This is my development diary. It is created to help show how my magazine is created and finalized, via showing the important stages of creation. Not all steps are involved as this would be pointless and time wasting however, the main ones are.

FRONT PAGE

For the title of the magazine it is called INSPIRE therefore I made sure to use similar font styles and effects as what I have done previously. I chose red because it matches the conventions of hip-hop genre magazines and continuously stands out from other text which will be put onto the page, without clashing with other colour’s within the colour scheme house style.

The table shown here helps express what effects were used on the title in order to get it the way which I did. I used an outer glow effect to allow the title to have a slight 3D effect thus grab the implied reader’s attention. I also used a drop shadow, again to give it a 3D effect however this was done to make it stand out from other magazines and show the creative side to the magazine, which is not always present for other music magazines.

There is also a bevel and emboss effect used to help create a texture to the title. This is because it stands out from other magazines and I believe the audience will appreciate this more than bog-standard plain print. When doing it there was the slight worry of it being unreadable however I believe I got the texture loose enough not to be too tight so that it is unreadable and it can still be read from a good distance away as well as create interest for the reader when it catches their eye.

I originally was still coming up for the name of my artist during this stage hence the word ‘ARTIST’ however, the key point here is that I have used text boxes to successfully insert my main coverline, sub-coverlines and date. As well as inserting the word “WIN” and changing the colour of the lexis to ensure it stands out from

Figure 1 Title of Magazine

Table 1 for Magazine Title

the background yet matches in to the colour scheme thus matches the red used in the title of the magazine. The text is within a black triangle. This was done via using the shapes tool and creating a rectangle. I then filled it in black to allow the text to stand out effectively. I then free transformed the shape to successfully enlarge it and rotate it to the correct positioning, where each side of paper has the same amount of black in-filled shape and it isn’t unsymmetrical. Once this was done I then rotated the text as well. I used Helvetica Neue because it is a clear font which can be seen from a fair distance thus easy on the readers eye which is important when in competition with other magazines. The typeface is also made to be bigger in size for the main coverline to ensure it stands out from all other coverlines on the magazine. I also made the sub-heading bigger in size than the descriptors which followed to emphasis the title of the feature to allow it to catch the readers eye as well as allow the implied reader to know the name easily thus allow them to find to with ease in the contents page.

Once this was done I added in a shape and filled it in black to create an effective strap line. The text is white and bold

to stand out effectively for implied readers to be able to see from a far distance and/or via the floor test. The lexis “NUMBER ONE” is in red, which matches the title thus creating a house style, this is to allow it to stick out from other text on the page as it is important and will appeal to the audience more.

I opened the original image for my front page in a separate window to allow me to edit it successfully and accurately without interfering with work which has already been done. Below explains how I edited the image. After editing I simply copied and pasted the edited version of the image onto the front page.I have also put in a text box to allow “ISSUE NO.1” to be put onto the magazine. This is not overly important however, it is relevant for the audience to know.

In order to edit the picture for the front page I used the following tools;Magnetic Lasso ToolPaint BrushRubberCrop Tool

I used these because they were the most effective tools which are simple to use and don’t waste time with unnecessary steps involved. I used the crop tool on the original image to allow all unnecessary background to be erased. I then contemplated whether this looked professional or not. I decided it did not thus I went on to use the magnetic lasso tool to draw around ‘Wez’ (the male model

used) thus to cut away background which was not significant to my front cover

page. Once this was done I clicked to get the detail of where the magnetic lasso tool had been and what it would or wouldn’t erase. Once this was done I then ‘touched up’ the original accuracy. I did this by zooming in to ensure I could see the detail of the picture accurately, followed by using the paint brush tool to fill-in places which I wished to be erased and cropped from the picture. Once this was done and I was happy that all unnecessary pieces to the picture were covered I then touched up any mistakes which I may have made via using the eraser tool to erase any filling-in which I no longer wished to be cropped or removed from the original image.

Here is the picture for my main front cover, I am editing it. I have already adjusted the pixels and sharpness to allow for blurriness to decrease, via using the filter.

Due to the angel of the picture I have had to re-arrange some of the cover-lines however, this works in my favour as it now follows the rules set out by Jenny Mckay and has the main emphasis on the left hand side, as these coverlines aspire to reach a large range of audience readers not just one type (fans of W3Z)

CONTENTS PAGE

This is the publishers logo that I created before making the final magazine piece. It is a make-believe potential publishers which I could of gone with I wished to. I have put this in the top corner of the contents page as, although many music magazines do not include it, I believe it is important for potential buyers to know. Those that

have an interest in publishers will automatically buy a new magazine published by the same company as one which they already buy and as a new magazine I believe it is important for potential buyers to know who it is published by.

The contents page obviously needs a title stating that it is the contents page, as it would be following many pages of advertisements thus needs to stand out from previous pages. Originally the title was only going to be the length of the listings box however, it soon became apparent that the title looked much better spread accros the page. Once I had placed the text box with the text inside in the correct place and free transformed the text to allow it to spread across the entire page I edited it to have some extra effects to allow it to stand out slightly.

This is the table which shows the effects which I put onto the contents title. I used similar effects which were used on the magazine front cover title to ensure a house style was kept consistent throughout the magazine. The drop

shadow is done to make the lexis stand off the page and allow it to get the

readers attention and hopefully stand out from the other pages, full of advertisements. I also did a inner glow to allow the get text to have a glowing effect to it as though it is within a glimpse of light, hence why the drop shadow looks effective when combined with the glow. This is done to create a change to the house style look but keep it similar to the front page.

Here is the title of the magazine, however a lot smaller in size. The table below shows the same effects as before have

been used.

This is used to be placed in the magazine heading so that it can be placed in a place where it can be clearly visible. It is important to have this on all pages which are produced by the editors of the magazine as this will show that we take responsibility for the publication and information supplied. Thus the text becomes slightly more creditable and relevant to the implied reader whereas advert without the title on are not seen as credible and we are not entirely responsible for the information supplied.

Originally the contents page was suppose to have a picture of the main feature plus two mini pictures underneath it and a picture which relates to another feature in the left hand bottom corner. However, the main picture did not look professional when paired with other images underneath due to the clean cut of the waist which fits perfectly with the filled in shapes. Also pictures above the image did not look correct and took emphasis off of the main image. Thus due to this I decided to not add in extra pictures and keep it to two relevant images which foreshadow two main features within the magazine.

I took this image, it’s slightly different to the image which was originally planned however it was a natural pose which the model chose to di, thus projects his personality within the photo and I believe it will capture the implied readers attention as it is not a pose which is usually seen within music magazines and is slightly different to other images shown within the magazine up until this point. In this screenshot you are able to see the original image which was taken. I then used the Magnetic Lasso Tool to trace around the outline of the image which I want visual on the page. After this had been done I again used the paint brush and rubber tools to effectively get the correct amount of detail which I wished to be seen. I then copied and pasted the image into the contents page before adding effects such as a drop shadow to allow the image to have a slight shadow

effect to it and make it seem as though the model is coming off of the page thus creates a 3-D effect. This is shown here.

Contents pages conventionally are where the implied reader goes to get the listings of the main, significant features within the magazine. Its important to stress that not all features are listed because otherwise the page would become too crowded and would not look appealing to the reader. I used shapes to allow the text to have margins to tick to thus look planned and suitable. This was particularly important to me as when I was looking through magazines such as Top of the Pops etc which are aimed for a lower age range the features were randomly placed and it didn’t looked planned yet when looking at a magazine such as VIBE which is aimed at a similar target audience to mine. Thus it is in a similar style to that of VIBE’s editions of contents pages. I filled the shape in black to express the red and white text and emphasize the contrast. There are clear sub-headings used to categorize the text and split it up for easy reading/finding of features.There is also the ‘Welcome to INSPIRE’ sub-heading which is done in the style of Helvetica Neue (as this is used throughout the front page and most the contents page.) This is done to attract the reader’s attention to the information as it is important for the reader to feel as though the magazine addresses them as an individual thus feel valued. The text which follows welcomes them to the first edition of the magazine and is in the font style of; Helvetica Nuee. This again is done to directly address them however, this font is used to ensure easy reading for the reader and allow them to want to read on to the main feature. The font style changes to Kuenstler Script LT to make it look as though the editor has signed the letter and make it look as though they’ve taken a personal interest in welcoming the implied reader which is important to make them feel valued and unique.

In the bottom left hand corner there should be an image which does not relate to the image feature however, is related to the listings. This was the original image which I captured. It’s supposedly a ‘self-picture’ of two girls who have just entered reading festival and/or are waiting to put their tents up etc, thus taking photos to keep themselves occupied like females stereotypically do. In order to make the photo look like a self-picture I used the cropping tool to

cut away the hand in the photograph, yet still have the arm out at an angle as though the model is holding the camera which is used to take the photo. To appeal to more people it is widely discussed between young generations that blue eyes on naturally tanned people are eye capturing and draws attention. Thus I decided to change the eye colour of the model to make it look slightly different and capture the implied readers attention due to the unusual sight produced, as it is not an everyday occurrence that you see it. To do this I created a new layer to edit the picture without interfering with the original image thus can easily be taken away incase it did not look correct. I then used the paint brush tool to colour in the eyes. I made sure to zoom in as far as possible when doing this to accurately get the correct shaping of the eye and not to interfere with the natural glow of the black eyeballs caused by the camera to ensure it looked more natural. Once this was done I changed the opacity of the layer down. This then allowed the brown eyes to show through slightly making the blue used a little darker thus look much more natural yet still blue enough to capture the implied readers attention from a distance. This is the finalized picture which will be put in the bottom left hand corner of the contents page, relating to the festival feature listed, thus there will be a small square shape inserted with the page number of the feature inside for easy acknowledgement.

Here is the finished page, as you can see the main picture has a 3-D effect and creates mystery for the audience because the pose interreges their imagination as to why he’s ‘praying’ and/or looking down. The secondary image fits perfectly between the filled-in shapes but still stands out from other images and text on the page. The white text stands out from far away and is emphasized due to the contrast of the red sub-titles. I believe the page would not be as interesting to the audience if there was extra image as I believe it would look too crammed and look unprofessional.

This looked good however the title didn’t stand out as much as I wished and the picture was slightly blury thus I sharpened the image to give it slightly better effect and look more professional as well as added an outer glow to the title to allow it to stand out more than other text does on the page, instead of primarily relying on the size enlargement to help it stand out.

DOUBLE_PAGE SPREAD

The double-page spread is a key part to the development of the magazine. It is the key reason why people will pick-up the magazine and many features are related to the article, therefore the presentation has to be correct along with the article. Throughout mock-ups and looking at other magazine styles the image on the double page is either spread right across the magazine pages or there are two main images for each page. I believe that the two images appeal to the audience more and allows text to be shaped around the models easier creating a more professional look.

I took this image to be the first image of the double page spread. Originally it had a beige coloured

background because of the setting of the photo shoot thus I have used the Magnetic Lasso tool again to sketch around the model and used the paint brush tool to erase the finer detail which is not needed. I did this to allow the background to be cropped and allow me to copy the image and paste it into the spread without it looking ‘off’ nor out of place. When I placed the image on the page it seemed to look very flat and didn’t quite have the look which I wished it to have thus I tried many different effects yet, I settled with adding a drop shadow to the picture to allow it to look 3-D as well as add a slight contour effect to give it a slightly more significant, edgy outline and ensure it stands out from other text. After this I free transformed the image to make it bigger, yet stay in proportion. I originally had the image in the middle however I carried on trying to see if it looked better in a different place and eventually figured out that it looked perfect aligned to the right, as the model is slightly leaning this way however, have the shadow slightly going over the page onto the second page to show that they are linked together as well as the white of the shirt touching the line/fold thus making it look as though the model is leaning on the line, which I believe is effective and the implied reader will appreciate.The title has also been added in. I used Helvetica Neue at a size of 103.63pt and simply added effects to make it different to other text on the page. I used this type of font because it is clear and can be seen from far away and it is important that the size of the title is larger than that on the body copy to ensure its stands out effectively. After being free transformed the title is now spread across the page. The title only goes across one page because this seems to be conventional when using two images and having the second image placed at the top of the page. The title is two toned, thus has two colours involved. I chose black and red as this has been the house style present throughout the creation of the other pages.

I have edited the title of the article. This is because the title needs to catch the implied readers eye. The stroke effect added is meant to make the text look more like graffiti which relates to the interest of some of my stereotypical rebellious

readers. The inner glow helps create the effect that his name is in lights and lite up above him and the contour simply reduces the lightness of the light giving it a slightly different edge to what it originally was.

I have now added in the text using condensed black Helevetica Neue type font, however as you can see this becomes hard to read from a distance thus I may change it to Times New Roman if it is easier to read. There is a mini paragraph at the beginning of the article to allow the reader to know what the article is roughly about. There is also a conventional drop cap inserted at the beginning of the article, going over 3 lines, I chose to do this in a different colour as I believe it will grab the readers attention however, it was also regularly used in music magazines. The text originally was going through the picture however I believe it is easier to read for the audience if the text stays on the black background as it stands out more and can be seen a bit easier.

This is the second picture that I will use for my double page spread. As you can see I have cut off the legs, I believe that this is extra features which are not relevant to the feature and will distract from the facial expression. The hands crossed over are similar to

that of the contents page as, again, I believe it will intrigue the audience and allow them to be inspired in some shape of form.Once this was done I realized that it looked better to have the entire

photograph on the page rather than cutting out the legs. For it to look correct I changed the opacity of the text boxes down to 89% so that they allow the white text to stand out enough, yet still allow some of the photograph to be seen. I am currently debating if a background should be put into the magazine or not.

In order to decrease blurriness and add attention to detail of the facial expression I edited the image so that it is sharper and toned.

I used the gradient tool to create a two toned background, although this takes away some emphasis off of the colors of

the magazine it makes the page stand out more and look a lot more exciting and intriguing for audiences.