choices of photos + justifications

i chose the photo for my front cover as i needed one of a full band lineup in an actual shoot and this gave the desired dark effect i was going for. also it fit my magazine style(teenagers) and they represent the audience well.

i chose to use this photo as a front cover piece as it is the only mid action close-up i had and could be used for many purposes as it fit into my articles well. i had to remove/fill the black space but it worked well.

i used this photo for my contents page as it is a medium length 3/4 body action shot which grabs the readers attention and could be used for effect as the man represents someone well known in the audience community. i left it raw as it was only a preview of the photos to come.

this photo is a re-edited and cropped version of the photo above. i used this as a gray as it isn't meant to grab the audiences attention straight away but the size makes it noticeable.

i used this photo as crowd photos are filler photos but can also attract the audience who went to that gig, as they may want to spot themselves(research into this i did at home which i have no file for showed that peoples eyes were drawn towards photos like this to search for themselves). it was mainly justified as a filler photo.

this photo was chosen for my magazine as it shows a mid action shot of the guitarist. i kept it small as it was a filler photo but it does attract people to it as the guitarist is wearing a bright shirt.

i chose this photo to be used as it was a mid action shot of a bassist, and bassists aren't usually pictured in many magazines(not a convention just a pattern) so i thought i would break this pattern and add this picture. it draws the audience to it as it was an interesting shot itself.

i used this photo also as a filler but the fact it is mid shot is also interesting as people will look at whats happening in the mid action photos. it is slightly dark but in my final product the levels had been altered to make it clearer.

this photo was simply included because it is part of the narrative of the review(stage invasion) and people will want to see pictures of the detailed events.

this next photo was added as it captured more than 3 band members and people will look at the photo if they recognise the members, it also helped to fill space in the magazine.

this photo was included due to the fact i have an interview style area with opinions from the audience and this included a band member and one of the audience, so it fitted perfectly with the plan for my magazine,

double page spread part 2

after realizing that my title was not in a suitable location and route of the eye would not flow as well as i had hoped, i had to move it so i re-sized my pictures to fit the new location of the title and moved the title to a place where the route of the eye would lead to the article(above the article, below the main picture). Also, i used shift and the re-sizing tool on my titles so that they were in proportion but larger and more noticable to the eye,

Once i realized that my magazine did not look up to a true professional standard, and the route of the eye was incorrectly placed. I then replaced the re-sized picture and added my titles in, meanwhile placing my main two columns of the text back to where they were as i deemed them fitting to stay where they were as i got a member of the class to look at my article and they managed to follow the text, they did not obstruct route of the eye, which meant that the article still worked as normal.

This became the final product. i noticed a large area of black space which i minimized with my best efforts by adding my logo in at the end of the article in large letters, which also makes it recogniseable to my readers so they know where the article is from. I considered the idea of enlarging my texts or removing pictures but i did not find any suitable ways to do these without ruining my overall desired look and looked unprofessional to my own eyes. In retrospect, i do believe that i could of improved it by rearranging the article and text from the start but i did not know this until i did more research into double page spreads.

Double Page spread Process

firstly, i placed all my text onto my page in the desired layout and used the drop text tool to make my text flow naturally. Also, now my boxes are aligned, i started to realize that i had large white gaps as my photos did not fit into the correct areas appropriately, so i decided to come up with a solution:

 I solved this problem by adding black boxes whilst in zoom of 200% or more, so i could close up all the white gaps that were irregularly sized. This meant that every space that was blank was covered eventually. I encountered one more problem whilst covering these spaces in which were pure black.

after i noticed this space in my text box i noticed had a large black space i couldnt remove, so i decided to add my logo into the box afterward to fill the room and say it was a 'HOMESICK EXCLUSIVE'. This was to add my logo to the page which seemed appropriate, and also it helped somewhat fill up the page's black space.


The next problem i encountered were that my boxes had become uneven and the text would not align correctly which made my double page spread look unprofessional. To combat this i re-aligned and resized the boxes with text in until they fit perfectly.

After i corrected these problems and added my pictures back in to fit. i have removed all problems that i encountered during it using zoom, boxes, space filling and resizing. I believed that i had finished but i encountered some more problems which i have addressed in Part 2 of this post.

Font Choices

FOR MY MAGAZINE, I CHOSE ONE CONSISTENT FONT:
Helvetica.
there are many variations of it in my magazine, for example:

 this is an example of my use of a helvetica, bold and oblique, slanted to the angle of 24 degrees clockwise. this is a rendition of a popular clothing design brand and band logo( Supreme and Your Demise) which people will recognise.

 

another example is my titles were Helvetica Bold. i used this as it isa common font in the design world as apart from its clarity, it also looks standard and professional

how i edited one of my photos.

first off i opened the photo in photoshop.. then i went into image > image mode > grayscale (as you cant use RGB colour with black and white) so i could convert it to a dominant grayscale.

next and finally i pressed CMD and L to access the levels to alter my photo, and set the levels to what i saw fit, which was: Black: 0, Gray: 1.38 and White: 183

this gave the desired effect i wanted for my photo which was to highlight the foreground and give it a more vintage feel.

double page spread, photo choices

This is the first of the images i have selected for my double page spread, as it shows the strong vocalist presence of the band pictured. i may edit this picture as i could allow more focus on the lead Singer than the background images.

The second image i have selected to maybe use is this image. it features many members of one the band involved in the gig, and the lighting enhances the effect of the photo, if i use this photo i will edit and tone down the light as it gives a strong presence to focus on the background.

Another image i may use is the guitarist as it is an action shot it gives the feel of excitement from the gig and catches the eye of the reader. if i used this,i would edit it and take the jacket of the stupid photographer invading my photo space.

This next photo i might choose to use for my double page spread. i selected this photo as it shows stage diving which is an interaction between stage and crowd. people will look at this picture if they went to the gig and it will catch their eye as they will try to spot themselves in the photo.

i selected this photo as it is a mid action shot of the vocalist. if i used this photo i would edit out the close cut mic in my photo path as it obstructs the view and looks unprofessional.

i have selected this photo as it is crowd on the stage. this in an interaction between the crowd and the band, and once again people will try to spot themselves in it. i would put this in small and in black and white so it isn't a main priority.

i have selected this photo as it is a mid action shot, and it depicts a band member. he is quite famous so if people see his face(which is clearly shown in this picture) they will look and see him and recognize  him from his band and if they like them they will read the article.

i selected this photo as it depicts the bass player who is famous and spotlights him in mid action, so it will grab the readers attention as they wonder what was going on.

i selected this photo as it depicts more than one of the band members in mid action, and i can edit out the mic stand and half bodies if needed. the crowd are in it too

 This next photo was selected for my photo project as it portray the lead singer from a new angle that people in the crowd recognised. this would appeal to my audience as people recognise the lead singer. if i used this photo i would edit out the microphone.

This photo i have selected would be used in my double page spread as it shows the lead singer, the bassist and the crowd in mid action and is eye catching to the crowd. i would not edit this photo as it looks better raw than tampered with.

i have selected this photo for my double page spread as it is another mid action shot and appeals to the audience as they are intrigued what is going on in this photo.

this photo has been selected as it is intriguing to the audience, and portrayed an interaction between crowd and lead singer. if i were to use this photo it would be a side photo for it and i would edit out the pillar and microphone

i have selected this photo as it is also a mid action shot and portrayed 3 of the band members so people would recognise the members and be intrigued at the article. if i used this photo i would edit out the mic and put it small and in b+w filter

i have selected this photo as it is a mid action shot and portrays the bassist and in magazine the bassist is usually ignored, its not a convention just a pattern. i would not edit this photo and keep it large.

final product of my contents page

this is my final, packaged contents page. i believe i have done a good job on this, as i have solved problems and based my magazine on an NME layout but gave it my own flair. the colours would not be ideal for a magazine of a lighter genre, but metal and hardcore are very dark and heavy so dark colours would be more appealing to the fans of these genres, my target audience.

i believe i could of improved this by making changed to the colour schemes shade of red, ans it might not actually be dark enough to blend. i also would of used more optimal pictures for this, if i had of had the resources and time but these were used with the materials i have.

i also would of researched more into magazine layouts instead of reflecting the ideas of NME but it was simplistic and effective.

problem with my contents page.

 This was the first draft of my contents page. i realized that it was almost colourless, so i decided to use the black and red swatches to make it a darker colour but more eye catching than paper white. i also realized that the top and bottom picture were unprofessional, and at the time it was all i could use as a placemark. after February 27th i managed to get a new photo and replaced it to look like this:

in my second draft, i had added much more detail news and reviews columns where i realized the fonts were unprofessional(the subtitle font, VT100) and were unable to be packaged. i solved this problem by changing the font to the constant font i have been using, Helvetica Bold. but the next problem was that the bottom image was unprofessional and needed cropping.

as i attempted to fit this picture on, but due to its dimensions, as in a previous problem it needed to be cropped, it had lost its rectangular properties and had become square. when i re-sized the picture using shift(to keep it in proportion) it did not fit the required dimensions to make the magazine look neat.

Once i realized this, i tried to make the image fit horizontally, and that did not work. so i tried to make it fit horizontally after this.

This was my attempt at making it the correct size. this is in proportion still, and proportionate pictures are professional, so if i was to take it out of proportion, image quality would go down and it would stretch. so i decided to use a picture from my double page spread and used a new article.

After i placed a new picture, and a new article, it fit well, and then i could leave it at this, as i have solved almost all of the problems i have encountered with my contents page.all the problems concerning image resizing and non professionalism have been encountered and dealt with.

however looking back at my project i realized that it needed my logo on the page so i decreased the size of the words contents as it was huge and added my logo. also there was a large space next too one of my pictures so i added the words 'EXCLUSIVE' to cover some ground.

this is the final product of my music magazines front page. overall i believe that i did a good job on it but by going against conventions i caused myself a few problems. my magazine logo had to have a white background which gives a patchy effect. also, the red boxes do invade the vital areas of my page. if i could go back i would re-shoot this picture and use a 3/4 body shot to appeal to conventions(i chose full body). other than that my magazine seems to meet my standards,

contents page

the idea i wanted to create was a simple easy contents, like nme magazine, which i used as the base, i stole the ideas of the subscribe, the centre main articles, and the band index.
this is what i got in one lesson:

i used the band index on one side as it allows the reader to focus on the parts of the magazine they want to read and are attracted to. the centre pictures. the main two articles are placed in the middle as they are the ones that would appeal to my target audience.

my final product reflects NME in another way:

in my final product of my contents page i have reflected NME in its layout: band index  on the left, main articles in the centre and the rest of the contents on the right. this reflects NME magazines layout so my audience will recognise it  and it will make it more easily navigable for my audience, which will convince them to buy it.