The document describes the progression of designing a magazine cover and contents pages. It shows how the designer experimented with layouts, images, colors and effects to improve the professional appearance and readability. Key changes included adding cover lines and captions, adjusting image saturation, incorporating photographers' names, and using alternating colors and drop shadows to create visual interest and continuity across pages. The final result brought together these various design elements to produce a polished, multi-page magazine spread reflecting hip hop genre trends.

1. PROGRESSION OF MY MAGAZINE

2. This is an image of my front cover at the
beginning of the production stage. I was
happy with the photography as it
allowed plenty of room for my cover
line. The brick wall background made a
perfect canvas for the graffiti style cover
lines when slightly angled which reflects
the genre of the music. I made sure that
the models head was fore grounded in
front of the mast head because that is a
trend Hip Hop magazines follow. The CD
cover was too plain and simple which
caused the magazine to look
unprofessional.

3. I added a caption
for the front
cover
photography to
let the audience
know the
rappers name. I re-adjusted the
effects on the cover
lines to make them
look more defined,
readable and
graffiti like.
I experimented with pictures
for the CD cover and decided
on this one because I could
put the artists name in the
smoke which is an effect that
would appeal to my audience.
I completed the CD cover look
with the track name and a
lyrical bar from the track.

4. I added another cover
line to fill the
unnecessary gap at the
bottom. I made the
colours alternate to
create a theme
As a finishing touch, I changed
the saturation levels on the image
for the CD cover to create a more
professional looking piece of
photography that added
brightness to the model and
darkened the background. I also
put a drop shadow on the shape
to make it look like the CD is on
the magazine.

5. For the contents page, I started off
with an image from the internet for
a basic outlook . To follow the trend
of real Hip Hop magazines, I broke
the word ‘contents’ to create more
space for the page but be
outstanding for a head mast. The
‘D’ and ‘K’ in the background were
the initials for the magazine. In real
media products, the magazine
name is continuously pasted
somewhere on all pages to remind
the audience of the magazine they
are reading, I tried to incorporate
this.

6. Here I added a sentence
which gives the
photographer name for
the front cover and
contents page. This is a
technique sometimes
used in real media
products.
I completed the Features
for the magazine with the
photographers name for
each article. This was
inspiration from real Hip
Hop magazines.
I numbered the features realistically to
those in a real magazine product and
added the page number and magazine
name with the date of issue at the
bottom.

7. I then changed the background image
to a picture I had taken. I also added an
effect to the image with simplified the
amount of layers and shapes within it. I
then made the hat red to introduce
another colour instead of just a
standard black and white.
I moved the Head mast
and put a drop shadow
on and coloured red to
fit in with the theme.
I decided to put the features on
a red rectangle with the opacity
altered which aided the clarity
of the text.

8. To improve, I moved the
background image further up to
allow the whole of the model to be
seen. I also changed the saturation
levels slightly to make it brighter.
I used more of the space on the page
by spreading the features across in a
step pattern. I also made the feature
titles bolder to catch attention and
changed the font of the numbers to
make the clearer.
I added a gradient effect to make
the bottom of the page darker and
get lighter as it went up. I thought
this effect worked well and looked
professional.

9. I started my double page with the photography and a
experimented colour scheme which seemed to work
well. I then decided where the article and pull quote
needed to be.
I put the page number
and title of the
magazine in the bottom
left hand corner. This
gave the page
continuity.

10. I added the article and
At this stage I saturated the
pull quote and used a
levels on the image to
green drop shadow
darken the background and
effect on the title of the
brighten the model.
article to allow the
colours to run in a theme.
I added another
image on the
article page. The
colours on the
image went with
the colours for my
page and related to
the genre as it was
graffiti.

11. As a last touch to the double page, I added a third image with a green
filter on which I placed behind the article but allowed the article to be
clearly readable. I was happy with the result because it filled the
background space to make it look more professional overall.