Thursday 18 December 2008
Editing the cover pictures
To edit my pictures I decided to use what i believe to be the most advanced image editor - Adobe Photoshop. I thought this may be best as I know that many professional companies use this to edit all sorts of images for their products etc so if they use it, it must be of an advanced programme and can create high standard pictures.
Wednesday 17 December 2008
The Photoshoot
Before i could begin putting my cover together i needed to take the photo that would fill the entire page for the cover of my magazine. I deliberated over what and who to take a photo of and finally made the decision of myself being on the main cover and asked my friend Natalie to take the photos for me.
I found a large black piece of card to use as the background as I didn't want any interference in the picture - i wanted a solid colour behind me in the photo so i could put text overlapping it and it wouldnt have to fit with the many potential shades and objects in the background if i didn't make it a solid colour. I couldve taken a picture with things in the background and edited it on photoshop but i thought if i did that then a solid colour immediately around a real life picture would look a bit odd and unprofessional and maybe even slightly amateur looking and that's not what i want my magazine to be like - i want it to look real and convincing. I chose to have a black background as i knew my fonts would be brightly coloured and by having a dark background they would really stand out from it and would have no way of blending in or clashing with the colour of the background.
Before i could begin taking any pictures, i had to decide on make-up styles and clothing. I already knew the eye make-up would have to be the feature that stood out the most so decided to research some examples as it's not the way i ever do my own make-up. I used the search engine Google to look for inspiration for my eye make-up and searched 'colourful eye makeup' which featured a YouTube video consisting of a montage of different make-up styles that had already been created. These are a few examples of what i found;
This example i found clearly has a wide variation of colours that have been used which is what i wanted. I like the way that the colours aren't precise or have any symmetry and incorporate just about every colour that is available and the way not only the eye is covered but rather all the way to the eyebrow really emphasises the eyes and enables more colour to be used. Also I like the pink gloss used on the lips as its a normal colour people would wear but still manages to stand out. I want to use the technique of making the colours blend together and using different bold colours as that is the main theme of the entire magazine as obviously that is what is most associated with rave.
This is another example I like not only for the bright colours but i like the way each different colour of the eye shadow is applied in horizontal lines straight over the eye like a sort of rainbow pattern but with alternative colours. The only aspect i dont like about this example is that the lines dont blend which looks a bit artificial and probably wont be something i use in my own design.
In my final example I think most of my inspiration will be influenced by this design as it's my favourite one but not only that, i think it uses the colours the most effectivley and also blends them together in the same pattern on both eyes. I will also use eyeshadow all the way to the brow and use the colours yellow, orange, blue and green but not so much the coloured eyelashes as i believe this prevents the colours on the lid from standing out as much as they would against black eyeliner and mascara.
The next aspect of the photoshoot planning is the clothing I would be wearing. I knew this also had to be something quite colourful and found a recently bought bright pink tshirt with a white and blue sequined design of a bird at the top. I thought this would look more effective than wearing just a plain tshirt as I was posing as a made up famous celebrity and thats not the sort of thing they would wear if they would be appearing on the front cover of a magazine.
The only thing left to do after that was to take the pictures. Here are a few of the original copies of the shots we took which I think worked best;
I think this picture works quite well, but I'm not too keen on the angle of it and it doesn't leave much room around the edges for writing that i dont want to make stand out and avoid overlapping onto the picture. Although i could edit it to make more of the background it wouldnt work around the part where my shoulders touch the edge of the picture as there would be a sort of black border around as you can't just add more of my body to it on the computer because I'd need an actual picture of it rather than being able to computer generate more of my shoulders. This would surely prevent it from looking professional at all.
Well for a start this picture makes me look way to sinister and that is not the feeling i want to give off on the front page of my magazine. Also the shot is too up close and again I couldnt put much writing on it that wouldnt overlap with the picture and I want my picture to fill the entire front page from corner to corner as I have noticed from my research that it makes the magazine look so much more real and professional if you use a high quality image. The last thing i dont like about this picture is my hair - its all over the place which effects the professional look and looks messy. Although i could edit it to improve this i don't intend to make my picture look rediculously edited as its not a beauty magazine but i still dont want it to have someone on the cover with messy hair.
This is my 3rd, final and favourite picture out of the bunch. I like the way my make-up is clearly displayed and my facial expression is neither moody nor happy which is what i wanted. I also like the angle as the clothing I have on is in view and the camera is looking down on me, creating the feeling that the cover star is not trying to look down on the reader but rather the reader is looking down on them. The last thing i like about this picture is the background is proportioned well and leaves a nice clear space for the title of my magazine and one of the story lines. By having it on plain black this will allow it to stand out more than the writing that will cover the rest of the page. This allows the magazine title to stand out clearly as its probably one of the most important aspects of the front cover itself.
I found a large black piece of card to use as the background as I didn't want any interference in the picture - i wanted a solid colour behind me in the photo so i could put text overlapping it and it wouldnt have to fit with the many potential shades and objects in the background if i didn't make it a solid colour. I couldve taken a picture with things in the background and edited it on photoshop but i thought if i did that then a solid colour immediately around a real life picture would look a bit odd and unprofessional and maybe even slightly amateur looking and that's not what i want my magazine to be like - i want it to look real and convincing. I chose to have a black background as i knew my fonts would be brightly coloured and by having a dark background they would really stand out from it and would have no way of blending in or clashing with the colour of the background.
Before i could begin taking any pictures, i had to decide on make-up styles and clothing. I already knew the eye make-up would have to be the feature that stood out the most so decided to research some examples as it's not the way i ever do my own make-up. I used the search engine Google to look for inspiration for my eye make-up and searched 'colourful eye makeup' which featured a YouTube video consisting of a montage of different make-up styles that had already been created. These are a few examples of what i found;
This example i found clearly has a wide variation of colours that have been used which is what i wanted. I like the way that the colours aren't precise or have any symmetry and incorporate just about every colour that is available and the way not only the eye is covered but rather all the way to the eyebrow really emphasises the eyes and enables more colour to be used. Also I like the pink gloss used on the lips as its a normal colour people would wear but still manages to stand out. I want to use the technique of making the colours blend together and using different bold colours as that is the main theme of the entire magazine as obviously that is what is most associated with rave.
This is another example I like not only for the bright colours but i like the way each different colour of the eye shadow is applied in horizontal lines straight over the eye like a sort of rainbow pattern but with alternative colours. The only aspect i dont like about this example is that the lines dont blend which looks a bit artificial and probably wont be something i use in my own design.
In my final example I think most of my inspiration will be influenced by this design as it's my favourite one but not only that, i think it uses the colours the most effectivley and also blends them together in the same pattern on both eyes. I will also use eyeshadow all the way to the brow and use the colours yellow, orange, blue and green but not so much the coloured eyelashes as i believe this prevents the colours on the lid from standing out as much as they would against black eyeliner and mascara.The next aspect of the photoshoot planning is the clothing I would be wearing. I knew this also had to be something quite colourful and found a recently bought bright pink tshirt with a white and blue sequined design of a bird at the top. I thought this would look more effective than wearing just a plain tshirt as I was posing as a made up famous celebrity and thats not the sort of thing they would wear if they would be appearing on the front cover of a magazine.
The only thing left to do after that was to take the pictures. Here are a few of the original copies of the shots we took which I think worked best;
I think this picture works quite well, but I'm not too keen on the angle of it and it doesn't leave much room around the edges for writing that i dont want to make stand out and avoid overlapping onto the picture. Although i could edit it to make more of the background it wouldnt work around the part where my shoulders touch the edge of the picture as there would be a sort of black border around as you can't just add more of my body to it on the computer because I'd need an actual picture of it rather than being able to computer generate more of my shoulders. This would surely prevent it from looking professional at all.
Well for a start this picture makes me look way to sinister and that is not the feeling i want to give off on the front page of my magazine. Also the shot is too up close and again I couldnt put much writing on it that wouldnt overlap with the picture and I want my picture to fill the entire front page from corner to corner as I have noticed from my research that it makes the magazine look so much more real and professional if you use a high quality image. The last thing i dont like about this picture is my hair - its all over the place which effects the professional look and looks messy. Although i could edit it to improve this i don't intend to make my picture look rediculously edited as its not a beauty magazine but i still dont want it to have someone on the cover with messy hair.
This is my 3rd, final and favourite picture out of the bunch. I like the way my make-up is clearly displayed and my facial expression is neither moody nor happy which is what i wanted. I also like the angle as the clothing I have on is in view and the camera is looking down on me, creating the feeling that the cover star is not trying to look down on the reader but rather the reader is looking down on them. The last thing i like about this picture is the background is proportioned well and leaves a nice clear space for the title of my magazine and one of the story lines. By having it on plain black this will allow it to stand out more than the writing that will cover the rest of the page. This allows the magazine title to stand out clearly as its probably one of the most important aspects of the front cover itself.
Tuesday 16 December 2008
Creating My Logo
Like the examples I have just studied I want to make my design simplistic yet effective. I don't want to use a plain font that won't represent what I'm trying to target and grab my audiences attention. So to do this i will produce all my examples in vibrant colours on a dark background - just as it would be seen on the cover of my magazine.
First of all, I'm immediately drawn to the blue logo. I don't think I'll use this font at all as its too rounded and gives an immature and childish feel to the word and that's not what I'm looking for.
First of all, I'm immediately drawn to the blue logo. I don't think I'll use this font at all as its too rounded and gives an immature and childish feel to the word and that's not what I'm looking for.
Magazine Logos - Research and Planning
The next step to creating my own magazine was thinking of a name for it. Surprisingly, this came to me quite quickly. I began thinking of words or phrases that linked to raves and a few came to mind such as;
Looking at these examples i can gather that designers from my genre of magazine generally use simplistic yet effective designs. Some of them use simple fonts but make it more interesting by incorperating using both capitals and lowercase letters in 'i-D' magazine and the hyphen just adds a bit more charecter and individuality rather than having a plain two letters together. I also like the way 'pop' magazines logo works. It looks like a 3D shape thats been twisted into the shape of the letters and the highlights work to make it look more realistic as there would be light hitting the sides if it were in real life. Stream magazine uses an effective warm colour scheme and i like the way the colours gradually blend into eachother and work together to look professional. Also the quality of the image and the font make it look well made and like there has been work behind making a good logo with a programme such as photoshop that is largely used in the real magazine making industry.
- Glow - As in glowsticks or the lights you see at raves. This is something i thought that a raver could relate to and if they seen it they would immediately know what the magazine will entail. I could of maybe shortened it to 'Glo' to put a modern and quirky twist onto it. I didn't think it was a very exciting name and could be sound like a name for a womens magazine as people use the word 'glowing' to compliment someones appearance and I want the name of my magazine to be specific and unable to be confused with another possible genre.
- Techno - which is a type of music played at a rave that has no words and a strong bassline. obviously again people into this genre would relate to it and i could also misspell the word to make 'Tekno' or 'Teckno' to put my own spin on it. Yet again i can think of something people could become confused about if all they heard was the name. They might assume its a magazine about Technology or gadgets which would decrease the amount of people that would be interested in my magazine - if it were a real one.
- DJ - yet again something to do with a rave. DJs mix the music and would be a recognizable symbol for ravers. I also thought i could use a similar to idea to a previous magazine i researched with a similar name called 'i-D' magazine and i could of styled mine on that idea e.g 'd-J' magazine but it doesnt really look as effective and would just be copying another magazines ideas. But then again once i thought about it you can get DJs at many events not just raves - e.g. Weddings, on the radio, in clubs playing all sorts of music. So this wouldn't be a very specific name for my genre.
- Strobe - this is my final idea and probably my favourite. I cant think of any other event that uses strobe lights therefore people will automatically think of rave when they hear the title of my magazine. The word itself sounds good and I think it will be easy to work with when creating the logo.
Looking at these examples i can gather that designers from my genre of magazine generally use simplistic yet effective designs. Some of them use simple fonts but make it more interesting by incorperating using both capitals and lowercase letters in 'i-D' magazine and the hyphen just adds a bit more charecter and individuality rather than having a plain two letters together. I also like the way 'pop' magazines logo works. It looks like a 3D shape thats been twisted into the shape of the letters and the highlights work to make it look more realistic as there would be light hitting the sides if it were in real life. Stream magazine uses an effective warm colour scheme and i like the way the colours gradually blend into eachother and work together to look professional. Also the quality of the image and the font make it look well made and like there has been work behind making a good logo with a programme such as photoshop that is largely used in the real magazine making industry.
Beginning My Own Magazine
After coming to a decision for the genre of my magazine I had to go back to my research and think about including the conventions of what a magazine in the rave genre should include. These will be;
- Bright, florescent and vibrant colours
- Edited photograph - change the hue/saturation to make it look eye catching
- Single person photograph
- Use pixels/small pictures to fill gaps that relate to and represent the rave scene
- No specific colour scheme
- Special offers or freebies relating to the readers interests
- Exclusive interviews or stories so the reader will want to read my magazine
- A main storyline in a large font to catch the eye of the reader
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