Magazine Front Page Start

I have now began designing my front cover after taking pictures of my close friends who allowed me to use them in my project. As you can see from the image, I have began by editing the image using the black and white tool and moving the image to where it suits the most.

Magazine Title :MuSick

As my magazine is aimed at students, based on the 'indie' genre of music, I have decided to use a slang spelling for Music and also to create meaning with it's new spelling. I have chosen the spelling Mu-Sick as the first obvious clue is the sounding of the word 'Music'. I changed the end to 'sick' for a couple of reasons, due to my personal experience and according to 'urban dictionary's' definition , the word 'sick' means: "if it is sick its totally awesome" . The word is commonly used for age ranges such as myself (15-24). Also, the meaning of sick could connote the sense that music is contagious and addictive.

Contents.

Here are some various examples of contents pages from non-music magazines. I am going to analyse the two images above to help me with my own creation. The two images above both share some common similarities, these are; strict detail to magazine features and their page numbers, several images relating to the magazines features, a theme presented through colours and/or shapes and similar use of font. The differences between the the two images above are: space within the page, contrast between the quality of fonts, and layout structure. Item A (Left) portrays a contents page over wildlife and has a very tightly packed structure with a high mass of text and image that pack everything together. This makes the page look complicated and therefore reduces reading interest for buyers, whereas Item B (Right) portrays a simple, plain yet interesting choice of layout which require less work for readers to be able to understand. This is useful for me when creating my contents page as I know not to use too much however not to use too little. I will consider this when creating my contents page. Item A has a very dim colour scheme which is plain 'black and white' with various red fonts. This is very plain however there is a real sense of boredom that may be created just by its presentation. Item B has a very plain theme however, with its use of images and matching colour scheme presents a more visually interesting layout to readers and therefore increases audience's attention towards buying the magazine, maybe after flicking through it in a shop. Although item A has a lot of detail, maybe relating the the size of the magazine, it still conveys a tight hard-to-understand structure which viewers may automatically disobey after seeing the complicated layout, where item A is simple, quick and easy, also visually entertaining to view.

Constructing The Mag Title

For the construction of my main magazine title, I couldn't find asuitable text that I liked or that would match with my theme of colour, style and genre so I researched into other options of font. For my final idea, I used the site; [Picnik] to contain and style my chosen font. I had first resorted to downloading a suitable font but due to the moving between college and school, the font was unavailble for both locations, therefore I relied on an only website to construct my titles where ever I was.

New Titles.

After studying the available fonts on photoshop, I have resorted to other soft ware to help me manufacture my fonts, such as Microsoft PowerPoint which has a wider collection of typography for me to experiment with, If I find a more suitable font via other software, I can simply use tools such as Print Screen, Saving or Copy/paste to transfer my designs to photoshop. Above, is yet another image of the PowerPoint collection. I have also experimented with various colours of fill and outline.

Font Design.

I have begun studying different fonts on photoshop as I am up to the point of constructing my final cover. On the right are examples of some of my favourite choices of fonts as I have tried to experiment with various shapes, sizes and patterns whilst choosing my final choice, at the moment I am still in decision to which font I will use for my final title/headings as I am preparing colour and themes for my cover. My choice of colour will then reflect my use of font and style.

Focusing on Double Page Spreads.

Double Page Spread Analysis.

The main title on the double page spread has been able to increase in size due to its two page overflow. The size of the title therefore increases reader awarness and increases the importance of the the articles feature topic. I think when I come to design my own double page spread, I will think about sizes of titles, picutre locations and word placement etc as due to its advantage of two pages for the same article, I can then play around with my techniques to add interest and make information clearer and 'readable'. The picture however on this, takes up the full right side of the feature. This could potentially be because there are less words therfore, room has been taken up by the image, or because due to it's size, it makes the article more eye-catching.