Double Page Spread Drafts

This is my first idea of what i want my double page spread to look like. It is an interview so columns of text is obvious. This is just a rough lay out plan.

This is my second draft which is followed from my rough plan. I have places the text and the images where i planned too. I'm not sure whether i like this layout. Or maybe its the colour, i decided to go a cream beige colour rather than just the plain white but I'm not sure if it works very well. I have the interview worded and the images ready. I took the images on my camera on my IPhone.

This is the same one as above, however i tried having the background black. I don't think it looks as good as i thought it would. The images get lost and it seems dull and boring. I think i will try and position the text and images different and have a play about with the colour

I then tried to use one large picture on one side of the page then have the text on the other side, however it looks really messy and untidy. I don't think you can have an interview with a photographer and only include one image of 'their work'

I then tried to position the images on the other side of the page. I like the way they are positioned however they don't fit on the page very well. And also i don't think its practical to have the images first, i think its better to read the interview then see the images

Double Page Spread Research

This double page is from a smaller free regional magazine. This is an interview with a paralympics medallist. I like the lay out of this. It is mostly text with two images. I like how the text is sectioned into small paragraphs so it doesn't seem to much to read so the readers stay interested.

This double page spread is from Gallery magazine a more upper class regional magazine. This feature is about a shop and about some of the items that they sell. I suppose this has an equal amount of text and images.

Also this double page spread is from the same Gallery magazine. This is an article. I like the use of images and how its positioned with the text on one side and the images on the other page.

This final one is from the same magazine as the first double page spread. I like this one since it is a Christmas edition one, just like my one. This is meant to be a interview with Santa which i think is really good. It seems to be aimed at children as well as adults, even though the magazine is for adults.

Final Front Cover & Conents Page

This is my final front cover. I struggled to find a good position for the text so that it wouldn't take the look away from the main image. I then decided to put the text towards the bottom of the page so that the light would still be in the image. Also i wanted the effect that the text was presents around the tree. My main story is about a photographer so that's why the text is in a bigger font than the rest. I think that it looks quite sophisticated and elegant. The masthead fits in and looks good with the rest of the page. I choose to keep the colours basic and i associate black as being a modern colour.

This is my final contents page. I decided to associate the pictures with the text which are the page number you would find the story about that image by colour. I think it brighteners up the page. I didn't want to over do it with the pictures so decided just to use four. I choose to drop the word contents as it is fairly obvious that it is a contents page. Also used the word experience from the masthead, i think it works really well.

Contents Page Drafts

I want my contents page to have the same type of style as my front cover. So i started my ideas with plain black and white and i thought i could include something Christmas associated  considering it is around the Christmas time.

This was my first attempt of my contents page. I thought that i wanted to include the title of the magazine and tried it at the top corner, because the 'manx tails' magazine that i researched had that written in the top right corner. However i don't really think that it looks stylish. I choose a white background, because the cover is so dark. I don't want to give the impression of a dark dull magazine. Also i put the date on the top left and choose to put Christmas tree's either side of it. I like the idea of using something like this, but just not sure if this looks the best. I then thought it would be a good idea to section of the page to place the text. However it didn't seem to be even on both sides so i stopped half way through completing this to go on to changing it.

I like the layout of this one a lot better. I decided to get ride of the title of the magazine. I added two 3 legs of man as well. I moved the Christmas trees to either side of the 'Contents'. I'm undecided about them though because i think they look out of place. I then started to position the text and the images. I want to keep all the text towards the left hand side and the images to the right hand side.

I added more text and the rest of the images to get a better idea of how it looks. I'm not sure about having the Christmas tree's there, it makes it less sophisticated then how i want it. Also not sure about the 3 legs of man.

Front Cover Drafts

Here are a few of the drafts i did to get to the final front cover and to the chosen masthead.

This is my first rough draft of the image and the masthead. I needed to play around to see which one looked best. I like the main image, there is a lot of space around the tree itself which is useful for putting text. However i don't think i will put that much on the front because most of the magazines i looked at didn't have very much writing. They just had the main cover story. I tried to create good word art by using the 3 legs of man image in the background of the letters, however it was not successful.

I like this one, i think the text is good, however i think the black font is hidden and doesn't stand out as much as i would have liked. I'm not sure whether to have the text written right across the middle of the image because it is big and bold; which is what i want. However it just doesn't seem right. This also doesn't have the actual masthead on.

Another draft with the other image. I need to decide which one to use. I really like both. However this image seems to have a bit too much going on. There is a lot of colour and the text isn't noticeable. Maybe if i chose a different font. But i really wanted to stick with the Christmas theme and use red. I also have the final masthead on.

This is very similar to the other draft, not much has improved or changed. Apart from the colour of the font and i deleted the 'around the island'. I thought i could use green, which is still a Christmas colour. I also used glow around the word art which sort of gives the affect of lights around the text which i really like. I think i will stick with using the glow around which ever colour or style i use.

I have now decided to change my cover story a little. I was struggling to to make the other one look good and interesting. Because just having Christmas lights isn't going to make people want to pick up the magazine. So I've chosen to have an 'Interview' with a very famous local photographer. The main image is taken by him which fits in perfectly. His interview will be about him capturing people getting in the Christmas period which will involve some Christmas lights. I want this magazine to be sophisticated and modern so i really like the font. I also included a little symbol type to show that the image was taken by this 'Photographer'. Also i will just have one main cover story. The Manx tails local magazine that i looked at only had one and think it looks really good. Also I've decided this will be a free magazine.

Again i am trying to decided on what image is better. I think that i have found that the other one fits better. The text gets lost behind this image. I do love this though and will include it in my double page. This is good because there isn't much space around the main focus which is the snowman, however text doesn't look right places on it. So the other image will be my main one.

Stages of Production - Ideas

I then started to put some ideas together to create the front cover. There was two images that really stood out to me, that i thought would be good to be the main image on the front cover. I also started to consider names for my magazine and create logos etc.

First of all; the logo/names.

I tried to include the 3 legs of man into the logo of the magazine, but it doesn't seem to work. When i tried it with a background image it just doesn't blend together it looks like a block in the corner. It just doesn't look professional.

I like this one, however it doesn't look very professional. Also when placed on a background it shows as a white box.

With this one, i really like it. I love how the bulballs fit ontop of the masthead. However i have the same problem with the white box.

This is the best by far, i think this one is really professional. Also it doesn't create a white box when placed with a background.

I have changed it slightly, i decided that Manx wasnt a good chosen title. I was to plain. So i decided to add 'Experience' to make it more classy. Also decided to drop 'Christmas edition' because having the date which is decdmeber 2011 its kind of obvious.


Then: Front cover ideas;

This is to show how the masthead/logo looked on the background. It looks really bold and bad. Also the image i chose to use as the main front cover it stretched and doesn't look good.

This one, again is to show that the masthead doesn't look right when placed on a background. I really like the main cover image. Its defiantly between this and the snowman.

I really like this, the quality of the image looks really good. It is really bright and christmasee Also the masthead looks good it doesn't create a white box and it looks really nice this is a strong contender for the final image and masthead.

This one also looks good but i can see that its just not as eye catching at the other one. There is lights but they just aren't in your face as much as the snow man. Also its not as colourful.

Stages of Production - Images

gesI think that i want to produce a regional Christmas edition magazine. I've considered what it would consist of. I have been taking some images to possibly include. I thought of doing an 'After Dark' Type theme so that would be the main cover story Christmas lights around the Island.

Just a few rough images.

Christmas tree: Thought this looked good for possibly a cover. I found it hard to capture this properly it would either be blurry or not look right.

Christmas lights: These look much better in person, again i found it hard to capture the actual scene. I don't think i will include this one.

Christmas tree: I had to crop this because there is barriors around the bottom. I would have liked this is it didn't have to be cropped. I think its nice because there other lights in the picture.

I found this house as i was driving to Ramsey, so i pulled over and thought it would be a good image to include because it is a good example of over the top christmas lights.

I like this image because of lights. I think i captured them well. I took this at my nana's house and thought i could include it.