research document 2 design and layout planning
basic elements logo design logo selection fonts page layout magazine covers magazine layouts magazine grids cover options magazine design overview
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Another element I will look at is font selection. I feel that if I choose what fonts I will want to use now before beginning the magazine it will be easier to implicate certain rules for how the fonts will be used, rather than coming to decide on a font later, and using different sizes that don’t I have decided to do my logo designs keep to any designated house style. as a part of the process in order to The final element I will be experimenting demonstrate how I may come to select with is the use of colour palettes. I feel the logo for my magazine. I feel that that the colour palette of a magazine a logo is an important design element can really set the tone and give a nice due to its use in every magazine and cohesive look from page to page. I will due to how it can influence the way also experiment with colour variations that a magazine layout is presented. of my logo. To begin I have decided to plan out some of the basic elements that I will put into my magazine, in order to make it an easier process when I come to make the issue. I have chosen to look at logo design, font selection and colour variations for the first step of my planning.
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logo design For my logo designs I decided to focus primarily on the use of shapes to create a logo or base a logo upon. I found that my favourite shape to work with was a circle, as I feel there is a lot that can be done with the shape, and it is also a classic style to use for a magazine, and can be given lots of different twists to make it unique and interesting.
Again I liked this because of the simplicity and I experimented with the use of opacity on the letters that went around the circle.
The third row of ideas was based on triangles and how there are similar shapes in each letter. This was a completely different approach and I didn’t mind the outcome, however it The first row of logos that I created were wasn’t my favourite idea. using three circles with the letters N V L My final, and favourite, outcomes were in each one. I quite liked this logo as it using the words new visual language was simplistic, however I found it to be inside a circle, but I wanted the circle to a little bit boring and hard to develop be of interest so I used a brush effect in into something more. illustrator to create the way the circles
The next style I went for was the N V L outline looks this way. The logo on the inititals in the centre of a circle that was bottom middle and bottom right is the made from the name of the magazine. one that I will continue to develop.
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logo selection Across the top of the page are my logo variations using six different colours. I decided to do this in order to match it to the colours of each issue, as it’s a good way to keep a running thread through each issue if I use more than I used the Satin effect to give a swirly one colour palette. and interesting look the the centre and I also decided to experiment with what edges of the logo, and I think this works each logo would look like on a white background when it has been inverted well. After using the Satin effect I added a in order to stand out better against a subtle drop shadow so that when using coloured background. After choosing to work with the logo I liked the most I moved it from Illustrator into Photoshop and decided if I could make it more interesting by adding some layer effects to each element of the logo.
the logo on a page with a similar colour it will stand out against the page and contrast well. I’m glad I decided to use the drop shadow because I feel it really makes the image pop.
I think my logo is strong because it is interesting yet simple. I didn’t want to create a logo that was too busy or too boring and I feel that my logo has the correct balance.
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form follows function form follows function form follows function
form follows function form follows function form follows function
form follows function form follows function
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fonts To the left is the font Helvetica Neue. I have chosen to use two different thicknesses of Helvetica Neue because the font can look completely different from light to regular, and I think using different thicknesses makes the choice less of a default choice, and shows I Helvetica Neue is one of my favourite have actually given it some thought fonts because it’s classic and well rather than using Helvetica because known, so I find that I am comfortable it’s popular. using it. I also feel that it’s a very For my magazine I have decided to versatile font, and has been used on use Helvetica Neue in Light and Thin lots of different brands over the years. because I like the combination. A font is always an important choice when designing a magazine because it should always be the same font in each issue. A magazine with more than one or two fonts can begin to look unprofessional and sometimes can be a bit too much.
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Another important factor in developing my designs is the development and research that goes into creating my page layouts. I have decided to research some of my favourite magazine covers and spreads and analyse them before beginning to design my own magazine. What comes into consideration when analysing other magazines is the use of fonts, colour, image placement, where the logo is positioned, how many headings appear and other factors that I will go into more detail in within the next few pages.
After analysing the magazines I will begin to design covers and spreads of my own that I will then choose between in order to select the desired style that I will go with to begin making my magazine. I would like to take some inspiration from the magazines I will analyse and create some both modernist and postmodern ideas to choose from. I will also take into consideration some of the research that I did regarding modernist and post-modernist artists and possibly implement some of the styles that I saw whilst researching the topic.
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magazine covers I have chosen these examples of different magazine covers because I find them to be visually pleasing and interesting as a designer. I feel that each cover is strong in it’s own way, even though all are different and I hope to take some of these ideas into consideration when designing my own cover. The logo/masthead on each magazine stands out really well, which is something that I want to achieve on my cover, as the brand should be known by the reader from the offset. My favourite use of the logo is the Q magazine in which it is being smashed by the guitar held by Matt Bellamy on the cover. I think that this is a quirky way of making the logo and the feature interact and I’d love to be able to do something like this on my own cover.
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Another feature that I like for each magazine is the use of colour, whether it be contrasting (iD or eye) or more subtle and monotonous (Wonderland or W). I feel the more vibrant covers really would stand off the shelf in a row of magazines, however the more subtle designs allow for the cover image to really pop and I find this to make them also very attractive to the reader. I’d probably like to use a vibrant colour on the front of my magazine, as I feel that would just make the cover stand out more and be a bit more interesting. Eye magazine really stands out to me because of the use of colour and simple design. I think that all of these magazines are really well designed, and I will definitely be referring to them should I need an extra bit of inspiration.
W Magazine February 2014 Issue
Q Magazine October 2009 Issue
Wonderland Magazine April/May 2012 Issue
iD Magazine November 2004 Issue
Computer Arts Magazine March 2011 Issue
Eye Magazine October 2008 Issue
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W Magazine October 2010 Issue
Eye Annual Industry Magazine 2012 Issue
Q Magazine October 2009 Issue
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Computer Arts Magazine January 2011 Issue
magazine layouts As well as researching covers of magazines I have also decided to look at spreads that have been created for some of the magazines, and how each spread has been presented. I chose these spreads because I find them to be interesting, and they also link to the covers that I used as they are from four of the same magazines. My favourite spread is the W magazine spread featuring Selena Gomez. I love the use of space and the image being the focal point of the piece. I like that there is a white border around the edge that makes the page almost look framed, and I may do something like this for my own magazine.
I also like the Eye Industry Magazine pages because of the use of the image, again, filling most of the page. I like how it is placed on the page to look as though the entire page is a photograph, and I know this would work well for some of my work in my own magazine. The other two magazines are fairly similar, and I like the use of splitting the pages up with a full image on one side. I think this would allow me to have enough room to write about my work, yet still displays the work with a page of its own. I hope to take all of these examples into consideration when designing my pages.
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magazine grids Here I have looked into my favourite magazine spread by creating a grid on top of the magazine to see more clearly how I could lay out my own magazine. As shown there is equal space all the way around the article, like a frame, that only the W magazine logo crosses, as this is one element that the designer of the magazine would want to stand out as much as the article itself.
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I also noticed that the title of the story is gridded in a way that leads towards the main focus of the image, and I have drew a box around this in yellow. It seems to be that the article subtly draws the reader to the image, which I feel is a clever way of designing the article to attract attention and make it look well laid out. When creating my magazine I’d like to think of subtle hints and tricks like this to do myself.
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cover options Before designing the rest of my magazine I decided to create some front cover options to help lead me into how I would want my magazine to look and how I could set a different tone with each cover I designed. I have used a variety of techniques to create these different covers and I feel that they’re all fairly unique yet can be easily related to my house style. My favourite cover and the one I have chosen to use and develop is the centre image. I like this the best because I like the use of the orange and purples within the image created
by the image I used from one of the pieces I created in the Cabinet of Curiosity project. I also like this idea because it links the reader into what is inside the magazine by showing an abstracted version of one of my pieces, and this is probably my favourite idea from all three of the previous briefs. I will use the colours from the cover and develop them throughout the magazine, as I feel the contrast of the deep purple and bright orange work well together, and I feel that this would be a good set of backdrop colours on which to display my work.
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On the next page is the spreads from my final magazine design. It shows how I used my selected cover and based my colour scheme on that. I created the magazine in sections
for each project. Each outcome is displayed and a description about each is also written to understand how/why I did things the way I did in each of the three briefs.
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I am also really happy that the magazine has a link to the way that I have presented my research, as I quite wanted it to have some kind of cross over between the two research documents and the I think that the colour scheme of my completed magazine because I wanted magazine is strong, and I like the way the research to look professional too. that the colours contrast and stand The New Visual Language brief has out against one another. I also like that been really enjoyable because I have I have used the tint of an image on found it fun to look back at old projects each page because it’s a subtle detail and find a way to present them, whilst that keeps a running thread through also learning about modernism and post-modernism. each section. Overall I am really pleased with the way that I have designed my magazine. I love the cover because I feel that it stands out and is completely different to anything that I have done before.
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Helen Bowers