Plans I Didnt Follow

Plans I didn't follow

The most obvious decision that I wasn't able to follow was the drawn up plans I had made as an over view of what my finished products would have looked at. The main reason that I think I didn't stick to these drawing is because of how simple they looked. I don’t think that I included nor had a clear idea of how much I would actually need to put into each of them.

For my front cover drawn plan I included quite a few conventions such as masthead, puff and selling lines. However when it came to actually producing it I wasn't able to include all of them, I was probably thinking that the front cover would look too informative on just one page and decrease its professionalism. Therefore I didn't include the puff and instead added more selling lines as that is key for a front cover page as well as a ‘plus’. The main reason for this was, because of the magazines that I had used for inspiration all had clean cut images. For this reason, I too wanted my magazine to have a clean cut image for its brand, which I also think is good for my target readers as they are young adults, I didn't think that a lot of information would be needed. As you get older I think that interpreting what the magazine is about comes easier. For example if Jay Z is on a magazine the magazine is more likely to also include his daughter or Beyoncé and therefore the selling  lines would need to be put on. However for if it’s a magazines for young children then more would need to be put on the front in order to keep them interested.

I would have to say that my contents page was the page that I had the most time struggling with. I knew from the beginning that once I couldn't find the right picture to use for my content page that I would be able to stick with the plan. At first I planned on on having one picture on the side with text all around it, but then afterwards I started finding it hard to choose a background color. Therefore I decided to do some research and found out that most pictures taken by professional as use the background they've been given and just edit it, to make it brighter or fit the concept, which is what I decided to do. This also meant that I couldn't stick to the planned schedule I had made either as I had to recall the model I had used and retake some pictures. Once I had decided to use the background from the picture, because of the position of my model in the photo I had to also change the position of the text I would later on include.

Producing the double page spread was the easiest part for me,  I think I was able to keep to the drawn plan I had and include some things here and there. For example sticking to the position of where to place the interview of my featuring artists as well as well image to go behind as the background as well, managed to fit fit perfectly together.

My Final Pages

My Final Pages

Front Cover Editing

Front Cover Editing

In order to make my front cover more appealing, all I had left to do was add some more selling lines towards the top side of the models face, this way the page will look more full and informative. I also researched and saw that on the front cover that I used as inspiration; most front covers had puffs or a plus. When it came to deciding where on my front cover the ‘Plus’ text was going to go; I firstly went with positioning it just above ‘AZALEA’. However the background was of my models body warmer was black and therefore clashed with the

actually plus sign. So I therefore decided to position it just to the right of my models face as the lighting was brighter making it easier for the readers to notice it.  I then decided to make the featuring sign ‘ Exclusive The Queen of Hip Hop AZALEA’ larger, since it is the main unique selling point that will attract my potential target audience. The selling lines on the right side of my front cover also needed to be tidied up; as the spaces between each line weren't even which I thought would not help my front cover’s professionalism. I also decided to add ‘Issue 10’ on top of the bar code, just to give it the edge.

Contents Page Editing

Contents Page Editing

In order for my contents page and cover page to flow I decided to add the similar background covers for my subheadings, and got rid of the black line at the bottom. After a while I didn't feel it was necessary that I had it, I think I was trying to make sure that both my content page and double page spread flowed together nicely, however later on I realised that my double page spread is the page which is supposed to stand out the most as it contains the featuring artists on it. I also decreased the size of my fonts, this way I can add more text onto the page and make it seem more informative. Although when it came

towards the bottom of my page the colors started to clash with my models clothing. Therefore I decided to add a small advertisement instead, in order to make it stand out compared to the rest of the text on the page I used a larger bold typeface to catch my readers eye. However I didn't want it to seem to different to the rest of the page and ruin the color scheme i had chosen, so I therefore used a similar typeface to the titles I've been using and a similar bold red.

Front Cover Editing

Front Cover Editing

The final things that I wanted to add to my front cover page were the saturated red around my headlines. This way it’ll be easier for the reader’s to identify what the main content of the magazine will be. I also edited ‘The Queen of Hip Hop’, giving it an outer glow; this was because the background of some of this was black due to the models cloths. So I thought

the glow would help readers to read it better. I also changed the date from the ‘4 July 2015’ to ‘July 2015. The reason for this is because when it came to asking people how often they thought my type of music magazine should be published, the majority of them picked monthly. I then went online and done some research finding out that magazines that are published monthly don’t include the date of the month on their magazine.

Contents Page Editing

Contents Page Editing

After adding in the advertisement text using InDesign, I decided to go back onto Photoshop and add a white box around the text. From some research I’ve done on content page advertisements they tend to make the text stand out from the rest, therefore I used a different typeface as well as the color. I also looked at some examples that VIBE had

previously published and realised hat they have always choose a different font for their featuring artist excluding the page number, or even sometimes change its position compared to all the other page numbers. For this reason I wanted to make the typefaces the same as the one i had chosen for the front cover this way, it helps the pages to flow. I also changed its position more towards the models image this way

Double Page Editing

Double Page Editing

After looking at my double page spread I realised that the black lines at the top and bottom were a bit too thick, so I therefore decided to make them smaller. However in order to do this I had to stretch the background picture which included the actual model. I also changed the size of my strap line at the top of both pages this way it would be more noticeable for the

readers. I was also thinking that the text on my double page spread was a bit small for the readers to see so I therefore went back on my InDesign and made the front 1 more size bigger. At the top of the page I also noticed that it was a bit plain, so I decided to go back on InDesign and include a small strap line. ‘Aimee Lee reveals her heart breaking story, page 21…’ This will also benefit the magazine as well once the readers finish reading the double page spread they can ten move onto reading another page that is advertised at eh top of the pages.