Early Flat Plan Designs

Front Cover

Contents Page

Double Page Spread

My above designs are of course felxible, but with these flans plans I can have a clear starting point for my magazine which will then save me a great deal of time during construction.



Masthead Designs

Below is a short presentation containing some possible masthead font styles for my magazine.

Masthead ideas

Inspiring Work

Below is a short presentation on some of the work that has inspired me and will help me to create a great looking magazine.

Inspiration for sonus

My Magazine Reader Profile

Below is the reader profile for my magazine, 'Sonus'.

The things in which I have included are all ones which my target audience have said they are interested in. I know this from my own personal research and also by the results of my survey.

My Survey Results - Analysis

Below is a presentation on my survey results and how they will help me when constructing my music magazine.

My Survey Results Analysis

Music Magazine Analysis

Below is my presentation analysing 3 magazines. This includes their front covers, contents pages and double page spreads.

Music Magazine Analysis

College Magazine Contents

Below is my contents page for my college magazine.

I have chosen to continue the red and green colour scheme, as with the front cover. 

I have also included three images for the contents page. The one for my lead article, 'Come Dine With De'Ath', is taken from the front cover, I have just shrunk it using 'Free Transform' (Edit>Free Transform or Ctrl + T) to make it fit in the bottom corner. 

 

The second image is an original one that I've taken. It is of someone's hand holding out two fingers. It's simply there to represent the number 2 as the 'Student Discounts' article is on that page.

Lastly the third image is of a QR code. I have included this, and decided not to label it, as it acts as a surprise to the reader who will be unaware of what exactly it does, until they have scanned it.

Overall, I am relatively pleased with the final outcome of my college magazine. However, the skills I have learned by making it and also the ones I am still yet to learn, will help me to create an even better magazine for my final project.

College Magazine Front Cover

Below you can see my final front cover and also some of the techniques I used in order to achieve certain effects.

Firstly I imported my picture into Photoshop and used the 'Magnetic Lasso Tool' (shown below) to cut out the image, removing all of the background. I then enlarged it using 'Free Transform' in order to make sure it was a MCU.

After that I used the 'Rectangular Marquee Tool' to create some different sized boxes. I then used the 'Eyedropper Tool' in order to get the exact same colour as my title. Once the colour had been selected I used the 'Paint Bucket Tool' to then fill them with that selected colour.

Once I had appropriately sized the boxes and placed them in the correct places I used the 'Horizontal Type Tool' to create some text. As I had filled the boxes with a block colour, this then allowed me to have white text.

 Lastly all I needed to do was to add my masthead and simply paste in a barcode and also the City College Logo. I made sure to add the logo and the 'CCN' part of my title into the left third of my front cover as this would be the most seen part of my front cover.

Reader Profile

This is my reader profile for my college magazine 'CCN Extra'.

College Magazine - Flat Plans

Below you can see the flat plans for both my front page and contents page.

I believe it was very important to firstly draw up plans for my magazine, it allowed me to spot potential problems or areas of weakness before it was too late. This also helped to save time during the creation process on Photoshop.

College Magazine Pitch

My magazine is called ‘CCN extra!’, for the simple reason that it provides students at City College with that extra information which they may otherwise not have been told or are able to find out.

My front cover uses two main colours, red and blue. I felt it necessary to use the as this is red typically used throughout City College literature and in adverts. I then chose to use a darkish shade of blue as it works very nicely along side the red and could be seen as more appealing to a ‘younger’ student audience. For my title I chose to use a basic, formal font for the letters CCN, but then to create a stark contrast I used the font ‘Chiller’ which is considered to be more appealing to a younger audience and therefore the audience for my magazine. I felt it important to stray away from the formality of college but at the same time include some aspects in order to highlight the difference between this magazine and one aimed at staff for example.

I personally believe that my magazine would be popular and appealing to students as it includes things which are relevant and interesting to them. For example one of my regular articles will be ‘Whats on?’ which includes gig information and other exciting upcoming events. A feature which I have chosen to include in the first issue is one which I regard as the most useful, the student discounts guide. Students are becoming increasingly concerned about money and how best to save it so this guide is extremely useful. Also I believe that students deserve to be rewarded and what better way to do that than offering them unique and exclusive discounts.

My contents page continues to use the red and blue colour scheme which worked well on the front cover. I have also included relevant and stimulating images next to each article description. As well as this, in the bottom right hand corner I have included a QR code. Students will be able to scan this using one of the appropriate apps which are available to them on their smartphones thus giving them a free download. This adds an exciting and almost interactive element to the magazine which will help to engage the audience.

Magazine Front Covers

Below are a few examples of some magazine front covers I found. I particular like their simple black and white style.

Magazine Front Covers

University Magazine Research

Open publication - Free publishing - More magazines

CD Design Project

Below are images of both my CD front cover and my back cover.

This was my first attempt at using Photoshop in order to create a project. 

I used an original image for the front and back covers. In both cases, these images were taken in a setting which compliments the genre of my CD. I then edited them using an iPhone App called 'Instagram'.

  

My aim was to create a CD cover for a compilation album featuring long, chilled out tracks that would be aimed at both genders, aged between 30 and 45. I believe that my CD cover is appropriate for both the genre and audience. It's a reasonably simplistic design with the main focus being on the picture on the front cover which is included to promote the relaxed, summery vibe of my album.

For the image on the back cover I used a technique called 'History Brush'. This enables you to transform an image to black and white and then bring selected areas back to their original colour. Below you can see a screenshot of this tool and also a picture I used to learn this technique on.

I also learned how to alter the blend mode to 'Multiply'. This allows you to add opaque text over an image. This is a very useful tool and one which I experimented with for my front cover. I practiced this technique by trying to recreate closely a CD front cover from the artist Pink. Below you can see my attempt and also a screenshot of the blend mode menu.

Overall I am pleased with the outcome of my CD cover, however I look forward to learning more techniques in Photoshop and creating even better projects in the future.

CD Cover Research

Below are some examples of some CD covers that I like.

The CD cover below is from The Kooks for the album Junk Of The Heart. I particular like the image they have used and the way it has a painted effect. 

Secondly I have chosen Foals' album cover for Total Life Forever. I like how it features all of the guys from the band thus promoting them individually. I also like how the picture has been taken underwater and edited to show just a small stream of light breaking through the surface.

Lastly I have chosen to include Two Door Cinema Club's cover for their album Tourist History. I particular enjoy the comical affect of placing the image of the cat in the background so that it's eyes show through the two O's of 'door'.