Double Page Spread Construction Here is my original contents page flat plan. Unlike my other flat plans I have decided not to complete another, as I feel this design will suit my genre of magazine well.
I wanted to place an image on one page alone so my main feature artist would be the main focus of the article and the main viewpoint for the reader. I have used my chosen image (previously edited) and spread it across the left page. I have created a bleed so the image will be printed right to the edges. It also allows me to crop the image so it will look more aesthetically pleasing as a whole on the page. Creating a bleed off the pages means that the reader is getting value for money and not paying for any white space.
Here you can see my design in the early stages of development. I have decided to include a gradient effect on my right page to tie in with my spot colour – baby/pastel pink. This is an unconventional feature of magazines meaning it will fit in with my indie genre.
Here I have placed four columns onto my page and the layout provided by InDesign has helped me do this, so I can make sure that the spacing is correct and it looks professional and neat. I have also placed a pull quote below the header to get an idea of what my final design will look like. This isn’t my chosen pull quote but it gives me the impression of what one would be like.
Here is my double page spread design with the colour gradient combined. I quite like the effect of the colour on the edge coming out of the margin and I don’t think it would have the same effect on the right hand side of the page. One aspect that I’m not particularly keen on is having the header in the same text as pull quote right underneath.
This is my first draft of my front cover. I have moved the columns up temporarily to see what it looks like. I have also included my magazine logo in the corner, also to see what this may look like. I am undecided on whether I want 4 columns as I currently think it looks quite cluttered. I am also undecided on the font of the title, as I don’t think it ties in well with the rest of my magazine, as the other fonts I used are smooth, bold and crisp looking.
Here you can see that I have made some major changes to my design. I had a complete rethink on my design as I thought the header font I had chosen and the amount of columns wouldn’t fit in with my indie genre magazine. So, unconventionally I have used my masthead within another aspect of my magazine. I have now placed two columns on my design as I think it would be better for the reader to digest rather than 4 columns, which made the page, look cluttered. Overall I think the aesthetics of the page look a lot better than previously, and will attract the my target audience a lot more as it is now less conventional.
This title is clean and crisp. Using shades of black for the main title draws the readers’ eye to the adjective ‘interviews’, which is darker than the magazine heading behind. The font is the same as the magazine masthead and logo creating a feel of uniformity and an underlying theme throughout the literature. The header ‘Rush Interviews’ could go onto being a regular feature, meaning monthly readers enjoy commonality and standardisation in this publication. The title can be reused with the only change being the subtitle, in this case – ‘Siob Love’. The light pink used for this sub heading defines the double page spreads purpose and remains within the colour scheme of the magazine. This is helped once again by keeping the font regular.
The main article has a change in font to allow the user to easily read the much longer piece of text. The drop cap shows the reader where the article begins and also puts emphasis on the word Siob. Two columns make the text look more digestible therefor enabling my target market – who are young, busy individuals to feel they have time to read the full article. The pull quote uses a sans-serif font to tie in with the header & subheading. Also placing the pull quote in quotation marks makes the quote feel real and relates to my artist.
Here you can see where I have included the pull quote surrounded by the text. I tried to make it fit well, so the text didn’t look awkward next to the pull quote and fitted in well. I tried two different shapes – a circle and a hexagon shape (a lengthened version of the shape on my contents page). With the circle I didn’t like how the pull quote was framed, whereas with the hexagon the framing works well, and it also ties in with the rest of the magazine as it represents my contents page. I then finished off my interview with credits and also information about my magazine, as this will be the last thing that my audience will read, therefor this will stay in their mind.