construction

For my magazine I looked at many different genres and looked at many styles of magazine. At first I started with copying  Clash Magazine, I then moved on to create my first draft of my magazine. After this, I changed the genre of the magazine and the style and continued to play with layout of the magazine until I created the design that I was looking for.

To create my magazine I used a program called "Adobe InDesign". This is a top of the range piece of software that magazine companies use to design their magazines. The program made use of guides and set boxes to ensure that everything was aligned correctly. This was a key advantage in designing my magazine. The program contains over three hundred different fonts but external websites offer font plugins that give a more specific style of text.

The program also offers a layering system which adds depth to the image. This is a useful tool as it creates very good effects on the magazine front cover making it stand out.

Copy of Clash Magazine

http://www.clashmusic.com/

When starting the copy of Clash Magazine I started by copying the fonts for the different texts on the page. I found it difficult to match the font used for the masthead because “Clash” have patented the font to protect its unique image and to stop other magazines from copying their design.

The colour scheme is interesting, white, yellow, black, red and white on a black background. This colour scheme makes it very interesting and more noticeable on the page. The masthead really stands out on the top of the page and this would make the magazine more noticeable when on the shelf in a shop.

Getting the right proportions for the page was very hard because they are very carefully balanced with the main model. This is interesting because all of the features that are listed in the magazine are surrounding his face. This has been carefully proportioned and works very well on the front cover.

The magazine also makes it clear that having James Blake in the magazine is a highlight because his name is on the front of the magazine and is in the largest text. He is also referred to as "The Crowned Prince of the Quiet Revolution". This suggests he is very significant within the magazine.

When I was replicating the shot I used two soft boxes and pointed them straight at the model. This was to make sure that it is bright and clear just like the model in Clash. I asked the model to keep a  neutral face but when the images I was getting were not looking like the model Clash had used I decided to ask him to look slightly more up beat. This created the desired effect I was after.

To cut the model out I used the magnetic lasso tool provided by "Adobe Photoshop". This is a tool that can cut images out based on different colours and hues. It has around 80% - 90% accuracy. For this image it worked perfectly and the end result was particularly effective for this magazine. I then set the background to 100% transparency and then used a yellow gradient for the background. I was very pleased for the end result.

Construction of my copy

Getting the right sizes and fonts was difficult for this magazine. The font used in the masthead is patented and I had to use the closest font to the magazine which I could find. For the straplines it was clear that the font was Arial so I used this:-

The bar code that the magazine uses has "Clash Magazine Issue No 234" written beneath it. I was able to recreate this in my copy.

First daft of magazine.

This was my front cover I was happy with the colour scheme and the positioning of the model. However, I was trying to do a dance style magazine.

I was pleased with the layout and the text but there were a few obvious problems. The photos were from one shoot, this means that my contents page loses variety making it less interesting. This being my first draft gave me a lot to work on for my final page. 

 This was the front cover and contents page for my own magazine

This is the barcode that I used. I put in a relevant date and made it small on the page

This was an incentive that I planned to use on the front cover of Pulse Magazine. The artist "Skrillex" was relevant to the genre of music

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSeNSzJ2-Jw

When I asked a variety of people what they thought of the magazine they said that it wasn't as rebellious as they would have expected a dance magazine to be. It was too reserved and looked too well behaved. Because of this, I decided to change the whole magazine to the rock genre. I felt I would be able to use the skilsl that I learnt from my practice to create a magazine in the style of old school rock.

From Rock Smith to Ripped

This was the start of my front page. I had gone for the old school rock style. My inspiration was Uncut Magazine. The magazine looked at new artists e.g. Ray Davis and also the older artists e.g. David Bowie. I liked the bold style of the magazine and the way it was laid out on the page was really eye catching and stood out against other magazines. I decided to have a quote underneath the headline because it gives a preview of what is going to be inside the magazine. I feel this is a really effective of selling the magazine and makes it more appealing.

This was the unique barcode that I made for the magazine

This was the barcode after the magazines name changed.

It contained: An issue number, date, price for specific country and the website for the magazine.

I chose this photo for the corner because it was brightly coloured. This would stand out from the background which is going to be black and white. The text is also brightly coloured to stand out as well. The black text which is shown on those images is going to be white to stand out from the main picture.



 This part of the magazine front cover is selling the magazine with a quote from the main article. It is an interesting quote and will attract the readers attention.

 These are all featured articles in the magazine. They will make people want to read the magazine and are informative to the reader as to what is inside.

The new side bar contained bands and artists that were more relevant to the genre of magazine. This would make it more appealing to people who are interested in metal/punk music.

As the style of my magazine had changed from old school rock to a more punk/rock genre I needed to change the list of people on the front cover to more relevant artists. This would make my magazine look more authentic and relevant to the genre.

The strapline at the top of the page is so that the readers know a bit more about what is in the magazine and it is also used to sell the magazine. The artist I have chosen is muse. The band is relevant to the genre of the magazine and readers would be interested in their new album.

 This was the Masthead for my magazine. I chose the name because it incorporates the genre of music in the name. The "Smith" gave it a familiar sounding tone.

This was the new design I created after messing around with different fonts and pictures. I decided to keep the contrast high for the photo to make the shadow stand out and to make the image look dark and threatening.

This was the original image

This was the image with a basic black and white

This was after I had raised up the contrast and turned up the brightness as well.

After some more playing with the font I decided to keep the metal type one for the double page spread. I used a font called Vinque.

Another adjustment that I made was to turn the black text white and to move everything on the right down so that the page didn't look cluttered. When I had some feed back from the target audience they said that the text was too "medieval" and that it didn't suit the magazine at all.

I then decided to investigate possible other fonts.

http://www.1001freefonts.com/

These were the different texts that I considered when I was designing the front cover. I found it hard to decide which one to use as they all created a different look on the page. While researching other magazines I noticed that lots of them used an embossed effect. I decided to look at some different embossed texts. They were effective but had a white front to them. I didn't think this would work well on my magazine so I then looked at other fonts. http://www.1001freefonts.com/

The font I finally found really fitted the punk genre and was perfect for what I needed.

The title RIPPED fitted the punk/rock genre and the masthead was positioned so that it went across the top of the page.

As I continued to edit the front cover I was able to put the letter "I" behind the picture in the corner. I thought that this was a very good effect.

After receiving feed back from my target audience I decided to add a free CD incentive to help sell the magazine, this has been done in bright colours so it stands out.

This type of magazine would normally be published in a plastic wallet that would contain the free CD. The free CD is a key feature of  magazines similar to mine and is available in almost every single issue

Contents Page Construction

 

This is my contents page photo. I wanted the photo to make the person be surrounded in mystery. This is what a lot of the uncut magazines do to make people want to read the magazine. The photo has a high contrast and this again adds to the sense of mystery.

 This was the first edition of the contents page. The font definitely needed changing but I was happy with how the photo looked on the page and the surrounding content.

This was after I changed the font of the title to make it more interesting and appealing.

This was my contents page after some more work. I had changed the font of contents to suit the house style.

I have also used regular features for a feel of regularity

The word dubstep has been outlined in yellow and written in black text. This has been done to make the text stand out against the black background. This is to make sure that people see it and want to read it. People who would be reading the magazine would be fans of the metal/punk genre, it is a well known fact that they hate dubstep. By making it stand out it grabs the readers attention and this makes them want to read it.

After correcting spelling and changing the sizes of certain areas of text my contents page was finished

Construction of the double page spread 

When making the double page spread I had many options to consider. I had to use the house colours and this would mean choosing what colours to use as the back ground and what colours to use as the text and the title. The colours I had chosen were red, yellow and black. The colours when used in the right way would work well but used in the wrong way would clash and be offset. I experimented with the different colour combinations and found that black would definitely be the best colour for the back ground, red for the title, yellow for the descriptions and then a white text to stand out against the dark back ground.

My next problem was what font to use. The fonts offered by InDesign were good but not many had a rockish/metal feel to them. I then looked on the internet and found several plugins that would suit the genre of magazine I had chosen. The font looked good on the page and suited the house style. It looked so good that I changed it to be the house text.

After deciding the textual issues I moved on to the main image. This would have to be something dark and sinister. To create this effect I lowered the contrast of the person. This made the image seem much darker than it really was. I then set the image to black and white so it would suit the house style.

This was the original photo

This was the photo after editing it to fit the house style. It mimicked the style of the front cover.

The coat of the model matched the background on the other page of the double page spreed. This almsot made it blend in to the page. I thought it was very effective and fitted the page well.

This was my double page spread after some more editing and a full spelling check to ensure perfect grammatical continuity. 

This was the design I came up with. The titles font is very unique to the metal genre. The dark style also goes with the genre which can be very dark at times.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5Hv0tsvpyU

The page number is only on the left page. This is common on many magazines of a similar genre.