Vent BMX Magazine - Final Major Project Reasearch and Development by Chad Powell

UNIT 6: ART AND DESIGN EXPLORATION/ APPLICATION

Project Brief PPA: Magazine Design Project brief:

BMX Magazine

Date Set:

22/03/10

Presentation: Hand in date:

17/06/10

Requirements:

- Design a BMX Magazine which will include:

mainstream International news in the BMX world, which may include such things as,

• Designing logo for magazine

Interviews, Competition news and results,

• Place logo onto T-shirt with additional

Bike checks, Riding spots, Road trips. You may

graphics

also consider other things which may be of

• Design front cover as well as up to 10 inside

interest to the potential buyers, but this must

pages. Each page must be diverse to one

be justified

another, all using various graphic design

• Create and design a website visual of a

techniques which reflect a BMX’ers lifestyle, to

home page for the magazine as well as a flash

interest them into the magazine.

based animated advert

• Content inside the magazine must contain

Company Profile: PPA is one of the UK’s largest and most

freedom and on the freedom to advertise;

twelve university courses in the UK. We are

effective trade associations, and is one of the

safeguarding our members’ intellectual

part of the European and worldwide magazine

leading magazine trade bodies worldwide.

property; fighting for a cost-effective

organisations, and we are part of the funding

Our job is to promote the interests of the UK

postal distribution system; defending our

bodies for the Press Complaints Commission

magazine and business media industry in

members against unnecessary regulation, and

and the Advertising Standards Authority. We

every way possible. We are at the heart of a

promoting the editorial and financial health

are also one of the issuers of press cards to

network of national and international alliances

of our industry. We have a strong interest in

journalists.

across the creative industries, protecting our

training and development, and (as well as our

members from damaging restrictions on press

own training and qualifications) we accredit

Target Audience and Customer Base: The target audience for this magazine will

researching BMX’ers and there interests. To do

be stereo typically targeted to males as they

this successfully, you could look into existing

are the substantial percentage involved in

BMX magazines, there lifestyles, and the

the sport of BMX. The magazine will also be

clothing they wear, which could all benefit the

targeted at people aged 16 - 30. To meet

magazine.

the target audience’s needs through the

You will need to research materials and a

magazine, you will need to create a file,

variaty of stock paper which would be suitible

for a magazine as well as being cost effective.

Budget Agreement: There will be no budget for this project, as it

We will pay you a wage of £10 per hour for the

shouldn’t be greatly costly. We will give you

job, including £1000 for the magazine sample,

a credit card number in order to purchase

£200 for the visual website design and £200

items for the magazine, which could include

for the magazine logo itself.

Fonts and Stock Imagery. Throughout this process you will need to have a receipt for all purchases.

Action Plan Progress

Targets Produce project brief with realistic aims which meet all criteria.

Finished on time

Start my research, analysing existing magazines that interpret the same characteristics within each page, which also includes looking at logo’s for these. I will also need to research into BMX’ing and there lifestyles in order for my magazine to fit the target audience.

Analysed several existing magazines that I’m going to base my magazine topic on, this included front covers, contents page and advertisements.

Research and discuss Materials, Equipment and Techniques, which includes the health and safety within a work place and equipment I will potentially use.

I looked at the articles that are written in BMX magazines . I will research and discuss materials, equipment and techniques at a later date. I was so inspirated by a piece i saw, I created my own advert to use in my magazine based upon the artwork.

Begin personal research. Thing’s to include can be questionnaires, interviews, exhibitions, galleries. Also look at the target audience the magazine will be aimed at in order to meet there needs.

I referenced the history of Ride BMX Mag and how it has changed through the years. I also experimented with ink and watercolour in order to generate ideas and technqiues to use for my page layouts/advertisements. I also quickly analysed different sport covers to see exactly what things are featured on a cover.

Begin personal research in order to get inspiration for my designs within this unit, by looking into a wide range of sources from graphic designers that inspire me.

I analyzed several pages in an existing BMX magazine which include the contents page, advertising, and articles. I also looked at the artist Adi Gilbert, which inspired me to experiment using his techniques.

Start development which will need to include mood boards, influences, colours and materials. I will also need to come up with a magazine name and maybe a strap line.

I searched the internet, creating a mood board of inspirational pieces of artwork in which I could extract certain styles and techniques to use in my own magazine. I created my first advert to use in my magazine using one particular piece of work as inspiration. Not get came up with a magazine name.

Continue my development by creating unique styles which I can incorporate into my magazine page layouts including adverts.

I generated a brainstorm of words that relate to BMX in order to try and come up with a magazine name. After creating handouts for my fellow piers to select what they think was the strongest name to go with, I started bouncing ideas of them which resulted in me coming up with my name, which will be ‘Vent’. I also designed the logo

Start putting together final magazine pages using the knowledge of techniques and processes I have discovered during research.

I have made drawn concepts of my logo and finalized my final one. I have also began to put together my magazine pages using techniques that I’ve learnt through the research period.

Look at the constraints including print quality and stock that I will print my magazine onto and also what is used in industry.

Continuing magazine production and sourcing imagery and text from the internet as well as my own photography.

Present my final work to fellow peers, taking criticism constructively in order to enhance my skills within graphic design. analyse and evaluate unit including final outcome.

I am now putting the finishing touches to my magazine, and have been looking at binding techniques that I could use for my own magazine.

25/03/10

01/04/10

08/04/10

15/04/10

22/04/10

29/04/10

06/05/10

13/05/10

20/05/10

13/05/10

Materials, Equipment And Techniques Equipment I will potentially use Throughout this brief, I will need certain materials in order to create a final piece to the highest standard I am capable of, these include electronic equipment as well as traditional instruments. Here is a list of materials that I would need, which allows me to be prepared which saves me wasting time and disrupting my work flow.

Essentials Apple iMac Adobe Suite including InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator Access to the Internet Pen, Pencil, Rubber, Ruler, Paper Professional Printer

Materials, Equipment And Techniques Health and safety When working in an IT based environment, there are many things that need to be taken into consideration. Firstly your posture when sat at a computer. If not sat correctly you can develop repetitive strain injury (RSI) also known as repetitive stress injury, repetitive motion injuries, repetitive motion disorder (RMD), cumulative trauma disorder (CT), occupational overuse syndrome, overuse syndrome, regional musculoskeletal disorder. This is an injury of the muscular skeletal and nervous system that can be caused through repetitive tasks, for example, sitting in the incorrect position at a computer for long periods of time. There are over 10 RSI conditions, which most commonly effects the upper arm area. There are many symptoms of RSI, some of which include pains or tenderness in your muscles or joints, stiffness, throbbing, tingling or numbness, weakness, and cramp. Mimicking this simple diagram will help to prevent yourself from developing RSI. It is also advised to take regular breaks whilst working at a computer, this can be important, not just to help prevent such injuries as RSI but to also help prevent mental strain which includes stress. When you hold your muscles at a fixed position, fatigue builds up and the same is true for your eyes. Focusing on text or an image on the computer screen can also stop you from blinking regularly, which adds to the feeling of fatigue. Using the computer after work to perform simple tasks such as surfing the web or replying to emails will place extra strain on your already tired eyes. Simply looking away from the computer screen, and into the distance, for a few seconds will relax your eyes and reduce the irritation of sore and dry eyes. As well as taking 5 minute breaks every hour, which can help prevent the build up of general aches and pains that come from poor posture and lack of movement. When taking these breaks it is very useful to do exercises which will help these trigger points that have been involved in repetitive strain, and ultimately break the cycle of repetitiveness. Stress can acure throught the amount of deep thinking involved in producing high standards of work in such proffessions. Ways to prevent stress include Listening to soft music, excersin and, eating healthly.

Risk assessment is a simple way of taking an examination of things that could be potentially harmful to you and others in a workspace. Determining a cause of actions if an accident did occur is also important, which could seriously change the results of an action. When in industry, working in such professions as graphic design, as well as any other field of work, which includes meeting clients outside business premises, It is extremely important to consider your own safety. Essentially you should tell someone at all times where you are going and what time you will be back. This will allow th`em to take appropriate action if your not back in time whilst knowing exactly where you are. Also carry a mobile phone around with you, which you can use at any case of emergency.

Target Audience The target audience I’m going to aim my magazine is obviously BMX’ers, at an age between 14 - 40. I will create a variety of graphically pleasing page templates as well as articles that accomidate their needs. There are several scenes in the BMX world. As there are many different disaplines in BMX, the terrain they ride of differs, for example, A street rider will spend most of there time riding cities, towns and generally the ‘street’. To reach out to this target audience I will need to incorporate things into my magazine which relates to every type of rider. For street riders, I will include articles on professionals that ride the street, road trips, interviews and also create a page layout which relates to the chosen topic. For park riders, I’ll create articles covering competitions, road trips, newly built skate parks, interviews innovative tricks etc. I will also review products that are new out on the market

Historical Referencing

Issue 1 - 6 1992 - 93

Issue 22 - 27 1996 - 97

Issue 57 - 62 2002

Issue 80 - 84 2004 - 2005

Issue 123 - 127 2009

For good practice I decided to look into the history of RIDE UK BMX MAG and how they have progressed since they started, graphically, through there articles and commercially. There first magazine dropped in October of 1992. There enitial logo was typography based, upper case, san serif and heavy weighted. Depending on the image used on the cover, the logo would change between red, white and black. A san serif font would be used to advertise the articles that are inside the magazine whilst an image of a rider would be placed in the centre of the cover. On there 4th year they rebranded themselves. Changing the logo to something better suited and modernized. This new logo was a rathar stylized lowercase font with a white fill and black drop shadow. Most layouts during these years consisted of an image inside a border, allowing text to sit beside. Moving on 6 years, an image began to completely fill each front cover.

Historical Referencing

Issue 1 - 6 1992 - 93

Issue 22 - 27 1996 - 97

Issue 57 - 62 2002

Issue 80 - 84 2004 - 2005

Issue 123 - 127 2009

On the 58th issue of RIDE BMX MAG they rebranded the company once again, by simplifying the logo down to all lowercase characters, but also adding BMX to the title, as well as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. This gave Ride a new contemporary look which left the old logo which is deemed unfashionable, in the past. It seems that in the past issues of the magazine a lot less creativity was used in the from cover, a good example of this is shown between issues 67 and 104, where a hand written font is used on most front covers. The reason for this is probably because of the simple fact that they didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have acsess to the variaty of fonts avaliable today, although this was between 2003 and 2007, and through my research I have found a range of fonts were actually available at that time. Whilst analysing 2009 issues of the magazine I have noticed that there is a huge diversity within each front cover, incorporating traditional techniques with digital which compliments the magazine and tells the viewer the type of presentation which will be expected within.

Cover Analysis - Ride UK

Cover Analysis - MBUK

Cover Analysis - Sidewalk

Existing Magazine Analysis As part of my research, I’m going to analyse different criteria of 4 magazines, ranging from a BMX magazine to Front, which is a magazine aimed at teenagers that includes girl models and interesting weird topics. This type of analysis will allow me to get an idea on what makes a successful magazine for a particular topic. The things I’ll be looking at include Magazine Logo’s, Page Layouts, Types of articles etc. The key question that you need to ask yourself when launching a new magazine or spin-off is ‘How do I successfully reach out to the right target audience. This is a hugely important factor, not only is it great to produce interesting articles and information as well as graphically pleasing pages, it is not appreciated heavily by the reader if it isn’t what they intended to read, especially if it isn’t in there interests.

Existing Magazine Analysis Contents Page After looking at a variety of content pages within the RIDE BMX Magazines, I have noticed that each content page consists of two pages, which are covered by one single photograph. These are landscape shots, which mainly consist of the rider being situated on the left side of the photograph, which allows information on the magazines content, being shown on the right page. The bottom left of the double page spread often depicts a paragraph written by the photographer about this particular photograph and how it came about. Also the designers show which magazine issue you are reading, on the same page which the content information is on. This is shown using a particular technique which suites the image.

Existing Magazine Analysis Design

This is a double page advertisement spread placed on the first 2 inside pages of Issue 138 of Ride UK BMX MAG. It’s an advertisement by Federal Bikes, which depicts one of the team riders riding up a wall. This perspective gives off a good clear look at the rider and ultimately his Federal BMX. What seems very clear in this advertisement is the use of traditional graphic design to create such an effect on the pages. Ripped paper has been used in order to add important text to the page. These include the rider seen in the picture, which has been added to the top right page. The UK distribution of the company, that is also added which includes there phone number, and

website. The photographers name is also roughly placed at the bottom left of page one. This is simply a ripped off corner of a pervious photograph by the photographer. This ripped paper technique is very effective and gives off a unique style when incorporated with a photograph, but is often hard to read when trying to present certain information. Federal could have presented the text a bit better by revealing more letters in some words, for example; the blue text above the seventies logo, in which only 3 letters are visible out of the 12 which spells out Federal Bikes. Although this isn’t ideal, the advert and magazine is targeted towards well knowledged BMX’ers in which most would

automatically notice what company the advert is promoting, due to the team riders that are shown at the far side of page 2. To create this effect it seems that a paper print out of a previous advert has been scanned it and placed behind the original photograph of the rider. The mixture of colours on the entire page complement each other, as all shades and colours are rather bland which means here is no clashing in colours.

Existing Magazine Analysis Advertising As well as the sales of the RIDE BMX Magazine gives them money, what is the most profitable are the advertisements that BMX companies pay in order to advertise there products in the magazine, A horrific amount of the magazine is just pure advertisement, which the average reader of this magazine wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t particularly notice. When I began to flick through Issue 138 in order to really see how much of the magazine was advertising, I was shocked to find that the first 20 pages consisted of double page advertisements and no actual articles on BMX. I continued to look through the magazine and noticed that nearly one of every two pages was an advertisement.

This has automatically began me to think that I should base my own magazine more on the articles rather then advertisements. This would be my USP (Unique Selling Point) which would make my magazine stand out above the competition. The only way for the potential buyers to recognize this, is through maybe the magazine name, or and strap line. I will soon create a brainstorm, in order to generate a name and strap line. The above image is an advertisement for Nike 6.0, It consists of a large image covering most of the page, with information about the advert on the right. This includes the companies logo, website

In most sport magazines as well as many others, a small catalogue can be found which will sell many products that relate to the magazine subject. The layouts (especially in BMX and skateboarding magazines) are generally the same which allow the company to add as many things to this 2 page or maybe 4 page catalogue as possible, in order to present a wider selection of products to the reader which will give them more of a chance of selling a product compared to an advertisement presenting one product.

and team riders. Nike 6.0 use a unique mixture of colours throughout there advertisements which include neon orange and a mint green, whilst using certain techniques which has added texture to the colours to give off a traditional feel to the advert. It seems as if the designer has used some kind of print technique to create this urban effect.

Existing Magazine Analysis - Articles In every issue of Ride BMX UK Magazine, they analyze and review various new products on the market. By my personal experience, it seems that they try and review products which the readers of the magazine will be most interested in, which include long awaited products. The way they present these pages are in a clean and visually pleasing design which is easy on the eyes. The base colour of these pages are white with products scattered randomly around the page but in a manor which allows them to fit comfortably. The products seem to have been photographed in a studio using a white screen backdrop which allows easy transferring into the magazine. It seems as though all the products were photographed by the same photographer at the same time, as all images have the same lighting and perspectives angles. The images are complemented with a light weighted san serif font in black, which contrasts perfectly with the white background. To back this light weighted font up, the designer has underlined each paragraph. To make it easier for the reader to pick out import information about the product, such as weight and price; the designer has added these details in bold. If the reader wished to see more images/read more about the product, the website of each company has been added to the bottom of the page

Existing Magazine Analysis - Articles Each issue of the magazine also includes a page each on ‘UK News’ and ‘US News’ page. It’s quiet self explanatory regarding the page title. It gives the reader an insight into BMX new’s throughout each country. As the previous analysis on reviews, this page is laid out in a very similar fashion. Using a dotted lined border to isolate the page information from the edge of the page. They have also used the same background and body text, as well as adding some words and sentences in bold, which allows the reader to find information that suites them best, quicker and easier. On the same page they sometimes ask riders about there signature products as well as other topics. In this certain questionnaire about the rider and signature frame, they were asked how long they have been riding for there sponsor, how long the product has been in the making, when it will be available to buy and other info regarding the product that could potentially useful for the reader.

In Ride BMX Mag they also do bike bike tests, on high end bikes to cheap and cheerful ones that can still take a battering. They often get tested by pro’s and even beginners by riding it for a day, pulling some big tricks to see how far it can be pushed. Included on the page are the specs of the bike which covers every part that is combined to create the built BMX. Underneith the spec also includes the RRP price. By looking at several Ride BMX Magazines it seems that they roughly keep the same layout for each topic in each magazine. This gives consistency throughout the magazine which allows the regular reader to know where things are situatuated on each page. The Bike Test page is no different, accompanying a full picture of the bike to the top left of the page, including the specifications by the side. I picture of the person testing the bike is situated below, with there honest opinion on the bike at the side. Close ups of the bike is also added on the page. I believe the reason for this template throught pages in the magazine is so the regular readers know where everything is, which prevents confusion , which would happen if things were placed differently each issue.

Existing Magazine Analysis - Articles Other unique articles on events that include competitions, road trips etc also have a place in the magazine. They all individually have there own design which is created especially for each article. This first article is coverage of the Simpel Session competition in Estonia. The designer has used white body text in front of a black background which gives off great contrast. Images have been added to add colour to the page and relate the text with visual communication. On the first page, a sequence shot has been used of a rider (Harry Main) landing a trick which has never been done before in the BMX world. This covers the first half of the page, followed by an overview of the event by Harry Main and a report on other tricks that were landed. For this particular The writer has backed up the sequence shot with a quote on the next page which reads “The look issue, a section on harry’s face in the last frame pretty much just sums it all up. . .”. Because the eye of the reader of the magazine automatically reads from right to left the designer has positioned this quote to the right/center of consisting of about the page which allows it to be the first thing the reader see’s which makes them automatically 12 pages, which look for the sequence shot. The background of this page depicts an image of part of the skate are dedicated to an park in the competition as well as a rider performing a trick in the centre. The top article on Pro BMX’ers of the image is very dark which allows white body text to be which could possibly be peoples role added without the need of effects to models. Ride UK Mag caught up with help it stand out. them all at Corby Skate Park, and set up a booth to get there picture taken .Each page includes a section on the BMX’ers bike spec which is shown as well as statistics on there name, where they live, age, years riding, sponsors etc. Following this are questions about there riding style, bike setup, why they think they might be a positive role model as well as bad one. A template has been made especially for this article. It involves a pale, tanned coloured background with orange and black body text. A very bubble like font is placed at the top of each page, aligned to the page crease, showing the riders name. Accommodating each page is an image of each riding at Corby Skate Park.

Other Inspiriational Advertisements Adi Gilbert - Crutial BMX Shop

Inspiring Artists - Adi Gilbert I have been looking at digital and traditional techniques created by the graphic designer Adi Gilbert. As well as many other things, he designs advertisements for Crucial BMX Shop as well as his own clothing company, TWOand8. His adverts are very inspirational as they include inked drawings that seem to have been created mainly using a lightbox as they are very life like with no distinct style. He has mixed watercolour paints into the paper of the adverts in different ways. For example, to create the blotchy patterns he most probably applied a heavy amount of paint and water onto the brush and flicked it, These are very scattered and randomized. He also took great care in painting certain parts of each illustration. These mainly involve the hair and shading on the face, which he has created using coffee, which gives off a very skin like tone. I will take what I learnt during my analysis of these pieces and create my own which I could use for one or more of my adverts if the technique is successful.

Inspiring Artists - Adi Gilbert

I am hugely interested in this type of design. It involves scans of certain textures, shapes and the use of digital art combined to create a montage of images and text which gives off a very ‘hands on’ vintage feel to the artwork. To create the black background for this work, my guess is that Adi Gilbert crumpled a piece of paper up, scanned it into photoshop and inverted the colours which has given the previous dark crease marks a pale look, whilst the pale paper is now black. The text was most certainly digitally produced using ready made fonts. The fonts were situated in a certain order, then using photoshop, a layer mode bend was used, most probably Overlay, which allows the texture from the layer behind to shine through. If these colours and shades weren’t used it wouldn’t give it such a old school look that it gives off. Effects were also used which may include drop shadows which gives off the effect of a collage of paper being laid on top of each other. I may decide to incorporate this technical style into one of my magazine advertisements.

Inspiring Artists - Adi Gilbert

These are ink illustrations also created by Adi Gilbert, He has used a large range of mediums to create these, which include, ink pen, paint and watercolour. I wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t expect these are creating on one canvas, but infact several, for each individual part, which he digitally manipulates to a certain order. The background, which involves a mixture of paint is most definitely a once, seperate piece. For the portraits themselves, Adi has used simply an Ink filled pen, and by using a build up of directional lines, he has developed the face and beard including shading by narrowing the width of each indvidual line. These illustrations would have been made on a seperate piece of paper and then scanned into Photoshop and manipulated it. Random paint flickers have been made with a colour that contrasts well with the black ink. To add the dark shaded areas on the face, a pale watercolour has been used. It seems that The typography on the page seems to have been created by the designers himself rather then a stock font.

Work with a similar style to Adi Gilberts Pieces

Existing Magazine Analysis Articles

Although this may seem slightly inappropriate to include in my work. It is completely relevent, as it demenstrates just how a particular graphic designer in industry creates the front cover of a magazine from scratch. As you can see, he printed outthe rough front cover onto an A3 sheet of paper. He situated the photograph that will be used in situe with the magazine name in place, and using a biro pen, he wrote titles of articles which he thought would appeal to the target audience. As you can see he came up with rather a lot of ideas, which allowed him to be subjective with his final articles which appeared on the magazine. On your right tells the reader of the magazine exactly who works for the magazine and what they do for the company. Both these additions to the magazine are quite unique, in the fact that I have never seen either of these included.

Inspiration And Good Practice

Experimentation - Pencil, Pen and Watercolour

This is just at the experimental stage, and I will most probably use this technique on a different image which I will then use for an advert. I decided to use a lightbox to draw a portrait of a BMXâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;er. Firstly I went around his main features then started to add detail in certain areas. For my second attempt, I used a fine liner pen which allowed me to go into a lot more accuracy with shading. To keep my master copies safe, I scanned both illustrations onto the computer using Photoshop and printed off a couple of copies of my pen drawing to experiment further. Using my print outs I began to use watercolour on them, in the style of Adi Gilbert on his pencil drawing illustrations with watercolour combined. The first watercolour I created was more randomized with not too much thought which I thought could benefit my artwork. I also splattered watercolour onto my page and tipped the paper in order to give it the desired effect. My second watercoour was more controlled, by adding thought to were I placed the brush. I also used more unrealistic colours. I thnk this technique worked well, which Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll use for one of my advertisements.

Experimentation

Using the Doctor Who ‘To Victory’ poster as inspiration, I began to recreate the poster using a BMX theme. I managed to find an ideal picture of Total BMX rider Mark Webb, although this was a low resolution image, it depicted the rider performing a trick whilst pointing at the camera lens, similar to the U.S. Army Campaign in 1917 which included a man named ‘Uncle Sam’ pointing out to the viewers, explaining that he wanted them to be part of the U.S. Army. I began to use Adobe Photoshop to cut out the rider and his bike. I managed to do this using the magic wand tool as well as the eraser tool. After completing this stage I gave the image the layer mode blend ‘Overlay’ which blended all light parts of the image into the background, a similar effect to what’s on the Darlek poster. I then found a brown paper texture which I situated in the background. I also used the pen tool to create orange triangular shapes within the incomplete poster. Looking through my font archive, I started looking at fonts that resembled the original one on the Dalek poster. After failing at finding the right font, I took the original poster into Photoshop and edited out the text. To cut out the orange vector shape around the text, I duplicated the layer and added a stroke to this. After rasterizing the layer, I selected it’s path, clicked onto the orange vector and hit delete. Although this is that I was aiming for from the start, I felt as if I could do much more with it, which is when I decided to create my first advertisement, using this retro style.

Experimentation/Development of first Advertisement

To convert this into an advertisement, there were a couple of simple things I needed to do. As I was only advertising the company itself, I incorporated there logo into the bottom right of the image. I also added information on the photograph, of how to get in touch with the company, using the font Alexandria FLF, which is a slab serif font that is similar to such fonts used in the early to mid 20th century. I added all this information on the ramp, at an angle that married with the image. After searching for a font that would suite the style of design. I found one that was very rough looking. After realizing that I could have used Total BMXâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s logo for the title of the page, I replaced the rough looking font. This definitely benefited my design,

as it looks a lot more professional. As well as the addition to this, I included the companies UK distributors logo to the bottom right of the advert. As there was no white on the page besides the information regarding the company, I decided to select this text, and highlight the image of the rider. By pressing the delete button, I have allowed the paper texture to show through the image, which adds more to the vintage feel of the design.

Experimentation/Development of first Advertisement

After previously decided to just advertise the company itself apposed to there products, I had a re-think and decided to try and incorporate the BMX frames in their product line as there seemed to be enough negative space on my design to do so. I sourced the images I needed by searching their website. Unfortunatly there website didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t include the specifications of the frames. I used google search engine to come across the information I needed on a BMX forum. Opening the frame images in Adobe Photoshop, I desaturated them, to get rid of any unwanted colour. I also used the magic wand tool to delete any white in the images. As the frame had highlighted parts throughout, they are now transparent which, when placed onto the advertisement looks rather retro and stencil like. An effect I have added throughout is the negative stroke, which deletes part any surrounding layer in a stroked manor. I have done this on both frames, frame specifications and the Total BMX logo. I decided to do this as I have seen it done on several vintage designs.

Developing Magazine Name - Handout

Session Carve Spine -

I created this handout in order for my fellow piers to give me there opinion on what they think would be the strongest name for my BMX magazine. I also gave them a choice to give me suggestions on names they thought would work well.. I interacted with them but having discussions, which is why most of the ideas aren’t down on paper. After coming up with many possible names, I decided on it to be called ‘Vent’ which links with BMX due to an air vent, as ‘air’ is the term used in BMX when a rider leaves the ground or ramp.

Hip Magazine name suggestions?

Typography After deciding on my magazine name, I began to search for fonts that would work suitably. Century Gothic caught my attention due to it’s clean cut, san serif style. I think a font like this would work best as it wouldn’t get outdated as quickly as a font that is modern at this time for example, Rockwell. This would save the logo needing to be changed a few years down the line, which would ultimately cost the company a lot of money. AlexandriaFLF Bold is slightly more condensed then Rockwell Regular and appears to have more style within. Arista 2.0 Alternate is a very modern font, fonts of this style are used largely at this time which is why it would be a suitable font as it would appeal to the target audience by looking fresh and ‘in’. The shape of the characters also links with the magazine name as the gradual curves imitate air vent pipes. The font Disco Diva also gives the same link through the build up of lines which create the characters. The fonts that I have discussed in this paragraph, I’ll experiment with using Adobe Illustrator, I will also need to add ‘BMX magazine’ to the logo in some way.

VENT BMX

- Century Gothic Bold

VENT BMX

- Century Gothic Regular

VENT BMX

- AlexandriaFLF Bold

VENT BMX

- Rockwell Regular

VENT BMX

- Akaski Regular

VENT BMX

- Arista 2.0 Alternate

VENT BMX

- Disco Diva

VENT BMX

- MOD

Logo Development

VENT BMX M

VENT BMX

MAGAZINE

VENT BMX M

VENTBMX M A G A Z I N E

VENT B M X

M A G A Z I N E

VENT BMX

BMX MA G A Z I N E

MAGAZINE

Firstly I created my first concept using the font ‘Century Gothic’. I made my magazine name in a bold style with ‘BMX’ being in the regular style. I find that doing this makes the two words compliment each other due to there differences. I have decided to use the font ‘Caviar Dream’ for the word magazine’ In each concept I have lined this word up with the end of the large text and the end of certain characters. The next font I chose to experiment with was ‘Disco Diva, as I said on the last page, the connectiion of lines side by side resemble air vents in buildings by the interlocking style. Although the style of font has this link with the magazine name, I don’t think It would be very practical to go ahead with this, as the font is very stylized and could go out of trend very quickly which would result in the logo looking dated. I also experimented with two other fonts which have similar properties between one another which are named AlexandriaFLF and Rockwell MT. They are both slab serif fonts but Rockwell MT is shorter and more compact. I experimented with the positioning of the word ‘magazine’ as well as ‘BMX’ and it’s tracking. I also manipulated the tracking on both fonts which allowed the serifs to join one anoher. On my last concept, I prolonged the body of the T by bending it to run under the N which gave a nice fit for ‘bmx magazine’ to situate. Although either of the slab serif fonts would be visually suitable for the magazine, they would get dated very quickly which is why I’m going to go with the font ‘Century Gothic’.

Logo Development

This is my finished logo, I created it using Adobe Illustrator as it allows me to resize the logo to what ever size I wish without pixelation, this is perfect as I wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to recreate the logo at a larger size for promotional adverts for print etc. I have added a slight black to transparent gradient to the text which gives off more of a modern feel whilst contrasting nicely with the red background. As the logo is based on a straight line whilst having a relitively short height, it would work perfectly on my magazine cover, by not using up too much space

Logo Development

I decided to add a blurred effect to my logo which would be used for advertising and merchandise, although it wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be very suitable for the front of my magazine as the blurred effect would interfere with the impact I want the logo to create to the potentional customers. I create this by duplicating the layer in Photoshop, and by experimenting the motion blur effect, it created something which relates to the magazine name as the blur makes the logo look as if itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s moving, similar to air in an air vent.

Logo Development

This is a 3D version of my logo which I created using Adobe Illustrator. I selected my text and clicked onto extrude and bevel in the 3D category in the effects bar. I experimented with certain settings including the angle of my logo, in which I found this position the most complementary. After I was happy with my 3D logo I exported it into Photoshop which I added additional shadowing to certain parts of the text as I added lighting that shone down on the logo from the top right of the design. This could also be used on merchandis, website and possibly a letterhead

Typography For Magazine - Titles

Alexandria FTF

RockoFLF

Caviar Dreams

Rockwell MT

Disco Diva

VAL

Arista 2.0 Alternate

Walkway Black

Comfortaa

WC ROUGHTRAD Bta

Doergon wave

Weezer Font

MOD

Angel Tears

Plexifont BV

Quicksand

Poplar Std

Haettenschweiler

I have searched for fonts that would be appropriate to use as the main type face for a double page spread article. All of the above fonts would work well as they all have strong styles which would suite as a main type. These fonts can also be used as part of some of the advertisements I will soon design.

Typography For Magazine - Body Text

Quicksand Book Century Gothic Helvetica Light Min ut alisl eriureraesto el iliquat, consequam iriure diat vent aut ullan veraessi. Raessi blan euguero eum dip euis aut wis at dolortissent lam illa con ute consequ ametuer iliquis er aliquip sustinim do euAgna faccum dui et nullan eu faciliq uamet, quat nisse do dignim adionsed do duis ea conse dolore erostrud min hent illa ad dio conse essim num velenim volenit alissis at ver sis nostrud minit vel del dolenim delis amconsectem dio consed enim dipissi. Unt lor suscin hent ing et prat alit landrer at acidunt nullam enim ex ea facillut wis atem ercidunt nummy niamet venim dolor sis et alisi. Duiscinim digna facinci blan erostrud del iliquat. Esto dolenis eros niat luptatum il ercinibh esecte dolore duisi. Sissi bla commy nulput praessent aliquat alit utpat, quat venibh eu feuis num il dolore doluptat ip er suscidunt laor sequam vel ulluptatem del ullaore molestrud magna feu facin hendip eniam ilit iriusci duipit adignim nonulpute magna facil del ing eugait illut diat venisissed essequismod eraesecte do corpero stinis eros dolor sent eros dolesequi eugait am ilis nonsequ amcorperosto ea adipis aliquis atin vulla facilit prat at iure feugait adipsuscilis dolore faccum nullum velessed te volore faccums andigna augait alit aliquatuero do consed dionsed magniam conseniam zzrit dolutem voluptat, qui tis nim dolorem quatue magnisi. Ibh eugiametue vel eugiam, sumsan velit acil ing ea facin hent dolorer sum vel utet praesendre ea facinis nulluptat adipit ut volore euisisi. Um accum vulla feugait iurer sum dolobore dolendre dolut accummo doloreet, summodo lortie magnis nostinibh essi. Ci te vel eugue velisse mod magna feu feuisim quis eugue dolese magna con-

Min ut alisl eriureraesto el iliquat, consequam iriure diat vent aut ullan veraessi. Raessi blan euguero eum dip euis aut wis at dolortissent lam illa con ute consequ ametuer iliquis er aliquip sustinim do euAgna faccum dui et nullan eu faciliq uamet, quat nisse do dignim adionsed do duis ea conse dolore erostrud min hent illa ad dio conse essim num velenim volenit alissis at ver sis nostrud minit vel del dolenim delis amconsectem dio consed enim dipissi. Unt lor suscin hent ing et prat alit landrer at acidunt nullam enim ex ea facillut wis atem ercidunt nummy niamet venim dolor sis et alisi. Duiscinim digna facinci blan erostrud del iliquat. Esto dolenis eros niat luptatum il ercinibh esecte dolore duisi. Sissi bla commy nulput praessent aliquat alit utpat, quat venibh eu feuis num il dolore doluptat ip er suscidunt laor sequam vel ulluptatem del ullaore molestrud magna feu facin hendip eniam ilit iriusci duipit adignim nonulpute magna facil del ing eugait illut diat venisissed essequismod eraesecte do corpero stinis eros dolor sent eros dolesequi eugait am ilis nonsequ amcorperosto ea adipis aliquis atin vulla facilit prat at iure feugait adipsuscilis dolore faccum nullum velessed te volore faccums andigna augait alit aliquatuero do consed dionsed magniam conseniam zzrit

After looking into fonts which could possibly be suitable for the body text in my magazine, I had three to choose between. I needed to find a font type that wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t extreme in style, as this could possibly distract the reader from the content written. I thought that going for a san serif font will make it easy on the eyes of the reader. I am unsure on what I will use in my magazine and will decided at a later stage when I have page layouts to place the body text in situe.

Colour Palettes Here I have chosen a selection of colour palettes which would work well together on a page layout in my magazine. Throughout my research I have came across colour trends which I have added to this page in order to not forget them.

Possible Front Cover Images

I have been searching the internet for images that could possibly be suitable as a front cover image for my magazine. What I needed to find were images of a high resolution, which show the rider performing a trick at mid point, in order to present it in such a way that is appealing to the viewer, this evidently allows them to notice the trick being performed. Good lighting also needs to be existent in the image in the beneficial way of making the rider the main focal point.

Possible Front Cover Images

In Situe Imagery

All together I sourced 8 images which would all be suitable to feature on the front cover of my magazine. These are my three choices to be set in situ in order to get a feel of what they might look like as my from over. All have strong properties, in which they all share powerful colours and contrast. As it will be the first issue of the magazine I wanted to express the company name as much as possible. One way I have done this is by creating a motion blur behind my original logo which links with the company name ‘Vent’ such as air vent. This would not be possible with the two images on the right of this page as thee photographs have been taken in daylight which will mean the motion blur wouldn’t show up as effectively as the above image. Overall I decided to choose the image above to be my front cover. There are many reasons for this which includes the resolution I found the image at, the stylish modern trick being performed as well as the perfect lighting and urban feel the photograph portrays.

Drawn Concepts My last job on the front cover is to add the two main features of the magazine onto the front. This is vital as it advertises to the viewer what is included in the magazine when on a shop shelf. As well as depicting this, I will have to present it in such a way, that it works in harmony with the background image and other attributes. I added my main feature onto the cover which will be an

interview with former BMX Flatland World Champion Effraim Catlow. One of my additional titles will include ‘Total BMX’ where I’ll add a subtitle saying exactly what I’ll be doing, this will also be the same for my other key features I’m including inside the magazine.

Front Page Development

Issue number Issue date

Actual scanned code

Prices in different countries Here is my finished barcode which I have placed onto my front cover image. I have used the font Rockwell to present the text information about the issue number, date of issue and the prices.

Front Page Development

I created this sticker design in Photoshop to promote the fact that the magazine comes with a free poster. To give off the effect of the sticker seeming authentic I had to go through a lot of stages. at first I simply used the eclipce tool in photoshop and made a circle with a gradient inside which I then added a stroke to and rasterized. I selected the layer, right clicked onto it and used the warp effect to manpulate the circle in order to give it some sort of flick to the edge which cannot be seen until later on. I then added a drop shadow to the circle and right clicked the FX icon where I selected Create Layer. This divided the layer and effect which allowed me to manipulate them individually. I warped the drop shadow layer outwards in order to create a better effect. The final stage I needed do was to create the shine on the sticker in order to give it the effet of peeling. To do this I created a black to white to black reflected gradient and changed the layer mode blend to screen. This was my sticker finished, I then imported it onto my front page and applied text within

Digital Concepts

My first concept idea is to slant the text depicting features in the magazine. I’ve done this to link the text with the trick the rider in the photograph is performing. This gives the cover consistency. I used the font ‘Alexandria FTF’ which is a slab serif font, It is a rather heavy weighted font that, although looks rather old fashion, it gives off a modern feel as slab style fonts are heavily used at present. I’ve positioned everything in a dynamic way that each word complements the next.

Digital Concepts

My next concept is similar to the previous one as the typography is slanted and also interlock with each other. However, I have used a completely different font called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;SF MOVIE POSTERâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. This font is highly condensed and elongated which gives the cover a completely different feel to the previous concept.

Digital Concepts

For my third concept I aligned the text straight. I also used the font ‘Quicksand’ varying the style depending on it’s purpose. I find this the weakest concept out of the 3, therefore I will not be developing it further.

Effraim Catlow Interview Primary Research

For the main feature in my magazine I have chosen to interview former BMX World Flatland Champion Effraim Catlow. As I know him personally it has made it a lot easier to do this. I researched the types of questions that are asked in a bmx interview from such websites as vitalbmx.com and bmx.transworld.net. I used some from these sources as well as creating my own. I emailed Effraim just to make sure itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s still ok to do the interview, he emailed me back saying it was fine, which is when I sent him my twenty questions.

Effraim Catlow Interview

Here is the email in reply to my interview questions, as well as doing a fantastic job on answering each question in depth he sent over a selection of images for me to use in the article.

Magazine Development Document Setup After deeply analysing different magazines, I gathered information on their measurements, and decided to go with the measurements 225 mm x 300 mm. This size wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fit onto A3 paper which means I will have to print each double page on A2. I turned facing pages on, on my new document and gave a top and bottom margin of 8 mm and inside and outside to 6 mm. I gave my document a 2 mm bleed around the edge which gives the printer some flexibility if the print is out of line, as this 2 mm bleed will be cut off. I also added page numbering to my master page.

Magazine Development Content Page

After creating my InDesign file, I began to produce my content page. I already had the image to use across the double page spread as I used one that could possibly have been my from cover. Firstly I mirrored the image horizontally as the rider was originally positioned on the right which wouldn’t make it possible to add text to the page. I added information to the right page which gives the reader a clear understanding of what’s inside the magazine and on each page. I decided to use the font ‘SF Movie Poster’ as it’s a san serif font that looks very modern and clean, making the page numbers and title orange which I find complements the background image and specifically the orange ramp. To mark the first issue of the magazine I wanted to make this very clear on the contents page using the same text used for the content text. At first I enlarged my text reading ‘ISSUE ONE’ and justified all lines in the text box which forced all characters to the edge of the text box evenly. Although I like the concept idea, the text was situated in the wrong place as well as being too large.

Magazine Development Content Page

Next I positioned the text below the content information, aligning the text central. Something just wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t looking right, and figured out it was the space between the text and ramps in the image below. Because of this I changed the word â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to the number and made it read on one line which looked a lot better.