Step By Step Editing of Contents Page

This post will show how I put together all of the elements of my contents page.

I firstly started opening a blank publicatio on Indesign and wrote the Editors letter.

I did this by drawing a text box with the text box tool, and then typing in what I wanted it to say. The font I used was Minion Pro and the text size was size 12. I use these because I think they looked very casual but also formal enough to be in a magazine.

The next thing I did was added the photo's I wanted to use in my contents page. Along with the photo's that I added, I also added the signature of the 'editor'. For the signature I drew it on a piece of paper and scanned it inot the computer using a scanner. I then went over the signature on the computer with black to make it more black.

To add these pictures of my contents page I went to file then clicked where it said 'place' which took me to my documents so that I could place what I wanted into my contents page. This is what it looked like with the pictures.

After that I then filled in the contents at the bottom of the page and also matched the contents numbers to the pictures on the contents page. For the contents listing I used the same font as the editors letter which was Minion Pro. With the Title which says 'R&I this week' I also used the same font but a bigger size. For the words 'R&I' I made it bold, I did this by highlighting it and then pressing the bold letter tool.

For the last part of my contents page I wanted to have the colour black to give it a rock/indie feel to it. I added two more text boxes to the contents page. One in the top left corner to advertise the magazine subscription and the other above my photo of the guitar to represent one of the articles in the magazine.

Step By Step Editing of Front Cover

This post is to show how I created my front cover using the programme Indesign. I firstly started off with this photo of my model which I took.Before adding the masterhead to my photo, I wanted to change certain elements of this photo. I opened this picture in Photoshop and bega editing. I started with the small things such as red eye. I noticed that in the photo of Danielle the photo came out with red eye, I decided this obviously needed to be changed.To remove the red eye, I simply clicked the red eye tool and dragged it over her eyes which instantly made them go back to her orginial eye colour.

I noticed that Danielle is wearing a bright pink nail varnish, I didnt think this colour really fits with the style of the 'artist' therefore I decided to change this.

I used the brush tool and zoomed into the hands and painted over the bright pink nail colour with a dark maroon colour. I choose this colour because the colour maroon is a dark red, and because when you think of red you think confident and sexy. The dark red represents the same ideas but has a dark edgy twist to it.

The background of this image is quite plain and I wanted to give it some more dimension. To give it mor edimension I decided to use the gradient tool of Photoshop. This tool gives a gradient effect to the background so going from darker colour to a lighter depending on which direction you choose.

I started experiementing with the different directions in which the gradient can go and also the brightness of the gradient. With the gradient tool you directed the direction of gradient by draggin a line in the direction of where you want it to go. After experimenting I decided that I wanted the gradient to go towards Danielle. So basically that it was darker in the corners of the page and lightest in the middle where Danielle is postioned. This will draw the readers eyes directly to Danielle.

However I decided that personally I thought the lighting was too harsh and made it darker.


After editing the photo I could then open the photo in Indesign and add all of headlines and Masterheads to my front cover.

Evidence of Orginial Photgraphy

On Thursday the 20th March my friend Danielle came over to my house for my magazine photshoot. Here are all the photo's I took that day.

When I looked through the pictures and thought about my magazine layout I decided that these photo's will be featured in my magazine.

This is the picture I'm going to use for my front cover.

I decided to choose this particular photo for my front cover because it looks tough and edgy. The pose and facial expression is relaxed and effortless, which makes it seem as if she doesn't care what she looks like. This will be the photo used on the front cover of my music magazine.

This is the photo I'm going to use in the contents page.

I decided to use this photo because this shows a different side to the artist personality than on the front cover. The front cover was more serious and wild, however this photo is more fun and wild. This photo is also relevant because she's making a air guitar shap with her arms, which represents the rock genre to the reader.

This is the two photo's which will be featured in my double page spread.

I think these two pictures are perfect for the double page spread because they are contrasting pictures which will give my article more variety. It shows the artists personality and also gives me an opportunity while I edit the article to put quotes on the photo's which reflect the emotion on these photo's.

The Flat Plan of My Magazine

Below is a Flat Plan of my magazine. By doing a flat plan it helps me have an idea of which elements of my magazine will go where. Because this is the first issue it will mainly be focusing on the features in the magazine. Also when magazines first start up its difficult for it to find advertisements willing to pay for a slot in a magazine where it may not take off. That is why there's not too many advertisements because the magazine needs to get well known before it gets recognition for advertisement.

Masterhead Editing Step by Step

After I desgined the Masterhead the next thing I did was edit and improve it in Photoshop. Below is how I did it step by step.

I first started by opening the design I drew of the master head in Photoshop. This is going to be my first layer.
The next step that I did was I used the eraser tool around the edges of the design to get rid of the paper in the background of the design. This is what it looked like once I did this.



After that I stated to Make the edges look sharper and more even. This will make it look more professional. This is what it looked like after I did this process.





Next I wanted to make the colour of my Masterhead look like a solid black instead of just a biro black colour. I did this by using the ‘Brush Tool’ in black and started painting over the letters.

Whilst I was painting over the letters I decided that I wanted to get the lines on the letters straight, so I used the 'Line Tool' which ensure that I got a straight line.

I then drew the line next to the R and started to fill it in. Below is the screenshot of the 'R' Being filled in and the other not. You can already tell thatby doing this step it makes the letters look more solid and bold.












I repeated that step with the letter 'I' by again using the 'Line Tool' to make it even then filling it in with the 'Brush Tool'. The final step I did was sharpening the edges more and filling in the rest of the letters. I did this by using the 'Eraser Tool' and 'Brush Tool'. This is what my end Masterhead looks like.

Drawings for Shot Types to be used in Photoshoot

Before I start shooting I wanted to make sure that I knew exactly what I want my model to pose like.
1. The first pose I think I’m going to use for my photoshoot is this one. The model will have one leg leaned up against the wall with one hand above her head. This pose looks very relaxed and also edgy which is what I want the shoot to look like.

2. This pose is again a relaxed and layed back pose. This pose the model is leaning against the wall. By having the model leaning against the wall it makes the audience think that the artist is tough and doesn't care about what she looks like.
3. Pose number three is different to the other ones because its more fun and crazy pose. I will do variations of this pose, which depends on what the model feeling like because I want this pose to be fun and relaxed. This represents the same idea that the artist doesn't care what people think of her and just wants to have fun. For the double paged spread I want to use two contrasting pictures. I want to do this to show the audience two opposing sides of the artist. The first pose is number 4. This pose shows that the artist of frustrated and angry. The contrasting pose is number 5. this pose is of the artist blowing a kiss to the reader and show that she loves her fans.

When I'm shooting with my model I will use these poses and also some other that will be similar to these.

Layout of Pages

To make the process of putting my magazine pages together easier, I decided to plan out which elements i want where in my magazine.

Front Cover:

I decided to make the background of my front cover the picture from the shoot. This will show that the interview is the main focus of this magazine. The titles will surround the picture to ensure that the interview is still the main focus. I decided to put the Masterhead in the top left corner because that's what many magazines also do, and because when people read they start at the top right then read across, which is why the masterhead is postioned there.

Contents Page:

Double Page Spread:

Materhead Fonts

I began to play around with different font styles for my Master head. I drew 11 designs altogether and I drew these designs because i though that these would be most appropriate for my music magazine. Below is a short analysis for each design where I talk about how I think they work.

This two designs are in contrast to each other because the top one is heavier in thickness and has sharper lines compared to the other. The top one has also got a variation of heights, the ‘&’ is bigger than the R and I. This represents that the ‘&’ is important and highlights that its not just a rock magazine but a Rock & Indie magazine. The bottom one I don't think is appropriate because it looks to elegant and also looks unprofessional. I definitely prefer the top one out of the two designs.

These two designs are quite similar because they are both quite bold, however they have a couple of different properties. The top design has very sharp and blunt edges which I think represents the Rock genre, because the work rock represents blunt and hardness. However is doesn't represent Indie, which I think is hard to represent in font style. The bottom design has a sharp edge of the ‘I’ but not on the ‘R’ . However I think that if the letters are different in font it would show the difference in genre. However I think that the ‘R’ should be rougher the ‘I’ because rock music is a bolder genre than Indie. I also like the way the ‘&’ symbol looks on this design, I will definitely use this on my masterhead.

These two designs are very different because one looks quite modern and futuristic, while the other looks quite classical. The top design looks very modern and techno. I decided that this design would be good for my magazine because I think its very bold and would definitely stand out on the cover. However I don't think if people looked at it they would think that this is a Rock and Indie magazine. The bottom design is a development of the bottom design on the previous picture i decided to make the ‘R’ look more bold and sharp. I still don't think that the combination of those two look very eye catching, therefore I don't think it would be suitable.

These two designs are extremely contrasted in shape, thickness and alignment. The top design is very thin and tall. I think that this font looks very gothic and very individual. However i don't think it would stand out against all of the other components of my front cover. The masterhead should be one of the main features in the page but I think if I used this one is would just blend into the background. The bottom design is very bold and sharp edge. Also unlike the other one it is slightly leaning to the right. This makes it look stylish and interesting. It would suit a rock magazine however I think that this font is too strong for an indie magazine.

This design is again very strong and bold. In my opinion this is again to strong for my aim of my magazine. I really like the extended ‘R’ at the bottom so in the next two designs I incorporated that idea into those.

In the previous design I like the idea of the extended ‘R’ and decided that I wanted that to be incorporated into my master head. I also tried in these designs to not make them too bold but also interesting so it would stand out. The top design is not bold but it does have an interesting design. The design looks very gothic and old fashioned. I don't think this fits in with the Rock and Indie vibe. The bottom design is a perfect compromise between bold and thin. The thickness is medium. It looks quite classic and the style doesn't look like it could be outdated. The extended ‘R’ I think differentiates the two genres from each other because the ‘I’ looks differentiate but still fits into this overall design.

This is my overall Masterhead design, and i will now go further on to creating it in the program ‘In Design’. By doing this it will make it look more professional.