Unit 51: Page Layout and Design

Production Commentary By Emma Upton

Design Programmes• When I was designing my magazine cover and double page spread I

only used the software Adobe Photoshop. In this software I had the ability to use a wide variety of tools such as the crop tool to edit the size of the original image and fitting it to the page, the brightness and contrast tools to edit the colouring of the images to make them stand out more and also the erase tool to erase the original background on the images as they didn’t fit well with the magazine.

• When adding text to the front page and double page spread I used the fonts already installed in the Photoshop software as I found the ones I liked on there met my magazine structure, but changed the colours of the text in order to make them stand out and be more eye-catching. I had already wrote my article for my double page spread on word, so I pasted it into Photoshop and edited the text colour and size on there.

FORMATS• Prior to creating the magazine front cover and double page spread I researched

magazines already made such as Kerrang! And NME, along with other magazines that weren’t associated with music such as Vouge and Empire to find some more inspiration. However I did focus on music orientated magazines, specifically alternative/rock music magazines as that is what I wanted to create. I found a lot of common factors throughout my research and knew I liked the idea of having eye catching bold fonts across the page and having the main focus on the featured artist. Also, I took inspiration from Kerrang! as they feature a lot of smaller images of different bands to entice a larger audience.

Conventions & Visual Language• For the masthead on the front page I used a large bold font that stood out, however placed it so the front page image stood in front of

it covering a little of the text, I took the inspiration for that technique from the magazine Kerrang! As that is a common theme throughout their magazines, I think it helps make the focus of the magazine, the band, stand out more and they are clearly the main feature of the front page. However for the rest of the text on the front page I kept fairly similar, I made all the rest of the text in red against a black box background, but kept it all in the same font. I made the ‘encore interview’ bold for it to be clear what the double page spread would be about. I wanted the colour scheme to be similar throughout, so majority of the text on the front page is red, however the ‘10 exclusive posters’ are in white and purple for that to stand out against the rest of the magazine, this will entice a larger audience in case they aren’t interested in the featured band.

• When taking design into consideration I used the Guttenberg Principle when positioning all the features or the front cover. I placed the masthead across the top of the front cover so it would stand out, this is because the top left corner is the primary optical area, and by placing it there the masthead will catch the audience’s attention immediately. I then positioned the main image directly in the centre of the front page, this is due to the axis of orientation will automatically draw the attention to the image. The models, the band, are the main focus of the magazine and so it is very important to make that clear and make sure they stand out against the rest of the front cover. In the terminal area I placed images of other alternative bands and artists in order to attract a larger audience in case they weren’t interested in the main band. Finally in the weak fallow area I placed the barcode, this is because it is the last place a reader will look at by following the Guttenberg Design Principle.

• For the double page spread the image and headline are on the left side of the double page spread however the headline goes across the top of the left page. The article I used was an interview so I used subheadings throughout to outline the questions asked. The body text begins at the top right of the right page and fills up the entire right page. I also added a pull quote from the interview on the top middle of the right page to add a little more information to grab attention to the interview and hopefully make the audience want to read the full interview. I used gutters throughout the page to split up the text on the right hand side page.

• On the whole of the double page spread I kept a colour theme of red and white against the black background to grab attention. The headline is in white, the band name is in bold red text, the questions are in red along with the individual band names with their responses in white. I used the same font for all the text apart from the headline and band name. I made the pull quote in white so it was clear it was a response to a question from that interview.

• I chose the colour theme of white and read because the magazine and band are alternative rock, for a rock magazine. These colours are often associated with the rock music genre and so fits the theme really well. I also think the colour of the text grabs attention because they contrast well against the black background.

PRIMARY OPTICAL

AREA

STRONG FALLOW

AREA

WEAK FALLOW

AREA

TERMINAL AREA

MASTHEAD

BADGE FLASH

MAIN IMAGE

PULL QUOTE/LEAD ARTICLE

BARCODE

COVERLINES

HEADLINE

GUTTERS

SUBHEADINGS

BODY TEXT

PULL QUOTE

Audience• When planning my magazine and its target audience

I wanted the target audience to be of both genders but mostly females between the age of 13 to 25. And from E (lowest level of sustenance, because for such a low age rage they will be unemployed, to anywhere higher on the social demographic table. However I knew I also wanted to attract a very alternative/rock fan audience, which could be classed as niche, which I tried to show through my magazine.

• I think my magazine does meet the needs of my target audience by having a very stereotypical rock band as my featured artist and also featuring other very well known and popular rock artists throughout the front page. I also used informal language so that the full age rage I was targeting would understand. The other images I used also anchor the audience by using popular bands and artists for example, Jeremy McKinnon and Kurt Cobain, who are both quite iconic rock bands.