Assembling my Magazine

For my front cover I decided to use my self as the main artist. This decision was mainly for convenience because this would enable me to take the photos in my own time and would allow me to take more photos if the ones I had already taken were not of sufficient standard.

I also decided that I would use myself as the image for the double page spread, again for convenience.

I took a few different photos and then edited them on Pixlr. Here are some of my original photos:


The first thing I had to do before editing my photos was deciding which photos I would use for my front cover and which I would use for my double page spread. I finally decided that I would use a picture of me holding a guitar for the double page spread, as this would tie in with the theme of the interview. I also decided  that a photo of me facing the camera would be suitable for the front cover as this would catch the eye of the reader and give off a strong message.

Here is an example of one of my first attempts at editing my photos:

For my final front cover image, I started by placing a black and white filter over the top of the image to make the picture brighter and bolder. I then added some blue stripes on top of my image to make my cover more interesting, I got my inspiration for this from a magazine called Vs.

 

I thought this design was very interesting and a lot different from other magazines you would find on shop shelves. I took inspiration from this to do the stripes and widely spread lettering.

For my contents page I decided to continue with the simple design seen in my front cover. I used minimal amounts of photos and I used one large image at the top of the page. This is something that is not frequently seen in magazines however I thought that this helps to break up the page and keep information minimal.

For my double page spread image I used a picture of me holding a guitar. I decided this would give an easy-going, relaxed feeling to the interview, but not be too distracting.

I chose to do an interview for my double page spread because these are very easy to create and the short amounts of writing will hopefully keep my readers interested and feeling involved with the magazine. An interview can also allow the reader to find common interests with the artist being interviewed and feel like somehow they are getting to know them as a person. Short answer interviews are regularly seen in larger magazines such as Kerrang! and Rock Sound.

Throughout my magazine i used similar colours e.g. white and black, this keeps the colour scheme continuous and ties the pages together. You will see that on most pages of my magazine i use these two colours and normally only one other key brighter colour to make key information stand out. Important information is also usually in a larger font and is commonly in a different font to the rest of the txt on the page.

I have tried to combine conventions seen commonly in magazines with new techniques that will challenge the reader but not enough to discourage them from reading more.