Luke Brazier created a media production log to document the process of designing a music magazine called SNARE. The log outlines 13 steps: 1) initial research and idea generation; 2) drawing initial layout designs; 3) photographing models for images; 4) designing the front cover; 5) beginning the contents page; 6) creating a double-page article spread; 7) finishing the contents page; 8) gathering feedback; 9) taking additional photos; 10) redesigning the front cover based on feedback; 11) redesigning the contents page; 12) redesigning the double-page spread; 13) posting the final designs to his blog. Based on feedback, Luke deemed several of his initial designs

1. Media Production Log
Luke Brazier

2. Step 1:
• Before I could do anything I had to start thinking about the
potential designs of my media product that I could make. I did this
by researching existing products and seeing what they looked like
and had in common with one another so that I could use some of
those thing in my designs.
• I wrote the findings down and came up with some initial ideas and
names that were in my mind. I then showed these names to a few
people that I thought I would aim my product at to see what was
popular, from this I found SNARE to be the most popular and so I
chose this to be the name of my music magazine.
• These parts of the production didn’t really include much design
work more idea building and so because it was all in my mind and
just mixing thoughts together meaning at this stage nothing could
go wrong as everything I came up with could be used. And was
used.

3. Step 2
• After collecting data and ideas I decided to start the design
process of my magazine , to do this I drew up some designs
to get an idea of what I wanted to do in a layout sense and
also I see what images may go well on the magazine.
(unfortunately I had to redraw the drafts after the first two
were lost but thankfully I knew what the layout was so I
was able to draw them a second time without problem).
• I drew up some designs and used them as guides for when I
arranged the images I wanted to take and place onto my
magazine, I also added some colours on a separate photos
shop document to see what colours were contrasting and
went well together to find three that I could use as a colour
scheme from my product.

4. Step 3:
• After drawing the drafts I needed to take the pictures that I
wanted and so I messaged the person that I wanted to be in my
magazine and we arranged a date as to when I was able to take
pictures, using his house as a location and his clothes, guitars as
props.
• The photoshoot went well and I managed to take a total of 56
pictures overall giving me a lot to choose from in the future as I
begun to make my magazine on the computer. The pictures I
took were taken in three settings with four different costumes
to give the impression that they were taken on different
occasions when in reality they were not, to the right are some of
the images I didn’t use (circled in red) and some I did (circled in
green).
• Unfortunately what I failed to realise at this point was that I
needed some more pictures of different models and I had to
take some more pictures at a later date after realising this which
messed up the design process of my magazine as I found myself
searching for pictures I could use that looked different.

5. Step 4:
• After taking the pictures I could start the making process
on Photoshop of my front cover, I used the front cover as a
starting point because I thought it would be a lot easier to
carry theme through the pages if I were to start on the
very first and arguably most important page of the whole
magazine. To start with all that I could do was the title as
they were the most important parts of the design and the
most poignant parts to the design.
• After a few days I was able to say that I had completed the
front cover however I found out at a later date that
changes needed to be made but the image to the right is
what I thought was the finished front cover until later
deemed it as a draft and changed a few things around.

6. Step 5:
• After I had designed and finished the front cover, (which was quite easy
as I knew quite a lot about Photoshop and how to use the effects and
tools to my advantage to manipulate and enhance graphics on screen),
I then began to make my contents page.
• The contents page was a long page to design as it took on a lot more
text than the front cover and had to be layed out in a very different
way so that it was visually appealing yet also usable. I used my research
the help me in this process by using a band index which is similar to
what NME use in their contents pages. I didn’t finish this page before
starting my double page spread as I wanted to get the images I had
taken all onto the paper in some way and get the layouts done so that I
could see what it was looking like. Doing this made me lose some
thought and as a result I ended up using a different font than I did on
the front cover and I also forgot about the colour scheme on the
contents page which I later corrected, these mistakes deemed the
contents page as a draft as well as the front cover.
• Also at this stage I had not added any text as that was the last thing I
did because I thought it was going to take the most time.

7. Step 6:
• After finishing my contents page early and unfinished
I started my double page spread which I already had
all of the text for because I had written a draft
interview at an earlier date which I could copy and
paste onto this page and then fill in the space. I had
an initial idea for these pages and it involved the use
of a lot of pictures and a lot of text which after doing
it I realised was a bad idea because the layout was
severely affected and there was too much covering
the pages, this then later on meant that this double
page spread was deemed as a draft as I redid it later
on in the making process.
• The double page spread took a long time to get all of
the information on and I realised that it was too full
at a point but didn’t change it until after I collected
feedback, the image to the right is the draft double
page spread and not the finished double page spread.

8. Step 7:
• After I thought I had finished the double page
spread I came back to the contents page to finish
it by adding all of the pages into the contents,
which turned out to be a very bad move as no real
music magazines were doing this and it meant my
layout was jeopardised and also that I had to
deem the contents page a draft.
• Also this was the point I realised that I used
images of one person way too much and so had to
take some more pictures later on in the process
when I redid the contents page. To the right is the
finished draft contents page.

9. Step 8:
• At this point I thought I was finished with the
designing of the magazine and I gathered thoughts
from peers and people that fitted my target markets
age and specification.
• I then posted the relevant data onto my blog and left
it there until I received comments that said I should
change things in the magazines which I agreed with
after looking back again at real music magazines, it
was at this point I deemed my previous efforts as
drafts and placed them into a PowerPoint to say what
went wrong and what needed to be improved upon.
• Then after this I started changing the designs.
Too full, no need for the
text boxes, the image on
the front doesn’t come
through enough, its too
closely packed together
and needs to be
rearranged
There are too many pages
on here, the layout needs
to change, the images
have the same person in
and they need to be
retaken, also change the
font.
There is too much text, no order, the images go
across the two pages, restructure the pages and take
away some text, have a clearer theme throughout
the magazine.

10. Step 9:
It was at this point I took some extra
pictures to add to my magazine, the
images I had already were okay but in
order to change the contents page I
needed some new images. They were
taken of two other models and taken
in a different environment than the
original ones also using different
camera picture styles for example on
was a full body shot and one was a
headshot adding more variety to the
magazine.
To the right are the images I took and
used on the new contents page.

11. Step 10:
• Changes to the front cover were important, and so I did these almost
instantly, at the same time as taking pictures for the contents page.
The front cover needed some real changes to make it better than
before and I had to get rid of a lot of the layers on the front cover to
make it look less full and make the image in the middle come out
through the cover a lot more. Also I changed the title and added
more red to the image so that I could then do the same on the
contents and double page spread keeping the colour scheme
throughout all of the pages.
• The red on the main image killed two birds with one stone as it
brought the image forward and made it look more important as well.
The layout was made a lot less cramped and things were moved
around the page to make it easier to read. I thought up a new tagline
to fit in with the name of the magazine and added it in a strip at the
bottom of the page which worked really well aesthetically. To the
right is the finished front cover (green) which has been changed and
was then labelled as my finished design on my blog and also the old
draft front cover as a comparison (red).

12. Step 11:
• Changing the contents page was difficult because
a lot of work went into making all of the pages
link up with the band index and thinking of all the
title to put on all of the pages was really difficult,
but I understood that removing all of the text
would make the contents page a lot easier to
navigate through, also now I had some new
images to put in the page and make the magazine
less orientated around one person.
• I also copied the line from the title in the front
cover and moved it through the contents page
along with the exact same colours and shades to
move the colour scheme through the magazine.
• To the right is the old and the new contents
pages, old (red) new (green).

13. Step 12
• Remaking the double pae spread was
easy, all I had to do was take away
some text and rearrage the images, it
was quick and took a lot less time than
the other two pages. The changes on
this page were mainly because I ad too
much on the page so when changing
things the delete button was my friend
as I got rid of text I didn’t need and
moved things around, even getting rid
of some images.
• To the right is the new and old double
page spread for comparison.

14. Step 13:
• This was the step where I posted everything onto my blog allowing it
to be viewed by people within my target market and also by people
around the world.