Tuesday, 12 April 2016

Working with Layout and Conventions


In today's lesson, we were given a task to help us understand the Layout and Conventions and to see if we could finish the given magazine. Some of the magazines had more conventions then the others, therefore it tested us to see if we could figure out what was missing out and to see if we could add the missing conventions as well as keep in mind the house style.


In this magazine to start off we were only given the coverstar "Drake" and the logo of the magazine which is M. Straight away I realised the main colour is Red, therefore I had to keep that in mind while developing this magazine. However I didn't want to overdo it with the red, so I used it as a Pop of colour as shown on the right on the Drake. The Coverlines shown on the left of Drake I came up with due to immediately seeing drake, I thought to myself what artists are part of Drakes chosen genre. Immediately two Stars came into my mind Pharrell and Nicki who are very relevant in modern time music. To entice the reader I came up with stories that would be relevant to the artists. I chose the Font on the right because it is gritty emphasising Drakes persona of Confusing and Grungy.






With this magazine the first thing that caught my eye was the instruments, immediately this got me thinking about what type of genre this band belonged to. Just like the Drake magazine it is made by the same company M. Therefore the first thing I thought of was cover lines. I thought maybe due to the magazine being owned by the same company then I would need to incorpate similar artists to Drake. Therefore I used Beyonce and talked about her child. However due to an alternative band being on the cover then I Incorporated some bands to be showcased as new and upcoming. I chose the Font on the Chair as I believed it juxtaposed their image. Giving them a false identity so a surprise to the audience.



When I saw this magazine immediately I saw a black and white contrast, which I chose to incorporate throughout the magazine cover. The GIF. type of effect on Bjork gives here a very edgy effect therefore the font of her name was shown to be quite distressed and girtty showing her artist personality. As a coverline I believe using a festival is a good way to capture the right target audience due to them liking the same genre of music.
For my magazine cover of Pitch I decided that the most effective layout for the page would be to have the other coverlines going down the left side of the page with the main cover line under the cover stars face allowing the audiences atention to be drawn towards the main cover line but still will notice the other cover lines in case the target audience aren't particularly interested in Marilyn Manson. The house style I chose was red and white to sustain the colours used for the mast head and the most dominating colour in the primary image of the cover star, I did this to avoid any part of the front cover standing out above the rest except the main cover line which is the largest font type and is white, contrasting with the other cover lines. Finally, I used more generic conventions such as the price and the bar code to add the the authenticity of the front cover.
For my final cover that I created I decided to sustain the house style of red and white by creating my other cover lines in the similar colour. Additionally, I used a font type that looks quite aggressive and wild reflecting the ethos of the magazine. Furthermore, I decided to have the other cover lines surrounding the band King of Leon to ensure the focus of the fornt cover was on them and so the target demographic would be enticed into buying the magazine by them since they are such music icons. Finally, I decided that I would use a pull quote from the band themselves to intrigue audience members by giving them a taste into what to expect from the interview and by menioning a 'tour' going 'worldwide' it creates the sense of infomation being exclusive to this magazine only and so the target audience will feel they are receving a bargain when buying this magazine.








Wednesday, 10 February 2016

Planning: Things I want to improve on my final draft

Through the creation of my final draft I've come across things that I want to change for my final creation of my magazine.

1. Fonts
I struggled to find fonts that I want to include in my magazine, I found that most of the fonts on the current pc I'm using isn't conforming with my needs for the style of my magazine. The fonts I have used are to bulky and to conform with my genre. I need to research more into my fonts and get them downloaded.

2. Contents Page
I am still struggling with my contents page and the layout of it. This is what I would want to change the most about my magazine. I have found this the most difficult part of my magazine because it wasn't easy to associatate it with the geometric theme of my magazine.

3. Cover lines 
I am not overally happy with the position I have placed the cover lines. I believe they cover up too much of the front cover which is not what I wanted to achieve as a lot of magazines around this genre have their cover star as primarily the main focus.

Tuesday, 9 February 2016

Drafting and Planning: Contents page theme













Through much consideration into what I want the theme for my magazine to be  I have chosen a geometric theme. This came about through my research into magazines into my chosen genre which is indie/alternative. I came across a geometric pattern on the contents page and double page spread. This made me think if I could potentially do this for my magazine. I then decided to see which artists have been used in this type of theme. The magazine above shows the band imagine dragons in the triangle above. This is a band that is associated with the alternative genre therefore convincing me to use the geometric design for my magazine. Another thing is the editing in the photos, through conducting more research into the photography in geometric frames I noticed light strobes were used for effect which is what I will be trying to get across in my magazine. 



Monday, 8 February 2016

Planning: CoverLines


 


I wanted to analyse this magazine today to figure out what type of conventions are apart of my genre of magazine. As we see we have no skyline or pug however I believe my magazine would benefit from having these conventions as apart of it due to the blank spaces needing to be filled in. I want the fonts to be inspired by this magazine in particular as I belive they capture the essence of the free flowing summery vibe that my magazine will need to portray to focus on the genre. The cover star is giving direct address however a part of me doesnt want the audience to be looked at to also keep the theme of the grungy indie vibe. My magazine is a contrast between the alternative and indie rock genres as I belive it gave a larger working plain.

Thursday, 4 February 2016

Researching into Similar Products: Figuring out Double Page Spread


I have chose these 2 magazines as I have chose a specific design for the double page spread. The first magazine is what I admire for photography this is because it is different to what I have seen in previous music magazines. Having the artist on the side almost creates a presence as it wouldn't be like this normally, in my photography you will see a photo similar to this however it is fully facing the left hand side, this I believe would be good for my double page spread as i could put the writing around the artists head. I also was struggling where to put my artists name. The second photo allows the artists name to be showcased with being apart of the background creating a flow within the photo. 

Wednesday, 3 February 2016

Drafting: Second Edit of Photos


From my second photoshoot I have chose these 5 photos out them. The reason I have chose these photos is because I believe they offer a range of indie poses and conform to the indie genre. The photography was taken in a drama studio with black walls. I utilised these black walls to use an effect to make it completley dark therefore creating the effect of the artists being the only thing that are neccesary to look at. The effect of P5 is quite dark and mysterious however possesses a tint of blue which is passed on to the participant of the photo. This makes the artist on this occasion seem very cold which definatley showcases their genre of music which is indie as it associated with the cold and not caring vibe.