Front Cover

Contents Page

Feature Article (Double Page Spread)

Please click on the first image on my front cover for the full draft 4 pdf.

Being set a brief was an extremely enjoyable and challenging task which required me to experiment with many different technologies and learn how to use them. The research portion of this project was extremely important as it made actually creating the magazine much easier since researching had provided me with good ideas and more structure. Research is probably the most important part of this project as it sets you up for when you actually create the magazine and gives you an outline of what your project should be similar to. Using the idea of ‘same but different’ was quite challenging as I just wanted my magazine to look similar to all the others out there, however that would mean my magazine wouldn’t stand out and therefore wouldn’t be successful. It took a lot of careful consideration for how I would make my magazine the ‘same but different’ and how I can include features unique to my magazine – that still represent the genre.

I mostly focused on my research when beginning to plan how my magazine would look. I took inspiration for my layout of each of my magazine pages from various other magazines I had looked into. I also took into consideration who my target audience would be because I needed to make design choices based on that as I needed to encode the correct meanings that I wanted to convey. I actually didn’t do as much planning as I expected, this is because I found it easier to just go for it and make changes as needed on the actual software’s (In-design & Photoshop). I did struggle with finding my way around both photoshop and In-design however after a bit of practice and creating my first draft I began to quickly get a better understand of the software’s and how to get as much as possible out of them. I really enjoyed the process of creating the magazine as I found it engaging and interesting, I also learnt new skills on software’s I never thought I would be able to navigate.

Receiving feedback was another extremely important factor in creating the magazine. After each draft I would write what I could do better, and I would also get some improvement ideas from my teacher. Taking the feedback on and actually making the changes has definitely helped me in all aspects of creating my magazine. I received feedback and suggestions that I had never even considered prior to hearing them, this opened up the project for completely new and unique ideas, which overall impacted how my draft 4 magazine looks today.

These are my third draft for all my magazine components.

What’s new:

• Less pink/ more variety of colours
• Photos now added
• Article font size changed to fit properly
• Contents page titles have wider gaps from the text
• Page numbers
• Squiggly design continued onto contents page

This is my screencasetify for feedback from my teacher

A summary of feedback I received/ what I can change and improve is below.

Front Cover Targets

• Change photo
• Move coverlines to be on the left
• Less pink
• Different font for ‘The industry’s pop princess’

Double Page Sread Targets

• Less pink
• Try other photos
• Change bubble font to be less childish
• Include an introduction
• Make pull quotes lager
• Add another pull quote
• Use the same font for Tayah’ that I used on the front cover
• Move the title from the middle of the page so it doesn’t get lost in the fold

Contents page Targets

• Recheck gaps between text
• Better photos/ different photos
• Less bubble font

This is my second draft on my double page spread (DPS).

What’s New:

• Added in my actual written article
• Rearranged the squiggly lines to not cross over any white text
• Pull quote added
• Questions are a larger font and different colour (white) so they stand out
• I had to make my text a size 11 when I planned on making it 12 because my article was so long

What’s Next:

• Add in photos
• Experiment with some more fx
• Experiment/ try to find ways to break up the text a little more
• Add more squiggly lines
• Align the text at the top and bottom of the page
• Include a Byline (who wrote the article)

I experimented with some different backgrounds for the DPS but I actually found the plain pink suits quite well and signifies (De Saussure) the pop genre, when receiving my Specsavers creative team feedback they also said that the pink is good and recommended I keep it. I did have some issues with fitting the whole article so I had to do some rearranging of the layout, shrink the inset sizes and change the font to be smaller but overall I think it works well.  I made sure to keep my text far from the edges of the page as it is a mistake I have made previously and wish to avoid so the text doesn’t get cut in half and have words missing which would make it confusing. I believe it is very representative of the pop genre and fits in with the other components of my magazine so it can all be cohesive. I used a clear and legible serif font for the text as it is simple and easy to read which will help keep my target audience engaged and interested in the article (AIDA).  The simple font also helps to signify (De Saussure) that my magazine is well put together and successful which both help to entertain and attract my audience.

Through doing this second draft I realised how some things might not go as I planned but It just means I will have to change and adapt a few aspects for it to then work the way I wanted. It took me a while to figure out how to fit in the whole article but it was worth it once I had finished. I tried a size 10 font but it was to small so had to go to 11 and make some insets smaller, this problem solving will help me when making improvements to my other drafts for all other magazine components. This second draft also helps me close in on the final draft and begin to start making some of the smaller changes and final touches for the end DPS.

This is my worksheet that I filled In whilst talking to someone from the Specsavers Creative Team for feedback.

My top 5 targets:

• Have equal space in between text on my contents page
• Try some new fonts for numbers on my front cover
• Avoid having widows (one word lines) for my contents page
• Change the white ‘I’ in ‘Divine’ to black to make the masthead flow better
• Move text away from the edge of the page on my contents so it doesn’t get lost

I found this extremely helpful as I now have some input from people who are professionals at design and know what they are doing. Their feedback will be very useful and give me an idea of what I can do better and improve in order to make my magazine successful. They showed me how to do things such as add a gradient and how I can make my pages more aligned and cohesive. These are all things I wouldn’t have noticed if they didn’t point it out so it’s extremely helpful for me. I asked them how I would be able to make my front cover background interesting and I was surprised to hear that it works and should stay as it is, or if I really wasn’t happy with it to add a slight gradient coming out from behind my cover model. Having an opinion from someone experienced in the field really helps reassure me in my design choices and what I need to look out for/ improve.