Flat Plans

 

 

My front cover has a compact and varied layout designed to draw the attention of young minded fans.  My audience are students often with hyperactive lifestyles, therefore I have related the design of my front cover to this criteria, for example, positioning angled text, 3D designed banners and a mass of scattered text and imagery.  I have tried to equal out the sides of my magazine compared with my last design, therefore the magazine should look more professional.  I have achieve this with help from my research.  Typically I found that most text was positioned on the right and the main Artists heading and stand out stories where positioned on the left.

 

 

 

I have chosen a text based design.  As my target audience are students, I plan on having some interest but short and sweet text, as interest can be lost in long bodies of text.  I have used an interesting layout to appeal directly to the dance music genre of "mixing things up."  As advertisements, I have included a subscription advert for all consumers.  This will improve the professionalism of my magazine as it follows trends seen in my research of professional magazines like DJ and Mixmag.

 

 

 

I decided to use an image which covered the whole of the right hand side of the page. From my research, I found that on a lot of double page spreads, the main artist photo does take up a whole page, or even one and a half pages.  On this particular double page, I decided two images would be appropriate on their respective pages.  As it was mainly my artist, if it was across two pages, I could lose part of his face within the gutter.  The image is the main focus of the double page spread, so therefore I have tried to make it a dominant feature by being innovative with textures,  making the artist image looking hand produced.  When this is added to my flat plan, I should hopefully give the reader an impression of the life of the artist.

 

I placed the title central, to the left,  on the right hand page, and made it quite large, as from my research, I found a large heading was used to capture the readers attention and instruct them as to the main purpose of the page.  I achieved this by using synergy within my title to create a hidden meaning, whilst having it in the largest font on the page to capture the readers attention.

 

Below my title is my lead, which will give the reader a small introduction to the purpose of the pages body text.  This is a convention of all media magazines and so is necessary to my magazine.  I will also use language that will intrigue the reader and convince them to carry on.

 

In my research I found that the image usually comes with a tag line or pull quote or caption, and so I have included one to the bottom left of my image.   I have also used a 3 column structure for my body text which will not make the page look to overcrowded.  Despite this, it also follows common trends found in my research of existing magazines like DJ and Mixmag.

 

 

Following on from above, the same conventions apply.  However, on this page I want my artist image to stretch across both pages and reach into the body copy.  Above I stated that it would be an issue to hide the artist's face in the gutter, and therefore I position my artist in such a way that only his legs would be positioned across the gutter.

Bellow the title and within the article I also included a pull quote.  This is a common convention within media magazines.  However, referring back to the gutter, it is important that text is not lost within this space and therefore it will need to be positioned correctly.

I also included a caption next to the artist, so that it ties the image in with the article.   

 

 

 

 

Here Is my main text based double page.  My artist image on the right page is suppose to look 3D, I so stretch's in from the bottom of the page and merges into the body copy area.  This then flows around the image as if the artist is impeding the text.  I found from research in DJ magazine that this is a common way of producing an effect image with a powerful meaning. 

 

For this double page I want a strong, youth ideology behind the image and design.  Therefore I have produced a page using striking and dynamic shapes to capture the eye of the reader.  Each shape penetrates or overlaps the other to create a feeling of convergence.  On to of this, my artist will be stood in a powerful pose using a low angle shot to increase/enhance the audience belief in the artists dominance. 

 

 Here, I wanted to show another side of Neorix, a quite more conservative personality.  Therefore, I have created a simply layout.  Both pages have a different story, the left being an article and the right being a page of advertisements.  The article on the left sits above a main image with Neorix planned to be standing on the right, facing the text.  I will allow my image to show his hidden worries and conservative personality through the setting the scene.  Also, through his costume, for example, a hooded jacket or coat.  I plan on positioning my artist under a bridge next to a quite canal.  I feel this would be a setting associated with a location where people would go to escape the chaos of society and modern life. 

Further Development

 

After the completion of my contents page, I decided it may be a good idea to add some red into my cover page to allow a house style to follow through.  Above is my first design.  I decided to switch it up and change the picture back to my original.  I feel this cover flows well and looks professional.  I also changed my heading to block white which also gives a more professional, common image.  I have used the same principle in the fact that my artists name is positioned central, to the left and in a large, stand out font.  The same font family is used over the whole page to keep it flowing and sticking to the style used in real media products. 

 

This is another design.  I kept almost everything the same as before.  However, I changed the "EXCLUSIVE" to the text used above, and changed to colour in certain areas.  Improving the sell lines (below NeORIX) in both these models has had a dramatic effect on the impression of the magazine.

 

Despite myself liking my top design on this post.  I conducted a "survey" with classmates and concluded that my original design to the proposal above was the most popular choice.  As my classmates are part of my target audience, I think it might be recommendable to follow their suggestion, even though they are a small representative sample.

Cover Ideas

Here is my original idea.  After looking at other magazines I decided to try different poses.  This is the more common position for a dance or rap artist to be stood in.  It is a medium shot with the artist either look directly at the camera, or off to the side.

 

 

Here is my second design.  I think this has more potential.  It has more colour and looks overall, more attractive.  His pose gives and atmosphere of a hidden identity with this artist.  Also my research does not have the artist covering the Masthead, which means this is a more relevant design for my research. 

 

Here is my final design.  Despite being my final attempt, I feel this is the weakest proposal.  It was difficult to Photoshop  was with Numerous creases in the artist's clothing.  I also believe that the purple and blue, on the black background does not work very well.  It merges in and becomes hard to see.  This means that it would not stand out on a shelf, compared with other competition.

 

I have used research to come up with my colour design.  I found that yellow and black, black on yellow and white thrown in, gave the most legible writing.  Therefore I have used this theme throughout this page, and on some of my double pages.  I have used Font families to keep the theme running and sans serif and serif fonts appropriately.  Using banners has made certain things stand out which give the magazine a unique selling point, eg, competitions or party guides. 

Photoshop

Here I am creating the image for the left page on my 1st, down and dirty.  I have redefined the edges of each image, and added them to the same sheet.  I have provided them to the each individual layer.  Then created a 4th layer and painted it black with a soft brush.  Going back over each layer, I have painted around the edge of each image to fade it into the background.

 

 

 

After this, I wanted to change the effect.  For example, add a graffiti effect.  I did this by selecting the boundaries I wanted to (any skin showing, and the cap with headphones), shown by the white outlined area above.  I then went on Filter - Artistic and Poster edges.  This created the effect shown above.   

Now to crop the image into A4 and add it to my page.

Producing my final drafts

The next stage was to insert some of my images and to see what they look like.  I have only added them to 3 of my 5 double page spreads, and not yet my contents page. 

I have set up an online wall for my class mates to provide feedback on my magazine.  Therefore I can take any suggestions on board, to hopefully improve upon my design.  Not only this but I can have my work proof read by fellow class members.  This will eliminate any spelling issues and punctuation.

 

Cover Page: 

 

 

I have changed my artists clothing slightly from my cover page.  He still has his hat on and headphones, however no jacket. 

This is a mistake, more variation should be used.  Although my research uses the same clothing throughout, some other magazines in my research do not.

 

Double Page 2:

 

Double Page 3:

 

Double Page 5: