LO4: Final magazine pages

Front Cover:

Contents Page:

Double Page Spread:

LO4: Drafts of magazine

Progression of the Front Cover:

1st Draft Progress:

Firstly I imported and placed the image onto the Photoshop document.

I then imported and placed the masthead, within the margins, so that it was central in the page and fitted the conventions of a successful magazine.

I then added and placed the main cover line, within the margins, so that it was also central on the page, I made sure the text 'Gwent Event' was the biggest text on the front cover (besides the masthead) as this is conventional towards magazine front covers. I also made sure all the the text on the front cover is in capital letters as this is another convention and just makes the magazine stand out. I also went with the colour scheme green and grey as they are both complimentary colours. Finally, I placed it in the position you would typically see on a magazine i.e. Exposed to fit the convention of a front cover page.

Next, I went on to add the first cover line, this is smaller than the main cover line and is usually another insight into what the magazine's content is, I went with one that asks the reader a rhetorical question, this can persuade the reader to buy the magazine as they may want to find out what the question is asking. I also still went on with the same colour scheme so that it fits in with the rest of the page. 

I added the second cover line with the same reasons as the first, to persuade the reader into buy the magazine, but this one doesn't ask a rhetorical questions, but just an overview of what interviews are in the magazine. I also added a translucent green box to the cover line, hopefully to make the text look more clearer.

Next, I elevated the main cover line a bit more higher to space out the different features on the magazine, I also made the the first cover line smaller and moved it more into the white space to make the text more clearer to the reader. 

Draft 1: 

2nd Draft Progress:

To make the green less dominant on the front cover I decided to remove some green from the Masthead, I then replaced it with a few grey parts to still keep the colour scheme of the masthead the same.

Next, I decided to get rid of the translucent box covering the second cover line, and instead put a green box over the text 'Interviews with: ' to make the green on the front cover more simplistic and take up less of the page.

Next, to lower the amount of green, I used yellow in the Main cover line.

I then also changed the box around the second cover line to yellow too.

I gave the main cover line a banner to fit the conventions of some successful magazines i.e. Kerrang! I also rotated it so it didn't look basic.

I then cut the banner shorter so it fitted inside the margins.

Draft 2:

2nd draft of Front cover improvements:

3rd Draft Progress (Pre-improvements):

Before knowing my improvements on my previous draft I made the angle at which the banner was, as I think it was rotated a little more than it should have been, so I made it a bit more horizontal.

I then scaled the 2nd cover line a bit bigger as I thought it was a bit too small relative to the full page. 

 Draft 3:

4th Draft Progress (From Improvements):

 I added a darker yellow to the mast head to make it more contrasting to the lighter colours.

I then added a blue to the main cover line to broaden the amount of colour in the magazine.

I then also added a darker blue to the main cover line to do as I did with the darker yellow, to make the brighter colours stand out more.

I replaced the Masthead with a new masthead where the subtext is not 'casual events' but is now an 'events guide'.

Next, I decided to add the 'Exclusive' title, I used this as a puff to help persuade a person to buy the magazine, as Exclusive means it is only in this magazine, so a reader may be intrigued to buy one to read about this exclusive content.

Here I changed the cover line, I also added a banner. I changed the cover line to an article that is mentioned in the contents page, this is because the previous cover line was not and so to keep the content fluent throughout the magazine, I made the change. I also added the banner so that it stands out more easily against the white, also to keep the house-style going too.

The bottom cover line was updated with a full border behind it, this is so all the text stood out within it.

Then I removed the bottom part to the border but kept the stretched out part on the 'Interviews with' text, this is mainly because I only really need to get there attention that this part is about who is being interviewed, and once the reader sees this they can just look at the text below to see who the interviewee's are.

I added a second image that you would sometimes see on a front cover of a magazine, this is to make the cover look more interesting and get the readers attention.

Next, I turned up the contrast on the background image, this is because the model looked a bit grey, so I turned up the contrast to get more colour. I also tried something with the second image by placing it behind the main cover line.

I moved the 2nd image from behind the main cover line and moved it up more, then I added a caption to it to give a reason for it being there, to tell you what it is.

Next I added a texture to the masthead to make it look less dull and make it similar to some magazines that have textures on theirs, like for example 'The Source' Magazine.

Draft 4:

5th Draft Progress:

Once again I changed the masthead because I wanted a bold definite masthead instead of one with a texture put on the old one, I wanted a masthead that can be its own identity, so that people recognize it when they see it.

5th Draft

Progression of Content Page:

Draft 1 Progression:

This is the page without anything on it apart from the margins which I will use to help compose things on this page.

Firstly, I imported basic text based off my front covers masthead.

Then I added the text saying "Content" whilst keeping the style of the masthead, this also makes it so the title to the page is bordered and it helps differentiate the title from the rest of the page.

Next, I added the image, by fitting it into the margins I had set, but then I moved it down a bit as I realised there needs to be space in between the title to the page and the rest of the content, this was 7 millimetres.

I added the caption box to the photo by using the shape tool and then inserted text within it.

I then also added a line (4px) above the content and below the title to enforce the fact that they are both separate things.

I added the page number to reference what page the cover story is on, I also changed the font of the text, right now the main font I am using (other than the titles which are Impact) and it is the Avenir font. The word 'Page' in the circle is in the Impact font.

This is my magazine in preview mode, I used this to show the vertical line on the far left of the page, this is seen in the magazine 'Exposed' and has vertical text saying what kind of content these pages numbers go to, like 'Cover Story' and 'Features'. There is also 'Regulars' but this doesn't go on the vertical side.

I added the vertical text that I was talking about before, this one being 'Cover Story' as the image and caption are linked to the front covers main story.

This is the page with all the different sections set up with lines separating each section, this idea was too from Exposed magazines content page, and I used it as a way to separate the different parts as it looks nice and makes it easier for the reader to navigate.

I decided to spread the page out more and to do this I had to move the separating lines more apart, making me have to further adjust the page so that the image and caption is much bigger.

These are the results of the adjustments I made from the previous step.

I added the preview of the front cover to the content page, as seen in Exposed magazines content page.

I then added the banner at the bottom that gives contact information as this is a convention within magazines as it's needed so that the reader can contact the magazine for many reasons such as complaints, or maybe to even enter a competition.

Next, I added the page number, which is a convention to every magazine ever, because it's needed so it is easier for the audience to navigate, and then also a website link, this is seen in Exposed Magazine.

Now I added the 'Features' title, for the section with the main features in the magazine, that aren't regulars in the magazine.

Here I have added the 'Feature' stories, with the page numbers and a short description of the 'Feature' story. This is conventional with most magazine content pages. Each one is a different subject; Page 18 being sport, 26 is film, 32 is technology, 38 is Art and 41 is Music.

I now added the title for the 'Regulars' section.

I added the regular features onto the 'Regular' section. I then added the staff list, this is usually a convention in a magazines content page, and is there to credit them for their work.

I altered the 'Laze' and 'Content' header so that they have a stroke around the text, this is because the yellow text was too bright against the white page, the black stroke makes it so the yellow text is more visible against the white background. I then also magnified the cover story's image as their was too much white space in the image.

I then also added the Business info, which is seen in Exposed Magazines' content page. This is used to explain how it isn't the publisher of the magazines fault as changes during publishing are not the companies fault, but the writer of the content's fault.

Finally, I add the updated front cover and replace the old one.

 Draft 1:

Draft 2 Progression:

I added the new masthead that was put on the front cover to make it consistent throughout the magazine, to make the brand recognisable and rememberable.

I then added the new front cover to the preview slot in the top right.

Draft 2:

Progression of the Double Page Spread:

This is the double page spread before I have added anything to it.

Then I added a few margins to layout where I'm putting my image.

After the previous step, I added the main photograph that will be on the Double Page Spread, but after doing this I had to alter the margin as well as make sure I have enough room for the masthead, page number, body copy, quote and heading to the page. I feel as though this is a suitable proportion to the double page spread.

Next, I added the rest of the margins so I have a foundation of where to place things.

Then I added the title to the article.

Next, I decided to change the colour of the text to one of the house style colours, to keep the consistency, I also added my introduction to the main article.

I added some borders to the text and put some lines down where the page number will go, I am thinking about placing an image underneath "What" and above "Well", this will get rid of the white space seen. Below the image will be the main article.

I may just leave the blank space I had mentioned by not having an image there, but I have added the main article, unfortunately being too long to fit on one page, so I will have to mix up the composition of the page a little to  fit it all in.

I did move things a bit, but still, the article does not fit, I will lower the font size on all the text to see if I can fix it.

I lowered the text like I said, but only on the introduction, I also moved it up to remove more of the white space and now the whole article fits on.

Next, I made the titles text black, this is just to make it stand out more, and also like a professional magazine double page spread.

Then I added the page numbers, this is absolutely conventional in magazine, as it tells the reader what page they are on, and links with the contents page, as they look on the contents page which tells them that this article is on this page.

Next I added the slug, this is to show to the reader what this page mainly is.

I decided to lower the slug 'Interview' so the reader can see it more clearer.

Next I changed the title to the article, because the grammar made no sense, so I had to remove the 'even'.

I had updated the slug, part of the header and also the drop cap, this is to add a bit of colour to the page as well keeping the house style of the magazine and the main colour is this dark blue. I also added the circle on the image to credit the writer and photographer.

Next I added a quote, as this is conventional to a magazine with an interview article.

 I decided to move the quote into the top right with a blue banner as this will be consistent with the house style.

I had to even out and thicken the border a little bit more.

I added a blue line to the bottom, this fits with the blue line on top, giving it more design,  I then also filled the circle on the image so that it can be seen easier.

Finally, I had to thin out the introduction more so that it fits with the article below.