Section Six: A New Name

Great news - I have finally decided on a name. I felt that Blog was just too simple and not very creative. After much thought and brainstorming I had a light bulb moment and thought of the name Blogette!

It incorporates the word blog, which immediately makes the audience/subject obvious and the "ette" implies the female audience. I also think this name gives me the opportunity to create an engaged audience/fan base for the magazine as, in promotional campaigns in the future I can refer to readers as "blogettes".

I am much happier with this name choice and think it's more appropriate for the nature of the magazine. It highlights the main purposes of the magazine and is playful which should appeal to my young, female audience.

Section Six: Cancelled Photoshoot

Jordan contacted me today as she can no longer do the photo shoot on Monday as she has a last minute university group session that she can't miss. Unfortunately we are not available at the same time until late January, which will put the project behind schedule.

We've made the decision to cancel the shoot.

Although I am disappointed that this area of the magazine seems to be quite problematic, it is a good chance for me to learn how to problem solve and manage a project effectively. In a "real life" situation people do cancel, and you have to be able to make decisions in order to still hit deadlines.

I'm hoping to find a new blogger who can model for the shoot before the 10th January and who is a bit closer to Portsmouth as Falmer Village was quite far away. Hopefully having someone nearby will be easier and be less likely to fall through.

Onwards and upwards!

Section Six: Preparing for a Photoshoot

On Monday I'm going to Falmer Village, to do the Autumn lookbook photo shoot with Jordan. We have been chatting back and forth about the shoot and she has also contributed ideas for things like locations etc as she knows the area better than me. 

We have decided on 5 outfits - the idea being that there is one for each day of university - and to shoot in locations that have an outdoorsy yet city vibe. Jordan's style is quite preppy and cutesy (like the unicorn shirt, heart print shorts and hand made tshirt) with tailored, polished items (like the leather tube skirt) which is ideal for the magazine and nature of the shoot. 

I have sifted through all of Jordan's outfit posts on her blog and put together these mini "mood boards" of the outfits I want her to wear. I sent them to her to give her an idea of the vibe I'm going for and she is happy to bring along these outfits! 

I only created these mood boards to give her an example of what I want however I quite like the style and might end up using a similar layout for the real lookbook! 

I'm excited for the shoot and will post my photographs on Monday. 

Section Six: Conducting Interviews

I am now well underway with interviews and have already interviewed Corrie, Jemma, Anna and Areeba.

As I'm no longer including Pixiwoo in the magazine Corrie's interview is now the main interview and she will also be featured on the front cover. The article will focus on how she became a full time blogger and her career so far. These are the questions I sent her:

As you can see, I separated them into four main sections. This helped me to progress the questions so that the interview flows well and is easy to follow. Corrie is quite a chatty person and so I expected quite detailed responses, which indeed I got (which is brilliant and very much in the writing style I wanted!). 

I'm very happy with how this article is coming a long and I don't think it requires a lengthy intro and outro. 

This interview was conducted via email which was more convenient for Corrie who is in the middle of moving to Shrewsbury. She has given me permission to use photographs from her blog and Instagram in her article. 

Jemma

For Jemma's interview, I took a much more relaxed approach. We have a good friendship so I was able to spend a lot more time with her. I decided to conduct the interview "live" via Twitter chat. I made a list of questions and prompts but allowed room for Jemma's answer to lead the interview in a natural direction. 

This has lead to a really honest interview that I think will come across well to readers. I think they will feel like they are personally chatting to Jemma which is what I was aiming for. The interview focuses on her launch of The Girl Gang and how it is empowering young women in the blogging industry and beyond (thus appealing to the bloggers and none-bloggers in my audience).

Jemma has also given me permission to use her photographs relating to The Girl Gang community.

Areeba

Areeba volunteered to take photographs of her art journal for the magazine and took part in an interview. I sent her the questions via Twitter but it wasn't a live interview, as a lot of the questions required thought out and complex answers. 

I tried not to create questions that were too leading as I wanted Areeba to express her artistic style and inspirations to the audience, freely. Below is our interview:

I only gave her 10 questions as I want the main focus of the article to be her artwork. 

Anna

The final interview I conducted this week was with Anna from dontcrampmystyle.co.uk for the Blog Space article. I wasn't originally sure about what kind of questions I would ask for this article or how many. The main idea of the post is to show off her blogging work space and schedule, however since she is an interior designer I wanted to get an insight into her inspiration behind the space. 

I did some research and found THIS series from Urban Outfitters. I used some of their questions as a starting point and developed some of my own too. 

I conducted the interview via email and have received Anna's answers today. 

Anna's interview. 

Again I have been given permission by Anna to use her photographs in the article. 

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Anna and Areeba both speak English as a second language and so I will need to edit their responses a little bit, so it makes more sense. However, overall I am really happy with the interviews so far and think I have a solid start for my magazine content. I am now writing the intro and outros for these interviews and I'm hoping to start working on some other articles later this week.