3. Front Cover
I aimed for a 'fun and youthful energy through colour pallet and people featured', I believe I achieve this
with my front cover. The colour pallet is fun and offers range and the image also features a strong bold
red colour through the clothing, I made sure the model was natural and minimal other colour was used
on the image due to the attention the red jumper brought alone and I also wanted some attention on
photography through pose and expression.
The words I chose to use on the magazine other than the masthead where also minimal, I didn’t want
lots of tag lines as I wanted a clean looking cover and I feel tag lines clutter the cover and divert
attention. There would be one big tagline, telling the reader the main theme of the current issue and
them following the name of who is featured. This is the only information I wanted to give the reader
because aseptically I think it looks better being minimal and because of my illustrated background there
was no blank areas and also being partly photography magazine, I felt image was more important than
text and didn’t want my front cover cluttered in words (taglines).
4. I wanted the cover to stand out from other magazines and
even stand out from other of the same magazine but
doing this and keeping with the code and conventions
seemed difficult and eventually I thought to do this
through background. Trail and error found my second
background was best to use due to the contrast the red
hearts in the first background contrasted with the final
image I chose. The image I chose for the first background
the model is in all black and even though there is lots of
action in the image the background took over too much
attention on the other hand the eye illustrations balanced
nicely being black against the red jumper and that also
allowed me to have more range for colour with fonts. I
created both background on photoshop and used stock
images of google.
The Title of my magazine is unique and wanted the masthead design
to stand out without much to it. I narrowed it down to three fonts,
'Bench Grinding Titling', 'Teen' and 'Impact'. In the end I chose
'Impact' as it stood out the most and also worked well along side the
name itself, the name "printisdead" is dramatic and a statement put
together to make one word. Therefore needs to be bold and just as
dramatic when illustrated.
5. I didn't want too much on the front cover, in turns
of text and imagery, I wanted the main image to be the
focal point and the only other text than the masthead to
relate to the main article. I used two fonts ' JMH
Apocrifa' and 'Skytree' to create the extra text I added
to the front cover. This text acts as an inside glimpse at
the issue and who is featured. Each different issue with
have a name, being the first one the one I've made is
called 'The New issue'. Ideas for others include "the
Love issue", "The film issue", 'The People issue" etc. I
chose these two different fonts because I thought they
worked well along side each other. I chose the
turquoise colour after trying different blue tones, I
wasn’t happy with any I was testing therefore I used
the site 'Paletton.com' and inserted the bold red colour
from the jumper my model is wearing, and Palerton
then showed me 3 colours in the same colour scheme
that don’t clash with my bold red. The turquoise was
my favourite option because it offered a light colour
compared to the bold red but didn’t allow itself to
disappear along side the other aspects e.g. image and
background. I added a drop shadow to both pieces of
text to make them stand out from the background and
give more definition, I also added a black stroke
around "The new issue" so that the two text are
separated slightly.
6. I did two photoshoots with Emily Grace
Jenkins, and had other 2000 photos
altogether. I narrowed it down to 4 for my
front cover, and again narrowed it down to 2
when I decided I wanted some colour on my
model as the background was black and
white. In the end I chose the second image
of Emily in the red jumper, The one with her
head slightly tilted back. I chose this
because it wasn’t a typical straight on model
pose it added some action with her head
being slightly tilted. The struggles I found
where picking the picture through having so
many and also the editing (cutting out)
especially for the image of Emily twirling. To
get around this I used the mask tool and cut
out as best as I could particles of hair, and
let photoshop find the tiny spots that needed
cutting out through the mask option.
7. DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
I planned from the beginning for my DPS to feature an article about my model who appears on the
cover, (Emily Grace Jenkins). I wanted to a neutral colour scheme because the article speaks about
red lipstick" and I wanted the colour scheme to feature hints of red and everything else neutral. The
colour scheme is a collection of white, grey, black and a dark red. The article is going to feature
Emily's biggest successes in her career so far and her next big project with the makeup brand
"MAC". I wanted a main image again but I also knew I wanted to feature some fun images of Emily in
action, jumping or laughing along them lines. I wanted to do this because I thought it was the best way
to show her personality, and the article is about her therefore I wanted herself to come across
because I decided not to do an interview style article, and therefore lost Emily's voice but with some
images of her in actions allows the readers to see a little of her personality.
This was my original design I
started with and I quickly
realised it didn’t work as a
double page spread. I kept the
writing as I felt this did work
and kept the red coming
through slightly. I also still
used the image just as a
smaller image with 3 other
images related to that one.
I used a different photo of Emily
grace Jenkins as my focal image as I
like the angle (the article talks
about her successful career and
how she continues to rise)
therefore a image looking up at
Emily creates a sense of power and
importance. I also changed the
background and added a grey
colour to fit most of the
background and with Emily
wearing a plain white Tee shirt,
visually the colour scheme worked.
Having basic bland colours with the
8. I wanted her name to be the article title because the article and
taking about her career so far and what's to come. I chose for
her to be a make up brand ambassador as well as a model due
to the photoshoot I did using red lipstick from start to finish. The
red lipstick stand out and therefore gave me the idea to create
the fact Emily Grace is collaborating with MAC makeup, making
a red lipstick. This idea gave me my colour scheme of neutral
colours (white, grey and black) and the featuring hints the
darkened red colour.
I used the font "Big Casion" for both my article title and quote. I
laid out my title splitting both her first names into two separate
words on different lines, and for the first letter of each name, "E"
and "G", I made them the same darkened red that is hinted
throughout the DPS. I laid it out this way because I had a small
area for text and it also looks nice, you can read it still correctly
and also adds a creative aspect to the DPS, instead of just
reading the title you can also appreciate the creative aspects.
I kept my article font as 'Arial' because its clear and easy to read
and also simple so doesn’t add more that it needs to.
9. IMAGES
I used phots from the first
photoshoot I did with Emily Grace
Jenkins and used two different
outfits. I chose for the focal image to
have Emily in a medium shot facing
upwards, she's wearing a plain white
tee in a knot and bold red lipstick.
The three smaller images I chose where off Emily in more active poses and from straight on in
medium long shots. She's wearing a black mesh top with her bra visible through and her bold red
lipstick is visible throughout. I wanted to show her personality in the DPS as the article is about
Emily personally, therefore I picked and focal image was showing dominance and power through the
camera angle and also shows her red lipstick and that being a big part of the article worked nicely.
The three images showed her fun, silly and sexy side through posing and facial expressions.
I brightened every image in photoshop and constructed the photos and background also in
photoshop. I then merged the layers of pictures and the background together and made a JPEG. I
then in InDesign uploaded the JPEG of the background and images and then fit in my text and added
any extra features. I struggled using InDesign as I don’t have a lot of knowledge on the software and
working my way around it can be time consuming, to get round this I constructed most of my work
on photoshop and them transferred it to InDesign to finalise and neaten up. I am happy with my
result but out of all three (front cover, Double Page Spread and website) the DPS proved most
difficult creatively as I struggled with lay out, in particularly how to place the images.
10. WEBSITE
Introduction Page
Upon entering my website the first page you come
across is an introduction page which displays a
slide show of multiple pictures from the cover
shoot with Emily Jenkins. The slide show
automatically slides through each slide.
'PRINTISDEAD' is plastered across the middle of
the slide show and underneath to the right in red
writing "fashion photography magazine". I liked
the colour concept of keeping it linked to my front
cover and DPS, therefore red is a continuing
colour favour throughout all 3 pieces. The intro
page strongly resembles the magazine cover as I
want the viewers/readers to instinctively know
they're on the right site and know which issue is
the most recent. Viewers/readers will find a red
button white the white letters spelling out "enter"
where upon clicking will take them on to the site,
straight to 'photo collections.'
What I don’t like about my introduction page was the background
which I intended for the illustrations to be smaller but found my
way around wiz hardy to handle at first and as the introduction
page was one of the first things I did I ended up with the
illustrations bigger than planned. I don't think it effect the over all
too much although I do think it draws attention away from the title
"PRINTISDEAD."
11. My one flaw with the over all look of the Photo Collection page was the lack of
colour. Although I wanted the images to illustrate most of the colour I would
next time like to learn how to change details on the website wix.com, as I
would of liked to change the "IS" in "PRINTISDEAD" to the on going red colour
but couldn't work out how to change one park of the text. Therefore because I
could not add the on going red colour in the name I made it so as you click on
the title it changes red and re directs you to the intro page. This is a link that’s
featured on every page, I did this as I felt keeping the website cohesive not only
through out but also with both the magazine front cover and double page
spread was important because I wanted them all to be linked and related to
one another.
This page is the 'Photo Collection' page, where photo collections
by different photographers are organised for readers to find and
view easily. Most of these articled would be featured in the print
additions also but with some primary for the website alone. Each
image is a representation of the images in the collection, readers
click the images to direct them to the full collection.
The collections range from quirky fashion and
beauty shots to creative, eye catching imagery of
nature and natural settings. The layout of each
collection in based of what fits each collection, and
which layout with a montage, random placement
or a slideshow, shows the pictures to there best
quality. I originally had all the collections set out as
slide shows but felt the website then lacked a
creativeness that adds excitement for the readers.
Its not just what they're looking at its how its being
displayed, therefore I spent time arranging each
collection to what I felt fit best.
12. The lay out for the article are simple with the title being
distinctive under each photo in a box. Readers click on
either the picture which is related to the article, or the
box with the article title in it to get to each individual
article. The articles are based off everything in the
fashion/photography industry. From updates of recent
fashion shows to features of people in the industry,
there is a wide selection for the readers to chose from,
some being short and simple to more complex reads.
I originally planned to make more articles that would
relate back to the magazine print work I made, but due
to tie purposes I couldn’t complete, next time I'd set out
a more detailed plan of each individual aspect of the
project before starting to construct it. I hope to carry my
website on and keep updating and running the site as
I'm proud of what I've created and believe it’s a good
concept.
13. I created a subscription page so that
readers can subscribe to receive the
bi-annually print additions of the
magazine and also by sending us their
email they’ll receive updates on the
latest on the website.
The colour cohesion continues to
follow through each individual page,
including the subscription page which
I thought changing the name
"PRINTISDEAD" in the paragraph was
visually be effective and also lets the
red colour translate nicely.
With this project and my last film
project I struggled with time
management, I always give myself to
much work construction wise that is
possible to achieve in the time period.
Next project I want to have a clear
plan that I'll stick to and complete
before adding or changing anything.
14. Conclusion
Over all I'm very happy with my project. I felt I achieved the look and style magazine I wanted and was able to have
the unique aspects with make the magazine fun and pleasing to look at and read. Print is a subject I'm passionate about and I
want to continue to grow with the software's used in this side of media, for example my aim is to progress my knowledge on
InDesign and also to learn basics on Illustrator as I believe illustrator can help me with making my own original designs. For
example my background to my front cover, I had to edit separately from an image and construct it myself, when I really want
to learn to construct it myself from scratch and I think illustrator is a good way to start to do this.
It took my about a week to get my heads around working Wit website builder. At first I struggled with adding different
elements and also making a subscription page really confused me. But after a talk through with someone will lots
of knowledge with working with Wix.com I was able to construct everything I planned on constructing.
My biggest mistake with this project was my time management. Because I was so passionate and loved my project I wanted
everything to be perfect and as a perfectionist its rare anything is, I kept adding things and changing small details which now I
look back on just wasted too much time. I want a clear plan in my next project with exactly what I'm doing on it and once I've
met all the marks on my plan I'll then go over adding and changing things that I'm not happy with.
My double page spread I felt really resembles that of professional magazine but with its own unique look. The double page
spread I also do like and I'm proud of cresting even though it was off my original planning idea, it came together successfully
and I'm happy with the end results.
