7. Flat plans :: LO1

6. House style mood boards (font, colour scheme, photography, ideas) :: LO1

My Moodboard (above) shows a variety of magazines local to certain towns / city or business / photography related. Something they all have in common is that they are bold and in a sans-serif font (excluding EXPOSED & Forbes).

Above are 3 mastheads which i have coloured with a red & black colour theme. The DWELLER (connoting city life) uses red to highlight the 'WELL' part of the masthead. This connotes wellbeing or well made which suggests a professional magazine. 

Above is 4 fonts in different weights which are some potential masthead ideas i could use. The emphasis for all of them is on the 'Well' of dweller for the reasons suggested in my design colours. Each one is unique and offers different connotations for a good masthead.

After trying to use the Dweller masthead, i then pastiched GQ magazine which was a much shorter and memorable masthead. For this reason i decided to swap my font for S11, a Sheffield postcode. I used the ubuntu font for a curvy 'S' and square '11' which creates a nice effect. 

LO1 - House Style : Colour Schemes

The colours have chosen suggest professionalism (red), business like culture (red). However this contrasts with the yellow/gold and blue which suggests the outdoors nature of sheffield. The black text (as well as white) can be used as text whilst the red will be used for important information (cover lines etc) The blue (contrasting the red and black) can be used for banners or promotional content which may attract the reader. The yellow would be used for the text inside of the banners (as the blue and yellow works well as complementary colours). These colours are based on the target audience of 22 - 30+ year old men, who are into business and outdoor culture, having demographics around B or A. 

LO1 - House Style : Photography

For models of my magazine, i may be able to use any of the following people: Alex Blundell and Oliver Thompson

The costume i want my model to wear would be business dress, with a briefcase of some description as a prop. 

The location of the shoot will either be in the UTC studio 1 or outside throughout Sheffield. 

The angle for my shot will be a medium close up either similar to the bottom left photo (on the steps) or bottom right photo.

Representations -: Smart, Business, Working, Wealth. 

5. Examples of existing magazines :: LO1

1.) I like the way in which the colours always seem to work with the background, symbolising a good house style.

2.) I like how on Men's health and Wired the cover photo overlays the masthead a little bit, but without covering up the full masthead.

3.) I like how symbols are used to effect (on exposed, the square brackets and the + symbol)

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1.) I like how on the magazine below Mojo, the colours are repeated symmetrically either side of the contents dps. 

2.) I like how on the Mojo magazine, the text warps around the subject.

3.) I like how on the final contents page page numbers are incorporated into the pictures, rather than being put outside in black.

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1.) On Wired's DPS, i love how the race track flows onto both pages whilst the text box takes up exactly one page width. 

2.) I like how the 'J' on 'JayZ' is used to act as a page divider/seperator, using text creatively.

3.) I like how on Report business magazine the car takes up both pages acting as a panoramic view.

4. Reader profile :: LO1

3. Mindmap of ideas :: LO1

A mind map of ideas is particularly useful to create for planning a magazine as it makes the design and house style easier and more consistent later on. You will be able to save time by already knowing important sections like house style and fonts/colour schemes etc.

2. Prelim task for a college magazine :: LO1

I will be pastiching this magazine due to it having the conventions of a normal magazine.

My first attempt at a college magazine allows me to train creating a magazine and use conventions 

This dialogue box allows me to use good settings for a print finish of good quality. 300 p/inch allows more pixel density per square inch. A large size also means that printing will allow for a better compressed image.

This dialogue box allows me to change the colour or use the colour picker tool to select the colour of whatever element (layer) is selected. In this case, i am using the colour selection tool to select the UTC blue colour for the 'T' of the masthead.

I use the Quick selection tool along with the refine edge sub-tool to mask out the background of my subject. Here white represents the 'cut out' section of the image, however in reality clicking the 'ok' button will make this white area transparent allowing a background to go in place. Smart radius and contrast along with feather are used to create a more precise cut out of my subject.

Here i am using the transform tool to move my text and resize it correctly to fit its location. This interface is useful as it allows resizing, stretching, movement and centre placement of the selected layer all at one point, making it extremely effective to use.

Using a ruler, i position the text with a right alignment to all fit together. This allows me to create a margin between the image and text, which in turn creates a more professional finish. The ruler allows snapping of the two text laters to one place. 

My final image here shows my attempt of my first magazine cover. The use of blues keeps the house style similar to the UTC colouring; and hints of yellow create areas of importance to stand out over the less important text. In this case 'WIN!' is in yellow to make to reader look at this area more than the blue '10 iPhone 6's up for grabs'. I also added in a barcode which creates more realism and a transition of grey to black background in a circular motion. The masthead uses a white diagonal overlay which makes it stand out but also makes it unique. 

Three aspects of magazines i have learnt is the terminology for a magazine. Rather than being called a header, i now know it is labelled the masthead. I have also learnt about cover-lines and synergy and their importance to making a magazine.  

1. InDesign introduction :: LO1

Key Terms

Desktop publishing program - A program used to layout print based products.
Dialog Box - A box that allows user inputted conditions.
Gutter - The space in-between the columns.
White space - empty space with no text in it.



Contents Page Conventions

Title saying 'contents', always positioned at the top. Will be next to the 'masthead' on the contents page. The masthead is always on the contents page as it reinforces the brand of the magazine.

Subheadings (the contents of magazine). Features / Cover Story [The same story on the front page] / Regulars [The same types of features] / News [Up to date stories] - Bolder and different colour to normal text. Easier to get to the section you want to read.

Page numbers - States the page the said story is on. Similar to index page. Ascending order, Bolder.

Images - Gain attention, gives design and provides context to the situation. Anchored from text to image.

Information about production company. Editor, Social media, Telephone, Contact information, Editors section (speaks about summary in the magazine, signed at bottom).

House Style will be maintained throughout the magazine, regardless of page. Colours, fonts etc. This allows it to be consistent and reinforce branding / genres ).

Columns - used to separate text and different headings.

My thoughts on this content page.

I like the tiled design of the magazine and the margin given to different elements of the page.
I like the social media section at the bottom of the magazine, giving different ways to contact the local organisation.
I like the fonts within the house style which work well with the overall appearance of the magazine.

  By modifying the settings of the create document dialog box, this allows us to set values for the page size, margin and gutter which we will need later on.