In this Documentary Project, I had to portray an intriguing person, group, place, or idea. By gathering primary and secondary research sources, I was able to develop a distinct perspective about my subject’s significance in the community and world. The research-based paper from English serves as the copy for the magazine article in Design. This unit emphasizes a narrative-style journalism.

Vision and Inspiration

My idea for how my Documentary Product would turn out in the beginning was very different to how it actually ended up being. I had to change my topic a total of three times. The first idea was a dud to begin with. I was going to interview a Ukulele shop that was in my area, but I never got a reliable response from them. After about one and a half weeks of trying I gave up on that and moved onto a different idea. This one was very different from the other idea because I wanted to profile a basketball trainer that had helped me improve my game as well as many many others. The logistics were going to be tricky because he had just moved away to San Diego, but I realized that I could get the photos I needed if I just visit him over Spring Break. It was at this point when I had everything figured out and ready to go that we were put under a Shelter in Place order due to Covid-19. I was devastated because I wouldn’t be able to take the trip I desperately needed in order to get enough pictures.

With all that in mind, I changed my topic once again to a home-based project that is centered around my six month old dog Cali. We were just in the stages of training her, and I thought, “What could be better than making a project about everything we were screwing up in training our dog?” Thats what I settled on and I put my heart and soul into finishing it. Through this project I was able to realize that I can adapt to change. It definitely wasn’t the smoothest ride of my life, but looking back I can pat myself on the back knowing that I did this thing that was super hard when it was just thrust in my face.

The paper itself is a documentary that follows how my family, but most importantly my mom, made mistakes with our puppy. There was a lot that we were doing wrong, and throughout, we were able to change put ourselves on the right track. I interviewed the dog trainer for our puppy, as well as my mom, and a family friend who has had a dog in her life since she was young.

In making this magazine, I didn’t really know where to start in terms of layout or structure. I decided the best way to learn would be to expose myself to as many different magazines as I could. As I read and read I found that the best ones were often simple and clear, but would always have something beyond just text to make the read more fun.

Photogallery