I decided on an alternative rock theme, based on indie rock music which was extremely popular in the late 1980's early 1990's, and is now regaining popularity. Using Adobe Photoshop elements aided me in being more creative with my design.The masthead 'Zee' is a pun on the letter Z, using it's phonetic spelling, along with the 'zine' sound in magazine; which I think gives the magazine a playful, quirky tone from the offset. By using a serif bold font in block capitals this gave the magazine a more striking focal point, along with the white font on the red backdrop. I chose a red, white and black colour scheme throughout my magazine in order to link all of the pieces. These colours are common within the field of music magazines, as they are bold, eye-catching and give a professional appearance to the design.
The main image itself represents an aging rock star, upon his comeback to the music industry. I chose not to edit the image excessively to make the subject appear more attractive, as the haggard and rugged appearance is more associated within this particular strand of the rock genre. 
I have included the original image (right) in order to show the comparisons between the two. I used the magic wand tool to remove the background of the image for the purpose of formulating my own contrasting background. I used the red-eye removal tool - to remove any traces of red-eye caused by the camera flash, which had made my image seem unprofessional. I made the image seem brighter by adjusting the contrast, and by altering the colour range in order to give it the look of a real photo shoot. The central focus of the image is the guitar itself, the contrast tool worked well in relation with the wood, making it bright in comparison to the grey background. The purpose of the unsmiling expression was to represent the rock star's personality and the way that he was portrayed by the media. I have learned from analysing many music magazines, rock star's do not generally pose smilingly on front covers, and emanate a more melancholy persona. I edited the colour of the t-shirt for the purpose of the making the magazine seem more professional, by using the magic wand tool and selecting the t-shirt then filling it with a much darker colour.
I have included the original image (right) in order to show the comparisons between the two. I used the magic wand tool to remove the background of the image for the purpose of formulating my own contrasting background. I used the red-eye removal tool - to remove any traces of red-eye caused by the camera flash, which had made my image seem unprofessional. I made the image seem brighter by adjusting the contrast, and by altering the colour range in order to give it the look of a real photo shoot. The central focus of the image is the guitar itself, the contrast tool worked well in relation with the wood, making it bright in comparison to the grey background. The purpose of the unsmiling expression was to represent the rock star's personality and the way that he was portrayed by the media. I have learned from analysing many music magazines, rock star's do not generally pose smilingly on front covers, and emanate a more melancholy persona. I edited the colour of the t-shirt for the purpose of the making the magazine seem more professional, by using the magic wand tool and selecting the t-shirt then filling it with a much darker colour. The back drop is simply the work of the gradient tool, by using the colour grey and selecting the area in which you want the gradient to fall, you will then get this effect. Many magazines including Q use this simple technique which lifts the backdrop completely and enables a sharper image.
I opted for a more simplistic magazine lay out, following the likes of Q who rarely clutter their front covers with images and puffs. As 'Towler Flannagan' is my main story I based my magazine around him. Choosing only a small amount of puffs to fill the space around the main image, so as not to make the cover seem too overloaded with information and putting the main emphasis
on 'Towler' himself. I chose '200 greatest albums of all time' in order to follow Q magazines compilation of lists, I thought followed some of the conventions displayed within music magazines.
From my previous studies of magazine front covers I had already discovered that there is always a date of the issue, a bar code and the price on the front of the magazine, so I included all of these.
I also used a 'page turn' effect in the corner of the cover to provide an alternative way of displaying a puff, as I felt this made my front cover more unique. I finally used the same font throughout my designs as I found this to follow the further conventions of music magazines and provided a sense of unity throughout the whole production.
Initially I decid
ed on a much more unique approach, something which is not seen very often on front covers of music magazines. I varied the gradient tool for the background, to make the left side of the magazine much darker than the right. But I then decided this technique does not look as professional as the other magazines I recently analysed, and changed it to an even sloping gradient commonly used on many front covers.
ed on a much more unique approach, something which is not seen very often on front covers of music magazines. I varied the gradient tool for the background, to make the left side of the magazine much darker than the right. But I then decided this technique does not look as professional as the other magazines I recently analysed, and changed it to an even sloping gradient commonly used on many front covers.My main influence for my front cover came from Q magazine. They also use a dull coloured background on most editions, in contrast with an instrument or skin. The large red masthead, which immediately attracts attention, the contrasted image, the simplistic graphology - without clutter.
No comments:
Post a Comment