prelim
indesign is used to make books and magazines
contents and DPS will be played out in Indesighn
edit assets in photoshop
collum gutter is the spacing between the slits of the columns
a slug is used to bookmark different articles in your magazine
bleed the tolerance aloowense given to the printers to print your pages without compromising the layout
image to fit selected box
use text tool line it up to columns copy and paste text box
Front cover
I have met the brief by creating the front cover of a new magazine aimed at a Sheffield audience that has all been originally produced by myself created on desktop publishing software. I have been able to produce a proposal with sample materials for an original media product to a client brief, plan and develop pre-production materials for an original media product to a client brief, create production materials for an original media product to a client brief and carry out post-production techniques and processes for an original media product to a client brief.
I met my proposal ideas by creating an aesthetically cozy magazine that will entertain the viewers in their free time and provide information and promote and advertise different local artistry business and events in Sheffield for the reader to enjoy, advertise their product and business in and learn from as a relaxing activity.
I appealed to my audience of ABC1 women aged 35-50 by featuring middle aged women on my front cover so that the reader can relate to the model and are encouraged to view them as an ideal self, to do this I have taken Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory into consideration and subverted the male gaze by dressing my model appropriately in mainstream clothing item so that it is relatable to the target audience. Stereotypically an ABC1 audience is more intellectual meaning they will want to read a magazine that has allot of text and more dense wording. Because of this I included many cover lines and richer more complex wording. The artwork I chose in the secondary image of my front cover is a stereotypically femenin butterfly displayed to stereotypically target my female readers.
I met my proposal ideas and appealed to my genre of 'small local arts business' by following codes and conventions of the genre such as presenting artwork on my front cover, advertised local 'events' in Sheffield, selecting topics of interest to business owners and artists on the cover lines, choosing a small art business for my main cover story and having a minimalist aesthetic.
DPS
I think I have met the brief for creating a local art and business magazine that targets middle aged women. This is because I have followed magazine conventions by advertising my DPS main article and competition advertisement on my front cover creating synergy with my front cover, this cohesiveness strengthens 'Utopia arts' brand identity.
In my double page spread I have Interviewed a business local to Sheffield and used them as my articles main subject matter, this helps me focus on my target audience of people that live and or work in Sheffield because local art businesses will be something they are interested in. My article follows magazine conventions as its laid out in columns.
My text follows magazine conventions for clear and easy reading because all text except the headline has a white background, its main body size is 12 and all of the text is black. This is important as my audience enjoys having allot of reading material.
I have met my brief by using a specific house style in my DPS. This is shown through my use of select colours; yellow, black, white and green, I have consistently used serif fonts only and I have kept my text sizing consistent.
All of my images connote my art theme due to my chosen setting and subject matter. Most of my readers can easily see my models as ideal selves because they are middle aged women like my target audience. All of the costume's in my magazine are relaxed and mostly business appropriate this helps my target audience of women in the art business relate to my models. However I think if I was able to oversee what my models were wearing I would change their costumes and dress them in a more business appropriate style. The warm lighting in my images connote comfort and denote natural lighting. I have included art setting's such as the 'Fired up and painting' workshop to inspire my readers that want or have an art business themselves.
My DPS layout follows magazine conventions because I have sectioned out my pages based on the story I am concentrating the writing on and added images to make the page more visually appealing. Unlike my front cover my DPS pages are not overly busy and loud as I want the reader to relax and easily focus on different sections of the DPS. The graphics in my DPS connote my art theme and connote a friendly and happy mood to my readers.
Contents page
I have met the brief with my contents page as I have targeted a local audience by featuring a museum that is local to Sheffield in one off my images. I have targeted artists and people interested in art as I have displayed images of art instillations around Sheffield city center, this may encourage locals living in Sheffield to go out and look at street art with their friend and family, by making my content interactive I have engaged my readers. because of featuring stereotypically femenin subjects my images of flowers and home decoration target my target audience successfully. I have used daylight as my lighting source for all my images this connotes energy and warmth this causes my images to connect with my content pages light and calm mood.
I have appealed to my target audience of middle aged ABC1 women because I have used stereotypically femenin subjects in my photography and text such as plants, decoration, art, galleries, bright colour and places to go out with friends and family. The models from my front cover main image will help my viewers to relate to my magazine as they can see their image and personal image as well as their interests being represented. I have also appealed to my secondary audience of young adult women as I have featured colours and decretive styles that are in relevant and fashionable. Because of this I think I met the brief of targeting a specific audience.
I have used conventions of the art genre with good quality images of art and a variety of themes in my subject matter. I have followed conventions with my small business genre as I have target my readers with a formal mode of address and advertised local businesses.
My layout follows conventions by highlighting the prominent stories in my magazine. I have chosen themes for my listed stories that relate to art and business.
I have consistently followed my house style as I have used the serif font Baskerville old face, this makes my text appear professional and minimalist. I have also repeatedly used vine graphics that have been created in my house style sage green shade, these graphics create synergy and brand recognition due to there uniqueness, as conventual magazine graphics consist of patterns and speech bubbles/highlights.
To meet my brief more I think I could have researched more small art businesses in Sheffield and used them as my stories on my contents page.
I've added in graphics and resized them using the hover tool to draw attention and emphasize my nature theme by depicting vines to use as borders. This engages my main target audience of middle aged women as they are stereotypically interested in plats and gardening. I also added another white graphics in the bottom left corner to fill up unused space.
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In my first version I loosely laid out where I wanted my images to go basing it off of my visualization diagram. I surrounded my contents page text with images that relate to the story's advertised in the text, so that my contents page could be more visually interesting and so that the reader can quickly see what is included in the magazine.
I added in a purple box as it contrasted with the green box and made it stand out, I did this as the story it links to is about colour.
I added in a graphics to my background and foreground to connote movement.
I added in my text based on my visualization diagram, however I did alter some of the headings numbers and descriptions.
UTOPIA Arts fits into real magazine codes and conventions of the small art business genre and targets audience of middle aged women because:
The Photos I will use on my front cover features middle aged women that the reader can relate to and are encouraged to view them as an ideal self to do this I have taken Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory into consideration and subverted the male gaze by dressing my model appropriately. As the model's costume is an apron and hoodie it's relates to art genre and is also relatable to the target audience as hoodies are a mainstream clothing item. I have followed magazine codes and conventions with my main image and secondary image as I have featured a smiling mid shot of my model's on the front cover, used complimentary colours and as my focal point is sharing the eye line with the viewer it engages them to read the magazine. The lighting in my magazine is also a convention in art and small business magazines as warm daylight is relatable, comforting and connotes warmth and calm.
'Aesthetica' is an art and photography magazine. I used this magazine to help me understand and follow art magazine codes and conventions.
Like 'Aesthetica' in my main cover image I have focused on photographing one model and positioning them to be in the middle of the page. However instead of posing my model in a side view looking away from the reader like this front cover, I decided to take a forward facing photo so that the model eye line is directed at the reader. I did this in order to follow magazine conventions. by doing so I believe I am straightforwardly directly targeting my reader, unlike 'Aesthetica' that uses mystery and non conformity of magazine conventions in this main image to draw in the reader.
In my magazine I have used a secondary cover image I think this makes my magazine more appealing because it gives the reader more to look at, and allows them to understand visually that this magazine will feature people that look like the target audience. My secondary cover image connotes the theme of art and gives the reader an idea of what to expect from the contents of 'Utopia Arts'.
'Aesthetica' layout consists of a main image featuring a bold colour, along with at the top of their page a masthead and banner and at the bottom of their page bar code. Their house style includes white banners showing cover lines estimated to be in a size 8, they are positioned so that they don't interfere with the main cover image. All of their text is in a black serif font this causes high contrast with the background making their text professional and easy to read. Unlike my magazine 'Utopia Arts' They do not present a secondary images, buzz words or multiple graphics in their front covers to entice the viewer instead I think they rely on mystery and their well know brand name to advertise their product to the reader.
In this 'Aesthetica' front cover they chose a red colour scheme. This colour scheme is seen in the red circle graphic, the models costume is a red vest top paired with a sheer white blouse with red polka dots, the red fabric backdrop. I think this colour scheme works well to entice artists and photographers as its visually appealing and well planed. I could have followed their planning and created a similar colour scheme in my main cover image by instead of using yellow I'd use blue in my graphics to match my models blue apron, however I wanted to use a colour with happier connotations that would help me to stereotypically target middle aged women.
Because 'Aesthetica' red circle graphic is blocking out the models face this causes the audience to struggle to identify with the model, I think they target a wider audience by making her non descript. Where as in 'Utopia Arts' I have limited my audience to women. Their main target audience for this magazine are adults women because this image is not targeted at the male gaze. Their secondary audience are adult men, I think this because red is a stereotypically masculine colour and their design is not stereotypically femenin while still featuring only a female model.
Due to only using one word and designing their text larger in their masthead than tag lines 'Aesthetica' follows magazine conventions. Their masthead has influence my own design as I have also created a mastheads with a white background and black text in a serif font that is large and central at the top of the page. This help the audience easily identify my magazine brand and connotes my calming theme because of its plant graphic and elegant font.
Unlike 'Aesthetica' my magazine includes many cover lines placed on the cover image instead of only in the banner because I wanted to follow magazine conventions. 'Aesthetica' only uses a banner because they favorizes photography. I also included a banner because I wanted to show my readers that their is allot of reading material for them in this magazine. In my cover lines I have used allot of buzz words such as Win and New unlike 'Aesthetica' as they only use cover lines with technical terms because they are targeting people in the art and photography industry.
Like 'Aesthetica' I have included a barcode in the corner of my page so that my audience can easily identify the price of the magazine. Unlike 'Aesthetica' I have used two puff's to draw in the reader with buzz words and clear information, this information denotes my magazines contents.
As my model is the only person in these photos, making her the focal point, this connotes her important to this double page spread, insinuating to the viewer that this women is the person being interviewed. This follows image conventions as in the Aesthetica DPS the light show pictures in the double page spread insinuates its the source material for the article.
Instead of following conventions and using images that take up all of or half of one page, I chose to priorities my article. This is because my readers are primarily interested in reading large amounts of text. The eye line of the model in the main image engages the reader as it targets them. I have also engaged my target audience of middle aged women by representing them with my middle-aged female model and my secondary audience of young adult women by using stereotypically femenin themes in my stories such as crafting and artwork.Like 'Aesthetica' I used the same colour scheme on both pages so that they are cohesive as I have used my house style colours my DPS is cohesive with the rest on my magazine.
The graphics I have used connote growth and movement and create synergy and brand recognition due to there uniqueness.
Contents page & contents page used to inspire me
As I have used my main cover image in my contents page the eye line of the model is directed at the reader creating engagement. I have also used an image I took of a bee on a flower, this links to my natural contemplation story, this image connotes happiness as the flower and bee are a bright yellow. I have taken a photo of the local gallery 'the site gallery' to link to my magazine theme of art and my contents page story 'natural contemplation'. To link to my 'sally's Macrame' story I took a photo of a mcrame plant holder, due to the denotations of nature this image connotes peacefulness. As this image presents a hand made decretive product it links to my theme of art. Finally I have taken multiple images that relates to my magazine theme of art featuring art instillations local to Sheffield, I chose to photograph these locations to link to my 'colours impact' story, they feature vibrant colour in an urban gray landscape this causes them to connote individuality due to their contrast with the landscape.
My layout for my contents page has changed from my initial plan seen in my visualization diagram as I needed to alter my layout to fit in the images that I had taken. The layout I ended with connotes good organization and professionalism due to its minimalism aesthetic, my layout follows conventions seen in Aesthetica contents page as I have used even placement with images and text. I have followed conventions with my images as they use similar colour schemes and aesthetics this is seen in the Aesthetica contents page as they have chosen images with different subjects in either blue or yellow so that they are cohesive.
The colour scheme of this page matches my house style colours of white, black, sage green and mustard yellow. I have chosen these colours as they connote happiness, tranquility and nature. This reflects my magazines values as I want to relax the reader and give them content they will enjoy.
The graphic vines I created are featured throughout my magazine to create synergy and brand recognition due to there uniqueness.
My house style serif text is featured in my contents page as I have used the font Baskerville Old Face. This font connotes intelligence and professionalism due to how its minimalism aesthetic. The size of my text follows conventions as my headings are lager than my body text, this is proven as a convention as the Aesthetica contents page has also done this.
Fonts
The Font I chose 'Baskerville Old Face' is suitable for my target audience as it has connotations of being mature, clean, stylish and easy to read. Having a clean simplistic font will represent the brand of UTOPIA Arts as timeless and well though out.
Graphics
As I am targeting small art business owners they stereotypically enjoy greenery and are interested in the plant life that can help to support climate change. That is why I chose to use leaf graphics on my front cover, but it is also because plant life connotes relaxation and calm representing my magazine as something that would be calming to read.
House style colours
I chose Yellow as it connotes happiness and the sun. And Green as it connotes nature, movement and suggests forward thinking. My audience will find this colour pallet intriguing and appealing as sage green is currently popular in the media today. I also chose black on white as it is simple and classic.
Fonts
The font I chose in my DPS is the serif font 'Times New Roman' I chose this because it is professional
Graphics
In my DPS I will use less graphics than on my front cover because I want the reader to focus on the text, however I have still used some small vine graphics.
House style colours
I chose a mustered colour for the background to draw the readers attention and white boxes for the text so that it is easy to read. I used black text for the article and black text in bold for the competition advertisement and any other important information. I used all caps to state the person that is answering my questions. I will mainly use rectangular and Squair shapes to connote professionalism and simplicity and keep in line with article conventions.
Contents page
Graphics
I chose to use a vine graphics in my background and foreground to connote movement, I did this to encourage my viewer to explore the magazine. As these vines denote nature it connotes the calming affect of reading my magazine.
House style colours
I have consistently used my house style colours of sage green and mustard yellow to make my magazine cohesive. This causes my magazine brand to be represented as well thought out and professional. I used large text for my heading and numbers so that the viewers attention is drawn to them.
Front cover
Contents
DPS
Front cover Double page spread Contents page I have made a green box with a dark green grid pattern to highlight the important informa...
