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Research
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Research: Theory
To start learning about magazine conventions I started by researching theories such as the colour theory and typography. As well as exploring key features of real magazines to learn how to do my own one following typical characteristics. In the image above we can see the presentation I created when researching the colour theory. -
Research: First mock cover
This was the first time I used photoshop. By doing a magazine front cover using a celebrity as the cover star I learned to mask the image, tint the background keeping the shadows, create chapes and experimented with different fonts. -
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Preliminary Task
At the beginning of the year we started creating our preliminary task to get used to all the processes that carries making a magazine.Our task was to design a students magazine front cover. We did this using photoshop. As it was the first time taking my own photos, editing them and making every element from the page seem in conjunction with the rest, I faced several problems from which I learned of. -
Preliminary Task: photography
After making improvements in my photography I realized the photos I took for my preliminary task weren't as good as I thought.The way I placed the soft boxes created shadows in my models face, not being very professional. I also realized they aren't centered, as there is a great amount of space left above them and at the right side. -
Preliminary Task: Typography
For the front cover I decided to use a serif font for the cover lines and a sans serif for the masthead. With this I tried making the magazine look formal but not in excess, at it is aimed at students.The use of only two fonts can look it seem a bit boring and dull.
In the double page I used two serif fonts to convey of style, as the article was about fashion.Now I can see the main font I used can be seen as old and therefore the opposite of what I was trying to persuade off. -
Preliminary Task: Colour scheme
In the front cover I decided to create a mainly dark blue colour scheme so that it looked in conjunction with the blue school uniform. I varied the tones to make it look more interesting and professional.A red hue was used to make the information stand out and break the monotony. For the double page, I created a purple colour scheme with some background lights.I think its effective as it ends with an original and mysterious look. -
Preliminary task:Editing
To create my students magazine I used similar skills to the ones from the mock cover assignment. I used a combination of different fonts to create a hierarchy by making them taller and shorter, and using contrasting colours to emphasize information. I also tried creating a colour scheme that fitted well with the theme.
Looking at it now, i can see it lacks information and the cover lines and masthead seem a bit dull. -
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Research & Planning
During this period I learned and informed about real magazine characteristics and started thinking how to design mine. By creating sketches of all my pages and researching similar photography as the one I wanted, I achieved better results in the final task. Doing the preliminary task I was able to know confidently what I really wanted. -
Research
When Researching I analyzed several lifestyle magazine pages to understand their conventions and apply them to my work.
Furthermore, I decided to create audience surveys to know popular tastes in magazines and which age group was the most targeted when producing magazines. -
Planning
To plan my magazine I started by creating an audience profile and a magazine pitch to cover all the details needed to know before starting with the real creation. Consequently I decided to make a flat plan to understand more clearly the type of articles I wanted to include in the contents. Lastly all the photoshoot plans and designs were covered. -
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Magazine Production
Producing my final magazine required exposing all the new knowledge taken until the moment and the research I did about the audience targeted at. -
Magazine production: photography
For my final photography I experimented using a different setting, lighting, costumes and camera. Which I think made a great difference with the photography from the preliminary task.I also tried taking photos from different angles and backgrounds until I finally obtained the type of photo I was looking for. -
Magazine production: Editing
In photoshop I tried new techniques like adding tints to make the hues more warm and adjusted brightness and contrast to obtain the final photos I wanted.For the contents the program focused more on the text, however I wanted to give my images an original aspect mixing different photos together creating a frame.Finally, in the double page, I edited the text so that a space was left in the centre for the quote, and aligned it in columns so it was more organized. -
Final Product.
In the final product fonts are chosen to fit well with the theme, and different tonalities in hues all match together showing variety.The information is well organized leading to a minimalistic effect.I left visible the hierarchy by mixing text sizes. A more detailed editing was also done, playing with the natural light.The model stands out due to the use of depth of focus, even though I didn't emphasize it as much because of wanting to distinguish the natural background.