For the theme of my magazine I was given a list of choices for which could help with adding in images. From the list I chose the theme of 'Abstraction' As in my previous briefs I had collated a collection of texture / close macro shots, as such I felt I could take this one step further an take a collection of photos focusing on even more abstract subjects.
The first thing I did was to research layouts and what is used within them. Looking closely at the use of spacing, callouts, drop caps etc and how effective it is to use them in certain places.
After doing some research by looking at magazine currently in print and getting an idea of trends and how different design aspects can effect the readability of the magazine I went to work in designing a bunch of different design layouts since depending on the style I wanted whether that be a fanzine or a professional magazine I could get away with different designs. I did extra research over at Pinterest as always too.
While doing my research I came across Neville Brody an amazing British designer well known for his cover page design for magazines and records. His use of type and space is really something else and he was a big inspiration when it came to adding extra flare to my idea sketches. His work is very artistic in the sense its out of the box thinking. Its not con-formative but has a professional finish to it which I really like.
First when sketching my rough layout designs I started with the double page spread as I feel there is a lot of things you can do here. The main idea I was playing around was how much space I wanted as when doing my research I noticed a trend of how some more artistic or graphical magazines use a lot of open space to give off very bold and powerful page designs. As such I played around with leaving extra space around the edges and near the gutter to give an extra sense of width. Playing around with these ideas now gave me a great grasp of what I could do as well as what I wanted to do further down the line.
Since I had do many options for the double page spread I ended up jotting down a large collection of ideas which came in handy when I started to play around in InDesign. Next I started my front cover ideas. These I found a lot easier as the options I found to be a bit more limiting as you Don;t have to worry about the placement of your main body text but more just the composition of your cover. Such as the type working with my main image or images and whether I wanted to have sub text on the front or not. Since this was the 'first issue' of the 'North' I was more drawn to a strong image to be used on the front as this would draw the viewers in a lot faster then your typical over clutter covers with images and text all over the place. As of this I liked the ideas which were more graphical but with a formal feel.
Following my idea sketches I went to work in InDesign playing around with different layouts. This was my first time using indesign so it took a bit of getting used to but its a very nice problem for working on layouts and I can see why people would use it for magazine and book cover design. I didn't find it difficult to use and picked up the basis very fast, I think this is down to the simplistic layout of the program and everything is in roughly the same place as Photoshop etc. However when working on a design itself such as the pattern I'd still be more tempted to use Photoshop. However once the piece is complete I could see myself then moving it over to InDesign for final touches if needs must and I got a little more comfortable with it. For this project since I didn't need to focus on the main body (which I just filled with place holder) and just the actual layout of the magazine. I tried to compliment what I thought would be in the magazine such as general information on the photos I;d taken a short interview as well as any relation information on the topic of Abstraction. Once I had a few experiments and a template roughly sorted I moved away from the PC again to take my actual photos for the project.
What I love about film photography over digital is the fact you really have to think about the photo before taking it and making sure the composition is correct in the photo as well as the basics of focusing and making sure the subject is light correctly. It really makes you think about your photo before you take it and as such I feel the photos I managed to take turned out really well.
Following this I went into the dark room to start developing this roll of film. Having a timer on my phone really helped with the development process as it meant I was able to keep on task when agitating the film while being developed. Once development, dried and cut into sections I moved onto making a few prints from my Film just to see how it had turned out. As from the negatives it looked like I had some really interesting shots.
First I complied the negatives onto photographic paper and made a photogram of them to make a contact sheet. Which over its counterpart above (which I had to scan in the negatives into the pc then compile in phtotshop) It has a real life to it and really stands out. After this I made two prints. The first being two prints of some rust pillars. As you can see I have two prints this is because when I did the first one I didn't think to test the right light for the still so I ended up over exposing the print. As such I took a strip of photographic paper and exposed it in 5 section intervals while exposing more of the paper each time. So at the end I had a stripped paper with one end having the print exposed for 5 seconds to the far end (completely black due to over exposure) being 25 seconds. This helped me indicate how long I should be exposing my print for. As such the first was 10 but the 2nd one I did at 6 seconds and it turned out much better. I did this same process for the wood print and 10 seconds seemed perfect so after the text that print turned out amazingly. This method is time consuming but I really enjoy the whole process of Film development from taking the photos to have a final print in your hands.
Now that i had my images and after developing them I scanned them into the space so I could import them into InDesign and onto my Final magazine layout.
I wanted to go for a more professional looking magazine and since it was the first issue I wanted a very striking image which stood out with a bold text choice. I feel I accomplished this here really well. It really helps that the photos are in Black and White this time as it bring something else to the whole thing I didn't even think about. Lucky my lack of colour didn't damage the final thing. As for the subtext at the top of the page I feel looking back at it now it would have looked more complete if it had been but one or two sizes smaller as it seem to stand out a little to much and draws the eye away from the main subject of the photo and title.
Next was the first of my double pages. Since I had so many ideas I didn't want to just do two pages. For the 2nd page (first after the title) I wanted something which was a bit more toned down from the striking front page. As such I went with a design that is layered in your usual column style which I nice heading of the title again with a sub heading to introduce the piece as well as a drop cap to draw the eye to the start point. As for the section page I didn't want to over load the reader with images so went with a more typically design of equal columns with drop caps for new sections. I feel what is missing from this page which I did use in one of my experiments is the use of a call out to help break up the massive walls of text that would be presented. I'm really tempted to just go back and add it to the bottom right about now.
For the last two pages since I had toned things down I felt it only right here to bring back the interest with two equally large images of my abstract photography. This was mainly down to the feel that after the previous page a reader may be drained after all the reading or if they're just flicking seeing to well composition photos next to each other may make them stop and think 'oh' I'll check this out.
Like with 2nd page I started it off with a large portion to draw the eye to the starting point of the topic in this case a question and then followed that up with another drop cap do they are drawn even more towards this point. I did this to try and counter act the extreme presents given off from the image. Also for people who flick left to right there is a strong draw from the left side of the page which also may cause them to stop and take a look.
For the final page I did pretty much the same as the first but without the extra draw of the increased size. This was down to me not wanting the readers eye to be drawn all over the page at once. Throughout these double page spreads I've kept the spacing of each column and footer the same to keep a flowing design throughout which I feel is very important for the type of magazine I wanted to create and a mixture of designs wouldn't look very professional.
Overall I really enjoyed this project as magazine layout isn't something I ever thought of myself doing but I found myself really enjoying the process off putting together different types and images in a way which creates a final product. As such I can see myself at some point making a little collection of prints by myself into a self made magazine and experimenting with page layout. Maybe even experimenting with dust covers that fold out to make poster and such other 3D styled packaging for magazines.
No comments:
Post a Comment