Final magazine

Here are the images for my magazine: cover, contents page, and double page spread 

Front cover

Contents 

Double page spread

Here is the link to my digitalised magazine: final magazine

Critical self reflection

Here is my critical self reflection for my magazine project 

critical self reflection media magazine by raraa

Double page spread: research + development

This will be my development and detailed research for my double page spread 

Reflection: This was yet again another time consuming task, I could say second most time consuming. I really focused on my design this time other than the article content as I have finished making it, but what made me shocked was how the process was so intricate and every element should be well placed in order for the negative white space to not look off. Which is why I felt frustrated every time my teacher says theres something wrong cause its like I cant get it right all the time, but then as time passed by and I took advice from the input I received I made lesser mistakes and was able to finish making it on time. 

Problem: Dealing with small mistakes in my double page spread and trying to make it more appealing for the audience to read

Solution: Made lesser mistakes by learning from experience and feedback so that I don't have to re do it over and over again. I also made my text easier to read by using a font and style that was easy to read as well as a separation with a pull quote 

Starting with the research I've done on a couple of double page spreads that caters to the genre my magazine will be (fashion) and what target audience my magazine appeals to (young adults/adults). I will also be listing out my likes and dislikes and what typical conventions fashion magazines double page spread follows (more research took inspiration from old research as well)

We can see that most double page spreads only uses one main image on one page or even two, but all double page spreads uses the same typeface but some use justified or not left aligned text and all articles use a dropcap for the beginning letter of the article. Every double page also includes a pullquote that separates the text or not in a whole new text box, some are even in the image page of the double page spread. However one thing all articles don't use is a byline as no authors are mentioned in a fashion article magazine. Another similarity is that most magazines have a caption explaining what the article is about or who photographed the picture and what the picture was used for on the double page spreads but again captions are only (mostly) used on the image page of the double page spread. 

I also researched on what type of style I want my pull quote to be positioned as there were many designs and layouts to choose from, but I ultimately decided on the one that is positioned like a box as its what looks the neatest even though most fashion magazine do not follow this convention, this is what I subvert in order for it too look different and unique but still keeping my audience engaged and interested. 

As for my caption, we can see that most magazine double page spreads has a small body of text on the image that explains more about the article or what the image is about, so I decided to follow that convention but with who photographed my image in order for the audience to be more aware on who photographed that image. 

Step 1: sketches (rough draft of different layout I have in mind for my double page spread) red text to indicate the type of picture and type of text elements used 

Step 2: digitalise some drafts 

Step 3: choose one draft and experiment

I decided on my second draft as it was actually a hassle for me to add and align all the images in order for it to go through both pages 

 

After getting it rechecked by my teacher I decided to revise a lot on my double page especially on aligning everything with my border. As you can see I moved my pull quote higher and changing the colour of it as well to pink since my teachers gave me input that my double page seem too text heavy. But I also re aligned my texts as you can see from the first draft the middle column of text seemed bigger than the rest which is why I revised it in order for everything to look the same. 

I got my double page checked again and this is when I finalised everything. I decided to make my text left aligned as it made it easier for my audience to read, because if I used justified theres a lot of white empty space in between texts which makes it look messy. My teacher also recommended me to move my pull quote to the middle of my article so that I can balance everything out and not making it look text heavy. 

I also added a pull quote on my other page which was one full image of my model, and I also experimented with a different alignment of text which was justified but as you can see it looks very spaced out and in my opinion theres too much white spacing in the middle, making it look untidy.

But in the last minute I decided on using a caption instead of a pull quote since I wanted to follow the typical magazine convention where they add a caption on the image page 

Step 4: finalised double page spread 

On the day of submission I finally had one last input from my teacher which was fixing the alignment of my article text that was near the pull quote, as you can see now it looks tidier and is more uniform with all the other alignments of text. I also changed my pull quote to a caption and I also enlarged the text that since my teacher said it should cover up more of the empty space. Lastly, I moved my page number of the second page to the right as before it was on the left and it did not follow the typical convention I intended my double page spread to be.

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

Location scout & risk assessment

Here are some pictures of potential locations for my magazine 

Reflection: This was actually one of those tasks I hate as I couldn't come up with any risks that were life threatening or hard to control as all variables that could cause an accident can be easily fixed by being careful. Which is why I repeated some points for different locations as its all in one location (my house) but just different parts of my house hence why its harder for me to figure out what could go really wrong. But even though this was a very boring task at least it helped my manage my time to make sure I have everything prepared beforehand. 

Location #1 

Location #2 

 

Location #3

Here is my risk assessment on my location scout 

My house (outdoor garden)
Purpose of the scene:	introduce the scenery (garden) to show how natural it is to the audience: showing a magical front cover
Media Language:	mise en scene: flowy (blue) princess dress in order for the magazine to look magical, with warm/bright colored background  medium shot: to show the models facial expression with direct mode of address but its enough to the point where you can see how beautiful the dress is
Pros of Location:	- flexible as its my own house and I can use any props available as well as adjust any natural scenery  - realistic, since i'm using a real outdoor background it will look more natural and cohesive
Cons of Location	- hard to control how bright or dark i want the light to be as it will be different in different times of the day  - may not look very neat as not everything outdoor is as clean if it were to be done in a studio
RISK ASSESSMENT
Potential Hazards	- My dog since she's not used to new people - Equipment issues as the garden is not very spacious and it can cause casualties if one gets hit or dropped  - Hanging plants in the outdoor garden
Evaluate Risks	- She can bark and go around the person she is not familiar with in this case its the model  - Broken equipment can cause a delay and even cancel the entire shoot as there might not always be a backup on hand  - If a tragedy happens due to unfavourable weather conditions (strong winds) it can cause the plant to fall and injure the model
Control Measures	- Put my dog in another room in order for her to not disrupt the shoot   - Make sure to handle all the equipment properly by having each checked and only used when its time to shoot and take pictures if not it will be properly placed somewhere else and regularly checked  - check the weather before hand and check everything beforehand and see if it will still be used or needs to be removed
Assign Responsibility and Timeframe	- Put my dog in a different room (28 jan) - Packing and keeping the camera safe (27 jan) - Check wether forecasts on weather (27 jan)

Another garden near the outside gate (outdoor)
Purpose of the scene:	showcases the scenery of flowers of plants with the model to give it a natural look
Media Language:	mise en scene: simple blue dress with flowers to match with the soft theme in order for it to flow with the already chaotic background filled with flowers medium shot: to show the face but as well as the body of the model in a professional look
Pros of Location:	- natural setting gives a more realistic look and vibe  - Has colorful aspects such as the flowers  - Easier to manage everything around the garden as I can move it as much as I like
Cons of Location	- Harder to control the lighting of the area if i want it to look brighter or warmer  - Some parts look dirty on camera as its an outdoor setting and there will be dirt in some areas
RISK ASSESSMENT
Potential Hazards	- Can be slippery from watering all the plants which can cause the model to fall - Feel discomfort from insects that may be around the location
Evaluate Risks	- Making sure to water the plants before or not after the shoot to stop the floor from getting wet  - The model getting uncomfortable causing them to be in a mood due to discomfort of their surroundings
Control Measures	- Making sure to water the plants before or not after the shoot to stop the floor from getting wet  - Prepare a insect spray and not taking that long to shoot outside just incase it uncomfortable for the model
Assign Responsibility and Timeframe	- Packing and keeping the camera safe (27 jan) - Making sure everything is clean and not slippery (28 jan)

My staircase (indoor)
Purpose of the scene:	mostly shows the model and introduce the clothes she's wearing as the main piece of the picture
Media Language:	mise en scene: an iconic top piece which will mostly tie in the entire colour pallete for the whole magazine. I mostly envision a soft pastel piece in order to give my magazine a softer yet ethereal look medium shot: to show the face but as well as the body of the model in order to show the direct mode of address and as well as the models body language so that it looks professional
Pros of Location:	- fully white background so its easier to control how bright I want the lighting to be  - flexible as again its my house and I can adjust anything if something gets in the way
Cons of Location	- not fully clean as the wall have some dark spots which makes it not that put together but thats a problem I could solve by editing it  - does not look like a real studio even though it gives off an illusion that it was done in a studio because of the white background there are many things I cant control from how
RISK ASSESSMENT
Potential Hazards	- Equipment issues if I drop the camera on accident and it rolled down the stairs causing it to break  - The model can trip and fall on her dress if not careful which can cause an injury
Evaluate Risks	- Broken equipment can cause a delay and even cancel the entire shoot as there might not always be a backup on hand  - The model getting injured can also cause a delay and cancelation as there will be no replacement
Control Measures	- Make sure to handle all the equipment properly by having each checked and only used when its time to shoot  - Help the model every time she needs help coming down the stairs such as holding her dress
Assign Responsibility and Timeframe	- Packing and keeping the camera safe (27 jan) -  Prepare insect repellent (27 jan)