contents page test shots

Final contents page flatplan

Contents page deconstruction

Feedback for my For Cover

feedback for my front cover

flatplans and front cover- Adjustments

Here is my initial and final flatplan along with my final magazine cover. From this you can see the changes and how I kept to my flatplan.
From my initial flatplan I changed the colour scheme as my feedback told me that it did not suit the genre and swapped some features around to fit on the page also, I changed the artist's name . I changed where I would place my main image due to the fact it would cover some text. Another change I made
From my final flatplan to my front cover I feel that I kept to the layout, fonts and colour scheme, although I moved the issue date from the right to the left as I thought that the right side looked to cluttered. I still made some adjustments to my fashion feature and changed my graphic from a simple circle to a 'speech bubble'.

Screenshots

This is a start to finish of how I layered  and developed my magazine.

Front cover linked to research

Features

 

Although all the text is in black I made the text different size and font to emphasise each ones importance and to spilt them up I used the pink lines.

I wanted it to be clear that my cover was a old skool R&B magazine so to 'introduce' it I used the statement 'bringing back old skool R&B' to make it clear.

I noticed on many R&B covers that the issue date was near the bottom of the page along with the barcode. I thought that for my magazine it would look better at the top and if collected over the year the reader would see the changes in the ‘music world’.

Although my magazine was targeted at old skool R&B I still wanted it to keep it with contemporary times this is the reason I added the Beyonce feature. I find nowadays a lot of the time R&B can be easily confused with other genres as artists try and fuse different genres together, i feel that Beyonce has transitioned well from old skool R&B and some of her more recent tracks still have a old skool vibe to them. From some older articles I saw that most coincided Janet Jackson as ‘The Queen of R&B’, for this particular feature I thought it may cause some controversy and bring back memories for the 20+ readers. And the reason for why I included some old skool artists towards the bottom of the cover.

The Def Soul and Def Jam top 10 tunes is a insight on what the R&B world have been listening to and can show what new songs and releases are out, I also plan to incorporate this with my double page spread.

The exclusive feature at the at the bottom of the cover will be on the contents page along with a picture of the artist, I thought that a small introduction on the cover would intrigue the reader. I was initially going to make my magazine £2.00 but thought that was not the right amount due to the amount of content inside the magazine so I changed it to £2.50 which I thought was a reasonable price. This is also the reason why I had the small graphic directly opposite the price and barcode, the ’12 extra pages’ show the reader that they are getting a lot more out of their money.

The artist’s name along with the masthead is the biggest text on the cover to make it stand out and make the reader aware that ‘Jaci Mone’ is the cover story. Originally I was going to put the cover story before the pullquote after reconsidering it I thought that it would make more sense to switch it around.The ‘Drake Ft. Aaliyah’ feature was used to show how contemporary and past artist mix and also how different genres mix.

Brighting the image

Select/All/Ctrl+L after I moved the contrast,brighness and output levels so the image would be brighter and not appear 'muddy'.

Burn tool

 

 

My test shots showed that I didn’t use enough lighting so the image appeared to be too dark so when I did my final shots the lips showed up lighter than I would like. I decided to Burn the lips to make them darker and more vibrant.

Firstly I selected the burn tool then just clicked on the areas I wanted to darken.

Clone stamp tool

I wanted to even out my model's skin, to do this I used the clone stamp tool this made it seem clearer and a even skin tone all over her face.
To do this I choose the clone stamp tool then alt+click to select the desired skin colour and released the click on the area I wanted to fix.

 

Spot healing tool

My model seemed to have some spots; to clear up the little imperfections on her skin I used the spot healing tool although, the changes are small and hardly noticeable I think the photo looks more professional and effective.

Final front cover flatplan

Due to my layout change I decided to make a final front cover flatplan.

Changing the original layout

 

The Image on the left was my original magazine cover but as the artist’s name didn’t fit I decided to move it onto the other side. I could have moved my model to the right more but I thought it may be difficult to fit on text. I started to reconsider my final layout for my magazine cover.

Photoshop

The first thing I did was print screen my image onto Adobe Photoshop.

Then I drew a magic laso around my image.

Copy and pasted it onto a seperate layer.

Then grabbed the magic laso tool.

and cut around it.

copied the image.

and pasted it onto a new layer.

This is my final image.

Font decisions

From my Initial Research I found that not many old skool R&B magazines used logos so I decided not to subvert away from it. Most of the magazines from my Genre had the masthead stretched across the top and some with a subheading or text beneath it; I put my subheading about the masthead as I though it introduced the masthead better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wanted my masthead to stand put as my research told me that most people from my target audience look out for it, as I wanted all the text on my cover to be black I found it difficult to make it stand out hence the reason why I filled in the ‘P’ and ‘O’ in colour. The yellow ‘O’ is not included in the colour scheme but I feel that it makes it more effective and makes the masthead stand out more.   I used a simple font for my masthead because of this.

Shots taken

 These are the shots I have considered for my Front cover. The reason for why I picked my final image is because the shot was clear, there was a clear angle of gaze and very high lighting with very little shadows which would make it easier to photoshop.

Mise-en-scene

My Test Shots

I was playing around with the types of shots and the amount of light I would use on the front cover. I already knew that I wanted my model to look straight ahead(at the camera) and have a clear angle of gaze, this is why I made my model look slightly side on; however I don’t think this was effective.

I didn’t want the model’s feet to be shown as the her attire at the time was not genre appropriate this is why her feet look ‘hidden’ and why I thought the shots wouldn't be effective on the front cover.

Test shot 1-This is a mid close up shot, which I was planning to use on my front cover but because I cut of the head I decided not to. However, because the shot is a misc close-up I feel like the music genre wouldn't be recognised.

Test shot 2-As you can see from this mid shot the lighting was only hitting one side of my models face this would have been difficult for me to photoshop. But I think size wise this would be a good length to use on my front cover.

Test shot 3-After considering using this photo I felt like because her elbow was on her hip it would make it difficult to photoshot and putting text around it would be difficult.

Test shot 4-This close up makes my model look naked (even though she is not), but the contrast I personally makes her angle of gaze look disrupted.

Test shot 1

Test shot 2

Test shot 3

Test shot 4

                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

My Shot List

Double page spread + Feedback

Nicola Thomas I like the plainness of the double page spread because the front and contents page is so busy. However I think there should be more than one image on it.

Jessica Irapiah I don’t like the page so plain and the two columns make it look like a newspaper rather than a magazine, it also doesn't show what colours are going to be used as text or what the text is going to be about.

Maneet Bakshi I think an image shot needs to be included. The page looks bare so maybe add some words and what the article is going to be about. I like that it is in two separate columns and a quote is above.

Front cover and contents page + Feedback

Nicola Thomas
Front cover- I like that the singer's name is in a cursive font and big as it stands out and that the singer is in front of the text. You can see a link between the front cover and the contents through the colour scheme and 'speech bubbles', however I don’t like the colour scheme and the fact that the colour scheme and the artist dress is the same colour.
Contents page- I like the way the contents page is laid out and the cover story is clearly stated. I don’t think that a picture of the editor is needed.


Maneet Bakshi
For the front cover has a lot going on although I find it effective although I don’t feel like blue and yellow doesn’t fit the old skool r&b genre I think that red and purple would be more genre appropriate also the mise en scene used (dress) would be better on the double page as she could use a long shot which would show it off better. I think the model should be more on one side so more text could fit on the cover. You can see a relation between the front page and contents page. I like that the masthead and issue date is on the contents page but i think the issue date should be directly underneath it. I think the graphics should be in various colours not matching the colour scheme so they are able to stand out. I like the cut out images I think this would be effective.

Jessica Irapiah
I like the front cover, I feel that it looks professional However it looks too complex and cluttered. The contents page has a good layout and use of colour but there should be more accuracy and there should say what type of shots will be used where the images are.

My Artist's Fashion Sense

I originally made this collage on Photovisi.com but could not embed it

Artist Profile

Magazine Deconstruction