F20: Music Magazine: Front Cover Outcome referred back to research

Music Magazine Research

From the music magazine research i was able to develop many ideas such as the colour mixed among white/black text for the information. I found from my research the appropriate place to put my bar code (bottom left hand corner). I also developed a similar type of font for my title as in COWGIRL magazine.

Title Research

From my title research I was able to decide which title would be best for my country music magazine. I have decided on LASSO.

Drawing Research 

Above is the comparison between my final drawing and my final product. They are clearly linked however some of the colour elements are slightly different to what I had expected.

Pose Research

After a series of poses that I asked my model to preform for the camera in my photo shoot, I have ddecieded on the image which is a combination of the two above poses. 

Teenage Magazine Research 

F19. Music Magazine: Final Front Cover

F18. Music Magazine: Front Cover Final Drafts

I created this final editions of my magazine's front cover however I could not deciede so I asked my three members of my target audience. They each chose two different designs, all three choose the final pale pink design ass one of their favourites so I will use this as my front cover. 

F17. Music Magazine: Front Cover Image Editing

I used photoshop throughout my project to create different effects, which I then trialled on my front cover.The most important thing I did on photoshop, was to edit my photographs to remove any imperfections in the photography, whether it be blemishes or distracting light effects.

The first thing I did was to remove any blemishes from my models face, hair and body. I did this through using the stamp and the spot healer.

Above are the spot healing and stamp tool I used.

Above is a screenshot of my process through which I removed blemishes.

The picture above is my photograph with the blemishes removed.

I later experienced a problem with the background of the picture. I could not place any writing over it very easily as the background has so many colours that any colour I chose would at some point not be visible. To maximise my positioning of writing I tried three diffferent techniques. I used a gradient fill in the bottom left hand corner to try and make the whole space a blue tone so writing was clear, i also lightened and darkened the background to try and create more easily read text.

To do the gradient I used the lasso tool below to select a large area of space and I then created a blue to nothing gradient and filled the selected space with it. Below is the effect.

I then used the lasso again but this time to select the whole background but my model and darken the surrounding area, below is the effect. 

I then used the selected area but I manipulated it to make it lighter. Below is my photograph with the blue gradient and the lightened background. 

F16. Music Magazine: Evaluation of Second Draft of Front Cover

Improvements

1.The date needs to be in a better font and a different colour. It also must be aligned with the rest of the text in that third.

2.The black text (below '130 songs') is to dark, so it must be in a differnet colour to be seen more clearly.

3.The title of this section (yellow highlighted sections) is not floated so this myst be changed to fit with the designing rules.

4.The bullet points and writing need to be aligned together and be a better amount of space a part.

5.The right bottom corner is blank and needs something or interest to be put here or perhaps the barcode.

COmaprison to seventeen magazine

 The seventeen magazine still appears to be more apropriate for my target audience. It is bright and enticing with larger brighter letters. My photo that I have used is not as bright and bold as

F15. Music Magazine: Making of the Front Cover (incl. sketches)

Below are screenshots of the process through which I created my magazine front cover.

I used the shape tool to create the bold triangle and circle.

I used the character tool to change the size, font, spacing, width and height of the letters. In this draft I have used only two different fonts, however I have used a wide range of heights, spacing and sizes.

I have used the colour tool and swatches, to change colour of the fill and stroke of all the letters and shapes.

I used the stroke tool to change the outline of some letters to a different colour, to be bigger or smaller.

I decided to try a different picture to see if this would enhance my front cover.

I drew a circle behind some writing in keeping with my research into seventeen magazine to attempt to highlight the information. 

I attempted to align my magazine using the rule of thirds which I installed through using guidelines.

At this point, I decided that I needed to take a different path with my work so I decided to start editing it to hopefully create a better magazine cover. I began with the name of the magazine.

This new title matched my research with seventeen magazine and Cowgirl magazine more therefore creating a good in mix off youthfulness and country music.

I then began to change the rest of the fonts to match the new and improved title.

I used the swatches with the colour tool to edit all the colours so that they became a corresponding. In this version I also used sizing more to get a further range of sizes. This was an attempt at getting it closer to a magazine cover fitting of a magazine for teenage girls as this far closer to my research into teenage magazines such as seventeen magazine.

I then decided to change fonts and move different pieces of writing in and out of the cover to see which looked best where (with consideration to the rule of thirds) and what should be included. Below are different examples of positioning.

Above is the final draft of this style of my design, I have moved the lettering around in attempt to stick by the rule of thirds and to float all the words appropriately. After looking at this, I have decided that country picture does not go with the youthful text so I need to fins a better balance between the two.

I decided to remove all the detail and focus on getting the title right. I decided that I would model it on cowgirl magazine which is a country music magazine which has a more modern and young feeling to it. The title itself is very similar to that off VOGUE and ELLE.

This is another draft I created by moving around text and using different fonts, colours, positioning's and sizes. 
There are clear problems with this design. The photo is not proving to be eye-catching enough, the text is serif which goes against my research, some of the writing is hard to read. The barcode is far too large for a magazine. Overall, it is a simple uninteresting design that could be improved.

I then started to change my design again, I moved the title up and I changed the picture to an image that I believe is more eye-catching. I had started to edit the placement of the letters.

I then began to experiment with the colour of the title, by using colours that I picked up from the image.

At this point I decided to do some drawings  of my front cover to help further develop the page. From them I found that the bar code belongs in bottom left corner and that the writing on the right side should be two colours like the first two sketches. I also prefer when the bottom line matches the heading like in the first sketch. Overal, I would like to create something similar to my first sketch.

 After I had chosen a title, is started to put my text back in place but I changed the font and spacing to be compatible with the new image I had in mind.

I then experimented with the boldness and colours of the text. 

I decided to add some additional information to the cover to make it more professional such as the date, price, bar code and photographer.

Above is my finalised bar code details.

I then trialled using a name I had previously considered but I decided that my previous title of LASSO was a better fit for my magazine.

I decided to move the rest of the information that had been around the bar code, to below the title as shown above. I also added a tag line above the title.

I  experimented with the concept of lines by changing their placements, colour, thickness, and adding more or less of them.
I then went on to experiment further with colour, as can be seen in my final drafts however above is the near finished copy.