Design Research
A magazine is generally seen as a leisure reading material which consist of both imagery and text blocks. The ratio of these two mainly depends on the genre of the magazine. For example, a business magazine when compared to a fashion magazine would have more text blocks than images. There are also magazines which contains a fair amount of both images and text block e.g. music or entertainment magazines. Although it contains a lot of pictures and words, it should still however be easy on the eyes, in the sense that the placement of pictures and text are easy for the readers to see the flow.
To me, I think the most important feature of a magazine is it's cover. The cover has to be simple, organized, and be attractive enough to capture the audiences eyes. The image placed on the front cover is the most important piece - it has to be unique and outstanding and also at the same time have the capacity to put in readable text on it. The text on the cover page need not be a lot; it can be just a few words which highlights the most interesting articles in the magazine. If the importance of words is really high, then choosing a picture which is monotonous in color and does not have a lot of different things going on in that picture is essential so that the audience will be able to focus on the words much more easily.
The magazine that I intend to design in related to the music and entertainment industry. Thus, it will consist a fair share of pictures and words as it involves things like interviews, and some other interesting information of the artist that would be of interest to their fans. The design that I have in mind is a mix of a Victorian elegance and of the modern times. The theme would involve a modern-Gothic feel.
Here are some inspirations that I have gathered to assist me in designing my own personal music magazine:
Conceptualization
A magazine is generally seen as a leisure reading material which consist of both imagery and text blocks. The ratio of these two mainly depends on the genre of the magazine. For example, a business magazine when compared to a fashion magazine would have more text blocks than images. There are also magazines which contains a fair amount of both images and text block e.g. music or entertainment magazines. Although it contains a lot of pictures and words, it should still however be easy on the eyes, in the sense that the placement of pictures and text are easy for the readers to see the flow.
To me, I think the most important feature of a magazine is it's cover. The cover has to be simple, organized, and be attractive enough to capture the audiences eyes. The image placed on the front cover is the most important piece - it has to be unique and outstanding and also at the same time have the capacity to put in readable text on it. The text on the cover page need not be a lot; it can be just a few words which highlights the most interesting articles in the magazine. If the importance of words is really high, then choosing a picture which is monotonous in color and does not have a lot of different things going on in that picture is essential so that the audience will be able to focus on the words much more easily.
The magazine that I intend to design in related to the music and entertainment industry. Thus, it will consist a fair share of pictures and words as it involves things like interviews, and some other interesting information of the artist that would be of interest to their fans. The design that I have in mind is a mix of a Victorian elegance and of the modern times. The theme would involve a modern-Gothic feel.
Here are some inspirations that I have gathered to assist me in designing my own personal music magazine:
Cover Pages:
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| Less words; monotonous color pic; a lot of empty space Font size is big - emphasis on main interesting article Moderator. (2012). SHOXX (ショックス) December 2012. Retrieved from http://jmagazinescans.blogspot.com/2012/11/shoxx-december-2012.html |
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| The picture is bright and a lot of elements; words are not the main emphasis Lee, X. (2012). Cure (キュア) November 2012. Retrieved from http://jmagazinescans.blogspot.com/2012/10/cure-november-2012.html |
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| Not a lot of color variance, text placed in empty spaces Lee, X. (2012). Myojo (ミョウジョウ) January 2013. Retrieved from http://jmagazinescans.blogspot.com/2012/12/myojo-january-2013.html |
Editor's Note
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| The simple design of modern times EzyHealth. (2012). Time well spent. Retrieved from http://www.ezyhealth.com/magazine/?p=3279 |
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| The borders are pretty unique - perhaps can change it to something more Gothic Zethren, K. (n.d). Music (editors note). Retrieved from http://yuccatree.org/museum/eye/eye29_zethren2.html |
Table of Content
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| Main categories on left side with sub articles of it on the right Was an interesting concept for me. Saunders, H. (2010). Table of contents. Retrieved from http://hilary-saunders.com/design/ |
Content Pages
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| Only picture content Lee, X. (2012). Cure (キュア) November 2012. Retrieved from http://jmagazinescans.blogspot.com/2012/10/cure-november-2012.html |
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| Picture with minimum text block Lee,X. (2012). SHOXX (ショックス) November 2012. Retrieved from http://jmagazinescans.blogspot.com/2012/11/shoxx-november-2012.html |
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| Less pic & more text block. Moderator. (2012). SHOXX (ショックス) December 2012. Retrieved from http://jmagazinescans.blogspot.com/2012/11/shoxx-december-2012.html |
Cover page; Editor's Note & Table of Content
Content pages
Cover Page:
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| Find a pic that has empty space at the top & bottom; does not have too much variance in color yet it's attractive |
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| Use Text Tool; Font size: 150 pt; Fill color: White; Stroke color: Red |
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| Use text tool; Font size: 72 pt; Fill color: White; Stroke color: Dark Purple |
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| Utilize colors that contrast with dark background for text (red, white, fluorescent pink) |
Editor's Note:
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| Insert Victorian style wallpaper as background for a sense of elegance |
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| Use text tool; Font size: 36 pt; Fill color: White; Stroke color: Red Font Type is of a Gothic theme to complement the background. |
Table of Content:
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| Use line tool to partition the super-ordinate categories and page reference |
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| Main Titles have a fill color white + stroke color of purple; font size: 20 pt |
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| Adjust the page reference to match it with the article titles (being on the same line) using Leading |
Content Pages:
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| Find for a picture that is monotonous; easier to insert text and still be readable |
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| Use text tool; change fill color to white. |
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| Use rectangle tool and draw a box; use eyedropper tool on the picture's background and fill it in the box just created. This is to create a blend with the pic. |
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| Insert text using colors that contrast with dark colors. For partition, use line tool to draw a line and change it to Dashed (4 and 4) |
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| Use a pic with a lot of white space |
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| To make the two pages look related to each other, use the same pic & Transform > Flip Horizontal |
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| Side-by-side overall outlook after Transform |
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| For text block to be readable, use rectangle tool to draw a box and change fill to white; Adjust transparency to 65% |
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| Picture on right side, edited beforehand in Photoshop to make it a transparent background. |
Final Artwork
References:
Wallpowper. (2012). The Gazette warped canvas logo. Retrieved from http://www.wallpowper.com/the-gazette-warped-canvas-logo-17448.html
Shattered-tranquility.net. (2009). the GazettE's new look. Retrieved from http://shattered-tranquility.net/index.php/03/09/the-gazettes-new-look/
Mintra, W.M. (2012). Barcode. Retrived from http://mintra-arti3314.blogspot.com/p/1.html
Fanpop. (2012). Pulse wriggling to black wallpaper. Retrieved from http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/the-gazette/images/31003318/title/pulse-wriggling-black-wallpaper-wallpaper
Minitokyo. (2009). GazettE Ruki. Retrieved from: http://gallery.minitokyo.net/view/402880
Fanpop. (2009). Syou(cosmic world). Retrieved from http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/alice-nine/images/538925/title/syou-cosmic-world-wallpaper
Tokyohive. (2011). Vidoll. Retrieved from http://www.tokyohive.com/2011/01/visual-kei-band-vidoll-to-disband-in-may/
Fanpop. (2012). Gotcharocka. Retrieved from http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/jun-and-spiv-states/images/31158568/title/gotcharocka-photo
Fanpop. (2011). The GazettE. Retrieved from http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/jrock/images/20611625/title/gazette-photo
Pulsarecard. (n.d.). Wallpaper red texture. Retrieved from http://www.pulsarecard.com/r_wallpaper_red_texture_60868.html
JpopAsia. (2012). Aoi (the GazettE). Retrieved from http://www.jpopasia.com/celebrity/aoithegazette/
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