Couture Magazine

Work in Progress

When deciding on the type to use, I downloaded some fonts i found on a website called Dafont. These fonts are free to download so i download a variety of them to test out on my cover and double page spread. I experimented with a range of different types to use on my pieces. I used a serif font, a script and a sans serif font for my magazine front cover, as these create a nice contrast.

I then inserted my final picture into Photoshop to be placed on the magazine template. I edited the levels and colours of the photo slightly so to make the photo of better quality. I chose this picture as I thought it would be a good portrait picture for my magazine.

Final Piece

I then added the title and cover lines in front of the picture. I used the cover lines which I had planned and placed them in front of the image.  The type contrasts lovely as I have used serif for the title and some of the cover lines, sans serif for the bigger cover lines, and a small bit of script font. This was done to make the magazine look interesting and eye catching, and making the cover lines stand out on the page, as they are short and catchy in a readable font. I then decided to layer them down the page in centre align, and separated each one with a thin white line. This makes the cover lines blend but at the same time eye catching as I bolded, capitalised and made larger the bits that are the title of the stories etc. I put the title behind the model to make the image stand out and seem like it is a popular magazine, so people will know it is the ‘COUTURE’ magazine just from looking at the magazine, without looking at the title.

Contact Sheet - Cover Pictures

For image on the front cover of my magazine I used my sister as the model and took a variety of pictures. I directed my sister to pose in a range of positions so to get a variety of images to choose from when I create my magazine. I took the pictures on flash and had a white wall behind so the photos were clear of distractions and were clear and detailed. I then annotated the sheet to make it clear what photos I would not be using with a cross, and the photos I could potentially use for my final piece with a circle. I also added a small description as to why I did or didn't decide to use it.

Magazine Draft

This is the first draft of my magazine. I chose one of my scamps and tested out doing the front cover, so to experiment with the cover lines and image before the final piece. I created the title in Photoshop and moved it to Photoshop. 

I chose this picture for my draft as i was replicating my scamps and this picture is clear, with good body language and posture for the front of a magazine.

I then placed the image on Photoshop so I could write the cover lines, position the image and title around the image.

Here is a screenshot of my final piece in Photoshop. I added the cover lines that I made for the magazine and added graphic elements to make the magazine professional.

Here is the final piece of my draft. If I was to change anything about this piece I would choose another image as this one is slightly blurry. I would also even out the distribution of my cover lines so that they were equal on both sides.

Cover Draft

I then sketched out drafts for my magazine front cover. I chose to do a variety of scamps with the name of my magazine on and a few of the cover lines. The model for my magazine is my sister, therefore I drew her in a number of ways. I drew a variety of poses so to get a good range of poses and choices of what i could do.

Stencil Spraying

Scamping Magazine Double Pages - 16

I then sketched out scamps of different magazine double page spreads. I copied a variety of magazines such as ELLE, BAZAAR, VOGUE and various music magazines. This was good as it got me used to the conventions of the magazines and where elements of the magazines are places. I did a variety of magazines such as music, fashion and home life so to expand my knowledge of the conventions

Scamping Magazine Covers - 24

I then sketched out scamps of different magazine covers from existing magazines. I copied a variety of magazines such as ELLE, BAZAAR, VOGUE and various music magazines. I did a variety of magazines such as music, fashion and home life so to expand my knowledge of the conventions However, I mainly did fashion and beauty magazines as I knew my cover would be of that genre, so sketching those genre of magazines got me used to the conventions and where elements are placed.

Parody Art Piece - Last Supper

We were then set the task of creating a parody image. This was to improve our photoshop skills, bring out our creative side and experiment, and to look at different types of art. This is my second parody image of the famous painting ‘The Last Supper’, and turned it into a catwalk scene.

Original

Work in Progress

Final Piece

Parody Art Piece - Girl with the pearl earring

We were then set the task of creating a parody image. This was to improve our photoshop skills, bring out our creative side and experiment, and to look at different types of art. I did two, The Girl With The Pearl Earring and modernised her. I preferred the ‘Girl With The Pearl Earring’ edit as I could experiment with the picture and add lots of elements to create a humorous parody of the original image. Whereas I was quite limited to what I could do with the Jesus Last Supper painting as it was quite busy in the first place.

Original

Working Progress

Final Piece

Coverlines

I then created a page to plan my cover lines. I researched and looked at the magazines I had googled and had on pinterest earlier for inspiration. I included a range of cover lines and did ones with puns, alliteration, puff lines, rhetorical questions and exclusives. This was to make the coverlines eye catching and interesting on the front of the magazines.

Magazine Research

Pinterest

For part of my magazine research I used an online program called pinterest. Pinterest is a program where you can search for a topic you are interested in, and you can 'pin it' so that images associated with that topic appear on you home page. I used Pinterest to search for fashion magazine layouts, so to gain inspiration and ideas for my own magazine when I start designing it.

 

Google Image Search
I also used google image search. I used this as google images provides a range of images according to the topic you search. Therefore as you can see from the screenshot I have gained a lot of pictures of fashion magazines. Which I can use for inspiration when thinking of colours and headings for the cover and double page spread.

 Physical Research
The final method of magazine research I did was I went into town and into WHSmith. So that i could physically look at different fashion magazines for inspiration and so I could actually look through the magazines myself and see the double page spreads. I think these 3 methods of research are the most efficient and useful as they provide a large range of different and interesting

Own Magazine Recreation

Our next task was to once again recreate a magazine, but choose it ourselves. Using our own picture and making it from scratch. This was a helpful task as it once again got us used to the conventions of a magazine, helped us learn Indesign and we were able to recreate something of our choice so we could see the elements needed for our own subject matter. I chose the magazine as this fashion and beauty magazine is the type of magazine I am hoping to create, and also holds the same target audience that my magazine will have. If I was to change anything I would ensure my model of the magazine was dressed more similarly to the original design, align a few bits of the text and add white boxes on the right corner so my version was more like the original.

Original

Creating own font

I created the brush type myself using ink and a small brush, as I found it would add originality to my piece and, this type was quite hard to find and I could replicate it better and get it closer to the real thing. I edited the type on Photoshop and made them cleaner and neater so they looked professional. I also inverted the 'high street edited' cover line as it was white writing on a black background. I sourced all the other fonts myself from DaFont, which was a useful website as it built up my knowledge of the different fonts there were available.

Working Progress

This is a screenshot of the magazine in its working stages in Indesign. I used my own image, as I used my sister to be the model of the magazine. I sourced all the other fonts myself from DaFont, which was a useful website as it built up my knowledge of the different fonts there were available.

Image

Final picture for my recreation of Company magazine. I used my own image and used my sister as the model, so was able to get her to pose in the right position ensuring my magazine was similar as possible to the original.

Final Piece

Below is my final recreation of the magazine. I have included all the conventions featured such as title, model, cover lines, graphic detail and images. I created the boxes and graphic detail myself on Photoshop, created some of the type myself and used my own image. This promoted originality and made the recreation unique. I sourced the other fonts and images of clothing from the internet, such as DaFont for type and google images for the items of clothing I needed.

Magazine Title

To come up with a name for my magazine, I made a brainstorm of words associated with fashion that could form a name for my high-end fashion magazine. These words were in categories such as - types, tools, existing, adjectives and terms + slang. I then selected words which I thought were appropriate for my magazine and ones that sounded the best - So i chose 'Couture' as the final name as it means 'high end fashion' which is what my magazine will mainly be about.

CRAP Analysis Written

CRAP Analysis

John's Awful Business Card

This is a poorly designed business card our teacher gave to us, our task was then to recreate the business card showing each format of Type Dynamics. Below are my designs for a Concord, Conflict and Contrasting business card.

Concord 

This card is concordant as the type on the card is all just one font. This makes the card look dull and boring.

Conflict

This card is conflicting as both fonts are very similar, as both carry the handwritten/ script look. But they are clearly different so making the card look messy and badly designed.

Contrast

I have tried to make the contrasting look clear on this card by using 3 different alignments, 4 different types, italics, bolding, gradients and different sizes. This makes the card look really messy, unprofessional and disorderly.  

Working Progress

This is a screenshot of my business card in photoshop. We used photoshop as it is easy to download fonts onto and it is easy move elements around the page to create your project.

Final Product of NME recreation

Original Artefact

This is the original magazine cover, our task was to reproduce this is Photoshop. We had to use our own pictures, find our own fonts and place the elements in the right places.

Working Progress

This is a screenshot of my final product in indesign next to the original copy of the NME magazine. Our task was to recreate the NME magazine as closely as possible to reproduce an exact replica.

My Version

Below is my recreation of the magazine above. I recreated this on photoshop, I took my own images for it and downloaded typefaces for it off the internet. I downloaded the fonts for free off a website called 'Da Font'.