Patrick’s Weblog

1. I started of with an image I took a while ago at a music venue I went to and felt that this would be a suitable image for a review section because it shows a shot of live music, it has a “fish eye” effect on it which allowed space around the edges to write textual content, also this image is in black and white keeping with the house colours of the magazine.

2. Keeping with the graffiti effect I decided to use it again for the title of this double page, I gave it a white background as if someone has come along a wiped the page with a paint brush. This also gives the impression that this band is from the streets giving effect to the font and the title “from streets to stars”.

3. I decided to create a rating system in the bottom left hand corner, similar to the feature in Kerrang! magazine, who give their ratings K! where as I gave my rating with pictures of cassette tapes, this was found when I was experimenting with the “Wingdings” font and came across this. I also included the word “awesome” which describes the rating, also implies that this is a good rating with assuming the rating is out of 5.

4. I thought the title looked too bland, so I played around with different colours and decided that since the font for the rating was red, that I would also make the title red too, so I used the same brush and set the brush to have an outer glow of black to give effect to this stroke and built up the title background.

5. Here I started to write the textual content, I started it with drop cap at the beginning which is the same convention to a news article. I looked through the list of fonts and found “Estrangelo Edessa”, I really liked the look of this font, it was clear and have a professional presence on the page.

6. Once again I was unsure about the title of the page, so I got another brush and used the same red on the font but the red appears within the text and it looks like it is dripping giving the impression like it has jsut been painted, this also give the effect of the band is brand new on the music scene and suits the theme of the page.

Final Product

7. I felt that there was a too larger gap in the bottom left hand corner and I wanted to describe what was in the picture, so I made a list of basic facts about the picture and about the band, I felt this added a charming casual touch to the page. I also used the same brush as I did for the title background and highlighted the sides of the textual content with the opposite colours to their fonts (on the right hand side with white text and red highlight and on the opposite side on the  bottom left with red text and white highlight), this gives good effect to the house colours. I felt overall that this suits with the theme of the magazine, although this has more colour than the other pages, it keeps with the black and white effect of the pages and keeps with the house style of the magazine.

1. I started off similar to my front cover with a black background, I had used the brush I downloaded to create a background for the word “Contents” to be written and this will emphasize the text and will show the audience that that is the name of the page.

2. I created dividers across the page to make it look like newspaper columns, I had noticed that all the magazine listed the pages on their contents page and I liked that convention, so this would be the strue for me to list the pages.

3. I cropped and image I had taken in my photo shoots to start creating an editors not, this is a section where the editor writes a letter to the readers of the magazine and adds a personal touch to it. I chose this image because this is a close up of the person looking directly at the camera, like as if they are looking at the reader and he is standing in front of a wall with graffiti on it, this implies that his status is a street level, like the public and also like the readers so he is at the same social level as them. This picture also suits with the theme of the magazine because the “contents” font is also like graffiti, sharing the same effect.

4. Here in this part of the contents I used my brush effect with the structure to give effect to the page, I done this by also using my brushes I downloaded of paint splatters and set it to the same colour as the background. I also created a border around the photo with the same effect around it.

5. Here I included some textual content for the editors note, this just explained what was going to be in the magazine and talking to the reader more on a social and informal level. Also at the bottom I used a font that look like the editor had signed the page, this is also another personal touch to the magazine.

6.Here I included at different font at the top of the page as if someone had doodled on the page writing “This Week”, I felt this font added to the effect and whole theme of the magazine.

8. With this section of text, it looks like it has broken up the magazine into parts, I liked this idea because it sections the magazine into different parts of interest. For instance, some readers would like to read reviews rather than read about guitars, so this was a good idea for the different interests of the reader.

8. I included an image to illustrate the “Gear” section of the magazine with a photograph I took from the music show displaying several guitars. I also changed some of the brightness of this image to make it appear slightly darker to fit the atmosphere of the page and included a border like the one around the picture above the edits not show continuity within the page.

9. I included a list of dates for the “Gig Calendar” because I found that this was a interesting feature to include on the contents page, this is a good way to promote bands and also may arouse interest with a reader because they may see a band they like. I also included another section of text called “Reviews” and using my brush effect on all the text, I made it look like it has been worn away.

Final Product

10. I finally added TURN, READ, ENJOY. This is sort of a short slogan before the reader actually starts looking at the content in the magazine, it is sort of like “Get Ready” message implying that the contents of the magazine is extremely good, it also has a cheesy effect to it. I have kept the same theme with this page, by making it look worn away and in black and white apart from the pictures to emphasise them, I feel that it makes it look professional. This final product would suit a darker audience because the effects are slightly different to the front cover but you can see that this is from the same magazine, so it keeps continuity with the front page.

1. Here I have just started of with a black background taking into consideration the convention of the placement of the logo, I had used my installed brushes to give the paint splatter effect giving the title a less neat look , to make it look like it has just come from a graffiti sprayed wall. To give effect to this dark look of the magazine, I am making the background a black colour to give effect to the grim look of the magazine.

The logo was placed in the top left hand side of the corner, I can place images over it and the logo will still be visible but it makes a clear statement that RATED is the mast head.

2. I decided that I would make a special edition of the magazine, making it themed around British music. I decided to integrate this into my logo, so I found a picture of a Union Jack and played around with the transparency levels, and this was the finishing product.

3. By cropping, rotating and adding some brightness to this photo of the guitar, I placed this on my front page to keep in tune with the British rock these and I felt that it would be suitable to have on the cover. I chose this image because it makes yous you almost immediately think that this issue of the magazine will have a British theme to it and I had built my magazine over this picture. I added some text with a list of bands because I found that all the magazines that I had researched into used this convention. I felt this reached out to the target audience because with people, they will pick up a magazine to read even if they have one band they like in it, so this would be a good selling point of the magazine.

4. This image I included a picture in the bottom left hand corner, I gave this picture a white border because I had seen in on the front of a magazine I saw in my research, the picture looks like it has been taken on a Polaroid camera with the border and give the impression of a “Snapshot” of what will be in the magazine.

5. I after then added a pain spatter effect behind the picture to give a solid background for the text “Ryan Robinson”, this effect gave the magazine a more “dirty” look but I did feel that it clashed with the title of the magazine because that had used the same effect. I felt this picture took up too much space but included very little to look up so I felt the space had not been used well.

6. I added the “Best of British 2009″ at the top by the title, I was not too keen on this idea I used different fonts and sizes but I felt it was crowing the main image and it was more bold than the title of the magazine and did not contrast well. I slanted this text to suit the title of the magazine and it overlaps it slightly. I used this font because it looks like and old style of English writing and i felt that suited with the theme of the magazine.

Final Product

After reviewing and looking at what I had made, I decided to take out the Ryan Robinson photograph, this was because I felt that this was drawing attention away from the main image, since this is a special edition and the photograph took over the main part of the image and it was harder to see what the main image was. I also removed the “Best of British” text because it did make the magazine look any better, I felt that the main image made a better statement rather than the text so I took this out to give more room for the main image. I feel that this cover can appeal to any person who shows a keen interest in British Rock music and  I fell that this does not have an age boundary so anyone from students to middle aged people can buy it.