Font Development

Whilst in the process of taking new photos, i decided to get on with my font development for the front cover. This would mean for me, deciding what the title looks like:

Shown to the left here is my first collection of fonts. The first thing i needed to do was create loads of different fonts in order to decide which ones i would develop further.I uses a range of fonts and colours in order to decide. As you can see, i used a range of plain to complicated fonts in order to get a great variety of titles i could choose from. The fonts that are in red and pink are the fonts that stood out for me which is why i decided to develop most of them further.  

Shown to the right, is my next stage in the development of my title. I choose 3 or 4 different fonts that stood out to me and tried to develop them using stroke and colour features. Although i needed to think about the colour... here, i tried to concentrate more on the font style as i believe that is more important for a title. In the end, i choose the font 'Annie BTN'. I choose this font as i thought it looked rather artist and it was the font that stood out for me throughtout the process.

To finalise my decision on the font, i just needed to choose the font and stroke size. Shown here is my research of this. I looked at the colours i thought would look best as a title. The stroke size was the main focus of my titles as i wanted to affectivly use two colours and make the title bold and demanding. Looking through the colours, i decided i definatly wanted to use black as i knew it would stand out against any other colour. However, i needed to decide whether the black would be the main colour of the writing, or the outlining colour. Eventually, i came to the decision that i wanted it as my main colour and that i wanted a light purple as the outline. Shown below is my final design enlarged.

Contents research

The next stage of my researching is to find out what i want in my contents page. To do this, i searched for examples. These are shown below.

This contents page is not overflowing with words which is what makes it so effective. Instead of being full to the brim of things you find inside the magazine, it shows the most important pages which is exactly what the reader wants to read. It does not tell you what is on every page but tells us the most interesting features you can find inside.

A very effective technique that this contents page has is its simple colour scheme. The only two colours used are red and white with black writing.  This makes the text and images very clear and so the reader can easily read them.

The disadvantages of this contents page are that there are no photos or images to show what is inside. By looking at the contents page layout and photos, I cannot see what magazine it comes from. For my magazine, I want to imbed photos within the contents page so that the reader can clearly see what is to be found inside without reading the writing. I also want to make it clear what type of magazine it is.

This contents page is quite different from the previous one. Instead of being quite plain and quite simple, it is quite an interesting and lively contents page. Similar to the previous contents page I researched, the colours mainly used are black, red and white. I believe these colours are used so that the red stands out as being the most important information and therefore, it stands out to the reader.

One thing I like about this contents page is the photos that are used. We can clearly see from the photos used that the magazine revolves around music. I think using photos is a very successful technique used on a magazine as it conveys to the reader what is inside. It means that the reader is more intrigued to read inside the magazine.

I like the layout to this magazine; the main feature of the magazine is the big photo which makes it stand out to the reader. This is a technique I would like to use in my magazine

First Photoshoot

Looking at my past research and ideas, I wanted to start trying out and taking photos to see which were most affective. I decided to take photographs of my friend Jessica. However, they did not turn out aswell as I had hoped. They are shown below:

These three photos are samples of the collection of photographs I took. Unfortuantly, I think the photos do not look real enough. The backgrounding and the chair in the photos is a big disadvantage as it means it does not look so much like a classroom. Also, in the second and third photo, flash was used and therefore, you can see Jessica's shadows.

To make an improvement on my next photogrpahs I will ensure to use a setting appropriate for the photograph. This may mean I take the photographs in a classroom at school as it will make the photos more realistic. Also, these photos above were taken in the late afternoon meaning there was not enough natural light. Therefore, in my next selection of photographs, I will make sure to take them during the day to ensure I do not need flash.

Front Cover Sketches

After having looked at my photo research and thinking carefully about what i want my cover to look like, i did some sketches to illustrate the ideas i have: 

Shown here, is my first design. It shows an over shoulder view of the model. This is an effective shot to use as it means the readers are able to see what the model is doing which gives us more of an idea on what is inside the magazine. Having this as the background to the magazine would mean i would be able to easily set out my writing around it like shown. Underneath the title, i would have the latest or most important news and down the side would be different things to be found inside the magazine. I would like to do this sort of magazine cover however, i need to think about the photo as my original idea was to have the person facing the camera so it is therefore likely that this will not be the design i am using. 


Shown on the right, is my second front cover design. Here, the model used is looking a the camera which means they are quite central on the page. This means that there is not a lot of space for writing around the sides. I believe this makes the front cover look too busy and posed I do not particularly like this design because of this and therefore, i will not be using it. 

My third and final design is shown here on the left. This shows my original plan for the photograph in the background. Like my first design, this one allows my writing to fit well around the photograph and is easy to understand. The page has a good amount of writing on it and is not too busy. Doing this design would mean that i could fit another, miniature photograph on the front which will display to the reader more about what is inside. This is something  i want for my magazine which is why this is the design i am going to try and use. My next step would be to try and take some photographs. I want to experiment before taking the real photographs. Look out for my next post to see the first photos!