Mikaelian- Week 13

I decided to make my layout about Lady Gaga. Even though she was a common topic, I couldn't pass it up since she has amazing photographs and a very strong, energetic look that is perfect for this project.

Story and Layout:

I chose this particular story because it focused a lot on how unique Lady Gaga is, and how she idolizes pop art- especially Andy Warhol and high fashion. I felt that this is important because even though she is known for her crazy style and overall persona, she truly is talented and she is influenced by real art. Because this was the focus of the article I decided to title my magazine Avant Garde, which refers to new and different takes on fine art. I felt this represents Lady Gaga perfectly- she is an innovator of pop music and is turning it into real art.I decided to use a cover with a plain white background and a picture of her in a black jumpsuit. I felt this showed how high fashion influences her, and it was raw and edgy just as she is. I used a single headline in black text to keep the magazine looking clean and modern. I also created an alternative color that was influenced more by the pop art aspect of Lady Gaga. The pop art cover has a picture of Lady Gaga that looks like a colorful, Warhol-esque pop art image, and the main colors used are pink and white. The purpose of creating two covers is so magazine subscribers would get one cover or the other, adding an element of surprise.

The first spread uses the same font from the cover in the headline, plus a typeface called Flood to add a little flare the the headline. On the right side I used a picture of Lady Gaga with pink/coral hair on a white background. I used the coral color of her hair for the Flood text on the left hand side to create continuity. I also created an extremely light mint green background design to put behind the headline, so that the pages weren't too white. I carried the color onto the second spread for continuity. I also used the font and colors from the headline for my pull-quote, and drop-caps.

On the second spread, my sidebar is a quiz to test the reader's Lady Gaga knowledge. For the side bar background I used the same mint green color, and also used the flood font in the coral color to add more continuity.

Choice of Typefaces:

I wanted the typeface for my magazine title to represent what I think fine art is- sophisticated and stylish. I decided to use Didot, which I also used for my story headline and pull quotes. I felt this font looks very classy, but isn't boring.

For my body text I used Berham. I felt that it compliments Didot well and is also different, but still classic. I used ITC Berklee bold for my captions and I used different fonts in my sidebar since it is a different entity than the article.

I used the font Flood for part of my title and throughout my spreads, such as the title of my sidebar and the dropcap in my story. I felt since this font was the most unique and exciting, and it's used in a coral color which makes it stand out, that it would make the layout more appealing and more fun to read.

Images:

I explained the images I used for my cover already, but I mainly chose them because they both represent Lady Gaga and the article in different ways. By creating two different covers, it allows readers to see the two different sides of Lady Gaga- couture fashion and wild pop art.

For my first spread I used a photo that was similar to the cover image with the white background. I found the image very striking and it shows her quirkiness and her eye for fashion at the same time. I felt the white background and her pink hair really catches the viewer's eye.

For the second spread I cut out an image of Lady Gaga in an outfit similar to what she's wearing on the first spread- white with studs- where she is sitting and looking up. I placed this image on the bottom left of the left page so it looked like she was sitting on the folio and looking up at the pullquote that I placed about the picture. On the right page I used another image with a white background and where she was pink hair, once again focusing on her artistic and fashion-forward image.