Time Management - 25.01.16

I managed to create the first draft of my front cover this week, however I decided to re-design it as I'm unhappy with the final result. My initial plan was to finish my contents page next week, and then re-draft everything the week after, however my schedule will now be one week behind which puts pressure on me, however I should be able to manage everything fine.

Front Cover - Progression of first draft

This was the first draft of my front cover, however after receiving feedback I came to the conclusion to re-design this completely. I wanted to make a post documenting what I did and how this would not work, explaining my choices to re-design. 

To make my mast-head, I used a paint-style text in all-caps. I used gradient overlay to create two different shades of grey, and pasted this text layer underneath but used a pattern overlay to create a striped shadow. After this, as I wanted to use a blue color scheme, I created a clipping mask to the original text layers and set the layer mode to screen, adding fading blue circles. I changed the tracking of the text so that it filled the page vertically, before adding a banner to the background. I had a pattern overlay added to three rectangles that I made grey and placed them behind the text.

The problem with this, I found after receiving feedback, was that it didn't stand out like a mast-head should, and the colors clashed quite a lot. In the next design of my front-cover, I will make sure the mast-head is more noticeable. 

I chose a close-up shot of my model and placed it to the left of my page. I chose to have this image above the mast-head, but below the grey and blue banner which I placed at the bottom, which I created using the polygonal lasso tool and the fill tool. I used the magic wand tool to cut out the image and the polygonal lasso tool to smoothen out some of the edges, but because of my models hair it was difficult to get a smooth cut-out. The image also has some lighting issues, with one side of my models face being much darker than the other so any adjustments caused the differences to be even bolder. In my next draft, I would like to use a different image as I don't think the image is as effective as it could be for its purpose.

To stick with the blue theme of my magazine, I decided that the clothes my model was wearing did not effectively compliment the colors so I created a clipping mask to the image and used the magic wand and polygonal lasso tool to select the red plaid shirt my model was wearing. After I had it selected, I chose a deep blue color and filled the selection with the color before setting the layer to the color mode. This changed the color of my models shirt from red to blue which complimented the theme better. Further than this, I changed the color of my models eyes to a deep blue from green to further suit the style. I added the levels adjustment after this to try to alter the lighting but after receiving feedback I realize that the image is now too dark. This is further reason to change my image to something more powerful.

To create my main sell-line, I used a fixed height font, which was originally black but as it was difficult to see I added a white glow to it so that it stood out from the image, however it is still quite hard to read. I then used a hand-written style font and used gradient overlay to add two shades of blue and then a drop shadow. The sell-line does not stand out enough from the image and so it would not draw in an audience's attention, next time I will make sure my sell-line is easier to read.

I wanted to create a plug for my article, so I used the ellipse tool to create three circles to create a shape that resembled a record. I then used a fixed width and height font to add a message to the plug, however some of the text is too dark and does not stand out. Because of this, I created a clipping mask and used the same technique as I did with the masthead to create blue tints so it fit with the color scheme. I struggled, however, to find a good place for it on my magazine and I don't quite like where I placed it.

I added my sell-lines next, using two different fonts in blue and black colors.  I think the sell-lines are messy, however, and don't add much to the magazine. Some of them are cut off by the image and vary in size so I would definitely avoid this style in my final front cover.

As a whole, I have decided the color scheme of blue and grey doesn't work very well and created too dark of an effect. After receiving feedback, I decided to keep one common house style of black and red for my magazine so I will be using this for the next draft of my front cover. I need to make my mast-head and main sell-line more noticeable and the other sell-lines more visually appealing.

Time Management - 10.01.16

This week, I created the first draft of my double page spread. I wanted to start my front cover too, however I decided that I should leave it until next week so I don't get overwhelmed by the workload. I will be updating my double page spread next week, too, but as of now I'm still on the schedule I hoped to follow.

Double Page Spread - Progression of first draft

I begun to put together my double-page spread using Photoshop, after creating a blank A3 canvas. I initially filled the canvas with white, then used "lighting effects" to create an effective but subtle gradient for the background.

I placed the main light source behind where I wanted to position my model, so that the light would start behind her and fade out to a light grey colour nearer the corners of the page. I then created a simple flower blossom pattern, to add some detail to the page. I put the petals on a low opacity and changed them to be a blend of red and black, as this was the colour scheme I had chosen.  I put more petals around the outside edges of the pages, so that they did not cluster together. After this, I begun to create my article title. I used two fonts, using New Facebook for "The Legacy Of",  and filling it with a pure black colour.  I then used Bakery to write Lennox, however I used gradient overlay to fill the word with different shades of red, brighter in the center and fading out to a darker colour on the top and bottom of letters. I did this to add some depth to the title and ensure it was not just simple fills. After this, I merged the three text layers together so it was easier to work with, and added an inner shadow to allow more depth. Finally, I duplicated the layer and used pattern overlay to create a striped pattern, moving this layer slightly to the right and adding a drop shadow before setting the layer mode to linear light. The effect this had created a soft yet bright looking striped shadow effect to the initial text, causing it to look like more of an article title than a piece of text.

I added a line to the middle of the page so I could see the divide between the two pages and work around it more easily, then began to cut out the photo of my model I had decided to use. After doing so, I found that the image was too large and the tip of the guitar was cut off in the photo, and as it took up too much room on the second page, where I intended to put my text, I decided against using the image.

The image I finally decided on was the one seen below, after masking the image I added a slight drop shadow, and cut part of the guitar so it would fit around my drop cap and not take up too much room on the page I had allocated for text. I decided to place a divider where the image ended as I could not move it any further down the page, but it was not long enough. I then created a black and white preset and placed it above the layer, creating a clipping mask so the effects were only applied to the image of my model. I changed the layer mode to overlay and set the opacity to 52%, causing the image to become slightly more heavy and contrasted and stand out more on the page. The effect emphasized the lighting and added a glow to the image. I had to re-arrange some of the petals around the model so they did not cluster around her, which took a while and created some problems but was eventually okay. Some of the masking, especially around my models hair is not as neat as it could be, though.

After this, I begun adding smaller details. I created small black rectangles with white text, including the date of publication and the page numbers. I ensured my article started on an even page number and ended on an odd, so it is accurate of a real magazine. I then created a red rectangle to use as a drop cap to guide my reader and placed it in the fold I had created by masking the guitar, and placed my kicker beside it. I used black text and the font Dillenia UPC for my kicker, making the text bold and quite large, with leading and tracking at around 20 to further spread it out and make it clearer to read. I placed my strap-line above this paragraph, using the font Dream Orphans and the same shade of red used in my article title and drop cap. I thought the different fonts went well together and liked the overall effect. After looking at my flat-plans, I realized I'd need to place an image on this page central to the columns of text I wanted to use. I created a square and centered it on the right page landscape, positioning it manually where I thought looked an equal distance from the kicker to the bottom of the page. I then placed a photograph of my model, creating a clipping mask to the square I had initially made. Finally, I added the same black and white effect that I had put on my other image so they looked equal. To finish, I decided to add the divider. I used a small red rectangle, and used a pattern overlay to created a red paper effect, before adding a faded drop shadow to it. 

I then had to add the rest of my text. I created text boxes and aligned all the text to the left, putting in the main body of my article. I added a faded black rectangle under my article and image, adding white text including the date, article title, and by-line. This filled the gap at the bottom of the page which previously looked too blank. I used Dillenia UPC again for my article, with around 20 in the way of leading and tracking. I changed all quotes in my article to be red and italics, and the beginning of every paragraph was changed to include a few bold and red words, indicating where the reader was to go next and structurally guiding them through  the article. I wanted to add my pull quote under my red divider and experimented with many different fonts and texts, going from initially wanted to use New Facebook and Bakery again (I found these fonts looked too bold for the pull quote and took emphasis from the article title), to using dream orphans (I found this font could not line up properly whilst trying to create an effective-looking pull quote) to finally settling with using a capitalized, bold version of my primary font, Dillenia UPC. I changed the text to red and black, and added a drop shadow. I added dots beside the text to fill in gaps as I'd decided to go for a more stylistic approach. After this, I created two speech marks, using the Bakery font again, placing them at either end of my pull quote. I turned them red, however decided that they were too bold and stood out, so I set the layer mode to overlay and turned the opacity to 33%. I finally removed the page divider, and finished the first draft of my article.

Finished draft of Double Page Spread

There are still things I'd like to change on my double page spread. After receiving feedback, I have decided to put the pull quote into italics so it stands out more as a quote instead of something said by the journalist/writer. I would also like to include links to social media, such as YouTube, and Twitter, as they are frequently referenced within the main body of my article so should be linked somewhere on the page. There is a grey box on the left of my drop cap where I think they would work well. I need to go over the masking of my main image, as it is very rough in some places, especially around her hair, there is a bold white outline. I will go over this and neaten it up so it looks more professional. Finally, I will change the image on the right page of my article, as it looks to similar to the other and I think it would look better with more of a variation of images. I also think this image is too bright, with one side of the models face being lit up too much whilst the opposite is true for the other.