Revised Masthead Hayley McCarthy
Sketches As one of my main concerns with the original masthead was the lacking clear link to the genre of the magazine, I decided that I wanted to integrate instruments into the design. As musical instruments denote music, the genre of the magazine will be reinforced.
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Drums and vocals are perhaps the hardest to include within the masthead due to both the bulky shape of the drums the hard to translate vocal element.
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Considering the letters in the masthead ‘a’ ‘l’ and ’t’ I found a guitar shape the most flexible. I completed some sketches of three common guitar shapes; Strat, V-shaped, and classical. As I plan for the guitar to be a silhouette, the outline of the chosen shape needs to be strong and recognisable. As the Strat and V-shaped variations are from electric guitars, I have chosen to develop these further.
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I was also acutely aware of the top shape of the guitar, known as a headstock. Within my sketches, I only adapted the headstock to conventional shapes which can easily be integrated into the masthead. Although, from a quick Google Image search of ‘guitar headstock’, I discovered many shape variations which I shall experiment with further.
As the chosen genre is Alternative Rock, I wanted the instruments to have connotations with this genre. Despite already having some knowledge, I completed some secondary research as to what are the most popular or common instruments used.
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Wikipedia lists typical instruments as: “Vocals, electric guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards” all of which could be integrated into the masthead. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Alternative_rock
After sketching my chosen two designs using some Google Images for reference, I outlined each using thick black marker pen, before scanning the sketch into a .jpeg file and opening it in photoshop.
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As the pen had a rough edge, I played with Gaussain Blur to create a softer edge, before filling the highlighted shape, leaving a more crisper edge.
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I then filled the outline creating a black silhouette which I will use to experiment with further.
When I was creating the outline, the physical shape of the V-Shaped guitar shared close similarities with the letter ‘A’. I then decided to experiment by turning the actual shape into the letter.
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Originally I used a conventional equilateral triangle, although the blockiness paired with blunt edges did not fit with the fluidity of the shape.
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So, using the select tool in Photoshop, I copied and pasted the body of the guitar, resized it, filled it white and rounded off the top edge using the eraser tool. This created an exact stencil which I then merged and deleted, creating a transparent counter for use on the publication.
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Whilst I think this design is inventive, I am concerned that readers will not recognise the design as a letter A, which could lead to confusion. Furthermore, The length of the design will mean the masthead will have to be placed lower than normal, hence not fitting in the top third of the publication, deeming it unrecognisable from some newsstands.
To give the inclusion of the guitar the most recognition, I have decided to integrate the shape into the ‘A’ of ‘Alt’. From looking at various sans-serif fonts, the A takes one of three shapes, my favourite being the two triangular ones. Inspired by the negative space within the letter ‘A’, I am going to experiment by integrating the silhouette of the guitar to form this negative space. This may be quite abstract, although the young, modern target audience which I am catering for will be more accepting of this.
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By thinning the triangle I think that the guitar looks more contained and the negative space is clearer. However I think that the guitar extends slightly too much, causing a stretched image.
Here, I shortened the guitar, creating an image which has the biggest negative space in more natural areas, with the headstock reaching the counter of the A perfectly. Also, by removing the lower part of the guitar, a cleaner line is evident which will be easier to integrate into the final cover.
Final Outcome Addressing the previous issues regarding width, I thinned the triangle as well as making the masthead transparent for use on coloured backgrounds. From standing away from the computer to see the ‘A’ from afar, I believe that once the masthead is resized to much smaller for the publication, the hinted counter of the A will be clearly recognised. I am very pleased with this partial masthead as the other two letters can be integrated easily with this through experimentation.