Contents Page - Progression of first draft

I decided to keep the house-style of my magazine as red and black, so I used this color scheme for my contents page. I created a white background, and used lighting effects to create a gradient. I added colour curves and a gradient map to alter the colours until I had something subtle enough.

Next, I created a guide out of the line tool, and split the page using it. I created three rectangles, using the pattern overlay tool, the colour fill tool, stroke tool, inner shadow tool and drop shadow tool to add the effects seen below.

I copied my mast-head from the front-cover and placed it at the top of the page, then added a photograph of a microphone that I took and used the magic wand tool to mask it, placing it at the right of the page under the bottom banner. I used the rectangle tool and the font Dream Orphans to create a features heading, and then used Dream Orphans Italic to create the "episode 17" text.

Next, I used two lines as guides and created six white rectangles. On these, I added the page numbers of major articles using the font Dream Orphans, and kept this consistent with the article titles. Under this, I used the font Eras Light to create short  descriptions of the articles to give my readers an insight into what they could expect without giving anything away.

I then created polaroid-type vectors using shape tools, as I thought it was a nice effect and polaroid cameras are becoming increasingly popular within my target audience, as I found while I was doing a reader profile and audience research. I chose three photos to put in the boxes that I'd taken during the photography session or previously, and initially decided to put a "?" and a "!" on the images, putting the text layers on overlay, however I decided after this that I didn't like how it looked so I eventually took them off.

I used a different, more decorative font to add captions to the polaroids and added page numbers using the Dream Orphans font. I kept this font consistent when I added a pull-quote to the bottom right, using a range of different colours - shades of red and white. Finally, I added a black rectangle with text on, with the page number, name of magazine and name of the page.

For feedback, I was told that it would be good to replace the pull quote at the bottom left with a subscription offer or editors note. I also realised I should add a website, and links to social media, so I will fix this in my final draft.