro. Pens have taken the world by storm throughout human history ever since aborigines first acquired that chisel-shaped stone. Though surely, all the writers of the earth since day one will have had a desire to procure for themselves a grand pen, far superior to that which their contemporaries possess. It is a sign of literary power to hold in one’s possession a pen that lets flow only the darkest, thickest of ink. Thus, I leave before you a table. A table containing only the most exquisite of pens that should be sufficient for displaying the incomparable writing ability that is bursting to bleed from your fingertips.
First (moving from left to right in the grid), we have the illustrious Premier Monochrome by parker. Its 18K gold nib plated in black ruthenium creates a strong and easy-flowing ink trail. This pen would allow your hand to move freely across the page with no difficulty. A true master of the writing universe. Not only this, however, but the engraving patterns as finishing touches means that wielding the pen would induce a heavy feeling power into your hand. For, remember, the power is in the hand, not just the head.
Next in line is the Edson from Waterman; a French company, indeed promising elegance and eloquence. The gloriously-rounded ends, including the nib, offer a certainty that you shall have a euphoric writing experience. With its precious resin material and 18k gold nib should surely make its master feel more than comfortable swooping from word-to-word on every last page. The Edson would be perfect for displaying a grand skill that could give even Shakespeare the chills.
Thirdly, a lesser form of grand pens, though grand none-the-less. Gold plates and matt black lacquer assembles, forming a distinctively beautiful design. The nib is malleable enough to mould its own design to fit your own handwriting style. This would, without a doubt, enhance your writing experience every time. This nib is weaker than others (hence why it becomes progressively more suiting to the writer’s holding position) which mean detriment if dropped on its head. Although, it could therefore be easier to shift back into place.
Finally, ladies and gentlemen, have you ever just tried a simplistic, though sublime, quill? Of course, it requires an ink well and is also susceptible to fire, but a feather of any bird would serve as a perfect pen. Though one might require a quill slightly more reliable than a DIY feather. Thus, venture to the online world and purchase a quill with a steel nib – far easier to draw ink from and far stronger than a feather. The quill is a classic and a tool of Shakespeare, so do consider attempting a verse or two with one of these writing implements. Does much more need be said of a quill? Indeed, it does not, and I hereby conclude the article, wishing you adieu and wisdom when making a selection. 

'Reading Recommendations'

Reading is the food of a writer. Reading is what allows us to improve our writing without having to leave our seats and this puts all those that say we can’t improve our writing unless we engage in interactive activities to shame. If you don’t enjoy reading and do not read frequently then are you really a writer? Reader = better writer; remember that.
So, with that said, I’ve worked with Amazon’s best sellers and recommendations to compile my own little list of reads that would help you to improve your writing. It could be so that these tomes of knowledge bear in their leaves some of the best writing styles you’ve ever read and you may well want to learn from these styles. Perhaps the writer was a master of rhetoric and this would allow you to learn more about the technicalities of writing. Accessing the words imprinted within these pages grants you with the ability to write with mastery.
To begin, I have put in first place: ‘Great Expectations’ by Charles Dickens – a personal favourite of mine. It’s a tale of avarice, a mysterious and unanticipated benefactor with a suspiciously substantial amount of money, and unrequited love with a girl that can’t keep her cold heart from expressing its ice. Finally, and undoubtedly, it’s a tale of great expectations. Within, you’ll find much to learn and find confirmation that – as literary humanist theory argues – that literature is, indeed, a reflection of human life/disposition.
Next on the list is an Amazon recommendation – ‘The Magus’ by John Fowles. This book explores the complexities of the human mind in a sublime setting of a Greek Island.
On a completely different page, we have ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ by the one and only Oscar Wilde. This is a story of handsomeness and how it envelops a man. It takes Dorian Gray to levels of excessive pride, which could be deemed his hamartia. Dorian is oft heartless to those who care about him and the story allows us to assess the way in which the reader treats others, and if we find with maltreatment, what can we do about it before we stab a painting of ourselves?
In fourth place, we have ‘The Fault in our Starts’ by John Green. This book revolves around the magic and hope that love can bring to even the bleakest of times. With its plot twists and unpredictability, you can be sure to read this with an endless smile. Though to beware, for some readers have told that John Green’s books portray life in too much of a realistic manner and has ensured people begin to discover the reality of the world in which we live.
Last, we have the grand Shakespeare – all his works are tales that cannot be bettered. Simply because good old Shakespeare is in 5^th place, does not mean I regard his works as some of the lesser. In fact, I believe that direct opposite. He is a master and by reading just one of his poems or plays, you are bound to be inspired and will learn endless amounts of magic that will help you develop your writing skill without doubt. 

'Wat Are The Write Rules?'

So, my erm… dear reader, it’s obvious why you’re here. You have an insatiable desire to learn about the rules, otherwise you would have stopped reading at ‘so’.
Truth be, there are no rules. In fact, standard grammar wasn’t even a thing until the 18^th century when prescriptivists decided that they wanted to put a ball and chain on language so that we could all learn to ‘properly’ read and write.
And so here we are, though you’re clearly wondering why you’re still here, then, if there are no rules, otherwise you would have stopped reading at ‘and’. However, I will remind you of some grammatical issues that young writers may not have yet managed to work through.

Now, I’m going to take you on an adventure. Now I’m going to take you to wonderland grammarland! Remove thy rear-end from the comfort and the couch, and print your proud foot into the receiving earth. Take your raft. Take your sail. We set forth to a place where the coarse light slithers through the soil. The setting: a jungle adventure on a desolate island in the middle of… well, er, I don’t know – I’m not geographer, but it’s somewhere, okay? That’s what matters – you’re somewhere.

You’re carrying all that equipment too, up to your ankles in sandy grass. All that stuff you’re bearing; I barely know how you can bear it! OH! There’s a grammatical curiosity, indeed, it is!
The only way you can bear bearing your items is because you understand that this word has a definition (as defined by the Collins English Dictionary) of: Bear: /beə/ -vb 1. To support of hold up; sustain & 6. To tolerate or endure.
Though there are many more – 23 to be precise. The dictionary also defines ‘bare’ - /beə/, as: 5. Just sufficient; mere. Again, there are more. I selected these definitions because these are the definitions I associated with the word. You may do as you please using definitions, but  I would avoid using the wrong word with the intended definition.
Anyway, we should probably move forth, but with haste; there is a cliff just up ahead here, though we do need to be on the other side to progress. Way I see it, we’re going to have to splice two ropes and swing on right across! But wait! There’s another grammatical issue – comma splicing. This is where the writer takes two separate sentences and rather than splitting them with a full-stop or semi-colon, they use a flipping comma! And I tell you, friend, it sure vexes me when I see it first-hand. And, heavens, I have seen it first-hand, several times. What’s more is that this repeated offender is an ambassador of maths & science who believes he is a master of writing, when he can write about as much as what I can use telekinesis to move a Krispy Kreme and place it – carefully – in my village. 
An example of comma splicing would be: “The man leaped into the air, we don’t know why”. It just doesn’t work, does it? Replace that comma with a full-stop, semi-colon or a hyphen and you’re conveyed meaning perfectly. Speaking of conveyance, we have made it across!
But stop in your tracks, young one! There is a snake (not really, it’s just an <s>). The only way we can avoid the fury of this little critter is being throwing one of your apostrophes at it; take the proper noun ‘James’, for example. Many wonder whether the possessive apostrophe should go after the <s>, just leaving the word there, or if the possessive apostrophe should be placed after the <s> with another <s> succeeding it. The truth of this matter is really that it doesn’t quite matter. You do what you think is best, for both options are deemed grammatically standard.
Now, I have taken you through the basics of grammatical standardisation, and upon following this advice of which I have issued unto you, you will begin perfecting your technical skills.
Though, we don’t want to be academics, lecturing on the English Language (unless, of course, you do), but we are explorers of language and have now stumbled upon a grand village.
The villagers wish that you will demonstrate your artistry, writing like a true master.
In order to be a master though, you must keep in mind all of which I have already said and use non-standard grammar to write like an artist.
If you look closely, I have been using examples of non-standard grammar throughout, and I will leave it to you to find them in order to enhance your ability to identify. The intention to use non-standard grammar for effect is called enallage, and is used by many grand masters, including T.S. Eliot.
True writing comes from within. Not from what your agent has recommended. Not what you think your audience would enjoy. But what you’re heart tells you to write. Whether or not your audience enjoy it is entirely up to fate, though I can assure you that it would be marvellous if you use the power of standard and non-standard grammar to create art.    

There are countless amounts of literary devices (also known as techniques of rhetoric) and I could spend all day trailing through them with you, but I simply don’t have the will-power. Therefore, to the right you’ll find a handy breakout box with just a few (of which I have already used within this article) of the advanced literary techniques with explanations. Using these would allow you to extend your writing ability even further so that you’ll never be just some runner-up.
Oh, hey! Look! Your plane has arrived and has accidently sliced one of the villagers’ homes with the left wing! “You have a choice to make,” says the captain of the plane, “you can either come home where you’re expected to put all of your technical skills to the test, or you may stay and use non-standard grammar to create art in this wilderness!”

So, what’ll it be?

Article Plan - 3

Article Planning Sheet – ‘The Pen’-House’

Plan the language use of the primary code of your article in the box below.

Article target audience:

	Planning Comments
article genre (purpose, type)	Again, this article is an article that reviews pens and illustrates the universally unknown truth about how pens can affect our mentality. Therefore, my article is an informative summary/review. The purpose of this article is to prove to writers that by choosing to write with a pen that means something to us (be it because of sentimentality or price), we might find that our writing ability increases.
Narrative voice (1st, 2nd or 3rd person)	Like in  my first article, I shall be 1st, 2nd and 3rd person narration simply because I do not wish to limit myself to only writing about either myself, the reader, or another. This way, I may refer to whoever, whenever which would render my article more exciting as the reader will not simply be reading about a single person the entire time.
Register (informal/formal, colloquial, dialect, taboo words?)	By this point of writing, my article should be incredibly formal. The reason for this is because now I am trying to demonstrate the power of sophisticated, eloquent writing, for I am trying to convince my reader that pens could potentially further a writer’s power to write in this manner. The only way I can make formal writing appealing is by writing the article in such a manner. Thus, no contractions (elision including) will be found within the article, for I am looking to avoid informality completely. Even if I was using taboo words previously, I would definitely want to refrain from doing so now.
Stylistics (repetition, strong verbs, adjectives, alliteration, similes, metaphors, sentencing, rhythm)	I shall use anadiplosis to increase the significance of my table, to begin with. If I ‘big it-up’ (for lack of a better word), the reader is more likely to appreciate the table. I shall use discourse markers to indicate to the audience what I shall be moving onto next. This will create an article that is easy for my reader to navigate. In addition to this, and in order to further empower my sentences, I shall turn the hypotactic syntax to a higher level. While my article may not be as concise, advanced lexemes can make their way into the writing and my expression will be far more articulate than my first article.
Tone of address (hectoring, sarcastic, ‘matey’, ironic, etc)	The tone of address of this article will be serious. However, it shall not be deadly serious all of the way through; I shall at first use a slightly humorous tone of voice as I refer back to the older methods of scribing. While I am explaining the power of a pen and while I am essentially selling the pens in the table of the DPS to my reader, I must employ a far more serious tone of address so that my reader can fully understand the meaning behind the article, for I would not wish for my reader to disregard the points I am making about writing because of a consistently humorous tone of address.
Structure and pace (discourse structure, logical paragraphing, connectives, conclusion)	My discourse structure shall begin with an introduction into the power of pens and how powerful a pen can be if used properly and with the appropriate amount of appreciation. I shall also talk about how my readers’ friends will be envious of them which draws my readers into reading the rest of my article. My first paragraph shall be a description of the power of my first recommended pen. My next paragraph will be a description of pen two and three. Finally, my last paragraph shall be asking the reader to consider the use of a simple quill, for I shall be persuading them to think about the simplicity and elegance of a quill and how that can render a writer more confident about their writing; which shall be my conclusion to the article. I shall leave the reader with a salutation and a wish of good luck in selection.

Article Plan - 2

Article Planning Sheet – ‘Reading Recommendations’

Plan the language use of the primary code of your article in the box below.

Article target audience:

	Planning Comments
article genre (purpose, type)	For my 2nd article, my article will be a summary/review. This is because my article will be an accompaniment to a list of reading recommendations. The purpose of the article is to entice my audience into reading the recommendations in the list I will present to them. Without the accompanying list, the article would merely an advertisement of reading, hoping to either bring to light or to further illustrate the benefits of reading.
Narrative voice (1st, 2nd or 3rd person)	In order to gain the undivided focus of the reader, I will once again be using 2nd person narration as I can really connect with the reader in a way that makes them feel part of the article. However, I cannot simply just use 2nd person, for I must – at times – use the first person. This will bring the article down to a far more personal level. Overall, with the two narrative voices combined, I will be creating a personal piece that also connects with the audience directly.
Register (informal/formal, colloquial, dialect, taboo words?)	Once I have moved onto my 2nd article, I will have shifted the formality so that it is much more formal than my previous article, but not as formal as what my next article needs to be. In order to reach this medium level of formality, I will refrain from using written prosodic features and fillers. However, I will continue to use elision as a form of colloquialism, and this should hopefully enable me to reach a kind of half-way point with the register. Again, understanding that my audience will be local, I will refrain completely from using taboo language. Offensive language could be detrimental to the reader’s appreciation of my magazine.
Stylistics (repetition, strong verbs, adjectives, alliteration, similes, metaphors, sentencing, rhythm)	I shall use metaphors to show the reader that reading is the food of writers because it allows them to pick up on writing styles that are different to their own. I shall use imperatives and interrogatives to vary the structure of the sentencing, but while doing this, I must ensure that my syntax is not elongated to the extent where my audience would grow exasperated with reading. Thus I would be using parataxis to concisely convey my ideas. However, this does not necessarily mean that I must be using parataxis at all times; variation is key. This article, would include more of a balance between paratactic and hypotactic syntaxes.
Tone of address (hectoring, sarcastic, ‘matey’, ironic, etc)	To begin with, the tone of address is incredibly serious which leads the audience into thinking that reading is a subject of great importance. Then, my tone of address will become far more encouraging, as though I desperately want the reader to read these books. With a calm and encouraging tone of address, it may be made far easier for me to convince them that these books are a must for their reading list.
Structure and pace (discourse structure, logical paragraphing, connectives, conclusion)	The structure of the discourse should begin with my talking about how beneficial it can be for a writer to read. This paragraph must remain short for I do not want my audience to find themselves growing bored because they are just reading about the importance of reading. Then I shall jump straight in to describing my first book and shall work systematically through each of the next 4 books. The first paragraph shall include the importance of reading, while the second will focus on what reading can do for a writer, including a description of the first book. The next paragraph will be shorter and shall mention the second book. The next paragraph will be a description of books three and four, while the last includes book number five and that is where my article will conclude. Because of a limited word count, the pace shall move quite quickly. This is beneficial for the reader though as it would mean they are not reading what seems like an endless article about reading.

Project Monitoring 27.02.14

By this time, many aspects of my magazine are to be fully completed - this is the stage I am at, too. With there having been countless times when things have gone wrong in terms of product quality, it is quite remarkable to think how far I believe I have come. To begin, it seemed almost impossible to create an entire magazine product in the space of just a month. There were certain aspects of my magazine product that were difficult to adjust, such as the images - at times, the positioning was inadequate for creating a high quality magazine and, sometimes, the image was too pixelated. All of which proved to be a learning curve, however. During the half-term, I came into college four days of the week to complete my final DPS and make adjustments on my contents page. I did this because I know it would be incredibly beneficial to the speed of production and it would render this final week as a spill-over week where I could allow myself the time to make final adjustments that could either make or break my product. It was very important to me to use this final week of production to work on the aspects of my magazine that needed more work doing to them. According to this plan, I have been very successful and had managed to complete my 3rd DPS, ready for editing this week, which was also successful.

On Monday, I started on editing my 2nd DPS, simply making finishing touches such as positioning correctly and inserting a quote insert, while thinking of a kicker I could place below my masthead. Then, on Tuesday and Wednesday, I edited my contents page as I was aware that the page was bare and hardly looked professional or authentic. Thus, I believe that my contents page is, by far, the least successful page. On Thursday, I fixed fonts (changing the plain, default fonts to custom fonts from Dafont) on my front cover and prepared the page for inserting into my InDesign file, as I created my front cover on Photoshop. Everything did run to plan, however, the machine I use had a serious disk error which meant that both InDesign and Photoshop needed to close immediately which put a stop to my production. In addition to this, the Mac had another malfunction that hindered my progress because during one of the sessions, I was not able to log on for approximately 40 minutes of the session, at which point I was forced to use another machine. Even that did not prove helpful because my fonts are not stored on that machine. To reinstall and use the fonts I would need to restart that machine which would bring me to the end of the session. This was exasperating and meant I got very little done during that session. However, I did have to make up for this inconvenience by making many changes in the next session. In Photoshop, during half-term, I edited the image for my 3rd DPS to look old and rugged. In order to do this, I adjusted the HDR settings on the image. This created a old, gritty effect. After doing this, I increased the shadows in the darker areas of the model where the light did not reach. This allowed my next step to stand out. I next increased the exposure of light on the head and the hands of the model to make this sections glow. The reason for doing this is because my article states that "the power is in the hand, not just the head". I then took this quotation and placed it as an accompaniment of the image. In doing this, I have developed the skill to appropriately use the HDR editing tool to create a gritty and rugged effect. I also learnt how to position and crop images to fit certain areas of my magazine without them becoming pixelated, which was often a problem for me that was becoming very irritating.

Some of the images I took were unqualified for usage. The model was too far to the side in some of the images, and even of the wrong side which would make it unsuitable for my DPS. however, this is not my model's fault, but my own for taking the images in that way. Facial expressions and positioning of the model were both fine, but in these instances (sometimes), I unfortunately got the end of the backdrop in the image. The perfect image for me was when my model was performing very well and the image did not capture the sides of the backdrop. I then cropped these images to fit my DPS. The eyeline conveys no particular meaning, but the the facial expressions of the model (cocky, yet inquisitive) suggests that a new sort of power can be attained by selecting a new pen.

I think my client would be impressed by the effort I have invested in this project recently, especially since I came in to edit during my holiday time. However, they may also feel that I have neglected my contents page slightly which could disappoint them. My project at this stage does reflect my treatment in terms of positioning of the masthead (even though I have adjusted it slightly, making it more dynamic). In addition to this, rather than having my article spill across both pages, I limited it to one page (left) and put the table underneath. I did also keep my image on the right of the DPS. The colour has changed ever so slightly, much like my other DPSs - I have kept the purple (which has connotations of luxury) but I have changed the gold colour to teal on account of being unable to find a glossy, golden colour; I could only ever find a murky yellow. Finally, the worry I have about my project is that my contents page will be a disappointment. I did have magazines by me while creating this, but I believe that creating my contents page was my weakest production point.

The image used for my DPS.

Image where the positioning of the model of not good.

Image where light is visible in the shot.

DPS 3 (fonts are missing).

Project Monitoring 13.02.14

This week, I began working on my grammar DPS that debates the solidarity of the rules behind grammar and how these rules affect writing. In order to properly address this issue, I did a photoshoot where my model was bound by a green rope - the rope represented rules holding a writer from delivering true art. My model was wearing a facial expression that looks confused and bewildered. According to my schedule, I have completed more than what I had expected to complete because I have virtually finished an entire DPS in one week. It would seem that as the weeks progress, I am becoming faster at producing material for my product. I believe my client would be happy with the progress I have made this week.
To begin with, I debated the new colour scheme, as - once again - I have had to change my colour scheme. I had initially wanted to use a grey and light blue (cyan) colour scheme but could not because of the unexpected colour of the rope in use. However, this was not as unfortunate as I may have first anticipated because the new colour scheme - dark red and dark green looks very good. Before I could do this, though, I needed to edit the picture so that it looked brighter and sharper than what it initially was. Therefore, the light image against the green and red colour scheme looked very modern and far better than any other writing magazines on the market. I also managed to work out my own method of wrapping text around my model. The reason I did not know how to in the first place is because my model is not a moveable object. I drew around my model with a pencil and put a text wrap on the pencil markings which thus meant that the text wrapped around my model where I drew the lines. However, the fact that a shape appeared on my model was an issue so I simply put no colour on the shape.


My other images could not be used because the eye-line was out of place and the facial expression from my model is not quite what I was looking for. In addition to this, my backdrop is visible. Therefore, I had to select the best image I had taken.

I believe I am working at a good pace and this progress mirrors that in my treatment and am confident I shall complete this DPS in time. 

Project Monitoring 06.02.14

This week, I began production on my first DPS. I found it particularly easy positioning my image, as I did not need to stretch the the backdrop to fit my page layout. However, with this ease, a difficulty arose; this being the style of my DPS. The problem here was that my page did not have enough simplicity and, yet again, I had gone for some more adventurous fonts with a bizarre colour scheme of green & black. It came to mind that perhaps my magazine would gain more marks if there was to be a larger degree of simplicity. Thus, I changed the fonts so that they looked slim and plain - this did actually make the magazine look far more conventional than what my previous draft had done. Even the colour scheme was changed to black and white as opposed to green and black. The white and black worked better with the grey backdrop. At first, I was unhappy with these changes and I found it might need more work if the DPS used simpler fonts and colour schemes. Upon testing the DPS and its layout, I eventually found that I was much happier with the changes and I now feel that it looks far better.




Here is the simple, more modern version of the my Reading Recommendations DPS

According to my schedule, I am working at a good pace and am on track to completing this first DPS on time. Although, the end of the week is very close at hand and if I am to finish on time, I need to work at a much faster pace. On the first day of the week, I placed the image in my DPS page and created the masthead and the page slogan that went either side of the centralised image. On the next day, I inserted the list of reading recommendations by researching Amazon's list and then using this with my own favourites to create a great list of recommendations. On the third day, I began writing my article for the left side of the page and today I plan on finishing this and text-wrapping it around my model on the page. I am slightly worried about how I might be able to make this work but if I do struggle then I will have to seek help.

With the upper image, I found that images I had taken such as this one, there would great difficulty in trying to create a professional-esque DPS. The reason for this being because I had too much of my model's body in my shot, and while this would give me more room to work, it almost feels like too much room, to me. In addition to this, the shoot has been badly-aligned and I would need to crop the image so that the top of the backdrop was no longer showing, but this would mean I would be cropping my model's head at the same time. With the image below, I am zoomed in further to my subject which does - I feel - look more professional.

At first, I had trouble positioning the masthead of my magazine but I discovered that it would be best in the far corners of my DPS. I believe that the biggest problem I have with creating is that once I have made an addition or initial decision, I am reluctant to change. Although, once I have considered other options, I find that my magazine does look more professional. While the initial positioning of my list of reading recommendations ran smoothly, I found that once I had tinkered with the list, I discovered that I could give the DPS a more authentic feel if I adjust the placing. One example of this is the shortening of the stroke lines to fit around the model. I have learnt that I should refrain from resisting advice from others concerning my work. In addition to this, I should be more open-minded about some of the decisions I am making. By doing this, I will be able to create a more authentic magazine.


In terms of progress made this week, I believe that my client would think that I have worked with diligence and hard effort. My client would see that I have been working well with my schedule and that I am working quickly and carefully with the time I have. What my client might dislike about what I have achieved, on the other hand, is the way in which I am quick to take my decision over anybody else's. They may, though, be pleased with how I am becoming more open-minded and even perhaps wise. The current state of my project vaguely mirrors my treatment handbook because I have used the same layout and positioning (that being central). However, I feel as though I am not doing as good of a job as what I could be since I am not being a consistent as what I could be; my colour scheme has changed unexpectedly and my font style is dramatically different to that on my flat plans. At the minute, my greatest worry is that my product is only 'satisfactory'.Essentially, what I am most scared about is how my DPS may not even be that good in terms of stylistics. Though what is more worrying is that I will know exactly how good it is, overall, until it is too late.

Project Monitoring 30.01.14

This week, I had planned on starting and even finishing my contents page. However, my endeavours have been slightly lacking in comparison to last week. My schedule told that I was to begin design and finish placing all of the finishing touches on my contents page. Things do not always go to plan, though, I did actually have to start my contents page again on the Tuesday of this week because I had initially started to compose on photoshop, but the problem with this was that my contents page did not look authentic enough. In addition to this, I did not have enough space to create a professional-mimicking contents page. On Tuesday I started creation once again on InDesign, even though I did actually transfer some of the elements from my photoshop draft to my InDesign format. Because of these complications, I am not fully meeting the targets that I have set for myself, though I am determined to complete my contents by college closing times on Friday. This will mean I will need to increase my focus and speed of production.

This week, I managed to create the page that I need insert the contents lines that would showcase the articles that are to be featured in my magazine. I inserted a artistic Victorian-style stroke that amplifies the title 'contents'. This gives my magazine two styles - modern and Victorian. While I feel that this may be particularly risky, I understand that trying to blend two very different styles would help me to create a magazine style of my own. I especially would like to veer from the tendencies other writing magazines on the market have, and that is being simply boring. Other magazines do not at all feel like writing magazines and they do not even create a style for themselves. I personally find this exasperating and therefore would like to send my product in the complete opposite direction of magazines such as 'Writing Magazine' & 'Writers' Forum'. I inserted polaroid-style images of things that are related to literature to make the page more interesting and non-too-text-heavy.

This is the contents page that I have started producing on InDesign. The fonts are missing because this blog has been composed on a different machine to one I usually use. However, this clearly illustrates my progress and it is easy to see how much of better contents page I am now producing. 

Now that I am managing to make more progress on InDesign, progress is running more smoothly. However, I fully acknowledge that my progress has been devastatingly hindered by my photoshop mistake at the start of the week. I admit my naivety in thinking it would be fine to create a contents page on photoshop and I will ensure I am not so ignorant in the future.
During this week, I have developed the skill to remove backgrounds from complex images, insert them into photoshop and then insert them into InDesign. This proved to be complicated at first, but as I played around more with the two programs, I managed to get the result I wanted.

If my client were to have assessed the progress I have made this week, they would probably we slightly worried with the pace at which I am currently working at because of my set-back at the start of the week. In terms of what I have achieved this week, I think my client would be happier with me working on InDesign, as I have more space to create and increase the amount in terms of contents which would enhance my product.

Here we have the contents page from Photoshop and we can clearly see that I have little room to actually create a contents page of good quality. 

The current state of my project doesn't mirror my plans in treatment fully because I am not using a colour scheme that I had initially planned to use. I had wanted to use light blue but have been made to use a dark red because of the complications with backdrop. This has not been too disadvantageous to me because the colour actually works well non-the-less, and I am even starting to think that light blue may have been slightly challenging for the reader.

Project Monitoring 23.01.13

During this week of production, I have managed to ensure that I have, indeed, been editing my images, just as I said I would. This meant that I took the images taken from the previous week and have then edited them to ensure the saturation and the darkness and even the sharpness was up-to-scratch. However, upon editing this image, I have discovered that - while the image is good in terms of modelling and positioning - it seems to be of a slightly low aesthetic quality. In addition to this, the model was slightly too far to one side of the image, which unfortunately meant that I would not have a good amount of room to palace my sell-lines. With this in mind, I changed my image to different one that granted me with more space for my sell-lines. As it turns out, this was a very good decision, despite having to discard all the progress I had made, because the image was actually far better in terms of quality and positioning than the last.

After this had been done, I had a sudden change of heart and decided that what would really allow me to produce a high-quality front cover would be if a disregarded my own urges to put unique spins on the front cover and just kept to a rather simple structure, much like that on other magazine front covers.
Thus, I have now decided to limit the diversity of my colour palette along with my font selection. This would mean that, while I wasn't particularly doing what I felt was right, I was instead making decision and sacrifices that would ultimately benefit my product. I knew that this time, I could not risk to completely reject magazine conventions.

There are a few things in my schedule that I have not followed precisely, such as editing other images with my front cover image. This is because I felt that I did not have the time to do so.
This week, therefore, has been very important for me because I have learned something that I was previously blind to - that I must comply with requirements, expectations and conventions in order to create a good-quality magazine. During my photoshoot, I again needed to make sacrifices such as the colour of my back-drop - I initially wanted grey, though red was the only colour I could use. This, however, resulted with better images because my blue quill on the red back-drop resulted a colour vibrancy. My narrow lighting exists in my images, though isn't as strong as I'd have liked. Because of this colour vibrancy, I was then made to change font colours. The blue was far more intense than what  my treatment foretold and I actually found it rather disagreeable. Though it's powerful none-the-less because there is a limited colour palette and so there is a larger degree of control. I admit that my problem over time has been that I tended to let designs get out of control, though I have already learned something very valuable.

Finally, I actually learned a very valuable technique where I took the pen tool and draw around the top of my model's head and then created a new layer by copying this section. I placed my masthead behind this new layer and managed to obstruct the masthead. This is very much similar to the design of other modern magazines and I am very proud of how I have managed to do this as I had never really considered doing so before.

Image not edited with others

New Image used

Image discarded

Schedule

Production Schedule and monitoring document

Week	Date	Activity
1	13th Jan	1 Schedule Creation: This week, I will be creating a schedule that corresponds with the content that needs to be placed into my magazine. With this, I shall be allocating specific times to be taking images for my magazine, according to the photoshoot plan. The schedule will contain information about what I will be doing on that week during various days, but I must narrow these activities down to just three bullet points that contain detailed explanations of what to do. 2 Schedule Creation: I will also find the fonts that I need for my front cover and contents page, so that my magazine can begin full production. Once I have found the fonts, I can take the fonts and insert them into my magazine with an approximate colour palette to accompany them. I will also take the opportunity to test the layout by placing various sell-lines (draft sell-lines) that can allow me to gain an approximate understanding of where particular sell lines might go. The positioning should somewhat resemble my flatplans. 3 This is also the week during which I shall be beginning production by taking some of the images of which I will need for my front cover and DPS no. 2. These images shall include my model wearing a mask and holding a quill, and this is what shall be used on my front cover. The image for my second DPS shall be of my model holding books. The reason for me carrying out these tasks in a sequential way is because I would like to take the time to get my front cover and contents page out of the way before continuing onto my DPSs, as I want to leave these to the later weeks because I believe I’ll have a greater amount of time to finish them.    4 Project Monitoring & I will be ensuring I have the appropriate tools for my photoshoot, seeking out my props. I must ensure, however, that I know exactly how many books I will be bringing to the photoshoot, as I don’t want to bring too many, as it would limit me in terms of getting to the location of the photoshoot if I’m carrying books in both arms. I should make sure that my model is ready to wear the appropriate outfit for the photoshoot, but – more importantly – I will need to ask my model whether they are still available at the time of the photoshoot, as unexpected circumstances can transpire at any given moment, and I – being the conductor on the photoshoot – must form a mutual agreement with my model so that we may both understand when the photoshoot is taking place. There must be a high degree of understanding in these situations as I cannot afford to fall behind. Homework 1: Call Sheets Homework 2: Refining Research Homework 3: Photoshoot Plan Exams/other subject deadlines: Mock Exams – English Literature & English Language – Tuesday 14th January.
2	20th Jan	1 Production of front cover shall begin this week. The image that was taken on the 13th shall be edited (levels of darkness and saturation shall be increased or decreased here according to my needs). The image for DPS no. 2 will be edited here also because it is the perfect opportunity to get it finished. 2 My front cover will take its image now, and the masthead will be placed into the cover with correct colour (light blue) and font style (handwriting). This will correspond with the plan I have already written. Other small details such as the date and issue number shall also be inserted, along with the barcode. I will also be experimenting with sell lines to ensure I perfectly select sell lines that are appropriate for my magazine genre and topic(s) within. 3 The sell-lines shall then be inserted into my front cover with fonts that follow a style that I have previously mentioned using in my planning documents. Once this has been done, I will have then virtually finished my front cover, though smaller details will need to be refined such as positioning of sell lines, masthead and perhaps even the image itself.   4 Project Monitoring & my InDesign DPSs should begin to take the form of a professional magazine, for I will create templates that give me a realistic lookout on where my magazine is headed at this particular time. Also, by doing this, I will creating a window through which I will easily be able to jump through to get production started, as a quick template would mean there are no hindrances on getting started with my project, because time takes a grand value since deadlines will soon be looming over-head.  Homework 1: Perfect sell-lines Homework 2: Perfect colour palette for front cover Homework 3: Select the correct image that is best suited for my front cover. Exams/other subject deadlines: N/A
3	27stJan	1 This is when production for the contents page will begin. The font will be selected for the masthead that indicates the page itself. Then images of literature placed in a polaroid style position at the bottom of the page will hopefully put the reader in the mood for learning about literature. It’s on this page that there shall be a colour scheme that corresponds with that on the cover and on the 1st DPS.  2 Then, once this has been, my next task is to write in the actual contents of my magazine with a font that will parallel those on the cover. Production of my 1st DPS shall begin on this week too because the process of creating a contents page should not take long. 3 Here is where my 1st DPS should begin to form. The masthead will go in place at the left on my DPS and the image will be inserted according to the measurements. The kicker for this DPS will be placed underneath the masthead and wrapped around the image of my model. The text boxes are next to go in place, and there will be the 1st article following soon after. 4 Project Monitoring & organising the images for the DPSs. By doing this, I will have discovered what it is that I have done in the photoshoot studio, and how well the images fit into the corresponding DPS. While it may be difficult to choose an image (as the selection must be done with precision and wisdom), this allocated time slot will grant me with the perfect opportunity to simply get to work on forming the perfect positioning for such images and the like. I must be careful to use this time appropriately, as at this point, lots of time will have already elapsed. The reason I am choosing to do the image selection now is because I want my DPSs to resemble my flat plans at an early stage rather than at a later point in the production process. Homework 1: Write Article no. 1 Homework2: Write Article no. 2 Homework 3: Write Article no. 3 Exams/other subject deadlines: N/A
4	3rd   Feb	1 Now that my front cover and contents page have been completed, I can begin production on my 1st DPS on grammar which needs to have already taken form, as the kicker and masthead will have been placed appropriately, along with my image that will have been placed during the previous week. Now that this has been done, my first article will have been placed into the text boxes, forming a magazine DPS that no longer simply looks like a skeleton plan. The colours for my fonts and other aspects such as skylines for the top of the DPS will have already been selected, and so I can now apply this colour (light blue) to other parts of the DPs that will also be using this colour palette. It’s important for me to remember that there shouldn’t be much overlapping taking place on my DPS, because I want to create a fairly controlled magazine that doesn’t seem to chaotic, though it should still take give some feelings of spontaneity. 2 The skyline, at this point, will contain within the different aspects that my magazine has to offer in various other places. This will give the magazine a more realistic appearance, and would give the reader(s) the opportunity to look forth at what other key aspects of literature they can read about. My article will be split into sections, and these sections will be indicated by splitters (lines) that go between each section, at an angle that slightly sullies the perfection of a fully horizontal line, meaning the I will pervert the horizontal, putting it at an angle just slightly beyond. 3 The breakout box will now be in creation, and since DPS no. 1 revolves around grammar, I will use a breakout box that resembles paper. I will take this image to photoshop and cut the edges with an eraser tool, so that it fits perfectly into my DPS. This will also reject the perfect vertical positioning, again, being taken to an angle that’s marginally past vertical – though not too much so. 4 Project Monitoring & taking the opportunity to create a breakout box that offers the reader an escape from the larger article that they have been reading. The box will contain a list of several advanced techniques of rhetoric or simply just potentially unknown terminology of literature to the young writer so that they may better their knowledge. While it seems that this breakout box has very little to do with the actual article itself, it does, because in the article I will have told my audience that there is fun to be had in experimenting with the rules of grammar, and so this DPS will contain techniques through which they can exercise this new-found philosophy. Homework 1: This homework task will include creating the pages that contain advertisements. In order to do this, I must collect a range of advertisements that correspond with the traits and dispositions of my target audience. Homework 2:  I will also be using this homework time to create the page layout in which I will keep my advertisements. Homework 3: I will insert my advertisemen Exams/other subject deadlines: N/A
5	10th  Feb	1 This week, the production of my 2nd DPS will be set into motion and should be complete by the end of the week too, so long as I focus and work hard to complete my magazine. However, if I am struggling to get this DPS finished with, I will have to lower my aim and finish the essentials. But, more specifically, I will be starting my DPS by putting the image in place on the DPS page, and then insert my centralized title and slogan/kicker to go either side, again, creating a centralized layout. Once the layout has been sorted appropriately, I can then create text boxes and insert the article that pertains to this DPS. 2 The pages for this DPS should be following a controlled layout, and while this seems easy enough, it means that I will have to take control of my time in order to get the symmetry with text boxes. This can be particularly troubling if I have to spend extended amounts of time getting angles in the perfect position. This is one of the reasons why my previous DPS follows less of a structure and seems more spontaneous. 3 DPS no. 2 should now really look an awful lot like that which I have drawn onto my flat plans, with only smaller details to go such as how I should narrow the colour scheme down and the text wrap around the main object of my image. The reason I have chosen to do my DPSs in this way (DPS1, 2 & then 3) is because it gives my schedule a greater structure to it, and so my time can be easily managed. 4 Project Monitoring & this time will be used to finish create and insert the list of recommendations that works with my article. But, in order to create this, I must look at what reading recommendations organisations such as Amazon and Goodreads have suggested, but I will also include some personal recommendations. I want to do this because I want to give the DPS a more personal feel, and I can only do this if I include my opinions. What worries me most about this is that there are people will completely disagree with what I am recommending, and this is why Amazon is a useful tool because it includes a majority vote. Homework 1: This will include me creating the layout for my table of recommendations. Homework 2: This will be where I will be carrying out further research for my table, and so I will be exploring Amazon and Goodreads. Homework 3: This is where I will finish the table, and insert it into my DPS, while finishing any final details that need attention. This should see my DPS completed. Exams/other subject deadlines: N/A
Half term	17th Feb	Homework: Complete Monitoring and make sure that blog elements are complete I will make preparations for my return to production on my final DPS.
6	24th	1 This week is the final week of production for my magazine, and so time is wearing thin, meaning there is a lot of pressure on me to ensure that my DPSs are complete and organized. My main worry here is that the time will be harder to manage because the time is scarce. My main concern is simply getting the project finished on time and at a good quality. My DPS will have the final image inserted at this point, though I’m slightly apprehensive about at which point I will be able to insert the finishing touches, so at this stage, I am contemplating whether to do my smaller details first, since they are harder to complete. While this seems unwise, I know that I can create my final DPS, titled ‘The Pen’-house’ with greater efficiency if I take care of smaller details before anything else.  2 At this point, I will have a skeleton of this DPS layout, though now I will be working on the greater details such as the masthead and the kicker, and so this is where I shall be making sure they are positioned without fault. The colour scheme will also correspond with that in my treatment at this stage too. Though, I will need to do some experimentation with the colour palettes for this as I may struggle getting a colour that mimics gold. 3 By now, given how much time I will have spent on this DPS and on other DPSs, my magazine should now look like a professional magazine that contains all of the elements I have mentioned in my treatment. I may well be at this time that there are certain aspects which I might prefer to spend greater time on, just to put my mind at ease on the quality of the magazine. I will be spending my Thursday nights in the library at college until 8pm (closing time) so that I can take care of these small pieces that need some tidying up, otherwise, my magazine may hardly resemble that of a professional at all. 4 Project Monitoring & creating the table for pens. The table will include pens and a rating of each. Then, the article that accompanies this will be one that discusses the reasoning behind carefully selecting a pen, as I understand that this type of article is largely unusual. I must justify my reasoning for including a DPS of this subject. However, this will also demonstrate my ability to challenge that which has never before been done… even by professionals. Homework 1: Furthering research on pens. Homework 2: Creating tables and inserting these pens in different slots, along with ratings. Homework 3: Then, to finish, I would insert my table and make any minor issues non-existent. Exams/other subject deadlines: Literature Coursework drafting stage & deadline.
	3rd  Mar	Audience/Assessor Review Week 1 Create Audience review questionnaire 2 Teacher assessment of project 3 & 4 Complete prep work for evaluation E exam Unit 5 Blog Deadline 7th March