Magazine Production Process

The Front Cover

I decided to produce the front cover of my media product in Photoshop (some work done in CS6 and some in CS2), as it is the program I am most experienced with and I felt my skills would be most effective in conjunction with this application. To start with, I went through my photo shoot (after I had gotten the planning permissions signed) and noted the best photographs in terms of overall quality of the image (focusing, least camera shake, etc) and in terms of what my subjects looked like in the photographs as I needed particular poses. For this reason, in the photo shoot, I made sure to get a variety of photographs, for example in some I had my subjects do serious poses, each of them representing a different personality type, whereas in others I had my subjects just have fun together. I also made sure to get some shots of my subjects independently as well as with each other.

For the first draft of my front cover I chose IMG_6142, shown below.

I attempted to use this for my front cover, but later decided (after producing a first draft) I no longer liked the design although it was a good photograph, as I didn't think it suited the colour scheme I needed. I also thought it may confuse my audience in terms of the magazine's genre as a shot of a single member of the band, doing this pose and with this outfit, may imply a fashion magazine. I decided to use one of the group photographs to avoid this and so I could show the character types in the band, a technique I noticed was common in my research of professional magazines as this way, they can appeal to the differing tastes of their target audience. The first draft for this magazine cover is shown below.

After experimenting with this front cover image and masthead shown left, I decided that it wasn't good enough as it didn't convey the rock/metal genre I wanted it to, and I didn't think it made sense to only include the lead singer of the band in this case. I decided to re-draft the front cover completely, and so decided to use the image shown below instead.












For the second draft of my front cover I chose IMG_6063, shown below.

I think that this image is a lot better suited to the purpose as it shows the different personality types of the band and makes it more interesting. The model in front represents 'the cute/pretty one' as she is smiling and looking directly at the camera, the model on the left represents 'the mysterious one' as she is looking away from the camera with a serious expression, and the model on the right represents 'the tom-boy' as she is dressed very casually and with minimal make-up. I also generally like the image and think that with some basic adjustments and improvements on Photoshop such as cropping and hue/saturation layers, it will make a good base for my front cover.

The Process:

Above is the second draft where I started to design my masthead. I began with a simple large, black bold font and used a paintbrush tool to make the ends of the letters longer. I then added some green and black spikes to stylize my masthead, as I recognized in my masthead that this is what most magazines do to give themselves a defined brand and further suggest the genre to their target audience. However, I later thought that this design didn't look very professional and I decided to start over again and experiment with a different style of masthead.

Next, I worked on my third draft of my magazine's front cover, shown above. I added my edited main image, blended it in to create a background colour (using the colour-picker tool on the photograph to get the correct tone) and started working on my masthead. I used the font 'Bernard MT Condensed'. I chose this because I thought that since it was a quite large, bold font, it would connote the genre of rock/metal. As with my previous masthead, I stylized it to create a brand image. I added the scratches and crack lines going through it by creating a copy of the text layer and erasing parts of it so the background would show. I did this because I think the cracks and scratches connote the aggressive nature of rock and metal music.

Then, I started on my colour scheme. I decided to go for a colour scheme of blue, yellow, black and white, so that I could create a magazine that breaks the conventional colour scheme of red, black and white that is often seen in other rock magazines. I think that this gives it an exciting and fresh, new look that my target audience will instantly recognize as being different from the rest. I also added my tagline, "Bringing you the latest in the world of music" to make the aim of my magazine clear to my readers.

Next I added my main story line and additional story lines. I chose to name the fictional band my models represent, "Mild Distress at the Party"- this is a play-on the real band of a similar genre, "Panic! At the Disco". In my additional sell lines I included more rock-sounding bands such as "Happiness From the Bottle" and "Crushing Diamonds". I also planned to include more band names and sell lines in the banner at the bottom, as I didn't want to obscure the main image or make the cover look too crowded.

I then added my skyline and banner, shown above. For the bottom banner I added band names along with some advertisements for freebies that come with the magazine (as in my survey most people said that the offer of free items influences their choices when purchasing a magazine). These band names were slightly more conventional, and I included some from my flat plans. I also tried to include some that would appeal to males because of my main image's models being all female, as I wanted my potential target audience reach to be as open as possible. For example, the band names 'Rage Brothers' and 'Steal the Empire' sound quite masculine.

Finally, as shown above, I added an extra graphic advertising a free CD that contains Affliction's Top 20. This was to be the main free item that would attract more potential buyers to the magazine, as again, in my survey, a lot of people agreed that free items would influence their choice. I used a yellow circle graphic with a darker yellow circle underneath it to give it a 3D look as if it was a sticker, a technique I have seen often in my own experience of rock/metal magazines. I overlapped it slightly with the masthead to make it look more integrated into the cover and so it wouldn't distract too much from the main image. As a final touch, I added the bar-code and price to the magazine. I put the bar-code in portrait form so it would take up less space and I wouldn't have to re-arrange my banner text. This completed the process of making my front cover.

The Contents Page

After creating my front cover, the process of creating a contents page was relatively simple, as I had already established my colour scheme and fonts, so it was just a matter of transferring article names from the front cover to this new page and creating a few more to fill any gaps. I planned to have article names and page numbers on the left, and images and article teasers on the right, as I noticed in my pre-production research that this layout was conventional for a contents page.

Next, I moved on to finding images to go on the right-hand side of the contents page based on articles I knew I would be including. My sources for the below photographs were old image files I had on my computer, such as the image I edited for the new album cover, but I also used an image of a concert that I took as in November 2015 I went to a Marina and the Diamonds concert in Cambridge, so I took the opportunity to get a photograph of the crowd at the stage from a balcony to use in my contents page.

Images used:

Above is the photo I used to represent the editor of the magazine. Previously, in my first draft of the contents page, I had used an informal photo of a male I knew personally, but later decided they didn't have the right facial expression and the background was unprofessional so I couldn't use it to represent the 'editor' of the magazine. I then found this more appropriate photo of a female I personally knew (who agreed for me to use this photograph I had taken of her) and I used Photoshop to white-out the background. I thought this looked a lot more conventional as an editor photo as the editor will usually be smiling and looking directly at the camera. This photo was to go alongside the editor's letter, to act as an introduction to the magazine.

On the left is the process I went through to feature a poster special of the band/artist 'Bandits'. Unfortunately, at the time, this was the only model I had available so I couldn't produce any group shots, but I was a lot happier with the results of the re-shoot that the model offered to participate in as I think the background and lighting is a lot more professional. I got my model to do serious poses as well as one informal one (I noticed in my research that real magazines often do this) where he has his hands up in hand symbols that connote rock music. 

After I had edited and sorted all of my additional images to go on the contents page, I added them to the page and gave them captions. Again, I used my secondary font 'Rockwell' for this so that my contents page had consistency with the rest of the magazine. With the posters I ended up using two of the edits I had made, one with a serious pose and the other being the funny, informal pose. This was to show a contrast between two aspects of the artist's personality and make the shoot seem more personal, as I thought this would attract readers who are bored of the conventional, strictly professional photo-shoots for bands and artists they may usually see.

Next, I added my article names along with some lines aiming to tease the reader into wanting to read on to find out more. For example, in my main features I included lines such as "Lying Lullaby - once you hear them... you'll refuse to sleep!". This is a sort of word-play on their band name, whilst also implying to the reader that the band is a must-hear, and by extension, the article is exciting and they won't want to miss it. I also included rhetorical questions such as, "Rage Brothers - they've finished their tour- what next?". As well as subtly getting the reader to ask these questions themselves and reading on to find out more, it acts as a form of direct address to give the magazine a sense of audience interactivity.

Then I added the editor letter and photo I had previously edited. I made sure to size the text so that it filled the gap between the list of contents whilst at the same time not making the page look too crowded. Prior to writing the editor's letter I read some real magazine letters and took note of any conventions they use, whether it be the form of language in the text (formal or informal), or even just the kind of font they use for the first and last lines. In my own letter, I used quite informal language and tried to use direct address in the form of imperatives (for example, the ending line "So sit back, get comfortable, and get ready to be amazed"). The aim of an editor's letter is usually to act as an introduction to the magazine before the audience starts reading the articles, so I kept this in mind when writing the letter and included some references to the most exciting features in the magazine. Finally, I noticed in my research that there is often the editor's signature at the end, so I used a font that implied hand-written lettering, and wrote "Yours, The Editor x" to give it a more personal feel for the reader.

Finally, I finished the contents page by adding the page numbers for the list of contents and for the captions on my additional images. This was a fairly simple process, although I ensured that I left gaps between numbers for advertisement pages, as this is conventional for most magazines and was mindful of how many pages I was dedicating to each feature: for example, I knew that the double page spread article would be two pages, whereas I dedicated more or less pages to other articles depending on how 'big' or popular I thought the fictional bands would be (as readers would most likely want more detail on the popular bands than the ones that are little-known). After these touches, the contents page was finished and I could move on to creating the double page spread.

The Double Page Spread

The First Draft:

My first draft, shown below, was created using InDesign. This was a program I was completely unfamiliar with, so I found it quite difficult to get used to all of the tools and features. At the stage of creating the first draft of my double page spread with a main image and headline, I decided that I wasn't happy with the layout and that the image I used wasn't suitable. As I was still having difficulties adjusting to the new program, I spoke to my teacher who agreed that I could re-produce it using Photoshop, providing I could create the expected conventions of double page spreads (such as drop-caps, article columns and other text formats) successfully. I was a lot more efficient with this working in Photoshop as I already had prior experience creating such products in the program, and so I began constructing a new version in Photoshop.

The Second Draft:

Below is what my double page spread looked like after moving to Photoshop. I still wasn't happy with this design, as I thought that it wasn't appropriate to only include two of the band members and leave out the supposed lead singer. I also thought that the headline of the article was too long and taking up too much space, so decided to discard this second draft and start completely anew with a different layout, main image and headline.

The Third Draft:

For my third draft, I first of all started with finding new images to use. I decided to make a collage of the three models from separate images, as I didn't have a suitable group shot. I chose the best poses and expressions I could find for each model and adjusted them so they looked like they were in the same lighting. I then made a split in the page to separate the two halves of A4 so I could arrange the images accordingly, added my new headline and images (shown below), and prepared to write the article.

To start the article-writing process, I began with an introduction. I included a drop-cap at the beginning as they are used to let the reader know where to start reading. This introduction was a summary of the topic of the article, the band members' names, and how the interview is exclusive to Affliction magazine.

To speed up the production process somewhat, I wrote my article content (the interview) beforehand in a Word document and copy and pasted it in sections. At the stage shown above, I left a gap for my pull-out quote. The composing of the interview was fairly simple, as I had already observed the conventions of real interviews and so it was just a matter of putting them into practice and using my own writing skills to create an interview that my audience would be excited to read. I used 'Q:' to mark the interviewer's questions along with the names of the band members who were answering. I tried to vary who answered so that there wasn't a repetitive or boring pattern, and tried to make the answers quite imaginative, aiming to give each band member a distinct personality. For example, Ange's answers (the model in the middle) were quite short and to-the-point, as she is supposed to represent the band character type of 'the mysterious one'.

Next, I added the pull-out quote as I noticed this was conventional for interview articles. I chose a quote from one of the questions, "We want to shake things up a bit and see where it takes us". I chose this because I think it would act as a teaser and entice readers into wanting to know more about the band's plans for the future. It doesn't give away much standing on its own, but if the audience reads the full article they will get more details, which is what the pull-out quote aims to subtly make the audience do. I overlapped the quote with the main image to make it look more integrated and gave it a darker blue drop-shadow so it was easier to read. As with the contents page, I stuck to the colour scheme of black, white and blue to keep the magazine consistent.

Then I added the rest of the article, making sure to have the text in columns, and carefully framed the text that was close to the main image around it to again, give it a more integrated look and make it more professional.

 Finally, I added some finishing touches. To end the article, I added a small paragraph telling the reader they could more information on the band's tour and new album, along with "more exciting news" on the band's website, 'www.milddistressattheparty.co.uk'. This acted as an ending statement of sorts, signalling the end of the article. As well as this, I decided to add a graphic to the article headline by using an ink droplet tool and adding some blue splashes, to make the headline stylized and the page more interesting to look at. I used the colour-picker tool to make sure it was the same shade of blue I had used with the rest of the page. After this, the production process was complete.