Contents page: research + development

Here is the development and detailed research of my contents page for my magazine 

Reflection: If I had to be honest this was actually the easiest part when I was making my magazine I was able to come up with a final draft within the first lesson of working on it which was 2 hours. All I had to do left was fixing the minor details with my teacher in order for it to look very nice. As I enjoyed experimenting with different layouts and designs and finding out which typefaces work well on this page, however I hated compiling the research and needing to remember to screenshot each time I wanted to make a change within the page as sometimes when I get into the zone and enjoy putting everything together I keep forgetting to screenshot from time to time. 

Problem: Although I had a problem in finding inspiration from different magazines as most didn't suit my taste due to it looking very vintage and not matching up with the style of magazine Im going for 

Solution: So instead I made most from random ideas I had in mind or not I look at real magazines some of my classmates brought as most were more modern looking and I took most inspiration from that 

I will start off with the research I have on some fashion contents page that caters to my target audience (young adults)

I also referenced some from my old research that I first done about magazines, however I will pick a few to draw out drafts for it and here are some that I recreated from my research and some from my own creativity 

Step 1: sketches (red text indicates the type of shot taken)

Step 2: digitalise some drafts 

Step 3: choose one draft and experiment 

After I had rechecked with my teacher he came with a whole new idea on my contents page which was this layout, he was able to come up with this as it came from my first draft I made just shifting it to look more cohesive. 

He also reminded me to use the borders from the website I used to create my magazine in order everything looks aligned as a problem i had before was not having everything spaced out evenly for each text which can be seen from my first draft. But a noticeable difference was that i rewrote most of my content as it can be seen from my first draft that my main models name was used for all parts of the content and when my teacher went around to check everyones work he told me I could use celebrities name that attracts the target audience from my magazine. Thus, why I used celebrities such as Anne Hathaway, Gigi Hadid, Dua Lipa, Haily Bieber, and Kylie Jenner as thats what attract my target audience (young adults & teenagers). I also added a my page number and fixed the borders in order for the texts to be spaced out evenly. 

As I already figured out to use this layout I just tried experimenting with other elements which was the typeface of the heading. One example would be this 

I tried by covering some part of my picture with the heading but I didn't end up using this design as it looked messy 

Step 4: Final contents page 

From my first and second draft I decided to keep most the same such as the texts and layout of the entire page. What I did change though was the heading, even though I thought my second drafts heading was good I received input from an upperclassmen to change it to an italic look similar to my front cover as it looked more elegant and luxurious. Due to my seconds draft heading looking quite tacky.  I also added a small coloured box for my page number as I thought it looked quite empty. 

Front cover: research + development

This is my development for my front cover magazine 

Reflection: I believe this was the most time consuming task I ever spent in this whole project even though the end result looked very simple it was quite hard and hard to compile everything in order for it to look cohesive. Even though I enjoyed playing around with different typefaces, elements, and positioning this took such a long time to the point where I took up 2 full class lessons just to fully finish it to my liking and being able to get approval from both my teacher and classmate. 

Problem: The hardest part for me was finding a colour scheme that could match every single element present. I tried using the typical pinks, blues, yellows but it always turns out too be too soft or too bright 

Solution: I decided to just use colours that were already in my image and that worked out to be the best option, even though I had to make my own colour palette using those from the image is so much easier all thats left is to darken or lighten the colour to our liking. 

Starting off with my research I have collected for my front cover this is all that peaked my interest or what I think are good front covers but there are still parts i disliked and tried to avoid. We can see that most front covers uses direct mode of address and they all have a colour scheme that ties everything together, all mastheads have a similar typeface even though its for different brands which is why the typical convention for a fashion magazines are that all typefaces are stylish or even blend in with the background so not all elements of the magazine should be recognisable right away, at least theres a difference in how the main cover line is decided in order for that one part to stand out more than the other cover lines. But again each colour theme for every magazine will be different depending on the season of its production, normally it would use white for the masthead but again it can be different depending on the season. We can also see that most uses left or right aligned for the texts of the magazine but it can be different at times which we can also see from magazine that uses the justified text. 

Step 1: Started of with 2 digitalised drafts with pictures I took during lesson time as I still didn't have my final pictures that I will use for my final magazine

Step 2: This is when I started to make my front cover drafts with my own image 

1. First draft where I decided on all the typefaces and how i want each to be placed on the front cover

2. But again I experimented with different colours for the front cover as it looked too soft in the first draft, this is when I decided to try a darker colour for my cover line

3. Then i tried a darker colour for my masthead 

4. I also tried a different colour combination for my cover line which by making it darker (grey) but keeping my masthead soft 

5. Then I decided to receive advice from my teacher with all the different colour combinations that I came up with and this was the one of the final drafts 

This is also where I changed the typeface for my texts below the cover lines as my teacher had mentioned it all look too stylish together. Another part was also how I combined my models name and the word 'unfiltered' together making it seem like it was her name even though it was supposed to mean a 'unfiltered interview'. This was also the time where I experimented with the colours for my main cover line as the white colour blended too much with the background. 

6. Afterwards I changed the colour to this darker brown colour and even though I liked it my teacher had mentioned it blended too much with the staircase near the model

7. But I still decided to stick with this colour palette as I will follow the typical convention where most texts in fashion magazines follow a stylish typeface and the colours all really blend in together making it harder to read at first this is shown through fashion magazines of HARPERS BAZAAR and VOGUE.

8. I started to finalise my front cover page and this was the final result, I received feedback to change "top 10 anileve best looks" to "top 10 anileve looks". I also changed my masthead in order for it to be more spaced out allowing it t fit the border I made and then I made the texts for my cover lines to be a bit smaller as I wanted to follow the typical convention of having smaller texts on the front cover. I also decided to also make this a november edition magazine as I used warm autumn colours such as browns and reds for the front cover.

Step 4: finalised magazine cover     

Not much has changed on my final cover as I already had it revised with my teacher before, but all I added now was the year my magazine will be published as before I only added the month. 

Magazine layout tutorial

In this post I will demonstrate some basic design skills that i learned in class 

Reflection: This task was actually quite simple and enjoyable but I do prefer doing it digitally then on sketch as its not easy for me to come up with ideas within 5-10 minutes. Even though this made me have to brainstorm ideas quickly I was able to go out off my comfort zone and try styles I never thought would look good which is why most of these drafts aren't very detailed but at least I got my main ideas down which was the placement of masthead, cover line, main cover line, barcode, and image. Most of these drafts weren't connected with my research as again it was very time limited so I just tried making it in any way for it to be similar to my genre as most were came from the top of my head. This also made me try different interesting shots such as long shots or very close up shots as most aren't that common. 

Problem: I actually forgot to save a lot of my drafts which was why I had to re do some and screenshot it again since I was mainly focusing on the placement of all the elements. 

Solution: I keep remembering myself to take screenshots even for slight changes which is why is why now I have many screenshots for all the minor and major details I took. 

Task 1: sketching

I started by sketching my possible front cover designs and it actually took me a long time as I am very indecisive and just kept on drawing-erasing back and forth. But I discovered that in this stage my drawings don't have to be detailed just drawn well enough that my idea shines through. 

Task 2: Drafts

My teacher gave the class a template to practice making our front cover layout drafts on google draw. As it was similar with my first step we now just did it digitally, and were given 10 minutes to do this assignment. Here is the template my teacher gave

Then my teacher told me to experiment with some default layouts and it looked pretty bad 

Task 3: Once the timer ran off, my teacher explained to the class about 4 important fundamentals when designing a magazine cover which are (borders, hierarchy of type, typeface, colour). We were then told to re do our magazine and consider to apply all these 4 elements. 

- Borders

Borders are placed on magazine as a boundary. In order to arrange content appropriately, avoid visual clutter, and appear neater—all components of a magazine cover, including words, photographs, and other elements—must stay inside the designated border and be perfectly aligned to it. This will make the cover appear more professional.

- Hierarchy of type 

Hierarchy of type sometimes referred to as visual hierarchy, takes into account the way individuals read and capitalises it by repositioning text (such as the masthead and primary coverline) from top to bottom or left to right depending on how important it is. This will help with the audience's rapid and easy navigation of the content by emphasising the important details. The masthead and primary coverline, for instance, must stand out from the rest of the text by having a distinctive attribute that sets them apart, such as a different size, font weight, typeface, colour, and much more.

- Typeface 

Typeface is defined as the type of design used in a text, its a crucial component of its visual identity since it conveys the personality and readability of the publication. Certain typefaces are associated with specific tones due to their themes and traditions. For instance, the idea of sans serif is more laid-back and contemporary than that of serif, which is elegant and refined. This little variation in typefaces can affect how far a publication can reach its intended readership.

- Colour 

Color selections have a big influence on the way appealing a magazine design looks since they can imply feelings, establish a mood, or pique readers' interest visually. They could direct the reader's focus or add to the cohesiveness and attractiveness of the magazine.

Here are my revised magazine covers with pictures I took during lesson time 

Photoshoot

 Here is an additional post where I add all the pictures I took and some bts pictures as well 

I took many pictures but I ended up finalising them to only 25 pictures where I edited most of them 

link to my google drive: edited magazine pictures