The North - Magazine / Publication Brief

My next brief was to design the layout for a magazine entitled 'The North'. The main thing I was tasked with completing was a front cover and a double page spread. To do this I did my usual design process but worked in InDesign instead.

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.

Since I have been loving experimenting with film, photograms and the darkroom in general in my past projects. I wanted to take it one step further and as such decided to only use black and white film for my abstraction photos. As such I thought about what would make a great abstract photos. So once again I thought about what would make up a great abstract photos and after doing some research online I came up with the idea of nature and rust. As both when photographed at close range have a whole other word of crazy and unique patterns which are hard to reproduce otherwise. So I loaded up my Pentax Super Me and went into the local woods by me and took a collection of nature photos while also visiting my local boat museum to take photos of ruse of the metal around there since I knew I'd be able to obtain such photos in these areas which were lucky so close by.
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.

 First is the front cover.
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.

Promo Brief - Poster

For my next brief I was set with the task of making a promotional poster for one of five suggest events. (One being an exhibition on surrealism, one being a festival of psychedelia, another being an exhibition on shoe design and the last two being a fashion show and a celebration of 20th century design)
I went with the first event being an art exhibition on surrealism entitled 'Le Homard est Nouveau-Surreal Things 2015'

Once I had my event set down I moved onto doing some basic research on all things surreal. For this I used pinterest again as in my past projects it has been a good starting point to get my brain warmed up with ideas.

Surreal Research Board
Psychedelia Research Board

I didn't just look at surreal subjects though I also looked into the psychedelia side of things as I felt I could easily link the two together to create an interesting idea for a subject for my poster. After abit of clicking here and there I started my initial idea sketches just to get my ideas down on paper and start my planning out. As after all the researching I had a few ideas I thought would be interesting but nothing i was 100% certain I wanted to do.

First off I couldn't decide if I wanted to make a surreal object and photograph it or to make something digital and move on from there. So in my initial design/idea phase I came up with a wide range of different ideas. From having balloons attached to ice cream cones, lemon light bulbs, making chimera creatures to be photographed. Imposing animal heads on humans you name it I thought out it. My mind was a wash with different ideas.
So before I moved onto developing these ideas I did a little research into Francois Leroy as I felt his work would be most in tune with what I was leaning toward doing with my poster. His use of thick strong images really captures the viewer and draws them in which would really work for my surreal theme for the poster. After all the main point of this poster would be to advertise and draw people in to the exhibition. As well as this his work features a strong sense of typography which I'm not great with myself so It gave me a starting point for that before I looked into combining it with my idea.

So after that my next step was to develop my ideas. For this I tried to stick with two of my initial ideas. One being a digital piece the other being a piece I made by hand then would be photographed. Starting off with the development of my 3D surreal piece. The idea I had was to make a hybrid animal or a chimera. For this I went a little bit sadist and would cut up parts of plastic animals and glue them back together.

This process took alot longer that I had first expected due to fact of using an old hack saw instead of an electrical one and having the handle break on me half way through the removal of the tigers head didn't help either. However once all super glued together my Panda Head x Tiger Body x Puffin wings, makes for a very unique chimera which defiantly works well for a subject. My next step was to photograph my creation. For this I used the photo suite in college setting up a solo lamp light and a white back group. In my previous project I had made photograms after looking at Man Rays work and as such I had really enjoyed working with the media so while photographing in digital I also designed to shoot with black and white film so I had the option to scan the negatives in later and use them if they came out well. This thought also meant I could make a film or digital poster.

First up the black and white film:

























I ended up taking a total of 27 film shots. My main objective bar making sure all my photo were in focus and light correctly was to think about each photo and how the subject (my chimera) would be positioned on the poster. My thought process behind this was if I put in the time now to leave the space for my type I'll encounter less problems later. As I knew I'd be editing in photoshop to edit my poster and type together. I didn't just use my subject to shoot mind, I also used a lobster and shoe just so I had the extra option of subjects to use if my chimera didn't work out.
This was the first time I had ever shot with film as i typically just use my digital camera of manual. It wasn't to different expect the weight of the camera and having to focus extra hard on getting the focus right as since they were older cameras the focus was a little less clear then I was used to. However I really enjoyed the process of shooting film and would love to use it again. If I get the chance in the future I'll be coming back to it maybe with extra chimeras and making a small project were i develop the photos in the darkroom etc.

As well as the black and white film I shot in digital too:

The same as the film my main thought process while taking these shots was to obviously make sure each photo was lit well and had my subject in view but also thinking about the placement within the frame so that when I came to editing the subject would be in a position fit for being the subject of my poster. With this in mind I feel I was about to capture some amazing shots which really showcase the surreal side of the chimera and hopefully with alittle bit of editing will produce an eye catching poster.

After having my black and white film developed in the dark room and cut up I went forward with it by scanning in the negatives to the mac which I didn't even realise was an option till I was shown at first I assumed you could only use them in the dark room but something new I learnt from this project. After scanning them in and choosing two of my favourites images facing opposites ways I decided to edit them even further in a way which would further increase there unique aspects of surrealism while making my first final piece concept. This idea resulted in the image below.

I really love the amount of grain you get from film photos. Just the little impurities which stick to the film really make the photos that much more interesting to look at.
I feel this adds even more to this image. The chimera subject being an animal of multiple origins is then split and stacked across one another. I feel this works very strongly as a poster design alone. The only other editing I had to do to the piece was to zoom in on the subject to help relieve some of the excess space around the subject from the photo stage. However for now this is just one final design concept without type or further editing of my other ideas I don't know if it'll be used as my final piece. With that in mind I move over to my digital photos and start working on another edit with them.







The first thing I did with my digital images after copying them over to the computer was the sort the images into ones I felt would be best suited for my poster. Since i had already thought of placement while taking the photos this was straight forwarded.

 After messing around with the RGB I next added effected to them such as warp and swirl to give a more unique effect to my subject. Looking back at this now I feel this was largely due to my extra research into the psychedelia event. I feel this extra addition to the subject really makes it pop off the page and come to life. As of that I decided to play around with the rule of thirds and the overall placement on the subject on the page. Even though I did this well in camera having the utility of Photoshop really helps when placing the subject and text together.
Moving the subject around and putting it into different focal points really helps change the composition of the poster as whole and can really make it that extra bit eye catching I feel. For example the 3rd image space really works to draw the viewers eye to the head of the panda where as the 5th images space allows for the event title to really shine. this is also due to the type face size and style.




On the note of type. This type took a while to choose and to get to this point I spent abit of time making up a font board which I feel helps distinguish the relationship between different types.

I feel doing this type of board really helped me at least as I don't have a lot of experience working with type and matching it up with images. Its something I expect I'll pick up the more I use it and get used to working with the large amount of types out there.

Another with my chimera idea fully developed and having two solid final piece ideas I go to work on my other main idea which was working with a model but having an animal head. Sticking with the surreal themes and doing the chimera first I already have the images of a pandas head ready to use. However first before going to work I decided to sketch up a quick idea of how I want the subject to be composed.

 After taking my development into photoshop I realised my panda head wouldn't fit well on my image of a suited figure as such I had to warp the head into position which I feel has cam out really well on the subject as a whole and fits the model perfectly. This is mainly due to the warp tool but also to the cutout filler that I applied to the whole piece. It really helps hide the line where the two images meet and adding a minor blur really helped pull the whole piece together. However I really do not like the composition of the poster development as a whole. So such as the chimera I went to work in creating a selection of posters focusing on the focal points and the relationship with the type and subject to give the most surreal finish.

Finishing up two more developments I decided the black and white feel wasn't really working so I went back to the original colour of the piece tweaking it alittle to give a very muted feel. I also took my 2nd development and duplicated it and pushing it off the page abit more. I feel this composition works alot better then just having the solo model. This is because it opens up a focal point in between them which was perfect for the event title.

Now that I had 3 final idea concepts the way in which I chose what would be my final piece was pretty straight forward. I just lined them up next to each other and chose the one which felt like it had the strongest composition and stood out the most. As that is the most import thing for a poster to stand out and be informative so with that all that was left was to add the date and venue to the poster. Below is my final piece.

Even though I really do personally love my black and white film poster. I felt this composition of my duel panda model works best not just for the theme of surrealism but as an interesting and eye catching poster. The muted use of colour to almost highlight the subject really draws the viewer in while leaving the centre space for the font really helps it stand out. Looking back at it now I'm not 100% on the font but as a whole the piece feels very complete and finished. Its sticks to the theme and gets the basic information across.
I learnt alot while doing this project and really enjoyed it as a whole. I have a long way to go when it comes to working with type and matching it up correctly with images but for one of my first tries the process of development really helped get to the final piece and without it I would have been lost with my almost limitless ideas. Sticking to two main ideas really helped let my mind focus and even ended up combining them to get the final piece. Not to mention branching off and making and film only image which I didn't plan to at first. Overall I have a long way to go if I want my composition and type skills to be up to the level of Francois Leroys and Drew Struzan. However I am very happy with my final piece and the process in which I got to it.