Rinder - Magazine Project

Story and Layout:

The story I chose was something that I wrote. I chose it because I felt it was an article that lent itself to good visuals. I called my magazine ‘Adore,’ because I felt that it represented what the article was about. My cover design has the word love in several different languages. The headline of the article is in red, a different typeface and size to make it stand out.

The first spread uses the same font from the cover in the headline. I chose the red, brick color for the stripes from a picture on the second page. I carried the color onto the second page for continuity. I also used the font from the headline for my pull-quote, and drop-caps.

On the second page, my sidebar is a collection of three stories from abroad that were not included in the article.

Choice of Typefaces:

I wanted the flag of my magazine to have a typeface that was classic and strong. I chose Americana Std Bold. I chose to put the translations of ‘love’ on the cover in the same typeface, but use different weights and postures to give variety. I liked the script front for the headline and first spread. It reminded me of the handwriting on post-cards and letters, which would be written abroad. I used the Caflisch Script Pro throughout the article to keep visual continuity.

I chose New Century Schoolbook Roman for the body text. I felt that it was very readable. To add contrast to the body text, I used Avenir (a sans serif) for the text in my sidebar.

Images:

I chose not to use a photo for my cover and instead used a collection of words. I think it looks more creative than a simple picture of a couple on a date. The picture of Audrey Hepburn on my first spread was large enough, and had movement and character. Her face had an energetic expression and her eyes lead the reader to the text on the opposite page.

On my second page, I liked the photo of the couple by the Eiffel Tower. I positioned the tower so that it was sticking up into the text. For the sidebar, I used a picture of a couple eating ice cream. I felt it went a long with the idea of ‘love stories’ from abroad.

Schwartz - Week 12

Rationale

Story Choice

For this project, I went through a long process in my decision to do a feature on Lil Wayne. I began by looking through magazines to get an idea of different kinds of articles. I wanted to choose a story that would interest me, because I knew that would make the project more enjoyable to create. I went through a variety of stories before I chose Lil Wayne, but I eventually settled on this story for a variety of reasons. I have always felt that Lil Wayne is a unique star in the rising, as he has a complex story regarding his past and has really made a name for himself. Because of this, I thought that an article focused on him would be interesting to use. In addition, I thought that he provided a good basis for visual appeal. As a person, Lil Wayne emphasizes his appearance, and he is decorated with tattoos and jewelry. I thought that this would make for good magazine material, because he is interesting to look at. This is evident through my cover, which focuses on his tattooed chest. I think that even those who are not fans of his music would be fascinated by his story.

Typefaces

For my project, I chose to use typefaces that I thought portrayed Lil Wayne’s personality in an interesting but noncomplex way. I chose Bauhaus because it had a lot of character, like Lil Wayne as an artist. I then chose simpler typefaces for the rest of my magazine, like Garamond and ITC Stone Serif, with easy readability. I wanted to maintain consistency throughout my design, so I tried to tie the different pages and spreads together by using the same fonts.

Color

I tried to keep my magazine simple by using only one or two main colors, and I think this really added to the overall look of the magazine. The combination of red and black was familiar to me because I incorporated it into my logo, and I feel it really conveys the message of my feature in a bold and attention-grabbing way. Besides the red, I did not use much other color. I pulled the colors from the images for my shades of red, and then used black as the background.

Week Twelve | LaSorsa

Decision Making

I originally was going to do my magazine feature story on a celebrity who I knew would have extravagant pictures, Lady Gaga. However, after realizing how overused and un-original that idea was, I changed my story to a feature about an indoor cycling studio. I thought that the feature was fresh and I was very familiar with the studio itself, which would lend to my design plan. I love this indoor cycling studio and it really changed my perception on exercising. I figured that this story would inspire others. I included the article I found on soul-cycle.com because the text I used in the magazine is a random text file.

Typeface Information

In staying with the Gestalt principles and creating consistency in my magazine design, I chose to use only a few typefaces. I repeated the same few typefaces throughout my entire design. For my header, byline, pull quote, folios and most of my cover, I used Berling LT Std. I liked the typeface because it was basic but also changed a lot when I used it in different weights. For example, I used Berling LT Std italic for my header because it gave it a softer look, which went with the soulful feel of the spinning studio. I used Frutiger LT Std for my decks and captions because it was a very plain sans serif that would be simple to read. I wanted my body text to be a classic typeface that readers would respect and relate to. I chose ITC Caslon 224 Std in a book weight because it fulfilled these guidelines and was also easy to read. Since I wanted my sidebar to stand out and look more personal, I searched for a typeface that looked handwritten. I used Flood Std because it was a lot different looking and would contrast the typefaces of the rest of the article. Throughout the entire layout, I only used three typefaces. I wanted to keep my design clean and consistent and believed that using more typefaces would confuse the reader.

Images and Color

I did not use much color for my magazine design. I used a burnt orange color (C=7.89%, M=28.63%. Y=49.64%, K=0%) for the second spread background. I took the color from the image on the first spread. I liked the color for how it represented SoulCycle, it was soothing, relaxing but a tiny bit of pop. Other than that I only used black and white. For source and picture size please see attached sheet.

Week Twelve, Stefaniak

Story:

When I chose a story, I wanted to pick something that would cater to my interests as well as provide an interesting story to direct and read. I love the band MGMT, so choosing an article about them to art direct seemed like it would be a project in which I would be able to really get involved while working on it. In addition, the band itself is interesting and kooky enough for me to create an interesting layout to match their style. I knew that this article would provide for a fun designing experience and not just be another homework project.

Typefaces:

For the nameplate and folios I wanted to keep to a simple typeface, so I chose a sans serif, Avenir LT Std Black and Book. To complement this in the cover lines, I used Melior Std Regular. For the headline and deck head I used LinoLetter Std in various weights and postures to give the article a personal touch that deviates from the regular serif fonts. For the body text and captions I used ITC Stone Serif Std in Medium and Medium Italic for its clarity and readability.

Sources:

1. Back Cover Image 1: 8-465x576.jpg, http://mgmt-congratulations.com/about, 72 dpi

2. Back Cover Image 2: stripe_jacobs_072507.jpg, http://www.boston.com/yourlife/home/stylephile/clothing_fashion/, 72 dpi

3. Cover Image: 3674536051_ec13cb1d09.jpg, http://flickr.com/photos/60839574@N00/3674536051/, 72 dpi

4. Cover Barcode: barcode.png, http://ceoworld.biz/ceo/2009/11/14/best-barcode-label-design-software-barcode-label-printing-image-applications, 72 dpi

5. Spread 1: spin-mgmt-3-large.jpg, http://www.spin.com/articles/mgmt-head-games, 72 dpi

6. Spread 2: spin-mgmt-4-large.jpg, http://www.spin.com/articles/mgmt-head-games, 72dpi

7. Spread 3: Big-MGMT2-1.jpg, http://www.soundproofmagazine.com/SoundProof/News/Headlines_for_July_1_2009.html, 72 dpi

Color Information:

In order to design the color scheme of the layout, I used the Lab CMYK color palette. Specifically, I tried to play off the description the band use to describe their music, “future 70’s.” To do this, I tried to mimic the colors of the picture in the first spread as well as possible throughout the rest of the spread. To do so I varied between different shades of orange, yellow, red, and pink at different opacities to get the desired effect. For the image on the second spread, I covered it with a low opacity rectangle of color to make it more like the first image and for third spread image, I edited it in Photoshop so that it had the same gradient effect as the first spread.