Spencer Fox reflects on the process of designing and laying out a magazine cover and double page spread for their basketball magazine. They describe taking photos, adjusting images, and experimenting with layouts, coverlines, fonts, and colors. After several iterations, Spencer finalizes the design of the cover, double page spread, and additional interior pages featuring Spencer's training routine and a table of contents.

1. Production Reflection
Spencer Fox

2. Process
So far I have used the template I
created for the layout section of Pre-
Production and added the various
coverlines relating to the article I am
due to write shortly. I like the layout
that I created, although depending
on how the photoshoot in the studio
turns out. I plan on borrowing my
college basketball kit for that ‘shoot,
but in the event that I cannot do
that I’ll probably bring some of my
unbranded training gear to avoid
any copyright infringement.

3. Process
I have changed the masthead/name of my
magazine (because ”Basketball Insider” is a
name already taken in the media), added a
barcode and plenty of coverlines and filled the
blob with a free product, a training guide that
the cover athlete himself follows. I added a
black box and changed the opacity to 75% so
that the black coverlines can be seen over the
image that I add when it has been taken, and
underlined some of those to add emphasis as
well as allow for the reader to differentiate
between the name of the athlete and the other
articles within this month’s issue of ‘Basketball
Independent. I have yet to undergo a
photoshoot for the cover, but should be
available to do that shortly. The colours of the
masthead are subject to change as I’m going to
take colours directly from the cover photo so
that everything flows, aesthetically speaking. I
prefer the logo (the ‘I’ in “Independent”) to be
the same colour as it was originally, so I kept
that the same but changed the colours of the
rest of the masthead.

4. Process
To this point, I’ve taken a photo of a
basketball that we used during the warm
up before one of my college basketball
games. I then used the various
adjustment tools, like ‘brightness and
contrast’, ‘levels’ and ‘hue and
saturation’. These alterations improved
the look of the original image, adding
depth to the colours and adding an
almost cinematic look. The shallow depth
of field also helped the cinematic
aesthetic appeal of the photograph. I
also downsized the “also in this issue:”
section of the bottom coverline so that it
didn’t look oversized or draw more
attention than the articles themselves.

5. Process
I made a few small alterations to the last
version, mainly to due with the various
text that can now be more clearly seen.
The main coverline now stands out from
the darker coverlines below. It’s also a lot
easier to read due to the bright text. I also
altered the issue date to make it white and
moved it to the top left of the cover, just
below the masthead to make it more
noticeable. The other change I made was
the shape of the blob in the bottom right
corner, which is now a polygon, which I
drew using the shape tool. Everything is
subject to change until I have my ideal
front cover image taken and edited in the
studio. The colour of the masthead is
definitely going to become more vibrant as
at the moment it gets lost in the dark
background.

6. Process
Next, I started to create the double
page spread. This is the layout I
started with, adding where the
headlines will be and where the
main body of the article will go. I
also added an area where a
separate image could be added to
further add context to the article. I
finally added a blob in the top left
to put the logo of the magazine in.
(There was also a clear indication
for where the background image
would be displayed.

7. Process
I altered the shape of the blob that
now holds the logo of the magazine
so that it resembled a polygon,
rather than a circle in the corner. It’s
the same technique I’ve used for the
blob on the front cover. I also copied
the entire article that I wrote in
Microsoft Word and pasted it into
the areas I designated to contain the
content of the article. I added the
headline relating to the element of
the article that refers to the athlete’s
lack of experience but natural talent
and progression.

8. Process
I’ve just added images in order to see
how the article would look with the
background and the additional image
included. I altered the opacity of the
polygon that surrounds the logo so that
it isn’t so dark, that way it doesn’t pull
as much focus from the images or the
article itself.

9. Process
I felt that the masthead didn’t stand
out whatsoever. This is probably
because the lettering was small and the
colour was too dark that it got lost in
the shadowy background. I’ve solved
these issues by completely capitalising
the masthead as well as matching the
colour to a lighter orange from the ball.
I’m happy with the look of this front
cover, the only remaining thing that I
would like to change is the cover photo,
and soon that will be made possible.

10. Process
The DPS is nearly finished too, only
needing to add my own images in
to replace the background and the
article photos and edit them. I
moved the logo further left so that
it didn’t occupy as much space on
the page, dragging the reader’s
attention away from the article
and the photos. I also changed the
headline of the article to suit the
content better.

11. Process
I’ve created another alternate front cover
for my magazine, Basketball Independent,
using another photo I took during lesson as
a new placeholder for a different look for
the magazine. I adjusted the brightness,
contrast and balanced the image’s colours
to make it seem less blue and dulled, as the
white balance was off when I took the
original photo. As for the coverlines, I
matched the colour of the background
photo, as well as increasing the size of the
main coverline displaying the cover athlete’s
name. I also deleted the second subtitle-
esque coverline in order to make the main
title bigger. I stuck to the orange colour in
the logo and the lines, as well as the “free”
inside the blob, which I decreased the
opacity of, as orange is a colour that
compliments the blue background and light
blue coverline and masthead.

12. Process
I finally got around to taking photos for the front
cover and double page spread before my basketball
game against JLC Scunthorpe. The photos meant that I
had to change the layout of the front cover entirely. I
removed the bar that ran across the middle where all
the coverlines were located as it blocked most of the
image, which meant that I resized and relocated the
coverlines relating to the main story of the issue. I
increased the amount of space between characters in
“underappreciated” so that the smaller-sized
coverline appeared bigger to match the main
coverline. I also added more “also in this issue” article
titles to fill more of the blank space in the newfound
home on the right-hand-side of the page. I changed
the issue date location to the top right as well as
rotating a coverline to fill the left hand side of the
screen above the barcode. As for the image itself, I
adjusted the brightness, contrast, saturation and
various other aspects very marginally in order to
improve the photo in a small, barely noticeable way.
This layout itself is more reminiscent of the style from
the very first slide of this PowerPoint than the more
developed versions.

13. Process
For the double page spread, I took
three of the photos from the
photoshoot, adjusted the contrast,
brightness and various other aspects
before then cropping them and placing
them in the places I deemed best. The
landscape photo was an easy choice as
it would cover the full double page
spread. Instead of using another
landscape photo, I chose to use two
portrait images depicting two poses
that basketball players tend to be
photographed doing for press photos.

14. Process
Seen as I have two days of production
time remaining, I created an extra page
that could be found in the magazine,
that was advertised on the front cover,
using my actual training routine and a
separate image taken from the
photoshoot. As with the other photos, I
adjusted the brightness and contrast
and the saturation to make the colours
pop more. I used two fonts, DIN
Condensed (as used for the
advertisement for it on the front page)
and Helvetica, but used many different
states of the same font (Helvetica):
thin, light and medium.

15. Process
These are most likely the final edits I’ll
be making during this production
segment of the project. I moved the
‘free training guide’ section to the
bottom left and rotated it 90 degrees to
fill up the space correctly and avoiding
getting the words lost in the background
image. I also increased the space
between lines with the top left text box.
I increased the length of the text box for
the second coverline down as well. This
meant that it spread across the page
and sat above the main article of the
page.

16. Process
It turns out I had plenty of time to create yet
another additional page. I opted to make a
contents page for the articles that made an
appearance on the front cover of the
magazine. I took another image from the
photoshoot and increased it’s brightness and
contrast to the match the same levels that
the other photos I have used throughout the
production stage of this project. I then drew a
rounded rectangle behind it to help it stand
out from the white background. I used the
same font for all the visible text on the page,
only changing the size and format of the
typography, (e.g. thin, light and medium
Helvetica). After writing and placing all the
text, I used the eyedropper tool to match the
light-blue trim from the jersey, which is
similar to the various other blues that occupy
the photo, like the wall and the bottom third
of the net amongst others.