Style Influences for the Photoshoot

For my magazines main artist I want him to have quite a laid back, but stylish look. I really like the geek-chic look at the moment I think its quite animated and fun and will fit the outlook that I want for my artist. These are a few photos that will influence the styling of my artist.

I really like Chris Browns accessorising in this photo, especially the geek-chic wayfarer glasses. This gives an unusual look but is actually quite high fashion at the moment, which will allow it to fit my magazines theme very well.

I like how Kanye West has layered the shirt and the jumper in this photo, again this is quite a geek-chic style which fits what I want my model/artist to come across like. I think I will definitely be using an outfit like this.

I like parts of both of these outfits. I like the baseball style jacket that 'Snoop Dogg' is wearing as its comfy and laid back, but I really like the hoodie and top that Pharrell is wearing as its quite sweet, having detail on the t-shirt and then finishin it off with a subtle hoodie.

This is again like the tops that Kanye West is pictured wearing in the other photo, except its a little neater, giving him a much more smart look. - Fits in with the geek-chic theme.

This style may be a little too over the top for my magazine but I still absolutely love it as it grasps the 'geek' look perfectly, I just don't think my artists overall look would suit such a smart jacket.

Target Market - Questionnaire

Front Cover

What are your initial thoughts at looking at the magazine?

Do you like the choice of colour palette? If so, why? If not, why?

Do you think the photograph and its shot type, fits the genre of the magazine? Why?

What are your thoughts on the name of the magazine, "in flux"?

Does the layout, e.g. coverlines, masthead, strapline work well? If so, why? If not, why?

If you could change one thing about the front cover, what would you change?

Give one positive and negative comment about this page.

Contents page

Do you think that information of the magazine is easy to find? If so, why? If not, why?

Do you think the layout/idea is original? If so, why? If not, why?

Give one positive and negative comment about this page.

Double page spread

What is your favourite part of the page?

What is your least favourite part of the page?

On the initial viewing do you feel interested enough to read the article? If so, why? If not, why?

Does this page appeal to you aesthetically? If so, why? If not, why?

Give one positive and negative comment about this page.

After asking 15 people that fit my target market these questions the answers I received were quite what I expected, although I suspect some people were more generous with compliments just because they are my peers.

Feedback

1. My Front cover seemed to be the biggest success of the 3 magazine elements. I received feedback suggesting that they liked the use of the brown torn paper, they also liked the colour pallette, and how it worked well with the greyscale effect on the main photograph. Most people also commented that they really liked the images of ribbon, buttons and lace, as this really fitted the 'hand made' look. Although people liked the effects on the photograph, many people commented that the model and his style didn't completely fit the magazines look - this I already knew as the model I wanted to use wasn't available when I needed to take the photographs. Also people said that although the font is nice, it was abit "too much of the same thing" and that it'd be good to have some contrasting fonts. When asked wether people thought the name was good there was a mixture of comments - mostly positive though. Some people said that they didn't know what the word 'flux' meant - but as its an interesting word, in a short snappy phrase it worked well with the magazine and came across quite intriguing. Some people who knew what the word meant thought it was really clever especially with the strapline "music on the move." The negative comments I received were mainly based around the fact that it was quite plain, and that the photograph might look better on a bigger scale.

After taking in these comments, I will try out the other fonts that I have looked at - as I personally also think that it's too much of the same font. I will also think up some idea's of poses and shots for my model - inspired alot by Rankin's work (there is an older post of his photos).

2. For the contents page people were a little more open to suggestions of change. For the practicallity of it people have said that it is very easy to see which page to go to for which article. And people also like the idea of thought bubbles, as it connects the photograph with the whole contents page. People liked the layout, but said it was a little bland in the way of colour - people weren't too enthusiastic about the background, as it's too light and merges a bit with the pastel colours. People also liked the idea of colouring in the photograph although it is obvious it has been done on a computer - it might be a good idea to try out printing off the photo, drawing on it then scanning it back on. Again, the button with ribbon corsage scanned object was a seuccess as it showed continuity of the handmade theme. The negative comments were based around the background, as if it were on a darker background it would have made the whole thing a lot easier to see, again I had comments about the use of only one font type.

In all honesty my contents page was extremely rushed - I personally don't like it, and I will probably change everything about it - taking into account some of the comments I have received.

3. This was very hard to be judged as it was so unfinished. But people liked the idea of the brown torn paper and the scanned ribbon. People just commented on the fact that the structure worked well with the seperate rows of text and the main headline. No one could judge very well wether they'd be enticed to read the article as it was very unfinished.

It was my own bad time management that gave me such little feedback. I'm happy that my idea for the scanned materials has been so positively commented on, as this will be a recurring theme throughout my final magazine.

Draft Magazine

Conclusion: Unfortunately I made poor use of my time management, I spent too much time fiddling with my front cover, and just 'threw' together the contents and double page spread. In all honesty I will probably only use very minute details from these two elements. There are of course some elements I feel went well, e.g. use of torn paper and buttons and effects such as greyscale. But overall these elements are not what I want for my magazine atall.

Initial Ideas for Double Page Spread

Firstly, I know that I want to do an interview, as this is relevant to an up-and-coming music magazine as people will want to know more about featured artists, but also as I can use questions that tie the fashion and art themes into the magazine. I don't want to ask ordinary, boring questions that will just allow you into their musical life, I want to ask other curious questions that may sound childish - but i'm sure it's something people are interested to know. Here are questions that I could use;

What is your favourite item of clothing?, What's your favourite colour?, If you were left on a desert island what item would you take?, Who is your favourite musician?, What is your favourite food?, etc. - silly questions but unusual, fun and could provoke quite interesting answers that can show personality well.

I also want to have a sort of photo montage of the featured artist, it would be good if I could find a way to make the photographs look unusual asthough from a photobooth, or from a polaroid camera or on a negatives strip.

Post - Teacher Feedback Mock up

After my feedback from Mr Ford I took his advice into account and changed my magazine a little. The changes I made were changing the slogan. I also scanned some buttons to test out the effect they could get - I initially thought that it wouldn't work well, as they aren't something scanners are made for but infact I think it looks really good, and goes with the theme along with the ribbon

I also looked more into the coverlines and highlighting key parts of them, as making the font bigger didn't quite capture the look I wanted. So instead I used my pastel colour palette to create rounded boxes with the writing inside. I think this works well, although I feel I may still experiment with this, but this idea is not to be forgotten :) (looks more effective in full size, not blog picture size.)

Very Rough Mock Ups

Unfortunately I rushed myself into creating two mock front covers before i'd gone through the proper process of choosing a font, however I do feel this has been a successful activity as it has already allowed me to predict problems about colour, pattern and shot choices.

I have created two mock magazine covers that fit my original design brief. For the first I took a photograph from Google.com of a patchwork fabric piece to use as a background. I then also took a photograph from the same resource of the actor, Robert Pattinson, editted this into grayscale and added him to the background. To give an arty look I used paintbrush on photoshop to colour in his jacket, I used pastel shades as this is what I want my colour palette to consist of. I also used hashed lines around the figure to add a simple design, I do intend to use this on my final product but they will be much smaller and more intricate - much more like a sewn line. I played around with the positioning of the masthead and finally decided that I liked it best in the top left corner, purely for aesthetic reasons. In my opinion this is just a very rough copy to me, the patchwork is something I don't intend to use and infact now I have used a fabric background I don't think this is what I will choose to use as it's very hard to make the coverlines easily visible due to the pale pastel pallette.

The second attempt at a Mock magazine cover was by far better, for this I tore brown paper to give a textured effect and then scanned it, this went on to become the background and infact I really liked the effect it gave. I then took a 'more' midshot of Robert Pattinson from Google, to give a more full shot and again editted this into grayscale. Rather than taking a huge section of the photograph and 'paintbrushing' it, I took a small detail from his t-shirt and focused on this, again I think this works better than on the first one as it looks less messy, and more arty. I kept the masthead the same, as I had no problem with this, and I also added in a coverline which again I feel works really well with the whole look of the cover. I love how the colours go together, the pastel colours with the grayscale on the brown paper look brilliant. In my opinion anyway. :)

Choosing My Fonts

I am quite open to different styles of fonts, initally I wanted a handwritten style of font but after reading many magazines, I have realised that there are plenty of aesthetically pleasing fonts. However I want my font to look fun and fit in with my theme.

When searching for fonts the website I chose to use was Www.MyFonts.Com I used this as its got a huge selection of fonts that can be changed to meet my requirements e.g colour choice, size, etc.

I used the search box a lot initially searching for words such as; Girly, Funny, Handwritten, Cute and Sewn. After searching through a lot of possible fonts I managed to get my large range of ideas down to a select few that I can test out.

Rolling Ball Cursive; I think this is a really good - girly looking font. I like the flowingness of the text, and how it joins up - this gives it a very handwritten effect. Possible problems; due to the very flowey writing, this makes the text almost hard to read, especially when you look at certain letters like the 'F' in flux - if this was singled out it may be hard to decipher. 7/10

Sketchetica; I really like this font I love the fact that it looks like it's physically been drawn on with a pen, it looks fun and makes the text more interesting. Possible Problems; The small gaps inbetween the scribbles inside the letters would all have to be individually changed colour if it were placed on a coloured background. 9/10

PT Sewed; This font is perfect for the look of my magazine as it actually looks sewn - which fits in with the fashion/textile inspiration for the magazine. Possible Problems; I wanted my fonts to in keep with a lower case style, and unfortunately this font doesn't come in lower case, also there are a lot of small areas that would need to be manually changed colour if put on a different coloured background. 5/10

Quilted AOE; This is my favourite font, it gives a fun look, uses a textiles inspired dashed line (as though it has been stitched) and is actually very easy to read. In terms of 'Possible Problems' I think this font is very safe, it can be easily changed colour, it is easily read and will look effective anywhere. 10/10