P5

In this blog post, I will be showing the post-production effects used to make my work. I will also be speaking about if they are effective techniques, and overall my strengths and weaknesses of my finalised product.

Here, I have shown an example of a technique I used, to show how I edited these pictures in Lightroom. I changed the exposure and contrast for this picture to insert it into my final content page. I chose to do this as I thought it looked too bright and would go against my, already bright, colour scheme and clash heavily. 

Here is my complete layout for my magazine. Here, I will be explaining my choices made and my design techniques for my magazine.

For my front cover, I made all the choices with the idea that the maximum amount of people would be seeing this. Therefore, I tried to make it the most accessible and look visually pleasing. I chose to lay out all my cover lines with enough separation so that my audience can tell us one apart, and I used a white font as it goes well against my general colour scheme of using beige, lighter colours.

For example, my title has a black outline, so people can look at it clearer; I made it black so it mixed with my gradient well. I did this by clicking outline on my text box, and making it a low weight so it wouldn't draw attention from my title or anything other on my front cover, like my main image. I also placed it at the top of my page based on how I took my cover image, as it takes up a lot of the page except the top. I also made it based on common codes and conventions, as a lot of the popular magazines I've looked at have it at either the top or bottom of the page. I think the green and pink gradient also matches well with my target audience, as it has bright, bubbly colours which is what a younger audience would like.

Here, I tried to make my cover lines look like the opposite of each other, to contrast my theme of having green and pink against each other. I made these text pieces through the text tool on InDesign, and changed them to italics to make them stand out. I also chose my italic text to have a different colour to make it stand out and bring more attention to it, especially since my TikTok fashion article isn't the main cover story and therefore will likely be having less readers. To begin with, I didn't know if them putting them opposite was a good idea and I have an earlier look at what I was doing. However, when looking at my original idea, my sustainability cover line is hard to read and this is also why I chose to lay this out above next to my model's hair instead. I also used a lighter colour palette when advertising this article, so people can read it more clearly. This also links to magazine conventions, as they usually have cover lines directly opposite each other.

This is another cover line, I used a lighter pink for this. I did this because it matches well against the beige cardigan. I also made this on the text tool on InDesign and I used the regular Coolvetica font for this and my cover lines above. I did this as they match, meaning people will be able to read it easier. These fonts are also generally very accessible, especially for people who would have trouble reading some text. These cover lines also have a size of 23, meaning it's large enough that a lot of people can read it. In terms of reading it physically, this font size, along with my magazine title, is large enough that people can read it in real life and could buy it and pick it out from a store. This could also lean into having an enigma code, which is a convention of magazines, as there isn't much detail on what is actually being shown and it just tells people to go to that page.

This was made on InDesign using the text tool, with Coolvetica. This is a pull quote, and I got it from my body copy. I used the mix of green and pink to engage my audience and make them want to read the article that this comes from, as it uses a lot of colours and this will attract people. I made it in italics so people will be able to tell more easily that it's a quote, and they will wonder what the context of it is. It's also right above my main cover line, which makes people associate the quote with the main article.

 For my main cover line, I used Roboto for my title and Poppins for my description. I did this so people can differentiate between my regular cover lines and my main one. I also made my title bold so it can be what initally draws people in with this; I also made it bold by clicking on the font section and having it drop down from there.

It also brings more attention to it, along with using my bold straight line. I did this by going to the 'stroke' tool and increasing the weight until it looks like it stood out. I chose to make my "exclusive" text curved to draw attention to it, as curved text is also a common convention of magazines. I made this by making an ellipis frame, and typing my text on it. From there, I typed my text straight onto it to make it curved and set my circle's opacity to 0% to make the text look naturally like that.

This is another cover line, which is in black text this time. I added a semi-transparent boxout circle so I could put any colour on it. I did this from going onto InDesign, using the ellipsis tool and creating a white circle. From there, I lowered the opacity to make so that you could still see my main cover image against it. If I didn't add that, it would have to be in white text again and I wanted to make it look unique. I used the Roboto and Poppins fonts again, as they looked unique especially against my already different circle. I made my "from you" text in red, so people would feel a sense of urgency or personalisation when being asked to submit their experience.

I added a barcode at the bottom right of the magazine, as this is where they usually are. This means that it is a common convention of magazines, and that I have fulfilled it through this. This also makes my magazine look more believable, and as if it's a real magazine. I got this image of a barcode from google, and pasted it into InDesign.

These are my content pages, and I had many attempts in trying to accurately create this. I also had to be careful in how I would approach the crease line, as I couldn't add any information directly to the left or right because it wouldn't be seen. Because of this, I have left a fair amount of space when typing these pages out.

This is my title for the cover page, which also shows the issue of the magazine. I made this in InDesign using the shape tool and clicking rectangle. I also created 2 white rectangles next to it, so it would look warped instead; I did this because it makes my content stand out, especially as its pure black because I haven't used this colour a lot. I also made it in italics to stand out further. I used my already existing gradient to use on the "sep 23" and the line underneath cover story to enhance my colour scheme further, and show that these colours are imporatnt to every aspect of my magazine. I wanted to separate my article and cover story sections, so people can skip easier to which page suits them. I used Coolvetica on these pages as it makes it easy to read, and keeps up with the continuity of using it on the front cover.

I used the pictures on the content pages as I took them myself, and I think they enhance the headlines as it gives people a visual look at the article they're about to read. It also makes it less daunting to read and stands out for somebody if they're flicking through the pages. This is also why I added different colours on the content page; for example, I used red and blue for my headline about TikTok as people automatically associate TikTok with them. I used purple for my music as I hadn't used this colour yet, and I think it looks unique. My headlines are all in bold and italics because it makes them stand out more and will attract more people to read it.

This is one image I have used in my contents page. I took this using a camera, and edited out my background on Photoshop and pasted it into InDesign. From there, I used the ellipis tool, added the same purple colour and changed its weight to be slim, meaning it makes the headphones stand out while also not taking too much attention away from it.

These are my article pages. I added an introduction to Sarah Masington as people may be unfamiliar with who she is, but this shouldn't put them off so I wanted to make it as accessible as possible. Here, I used green and pink as it would make people instantly recognise it as being part of the Everything Girl. It also makes it unique compared to other magazines, as it has a distinct colour palette. I also added the "photographed by Sophie Halliwell" by using a bold font as this is a common convention in magazines, and makes my magazine look more professional. This was also another double page spread, meaning that I had to be careful of the positioning of my text.

This is my article title, which shows a unique display as I've used a green italics font. I did this, along with my line to separate the two subjects, and make it stand out. I made this on InDesign using the line tool, while also making sure to keep its weight thin so the text is still legible and it doesn't take attention away from it.

These are my assets that I made while taking pictures with a camera. From there, I removed the background on Photoshop and pasted them on InDesign. I didn't end up using them all as I still needed space to place my text. I chose beauty/skincare, as this is the subject of my article and therefore I needed a picture to match. The arrangement of these pictures on my article were random, and only places based on where the text was placed.

I think I placed my text well so people can read it. It's quite a large article so I had to use a small font, but I managed to include everything.

This is the picture I used as my front cover for the magazine. I did this because it's a close up of her, and she looks friendly and welcoming. It also helps that she's a young person as my target audience are likely more interested in listening to stories from the same age as them.

For my strengths in this project, I think I shot my photos well and used them appropriately as they look professional to me. I think I also communicated the ideas of this project well with my model and directed where she should be appropriately. I think I'm okay with my final project, and I do like my strengths such as how I laid my front cover out but I do think I could've made some improvements in my article. Nevertheless, I also do like my content page and I think I made it look unique while also doing a good job of portraying what the articles inside the magazine will be.

A weakness I think I had in this project is not properly planning how my magazine will look. I did finish my pre-production documents however, I don’t think I looked at them enough when I was actually making my magazine and I strayed away from my planning, and following some of the conventions, specifically in my article. I also think that I didn't follow my time constraints to my best ability, and I overran with some timings, which wasn't ideal. In the future, I will emphasise to remember my planning and also make sure I stick to deadlines when they are first set to avoid this problem.