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UNIT 6: ART AND DESIGN EXPLORATION/ APPLICATION

Project brief:

Date Set:

Presentation:

Hand in date:

Requirements:

Company Profile:

BMX Magazine

22/03/10

17/06/10

Target Audience and Customer Base:

Budget Agreement:

PPA is one of the UK’s largest and most

effective trade associations, and is one of the

leading magazine trade bodies worldwide.

Our job is to promote the interests of the UK

magazine and business media industry in

every way possible. We are at the heart of a

network of national and international alliances

across the creative industries, protecting our

members from damaging restrictions on press

freedom and on the freedom to advertise;

safeguarding our members’ intellectual

property; fighting for a cost-effective

postal distribution system; defending our

members against unnecessary regulation, and

promoting the editorial and financial health

of our industry. We have a strong interest in

training and development, and (as well as our

own training and qualifications) we accredit

twelve university courses in the UK. We are

part of the European and worldwide magazine

organisations, and we are part of the funding

bodies for the Press Complaints Commission

and the Advertising Standards Authority. We

are also one of the issuers of press cards to

journalists.

The target audience for this magazine will

be stereo typically targeted to males as they

are the substantial percentage involved in

the sport of BMX. The magazine will also be

targeted at people aged 16 - 30. To meet

the target audience’s needs through the

magazine, you will need to create a file,

researching BMX’ers and there interests. To do

this successfully, you could look into existing

BMX magazines, there lifestyles, and the

clothing they wear, which could all benefit the

magazine.

You will need to research materials and a

variaty of stock paper which would be suitible

for a magazine as well as being cost effective.

There will be no budget for this project, as it

shouldn’t be greatly costly. We will give you

a credit card number in order to purchase

items for the magazine, which could include

Fonts and Stock Imagery. Throughout this

process you will need to have a receipt for all

purchases.

We will pay you a wage of £10 per hour for the

job, including £1000 for the magazine sample,

£200 for the visual website design and £200

for the magazine logo itself.

- Design a BMX Magazine which will include:

• Designing logo for magazine

• Place logo onto T-shirt with additional

graphics

• Design front cover as well as up to 10 inside

pages. Each page must be diverse to one

another, all using various graphic design

techniques which reflect a BMX’ers lifestyle, to

interest them into the magazine.

• Content inside the magazine must contain

mainstream International news in the BMX

world, which may include such things as,

Interviews, Competition news and results,

Bike checks, Riding spots, Road trips. You may

also consider other things which may be of

interest to the potential buyers, but this must

be justified

• Create and design a website visual of a

home page for the magazine as well as a flash

based animated advert

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Project Brief

PPA: Magazine Design

Targets Progress

25/03/10

01/04/10

08/04/10

15/04/10

22/04/10

29/04/10

06/05/10

13/05/10

20/05/10

13/05/10

Produce project brief with realistic aims which meet all criteria.

Start my research, analysing existing magazines that interpret the same characteristics within each page, which also includes looking at logo’s for these. I will also need to research into BMX’ing and there lifestyles in order for my magazine to fit the target audience.

Research and discuss Materials, Equipment and Techniques, which includes the health and safety within a work place and equipment I will potentially use.

Begin personal research. Thing’s to include can be questionnaires, interviews, exhibitions, galleries. Also look at the target audience the magazine will be aimed at in order to meet there needs.

Begin personal research in order to get inspiration for my designs within this unit, by looking into a wide range of sources from graphic designers that inspire me.

Start development which will need to include mood boards, influences, colours and materials. I will also need to come up with a magazine name and maybe a strap line.

Continue my development by creating unique styles which I can incorporate into my magazine page layouts including adverts.

Start putting together final magazine pages using the knowledge of techniques and processes I have discovered during research.

Look at the constraints including print quality and stock that I will print my magazine onto and also what is used in industry.

Present my final work to fellow peers, taking criticism constructively in order to enhance my skills within graphic design. analyse and evaluate unit including final outcome.

Finished on time

Analysed several existing magazines that I’m going to base my magazine topic on, this included front covers, contents page and advertisements.

I looked at the articles that are written in BMX magazines . I will research and discuss materials, equipment and techniques at a later date. I was so inspirated by a piece i saw, I created my own advert to use in my magazine based upon the artwork.

I referenced the history of Ride BMX Mag and how it has changed through the years. I also experimented with ink and watercolour in order to generate ideas and technqiues to use for my page layouts/advertisements. I also quickly analysed different sport covers to see exactly what things are featured on a cover.

I searched the internet, creating a mood board of inspirational pieces of artwork in which I could extract certain styles and techniques to use in my own magazine. I created my first advert to use in my magazine using one particular piece of work as inspiration. Not get came up with a magazine name.

I analyzed several pages in an existing BMX magazine which include the contents page, advertising, and articles. I also looked at the artist Adi Gilbert, which inspired me to experiment using his techniques.

I generated a brainstorm of words that relate to BMX in order to try and come up with a magazine name. After creating handouts for my fellow piers to select what they think was the strongest name to go with, I started bouncing ideas of them which resulted in me coming up with my name, which will be ‘Vent’. I also designed the logo

I have made drawn concepts of my logo and finalized my final one. I have also began to put together my magazine pages using techniques that I’ve learnt through the research period.

Continuing magazine production and sourcing imagery and text from the internet as well as my own photography.

I am now putting the finishing touches to my magazine, and have been looking at binding techniques that I could use for my own magazine.

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Action Plan

Throughout this brief, I will need certain materials in order to create a final piece to the highest standard I am capable of,

these include electronic equipment as well as traditional instruments. Here is a list of materials that I would need, which

allows me to be prepared which saves me wasting time and disrupting my work flow.

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Equipment I will potentially use

Materials, Equipment And Techniques

Essentials -

Apple iMac

Adobe Suite including InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator

Access to the Internet

Pen, Pencil, Rubber, Ruler, Paper

Professional Printer

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Materials, Equipment And Techniques

Health and safety

When working in an IT based environment, there are many things that need to be taken into consideration. Firstly your

posture when sat at a computer. If not sat correctly you can develop repetitive strain injury (RSI) also known as repetitive

stress injury, repetitive motion injuries, repetitive motion disorder (RMD), cumulative trauma disorder (CT), occupational

overuse syndrome, overuse syndrome, regional musculoskeletal disorder.

This is an injury of the muscular skeletal and nervous system that can be caused through repetitive tasks, for example,

sitting in the incorrect position at a computer for long periods of time. There are over 10 RSI conditions, which most

commonly effects the upper arm area. There are many symptoms of RSI, some of which include pains or tenderness in

your muscles or joints, stiffness, throbbing, tingling or numbness, weakness, and cramp.

Mimicking this simple diagram will help to prevent yourself from developing RSI. It is also advised to take regular breaks

whilst working at a computer, this can be important, not just to help prevent such injuries as RSI but to also help prevent

mental strain which includes stress. When you hold your muscles at a fixed position, fatigue builds up and the same is

true for your eyes. Focusing on text or an image on the computer screen can also stop you from blinking regularly, which

adds to the feeling of fatigue. Using the computer after work to perform simple tasks such as surfing the web or replying

to emails will place extra strain on your already tired eyes. Simply looking away from the computer screen, and into the

distance, for a few seconds will relax your eyes and reduce the irritation of sore and dry eyes. As well as taking 5 minute

breaks every hour, which can help prevent the build up of general aches and pains that come from poor posture and lack

of movement. When taking these breaks it is very useful to do exercises which will help these trigger points that have

been involved in repetitive strain, and ultimately break the cycle of repetitiveness. Stress can acure throught the amount

of deep thinking involved in producing high standards of work in such proffessions. Ways to prevent stress include

Listening to soft music, excersin and, eating healthly.

Risk assessment is a simple way of taking an examination of things that could be potentially harmful to you and others in

a workspace. Determining a cause of actions if an accident did occur is also important, which could seriously change the

results of an action.

When in industry, working in such professions as graphic design, as well as any other field of work, which includes

meeting clients outside business premises, It is extremely

important to consider your own safety. Essentially you

should tell someone at all times where you are going and

what time you will be back. This will allow th`em to take

appropriate action if your not back in time whilst knowing

exactly where you are. Also carry a mobile phone around

with you, which you can use at any case of emergency.

The target audience I’m going to aim my magazine is obviously BMX’ers, at an age between 14 - 40. I will create a variety

of graphically pleasing page templates as well as articles that accomidate their needs. There are several scenes in the

BMX world. As there are many different disaplines in BMX, the terrain they ride of differs, for example, A street rider will

spend most of there time riding cities, towns and generally the ‘street’. To reach out to this target audience I will need

to incorporate things into my magazine which relates to every type of rider. For street riders, I will include articles on

professionals that ride the street, road trips, interviews and also create a page layout which relates to the chosen topic.

For park riders, I’ll create articles covering competitions, road trips, newly built skate parks, interviews innovative tricks

etc. I will also review products that are new out on the market

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Target Audience

For good practice I decided to look into the history of RIDE UK BMX MAG and how they have progressed since they

started, graphically, through there articles and commercially. There first magazine dropped in October of 1992. There

enitial logo was typography based, upper case, san serif and heavy weighted. Depending on the image used on the

cover, the logo would change between red, white and black. A san serif font would be used to advertise the articles

that are inside the magazine whilst an image of a rider would be placed in the centre of the cover. On there 4th year

they rebranded themselves. Changing the logo to something better suited and modernized. This new logo was a rathar

stylized lowercase font with a white fill and black drop shadow. Most layouts during these years consisted of an image

inside a border, allowing text to sit beside. Moving on 6 years, an image began to completely fill each front cover.

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Historical Referencing

Issue 1 - 6

1992 - 93

Issue 22 - 27

1996 - 97

Issue 57 - 62

2002

Issue 123 - 127

2009

Issue 80 - 84

2004 - 2005

On the 58th issue of RIDE BMX MAG they rebranded the company once again, by simplifying the logo down to all

lowercase characters, but also adding BMX to the title, as well as ‘magazine’. This gave Ride a new contemporary look

which left the old logo which is deemed unfashionable, in the past. It seems that in the past issues of the magazine a

lot less creativity was used in the from cover, a good example of this is shown between issues 67 and 104, where a hand

written font is used on most front covers. The reason for this is probably because of the simple fact that they didn’t

have acsess to the variaty of fonts avaliable today, although this was between 2003 and 2007, and through my research

I have found a range of fonts were actually available at that time. Whilst analysing 2009 issues of the magazine I have

noticed that there is a huge diversity within each front cover, incorporating traditional techniques with digital which

compliments the magazine and tells the viewer the type of presentation which will be expected within.

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Historical Referencing

Issue 1 - 6

1992 - 93

Issue 22 - 27

1996 - 97

Issue 57 - 62

2002

Issue 80 - 84

2004 - 2005

Issue 123 - 127

2009

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Cover Analysis - Ride UK

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Cover Analysis - MBUK

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Cover Analysis - Sidewalk

As part of my research, I’m going to analyse different

criteria of 4 magazines, ranging from a BMX

magazine to Front, which is a magazine aimed at

teenagers that includes girl models and interesting

weird topics. This type of analysis will allow me to

get an idea on what makes a successful magazine

for a particular topic. The things I’ll be looking at

include Magazine Logo’s, Page Layouts, Types of

articles etc.

The key question that you need to ask yourself

when launching a new magazine or spin-off is

‘How do I successfully reach out to the right

target audience. This is a hugely important

factor, not only is it great to produce

interesting articles and information as well

as graphically pleasing pages, it is not

appreciated heavily by the reader

if it isn’t what they intended

to read, especially if

it isn’t in there

interests.

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Existing Magazine Analysis

After looking at a variety of content

pages within the RIDE BMX Magazines,

I have noticed that each content

page consists of two pages, which are

covered by one single photograph.

These are landscape shots, which

mainly consist of the rider being

situated on the left side of the

photograph, which allows information

on the magazines content, being

shown on the right page.

The bottom left of the double page

spread often depicts a paragraph

written by the photographer about

this particular photograph and how

it came about. Also the designers

show which magazine issue you are

reading, on the same page which

the content information is on.

This is shown using a

particular technique

which suites the

image.

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Existing Magazine Analysis -Contents Page

This is a double page advertisement

spread placed on the first 2 inside

pages of Issue 138 of Ride UK BMX

MAG. It’s an advertisement by

Federal Bikes, which depicts one of

the team riders riding up a wall. This

perspective gives off a good clear

look at the rider and ultimately his

Federal BMX. What seems very clear

in this advertisement is the use of

traditional graphic design to create

such an effect on the pages. Ripped

paper has been used in order to add

important text to the page. These

include the rider seen in the picture,

which has been added to the top

right page. The UK distribution of the

company, that is also added which

includes there phone number, and

website. The photographers name is

also roughly placed at the bottom left

of page one. This is simply a ripped

off corner of a pervious photograph by

the photographer. This ripped paper

technique is very effective and gives

off a unique style when incorporated

with a photograph, but is often hard

to read when trying to present certain

information. Federal could have

presented the text a bit better by

revealing more letters in some words,

for example; the blue text above the

seventies logo, in which only 3 letters

are visible out of the 12 which spells

out Federal Bikes. Although this isn’t

ideal, the advert and magazine is

targeted towards well knowledged

BMX’ers in which most would

automatically notice

what company the

advert is promoting,

due to the team riders

that are shown at the

far side of page 2. To

create this effect it

seems that a paper

print out of a previous

advert has been

scanned it and placed

behind the original

photograph of the

rider. The mixture of

colours on the entire

page complement each other, as all

shades and colours are rather bland

which means here is no clashing in

colours.

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Existing Magazine Analysis -Design

As well as the sales of the RIDE

BMX Magazine gives them money,

what is the most profitable are the

advertisements that BMX companies

pay in order to advertise there

products in the magazine, A horrific

amount of the magazine is just pure

advertisement, which the average

reader of this magazine wouldn’t

particularly notice. When I began

to flick through Issue 138 in order to

really see how much of the magazine

was advertising, I was shocked to find

that the first 20 pages consisted of

double page advertisements and no

actual articles on BMX. I continued

to look through the magazine and

noticed that nearly one of every

two pages was an

advertisement.

This has automatically began

me to think that I should base

my own magazine more

on the articles rather then

advertisements. This would

be my USP (Unique Selling

Point) which would make

my magazine stand out

above the competition. The

only way for the potential

buyers to recognize this,

is through maybe the

magazine name, or and

strap line. I will soon

create a brainstorm, in

order to generate a

name and

strap

line.

The

above

image is an

advertisement for Nike 6.0,

It consists of a large image covering most

of the page, with information about the advert on

the right. This includes the companies logo, website

and team riders. Nike 6.0 use a unique mixture of

colours throughout there advertisements which

include neon orange and a mint green, whilst

using certain techniques which has added

texture to the colours to give off a traditional feel

to the advert. It seems as if the designer has used some

kind of print technique to create this

urban effect.In

most

sport

magazines as

well as many others, a

small catalogue can be found which

will sell many products that relate to the

magazine subject. The layouts (especially

in BMX and skateboarding magazines)

are generally the same which allow the

company to add as many things to this

2 page or maybe 4 page catalogue as

possible, in order to present a wider

selection of products to the reader

which will give them more of a chance

of selling a product compared to

an advertisement presenting one

product.

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Existing Magazine Analysis -Advertising

In every issue of Ride BMX UK Magazine, they analyze and

review various new products on the market. By my personal

experience, it seems that they try and review products which

the readers of the magazine will be most interested in, which

include long awaited products. The way they present these

pages are in a clean and visually pleasing design which

is easy on the eyes. The base colour of these pages are

white with products scattered randomly around the page

but in a manor which allows them to fit comfortably. The

products seem to have been photographed in a studio using

a white screen backdrop which allows easy transferring

into the magazine. It seems as though all the products

were photographed by the same photographer at the same

time, as all images have the same lighting and perspectives

angles. The images are complemented with a light weighted

san serif font in black, which contrasts perfectly with the

white background. To back this light weighted font up,

the designer has underlined each paragraph. To make it

easier for the reader to pick out import information about

the product, such as weight and price; the designer has

added these details in bold. If the reader wished to see more

images/read more about the product, the website of each

company has been added to the bottom of the page

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Existing Magazine Analysis- Articles

Each issue of the magazine also includes a page each on

‘UK News’ and ‘US News’ page. It’s quiet self explanatory

regarding the page title. It gives the reader an insight

into BMX new’s throughout each country. As the previous

analysis on reviews, this page is laid out in a very similar

fashion. Using a dotted lined border to isolate the page

information from the edge of the page. They have also

used the same background and body text, as well as

adding some words and sentences in bold, which allows

the reader to find information that suites them best,

quicker and easier. On the same page they sometimes

ask riders about there signature products as well as other

topics. In this certain questionnaire about the rider and

signature frame, they were asked how long they have

been riding for there sponsor, how long the product has

been in the making, when it will be available to buy and

other info regarding the product that could potentially

useful for the reader.

In Ride BMX Mag they also do bike bike tests, on high

end bikes to cheap and cheerful ones that can still take

a battering. They often get tested by pro’s and even

beginners by riding it for a day, pulling some big tricks

to see how far it can be pushed. Included on the page

are the specs of the bike which covers every part that is

combined to create the built BMX. Underneith the spec

also includes the RRP price.

By looking at several Ride BMX Magazines it seems that

they roughly keep the same layout for each topic in

each magazine. This gives consistency throughout the

magazine which allows the regular reader to know where

things are situatuated on each page. The Bike Test page

is no different, accompanying a full picture of the bike

to the top left of the page, including the specifications

by the side. I picture of the person testing the bike is

situated below, with there honest opinion on the bike at

the side. Close ups of the bike is also added on the page. I

believe the reason for this template throught pages in the

magazine is so the regular readers know where everything

is, which prevents confusion , which would happen if

things were placed differently each issue.

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Existing Magazine Analysis - Articles

Other unique articles on events that

include competitions, road trips etc

also have a place in the magazine.

They all individually have there own

design which is created especially

for each article. This first article

is coverage of the Simpel Session

competition in Estonia. The

designer has used white body text

in front of a black background

which gives off great contrast.

Images have been added to add

colour to the page and relate the

text with visual communication.

On the first page, a sequence

shot has been used of a rider

(Harry Main) landing a trick

which has never been done

before in the BMX world. This

covers the first half of the page,

followed by an overview of the

event by Harry Main and a report on other tricks that were landed.

The writer has backed up the sequence shot with a quote on the next page which reads “The look

on harry’s face in the last frame pretty much just sums it all up. . .”. Because the eye of the reader

automatically reads from right to left the designer has positioned this quote to the right/center of

the page which allows it to be the first thing the reader see’s which makes them automatically

look for the sequence shot. The background of this page depicts an image of part of the skate

park in the competition as well as a rider performing a trick in the centre. The top

of the image is very dark which allows white body text to be

added without the need of effects to

help it stand out.

For this particular

issue, a section

of the magazine

consisting of about

12 pages, which

are dedicated to an

article on Pro BMX’ers

which could possibly be peoples role

models. Ride UK Mag caught up with

them all at Corby Skate Park, and set

up a booth to get there picture taken

.Each page includes a section on the

BMX’ers bike spec which is shown

as well as statistics on there name,

where they live, age, years riding,

sponsors etc. Following this are

questions about there riding style,

bike setup, why they think they

might be a positive role model

as well as bad one. A template

has been made especially for

this article. It involves a pale,

tanned coloured background

with orange and black body

text. A very bubble like font is

placed at the top of each page,

aligned to the page crease, showing the riders name.

Accommodating each page is an image of each riding at Corby Skate Park.

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Existing Magazine Analysis - Articles

Other Inspiriational Advertisements - Adi Gilbert - Crutial BMX Shop

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I have been looking at digital and traditional techniques created by the

graphic designer Adi Gilbert. As well as many other things, he designs

advertisements for Crucial BMX Shop as well as his own clothing

company, TWOand8. His adverts are very inspirational as they include

inked drawings that seem to have been created mainly using a lightbox

as they are very life like with no distinct style. He has mixed watercolour

paints into the paper of the adverts in different ways. For example, to

create the blotchy patterns he most probably applied a heavy amount of

paint and water onto the brush and flicked it, These are very scattered

and randomized. He also took great care in painting certain parts of

each illustration. These mainly involve the hair and shading on the face,

which he has created using coffee, which gives off a very skin like tone. I

will take what I learnt during my analysis of these pieces and create my

own which I could use for one or more of my adverts if the technique is

successful.

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Inspiring Artists - Adi Gilbert

I am hugely interested in this type of design. It involves

scans of certain textures, shapes and the use of digital art

combined to create a montage of images and text which

gives off a very ‘hands on’ vintage feel to the artwork.

To create the black background for this work, my guess

is that Adi Gilbert crumpled a piece of paper up, scanned

it into photoshop and inverted the colours which has

given the previous dark crease marks a pale look, whilst

the pale paper is now black. The text was most certainly

digitally produced using ready made fonts. The fonts

were situated in a certain order, then using photoshop, a

layer mode bend was used, most probably Overlay, which

allows the texture from the layer behind to shine through.

If these colours and shades weren’t used it wouldn’t give

it such a old school look that it gives off. Effects were also

used which may include drop shadows which gives off

the effect of a collage of paper being laid on top of each

other. I may decide to incorporate this technical style into

one of my magazine advertisements.

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Inspiring Artists - Adi Gilbert

These are ink illustrations also created by Adi Gilbert, He

has used a large range of mediums to create these, which

include, ink pen, paint and watercolour. I wouldn’t expect

these are creating on one canvas, but infact several, for

each individual part, which he digitally manipulates to a

certain order. The background, which involves a mixture

of paint is most definitely a once, seperate piece. For

the portraits themselves, Adi has used simply an Ink

filled pen, and by using a build up of directional lines,

he has developed the face and beard including shading

by narrowing the width of each indvidual line. These

illustrations would have been made on a seperate piece of

paper and then scanned into Photoshop and manipulated

it. Random paint flickers have been made with a colour

that contrasts well with the black ink. To add the dark

shaded areas on the face, a pale watercolour has been

used. It seems that The typography on the page seems to

have been created by the designers himself rather then a

stock font.

Work with a similar style to Adi Gilberts Pieces

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Inspiring Artists - Adi Gilbert

Although

this may seem slightly

inappropriate to include in my work. It is completely relevent,

as it demenstrates just how a particular graphic designer in industry creates

the front cover of a magazine from scratch. As you can see, he printed outthe

rough front cover onto an A3 sheet of paper. He situated the photograph that

will be used in situe with the magazine name in place, and using a biro pen, he

wrote titles of articles which he thought would appeal to the target audience.

As you can see he came up with rather a lot of ideas, which allowed him to be

subjective with his final articles which appeared on the magazine.

On your right tells the reader of the magazine exactly who works for the

magazine and what they do for the company. Both these additions to the

magazine are quite unique, in the fact that I have never seen either of these

included.

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Existing Magazine Analysis -Articles

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Inspiration And Good Practice

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Inspiration And Good Practice

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Inspiration And Good Practice

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Inspiration And Good Practice

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Inspiration And Good Practice

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Inspiration And Good Practice

This is just at the experimental stage, and I will most probably use this technique on a different image which I will then use for an advert. I decided to use a lightbox to draw a portrait of a BMX’er. Firstly I went around his main features then started to add detail in certain areas. For my second attempt, I used a fine liner pen which allowed me to go into a lot more accuracy with shading. To keep my master copies safe, I scanned both illustrations onto the computer using Photoshop and printed off a couple of copies of my pen drawing to experiment further. Using my print outs I began to use watercolour on them, in the style of Adi Gilbert on his pencil drawing illustrations with watercolour combined. The first watercolour I created was more randomized with not too much thought which I thought could benefit my artwork. I also splattered watercolour onto my page and tipped the paper in order to give it the desired effect. My second watercoour was more controlled, by adding thought to were I placed the brush. I also used more

unrealistic colours. I thnk this technique worked well, which I’ll use for one of my advertisements.

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Experimentation - Pencil, Pen and Watercolour

Using the Doctor Who ‘To Victory’ poster as inspiration, I

began to recreate the poster using a BMX theme. I managed

to find an ideal picture of Total BMX rider Mark Webb,

although this was a low resolution image, it depicted the

rider performing a trick whilst pointing at the camera lens,

similar to the U.S. Army Campaign in 1917 which included

a man named ‘Uncle Sam’ pointing out to the viewers,

explaining that he wanted them to be part of the U.S. Army.

I began to use Adobe Photoshop to cut out the rider and

his bike. I managed to do this using the magic wand tool as

well as the eraser tool. After completing this stage I gave

the image the layer mode blend ‘Overlay’ which blended

all light parts of the image into the background, a similar

effect to what’s on the Darlek poster. I then found a brown

paper texture which I situated in the background. I also

used the pen tool to create orange triangular shapes within

the incomplete poster. Looking through my font archive, I

started looking at fonts that resembled the original one on

the Dalek poster. After failing at finding the right font, I took

the original poster into Photoshop and edited out the text. To

cut out the orange vector shape around the text, I duplicated

the layer and added a stroke to this. After rasterizing the

layer, I selected it’s path, clicked onto the orange vector and

hit delete. Although this is that I was aiming for from the

start, I felt as if I could do much more with it, which is when

I decided to create my first advertisement, using this retro

style.

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Experimentation

To convert this into an advertisement,

there were a couple of simple

things I needed to do. As I was only

advertising the company itself, I

incorporated there logo into the

bottom right of the image. I also

added information on the photograph,

of how to get in touch with the

company, using the font Alexandria

FLF, which is a slab serif font that

is similar to such fonts used in the

early to mid 20th century. I added all

this information on the ramp, at an

angle that married with the image.

After searching for a font that would

suite the style of design. I found one

that was very rough looking. After

realizing that I could have used Total

BMX’s logo for the title of the page,

I replaced the rough looking font.

This definitely benefited my design,

as it looks a lot more professional. As

well as the addition to this, I included

the companies UK distributors logo

to the bottom right of the advert.

As there was no white on the page

besides the information regarding the

company, I decided to select this text,

and highlight the image of the rider.

By pressing the delete button, I have

allowed the paper texture to show

through the image, which adds more

to the vintage feel of the design.

32

Experimentation/Development of first Advertisement

After previously decided to just advertise the

company itself apposed to there products, I had

a re-think and decided to try and incorporate the

BMX frames in their product line as there seemed to

be enough negative space on my design to do so.

I sourced the images I needed by searching their

website. Unfortunatly there website didn’t include

the specifications of the frames. I used google

search engine to come across the information I

needed on a BMX forum. Opening the frame images

in Adobe Photoshop, I desaturated them, to get

rid of any unwanted colour. I also used the magic

wand tool to delete any white in the images. As

the frame had highlighted parts throughout, they

are now transparent which, when placed onto the

advertisement looks rather retro and stencil like.

An effect I have added throughout is the negative

stroke, which deletes part any surrounding layer in

a stroked manor. I have done this on both frames,

frame specifications and the Total BMX logo. I

decided to do this as I have seen it done on several

vintage designs.

33

Experimentation/Development of first Advertisement

Session -

Carve -

Spine -

Hip -

Magazine name suggestions?

I created this handout in order for my fellow piers to

give me there opinion on what they think would be the

strongest name for my BMX magazine. I also gave them

a choice to give me suggestions on names they thought

would work well.. I interacted with them but having dis-

cussions, which is why most of the ideas aren’t down

on paper. After coming up with many possible names,

I decided on it to be called ‘Vent’ which links with BMX

due to an air vent, as ‘air’ is the term used in BMX when

a rider leaves the ground or ramp.

34

Developing Magazine Name - Handout

VENT BMX

VENT BMX

VENT BMX

VENT BMX

VENT BMX

VENT BMX

VENT BMX

VENT BMX

- Century Gothic Bold

- Century Gothic Regular

- AlexandriaFLF Bold

- Rockwell Regular

- Akaski Regular

- Arista 2.0 Alternate

- Disco Diva

- MOD

After deciding on my magazine name, I began to search for fonts that would work suitably. Century Gothic caught my

attention due to it’s clean cut, san serif style. I think a font like this would work best as it wouldn’t get outdated as quickly

as a font that is modern at this time for example, Rockwell. This would save the logo needing to be changed a few years

down the line, which would ultimately cost the company a lot of money. AlexandriaFLF Bold is slightly more condensed

then Rockwell Regular and appears to have more style within. Arista 2.0 Alternate is a very modern font, fonts of this

style are used largely at this time which is why it would be a suitable font as it would appeal to the target audience by

looking fresh and ‘in’. The shape of the characters also links with the magazine name as the gradual curves imitate air

vent pipes. The font Disco Diva also gives the same link through the build up of lines which create the characters. The

fonts that I have discussed in this paragraph, I’ll experiment with using Adobe Illustrator, I will also need to add ‘BMX

magazine’ to the logo in some way.

35

Typography

Firstly I created my first concept

using the font ‘Century Gothic’. I made

my magazine name in a bold style

with ‘BMX’ being in the regular style.

I find that doing this makes the two

words compliment each other due to

there differences. I have decided to

use the font ‘Caviar Dream’ for the

word magazine’ In each concept I

have lined this word up with the end

of the large text and the end of certain

characters. The next font I chose to

experiment with was ‘Disco Diva, as I

said on the last page, the connectiion

of lines side by side resemble air vents

in buildings by the interlocking style.

Although the style of font has this link

with the magazine name, I don’t think

It would be very practical to go ahead

with this, as the font is very stylized

and could go out of trend very quickly

which would result in the logo looking

dated. I also experimented with

two other fonts which have similar

properties between one another

which are named AlexandriaFLF and

Rockwell MT. They are both slab serif

fonts but Rockwell MT is shorter and

more compact. I experimented with

the positioning of the word ‘magazine’

as well as ‘BMX’ and it’s tracking. I

also manipulated the tracking on

both fonts which allowed the serifs to

join one anoher. On my last concept,

I prolonged the body of the T by

bending it to run under the N which

gave a nice fit for ‘bmx magazine’ to

situate. Although either of the slab

serif fonts would be visually suitable

for the magazine, they would get

dated very quickly which is why I’m

going to go with the font ‘Century

Gothic’.

36

Logo Development

VENTB M X M A G A Z I N E

BMX MAGAZINE

VENTB M X M A G A Z I N E

VENT BMX M A G A Z I N E

M A G A Z I N EBMXVENT

VENT BMX M A G A Z I N E

VENTB M X M A G A Z I N E

This is my finished logo, I created it using Adobe Illustrator as it allows me to resize the logo to what ever size I wish

without pixelation, this is perfect as I wouldn’t need to recreate the logo at a larger size for promotional adverts for

print etc. I have added a slight black to transparent gradient to the text which gives off more of a modern feel whilst

contrasting nicely with the red background. As the logo is based on a straight line whilst having a relitively short height,

it would work perfectly on my magazine cover, by not using up too much space

37

Logo Development

I decided to add a blurred effect to my logo which would be used for advertising and merchandise, although it wouldn’t

be very suitable for the front of my magazine as the blurred effect would interfere with the impact I want the logo to

create to the potentional customers. I create this by duplicating the layer in Photoshop, and by experimenting the motion

blur effect, it created something which relates to the magazine name as the blur makes the logo look as if it’s moving,

similar to air in an air vent.

38

Logo Development

This is a 3D version of my logo which I created using Adobe Illustrator. I selected my text and clicked onto extrude and

bevel in the 3D category in the effects bar. I experimented with certain settings including the angle of my logo, in which

I found this position the most complementary. After I was happy with my 3D logo I exported it into Photoshop which I

added additional shadowing to certain parts of the text as I added lighting that shone down on the logo from the top

right of the design. This could also be used on merchandis, website and possibly a letterhead

39

Logo Development

Alexandria FTF

Caviar Dreams

Disco Diva

Arista 2.0 Alternate

Comfortaa

Doergon wave

MOD

Plexifont BV

P o p l a r S t d

RockoFLF

Rockwell MT

VAL

Walkway Black

WC ROUGHTRAD Bta

Weezer Font

Angel TearsQuicksand

Haettenschwei ler

I have searched for fonts that would be appropriate to use as the main type face for a double page spread article. All of

the above fonts would work well as they all have strong styles which would suite as a main type. These fonts can also be

used as part of some of the advertisements I will soon design.

40

Typography For Magazine - Titles

Quicksand Book Century Gothic Helvetica LightMin ut alisl eriureraesto el iliquat, consequam iriure diat vent aut ullan veraessi.Raessi blan euguero eum dip euis aut wis at dolortissent lam illa con ute consequ ametuer iliquis er aliquip sus-tinim do euAgna faccum dui et nullan eu faciliq uamet, quat nisse do dignim adionsed do duis ea conse dolore erostrud min hent illa ad dio conse es-sim num velenim volenit alissis at ver sis nostrud minit vel del dolenim delis amconsectem dio consed enim dipissi.Unt lor suscin hent ing et prat alit lan-drer at acidunt nullam enim ex ea fa-cillut wis atem ercidunt nummy niamet venim dolor sis et alisi.Duiscinim digna facinci blan erostrud del iliquat. Esto dolenis eros niat luptatum il ercinibh esecte dolore duisi.Sissi bla commy nulput praessent aliquat alit utpat, quat venibh eu feuis num il dolore doluptat ip er suscidunt laor sequam vel ulluptatem del ullaore molestrud magna feu facin hendip eniam ilit iriusci duipit adignim non-ulpute magna facil del ing eugait illut diat venisissed essequismod eraesecte do corpero stinis eros dolor sent eros dolesequi eugait am ilis nonsequ am-corperosto ea adipis aliquis atin vulla facilit prat at iure feugait adipsuscilis dolore faccum nullum velessed te vo-lore faccums andigna augait alit ali-quatuero do consed dionsed magniam conseniam zzrit dolutem voluptat, qui tis nim dolorem quatue magnisi.Ibh eugiametue vel eugiam, sumsan velit acil ing ea facin hent dolorer sum vel utet praesendre ea facinis nulluptat adipit ut volore euisisi.Um accum vulla feugait iurer sum dolobore dolendre dolut accummo doloreet, summodo lortie magnis nos-tinibh essi.Ci te vel eugue velisse mod magna feu feuisim quis eugue dolese magna con-

Min ut alisl eriureraesto el iliquat, consequam iriure diat vent aut ul-lan veraessi.Raessi blan euguero eum dip euis aut wis at dolortissent lam illa con ute consequ ametuer iliquis er al-iquip sustinim do euAgna faccum dui et nullan eu faciliq uamet, quat nisse do dignim adionsed do duis ea conse dolore erostrud min hent illa ad dio conse essim num velenim volenit alissis at ver sis nostrud minit vel del dolenim delis amconsectem dio consed enim dipissi.Unt lor suscin hent ing et prat alit landrer at acidunt nullam enim ex ea facillut wis atem ercidunt num-my niamet venim dolor sis et alisi.Duiscinim digna facinci blan erostrud del iliquat. Esto dolenis eros niat luptatum il ercinibh es-ecte dolore duisi.Sissi bla commy nulput praessent aliquat alit utpat, quat venibh eu feuis num il dolore doluptat ip er suscidunt laor sequam vel ul-luptatem del ullaore molestrud magna feu facin hendip eniam ilit iriusci duipit adignim nonul-pute magna facil del ing eugait illut diat venisissed essequismod eraesecte do corpero stinis eros dolor sent eros dolesequi eugait am ilis nonsequ amcorperosto ea adipis aliquis atin vulla facilit prat at iure feugait adipsuscilis dolore faccum nullum velessed te volore faccums andigna au-gait alit aliquatuero do consed dionsed magniam conseniam zzrit

Min ut alisl eriureraesto el iliquat, con-sequam iriure diat vent aut ullan ve-raessi.Raessi blan euguero eum dip euis aut wis at dolortissent lam illa con ute consequ ametuer iliquis er aliquip sus-tinim do euAgna faccum dui et nullan eu faciliq uamet, quat nisse do dignim adionsed do duis ea conse dolore erostrud min hent illa ad dio conse essim num velenim volenit alissis at ver sis nostrud minit vel del dolenim delis amconsectem dio consed enim dipissi.Unt lor suscin hent ing et prat alit lan-drer at acidunt nullam enim ex ea facil-lut wis atem ercidunt nummy niamet venim dolor sis et alisi.Duiscinim digna facinci blan erostrud del iliquat. Esto dolenis eros niat luptatum il ercinibh esecte dolore duisi.Sissi bla commy nulput praessent aliquat alit utpat, quat venibh eu feuis num il dolore doluptat ip er suscidunt laor sequam vel ulluptatem del ullaore molestrud magna feu facin hendip eniam ilit iriusci duipit adignim non-ulpute magna facil del ing eugait illut diat venisissed essequismod erae-secte do corpero stinis eros dolor sent eros dolesequi eugait am ilis nonsequ amcorperosto ea adipis aliquis atin vulla facilit prat at iure feugait adipsus-cilis dolore faccum nullum velessed te volore faccums andigna augait alit aliquatuero do consed dionsed magniam conseniam zzrit dolutem voluptat, qui tis nim dolorem quatue magnisi.Ibh eugiametue vel eugiam, sumsan

After looking into fonts which could possibly be suitable for the body text in my magazine, I had three to choose

between. I needed to find a font type that wasn’t extreme in style, as this could possibly distract the reader from the

content written. I thought that going for a san serif font will make it easy on the eyes of the reader. I am unsure on what I

will use in my magazine and will decided at a later stage when I have page layouts to place the body text in situe.

41

Typography For Magazine - Body Text

42

Colour Palettes

Here I have chosen a selection of colour palettes which

would work well together on a page layout in my magazine.

Throughout my research I have came across colour trends

which I have added to this page in order to not forget them.

I have been searching the internet for images that could possibly be suitable as a front cover

image for my magazine. What I needed to find were images of a high resolution, which show

the rider performing a trick at mid point, in order to present it in such a way that is appealing

to the viewer, this evidently allows them to notice the trick being performed. Good lighting also

needs to be existent in the image in the beneficial way of making the rider the main focal point.

43

Possible Front Cover Images

44

Possible Front Cover Images

45

Possible Front Cover Images

All together I sourced 8 images which would all be

suitable to feature on the front cover of my magazine.

These are my three choices to be set in situ in order

to get a feel of what they might look like as my

from over. All have strong properties, in which they

all share powerful colours and contrast. As it will be

the first issue of the magazine I wanted to express

the company name as much as possible. One way I

have done this is by creating a motion blur behind

my original logo which links with the company name

‘Vent’ such as air vent. This would not be possible

with the two images on the right of this page as thee

photographs have been taken in daylight which will

mean the motion blur wouldn’t show up as effectively

as the above image. Overall I decided to choose

the image above to be my front cover. There are

many reasons for this which includes the resolution

I found the image at, the stylish modern trick being

performed as well as the perfect lighting and urban

feel the photograph portrays.

46

In Situe Imagery

My last job on the front cover is to

add the two main features of the

magazine onto the front. This is vital

as it advertises to the viewer what

is included in the magazine when

on a shop shelf. As well as depicting

this, I will have to present it in such

a way, that it works in harmony with

the background image and other

attributes. I added my main feature

onto the cover which will be an

interview with former BMX Flatland

World Champion Effraim Catlow. One

of my additional titles will include

‘Total BMX’ where I’ll add a subtitle

saying exactly what I’ll be doing, this

will also be the same for my other

key features I’m including inside the

magazine.

47

Drawn Concepts

48

Issue numberIssue date

Prices in different countries

Actual scanned code

Here is my finished barcode which I have placed onto my

front cover image. I have used the font Rockwell to present

the text information about the issue number, date of issue

and the prices.

Front Page Development

49

I created this sticker design in Photoshop to promote

the fact that the magazine comes with a free poster.

To give off the effect of the sticker seeming authentic

I had to go through a lot of stages. at first I simply

used the eclipce tool in photoshop and made a circle

with a gradient inside which I then added a stroke

to and rasterized. I selected the layer, right clicked

onto it and used the warp effect to manpulate the

circle in order to give it some sort of flick to the edge

which cannot be seen until later on. I then added a

drop shadow to the circle and right clicked the FX

icon where I selected Create Layer. This divided the

layer and effect which allowed me to manipulate

them individually. I warped the drop shadow layer

outwards in order to create a better effect. The final

stage I needed do was to create the shine on the

sticker in order to give it the effet of peeling. To

do this I created a black to white to black reflected

gradient and changed the layer mode blend to

screen. This was my sticker finished, I then imported

it onto my front page and applied text within

Front Page Development

My first concept idea is to slant the text depicting features in the magazine. I’ve done this

to link the text with the trick the rider in the photograph is performing. This gives the cover

consistency. I used the font ‘Alexandria FTF’ which is a slab serif font, It is a rather heavy

weighted font that, although looks rather old fashion, it gives off a modern feel as slab style

fonts are heavily used at present. I’ve positioned everything in a dynamic way that each word

complements the next.

50

Digital Concepts

My next concept is similar to the previous one as the typography is slanted and also interlock

with each other. However, I have used a completely different font called ‘SF MOVIE POSTER’.

This font is highly condensed and elongated which gives the cover a completely different feel

to the previous concept.

51

Digital Concepts

For my third concept I aligned the text straight. I also used the font ‘Quicksand’ varying the

style depending on it’s purpose. I find this the weakest concept out of the 3, therefore I will not

be developing it further.

52

Digital Concepts

Primary Research

53

Effraim Catlow Interview

For the main feature in my magazine I

have chosen to interview former BMX

World Flatland Champion Effraim Cat-

low. As I know him personally it has

made it a lot easier to do this. I re-

searched the types of questions that

are asked in a bmx interview from

such websites as vitalbmx.com and

bmx.transworld.net. I used some from

these sources as well as creating my

own. I emailed Effraim just to make

sure it’s still ok to do the interview, he

emailed me back saying it was fine,

which is when I sent him my twenty

questions.

54

Here is the email in reply to my interview questions, as well as doing a fantastic job on answering each question in depth

he sent over a selection of images for me to use in the article.

Effraim Catlow Interview

Document Setup

55

Magazine Development

After deeply analysing different magazines, I

gathered information on their measurements,

and decided to go with the measurements 225

mm x 300 mm. This size wouldn’t fit onto A3 pa-

per which means I will have to print each double

page on A2. I turned facing pages on, on my new

document and gave a top and bottom margin of

8 mm and inside and outside to 6 mm. I gave my

document a 2 mm bleed around the edge which

gives the printer some flexibility if the print is out

of line, as this 2 mm bleed will be cut off. I also

added page numbering to my master page.

Content Page

After creating my InDesign file, I began to produce my content page. I already had the image to use across the double

page spread as I used one that could possibly have been my from cover. Firstly I mirrored the image horizontally

as the rider was originally positioned on the right which wouldn’t make it possible to add text to the page. I added

information to the right page which gives the reader a clear understanding of what’s inside the magazine and on each

page. I decided to use the font ‘SF Movie Poster’ as it’s a san serif font that looks very modern and clean, making the

page numbers and title orange which I find complements the background image and specifically the orange ramp. To

mark the first issue of the magazine I wanted to make this very clear on the contents page using the same text used

for the content text. At first I enlarged my text reading ‘ISSUE ONE’ and justified all lines in the text box which forced all

characters to the edge of the text box evenly. Although I like the concept idea, the text was situated in the wrong place

as well as being too large.

56

Magazine Development

Content Page

Magazine Development

Next I positioned the text below the content information, aligning

the text central. Something just wasn’t looking right, and figured

out it was the space between the text and ramps in the image

below. Because of this I changed the word ‘one’ to the number

and made it read on one line which looked a lot better.

57

Effraim Catlow Interview Layout

Magazine Development

For my interview of Effraim Catlow I decided to go with

the theme of bokeh art. This is a type of blur which can

be achievable using a camera. It gives off, out of focus

circular shapes that usually appear in the background

of photographs. Instead of using a camera to create

these effects, I’ll be designing them digitally using

photoshop.

58

Effraim Catlow Interview Layout

Magazine Development

To create this bokeh effect, I

firstly added a dark grey layer

to my file. I then hid the layer

and created a black circle at

50% opacity and added a black

stroke. I turned this into a brush

by going to File/Define Brush

Preset, this added my shape to

the brushes window. I opened the

brushes settings up and began

to experiment with each setting.

I wanted to create a brush that

automatically scattered the brush

which is why I turned the spacing

to 100%. I also experimented with

the smoothing, shape dynamics

and scattering until I was happy.

59

Effraim Catlow Interview Layout

Magazine Development

I added a gradient overlay to my grey background using

the colours d8e000, 1bdaeb, 9b3b81, d27e34. After I was

happy with my gradient and the way the colours were

positioned, I used my customized brush to add the bokeh

effect over the top of my gradient on a new layer in a

large manor.

60

Magazine Development

Effraim Catlow Interview Layout

I used a gaussian blur to blur the bokehs and repeated this process again applying the gaussian blur

at a lower level and at a smaller size. Finally I made my bokehs rather small applying them to my

design and not blurring them which gives off a closer perspective.

61

Magazine Development

Effraim Catlow Interview Layout

I used my bokeh design for the double page spread of my Effraim catlow interview. I placed a white

gradient on each page which is where I am going to place my text. I decided to present Effraims

name using the font SF Movie Poster. I selected the path of the text, clicked on the white gradient on

the left page and hit delete, this allowed the bokeh effect to be shown where the text originally was.

62

Magazine Development

Effraim Catlow Interview Layout

I gathered the interview text from Effraim and placed it below his name which I added at the top of the left page. I pre-

sented it using 2 columns of text, continuing onto the second page. I placed photographs of Effraim sent by himself to

the right hand page in such a spacious manor, which is easy on the eye. My other reason for this is because the photo-

graphs were not of a high resolution, so if I sized them any bigger, they would pixelate.

63

Magazine Development

Hardware Insight and Master page

For articles which will be shown during each issue of the magazine, I needed to create a master page that regular

readers could relate with on going articles such as an insight on hardware products. For this master page, I created a

coloured background, depending on the subject, I loweredW the opacity to 50%. I then added a white box over the top of

my coloured one, making it fit into my restricted art board. To make my master template look a little more graphic based

and professional, I added dotted lines around the joins of the coloured and white box. I used the font SF Movie Poster for

my title text and underlined it using a dotted line which I continued on the next page. I decided to go with a clean, simple

and spacious design layout for my hardware insight page. I sourced the imagery from various BMX shopping websites

and using the specifications given on the sites, I wrote my own content about them, which ended up being rather time

consuming.

64

Federal Advertisement

Magazine Development

of the image until I was

happy with the outcome.

I wasn’t greatly happen

with how my sequence

iamges came out in the

photo so I used a photo

that I took outside and

took the sequence shot

from this and added it on

top of my studio photo. I

changed the brightness

and contrast in order for

the colours and shapes

to match the photograph

behind. I also needed to

add a drop shadow to

this in order for the layer

to seem like it’s part of

the below image.

of my collage. At first

this didn’t work as the

lighting was poor and

uneven, resulting in

light glare being made

on the images. I went

outside to try again

using natural light to

aid my photograph.

This was much better

then the photographs

I took indoors but still

wasn’t what I was

looking for. This is when

I used the colleges

photography studio to

take my photograph,

with the aid of two

tungsten lights which

gave me a continuous

light source, that

ultimatly gave me even

lighting throughout my

collage photograph. To

finalize my photograph

to be used in my advert,

I experimented with the

brightness and contrast

I decided to create an advertisement,

which included mainly the traditional

technique of collage, with the mixture

of digital finishing. Firstly I sourced

a selection of photographs which

depicted a BMX performing a trick

which is shown in a sequence. This

sequence of images was shown in a

one file GIF format. In order to collect

each image within the file, I had to

open the GIF using the appropriatte

software. I then took a screen shot

of each image as I couldn’t export

each image seperatly. Once I done

this I printed each photograph out

individually, making sure that stretched

out in 2 rows of 4, the images would

measure 450pixels by 300pixels whih

is the measurement of the custom two

page spread in my magazine. I stuck

them down, overlapping each other,

and placed them over other peices of

paper I ripped up, which I intended

to add images and text too, which is

why I used contrasting shades of black

and white. After the images were stuck

down onto black paper, I used a SLR

camera to take a birds eye photograph

65

Federal Advertisement

Magazine Development

I chose to advertise Dan

Lacey’s frame the Lacey

Frame, which he is riding in

the sequence shot. It was

hard to find a high resolution

image of the frame so I

needed to go with a medium

quality image. I subtracted

the white background from

the image and split it into

two seperate layers. I then

added each frame on top of

each seperate piece of paper

in the background image so

the end of the frames lined

up with the tear of the paper.

I used the eraser tool in order

to rub out parts of the frame

to give it a look of the frame

being printed on paper, and

then ripped in half. After I

was happy with this outcome

I began to add other details

to my Photoshop file. These

incudled the specifications

of the frame which can be

visable by the reader, which I

tried to show using the effect

of a seperate peice of black

paper behind the paper

with the frame ‘printed’ on

it. I thought it looked a little

plain at the lower part of

my design, so I added some

grunge looking textures to

the frame printed paper. I

managed this by sourcing a

texture image and using the

magic wand tool, I selected

grunge looking parts of the

image and imported them

on top of my photograph. I

used a layer mode blend in

order to get the texture to

montage nicely within each

object and changed the

colour . Using the eraser tool

once again I rubbed out any

unwated parts of the texture.

66

Magazine Development

Federal Advertisement

There were quite a few parts of negative

space on my design, which I needed to fill with

mandatory information about the company

and what’s being advertised. This included

the BMX companies logo which I sourced from

there UK distrubution companies catalogue,

which I placed at the bottom left of the design

as if it was ripped near the start. I also added

there UK distrobution companies logo to

the bottom right and using a magic wand

selection of my grunge texture I deleted part

of the logo to help the image fit in more with

the advertisements style.

67

Magazine Development

Proper Advertisement

For another double page spread advertisement, I decided

to use the company Proper BMX. I simply sourced an image

from the internet of one of their professional riders, and

created a simple/ contemporary design. I did this by typing

out the companies name in an appropriate font and set up

guide lines all the way around the text to give me a 5mm

spacing. I then used the pen tool to create a shape which

in housed the text, adding a light red to dark red radial

gradient within. Using the effects tab I added a white stroke

around my shape to add a very bold presentation to the

design. Next I needed to experiment with the placement of

the design in order to find the

appropriate place to place it. I

felt that, as a wall was running

along the center left of the

photograph, I could place the

design in such a manor, that it

looks as if the design is behind

the wall, this is what I decided

to do by cutting out part of

the background image and

duplicating it, setting it in front of

my design. The final stages of the

design included myself placing

the companies website and

email to the bottom left of the

advertisement using the same

font as my contemporary design.

68

Magazine Development

Total BMX

I wanted to design a Total BMX double page spread, which includes my Total BMX advertisement that I designed a few

weeks back, whilst developing techniques during experimentation. I created two quick sketches using a light box, one of

which was done during the experimentation process. These sketches have been included into my magazine that you can

see in the above image. I also sourced images from the Total BMX website that I included into the article. This page is

giving the reader an insight on what this new company is about including the owners and riders, all text of which, I have

written myself.

69

Magazine Development

Tested and Rated

Equipment Used:

• Digital SLR

Camera

• Photography

Studio

• External Flashes

• White Screen

• BMX

I wanted to create and design, a tested and rated feature double page spread into my magazine, which would include

images of my BMX bike. The article would include pictures of my BMX and the products used on it.

As I have ridden all of these products for a long time, I know how they perform, so I decided to write a review on a

selection of parts used on my BMX. Firstly, I took my bike into a photography studio and took images of it, close up and

at full view. To get the effect I was looking for I had to experiment with the shutter speed and aperture, in order to allow

enough light into the camera to get my desired shot. After this I took them into Photoshop and edited them to make the

colours brighter and shadows darker in order to get a professional outcome to add into my magazine.

70

Magazine Development

Tested and Rated

I partly used the master page

layout for this article by adding

dotted line border around the

edge. I decided to go with a

rather random layout for this

page by placing imagery and

text randomly. I went with a

white background as the imagery

fades nicely into the back drop.

At the start of my first page

I added a title using the font

Sketch Rockwell, which I thought

links well the dotted border as it

gives it a some what, blueprint

atmosphere. Below this I added

the full view photograph of my

BMX, including below this is a full

specification of my bike which

starts off the readers outlook on

my bike. For each product I wrote

a paragraph talking about the good and bad points which include its reliability, weight, price and comfort. At the top left

of page 2 of this article I included a photograph of myself performing a trick at the local skate park.

71

Magazine Development

Frame Insight

For my final double page spread in my magazine, I have written an article, looking into four totally different frames, by

four different companies. I sourced the imagery from the internet as well as the frame specifications although, I have

written each paragraph myself. I have used my master page layout as if I was to create another issue, this article would

be included in every one.

72

Magazine Development

Monster Energy Advertisement

For my back cover I wanted to create something that was vibrant and very eye catching to the reader, which is why I

decided to create an advertisement for Monster Energy who depict there company in a very bright manor.

I searched Monster Energy’s logo

from google.

I created this eye catching blur in

Photoshop, by duplicating M part of

the logo and using the radial blur

effect. I done this to seem as if the M

is shooting out of the page.

To keep things consistent, I added

a subtle motion blur to the word

energy , As well as creating a mirror

effect by duplicating the layer and

vertically mirroring it.

I needed to include the website into

my advert, so I used the font Caviar

Dreams to do so, below the modified

Monster Energy logo.

I wasn’t entirely happy with the

way I presented the Monster

Energy website which is why I

designed this quick piece of text

saying ‘.com’ which links with the

monster logo by using a green to

yellow gradient.

73

Magazine Development

To finish off my last advertisement, I wanted to add more of a personalized touch and include

more imagery. I decided to use Monster Energy’s slogan which is ‘Unleash the beast’and present

this in text form using the font Haettenschweiler,. This is a very heavy weighted font, which I found

appropratte as Monster Energy is all about pure energy and strength which relates to the font. I

placed the word ‘unleash’ above ‘the beast’ and aligned the text central to the page. I added a

green to yellow vertical gradient to the text, which once again relates to Monster Energy, in both

visual form and by their intentions.

Monster Energy Advertisement

74

Magazine Development

Vent BMX Website

This is the website I created for Vent BMX Magazine, I based it around the Effraim Catlow interview page layout by

adding bokehs to the background and a white to clear gradient as my sub background layer. I kept with the whole

gradient theme by adding a black to clear gradient to make up each column on the website which shows each article

and the most popular artlicle on the website. I used the font SF Movie Poster for my menu bar which allows you to reach

any part of the website. I added the Vent BMX logo to the top of the white sub background, inverting the colours of the

original logo which gives a base black fill with a subtle white gradient. My website was looking to plain and I needed to

create and add some adverts to the website to make it look more professional and active. I used imagery from my Total

BMX as well as my Federal advert in order to create two seperate, website ready advertisements. Finally I added a bar to

the bottom of my website which allows viewers to contact Vent BMX, read the terms and conditions of the site as well as

many other things.

75

Apparel

Using designs I had already created, I decided to place them onto some t-shirt templates.

Vent BMX White

Monster Energy Front Monster Energy Back

Vent BMX Black

76

Perfect Binding

Saddle Stitching

Singer Sewing

Wire-O Binding

There are many different techniques involving the binding of paper and documents. I will need to investigate and look at

different ways of doing so, in order to pick the right technique for my magazine. These are the different techniques that

I’ve sourced from the internet.

Method of binding books, brochures and

magazines in which sheets are folded and

collated and held together in a wrap-around

cover by adhesive.

This binding technique involves attaching the

double sided printed paper on top of each

other using a flexible glue. The pages are

glued at the edge and using a clamp, they’re

secured together. After the glue has dried, a

preferable hard outer shell is then wrapped

around the document and glued at the spine.

Also called All Along Sewing, a style of sewing

along the edge or centre fold to keep pages

bound.

Technique in which the leaves of a brochure,

book or calendar are punched with square or

round holes into which a loop wire is applied.

Wire-O® is available in a chrome finish and a

range of colours.

77

Binding Techniques

Inter Screws

Spiral Binding

Case Binding

Ring Binding

Binding device whereby a screw with an

external thread is screwed into a post with

an internal thread. Available in chrome and

brass finish. Can be used with or without

metal plate.

Technique similar to Wire-O binding in which

the leaves of a brochure or book are punched

with round holes into which a spiral of plastic

or metal is applied. Spirals are available in a

wide range of colours and sizes.

Specialist technique of gluing pages into a

case made of binder’s board which can be

covered with cloth, paper, plastic or leather.

Also called hard binding and cloth binding.

Spring-loaded clamping device usually

riveted into a paper over board or

polypropylene folder. Available with a various

numbers of rings and capacities.

Binding Techniques

Source: http://www.impcreative.co.uk

After researching the different techniques of binding documents together, I have came to the conclusion to use the

technique of Saddle Stitching. Although a traditional magazine will use the Perfect Binding effect, the amount of pages

inside my magazine isn’t enough to glue against a spine. I still want to include my spine in the magazine so I will be printing

the front cover, spine and back cover on a thick stock whilst the inside pages will be printed seperatly, stapled together and

slotted inside my outer shell. I’m undecided on whether the inside pages will be glued to the inside of the outer shell or not.

78

Printing Processes

Offset lithography is a printing technique which is widely used around the world. Most books, newspapers, and

magazines are printed using offset lithography, and this printing technique is widely regarded as the workhorse of

printing, because it is fast, efficient, cheap, and relatively easy. The “offset” in the name refers to the fact that the ink is

transferred to a separate surface before being applied to the paper.

This would be the ideal way of printing my magazine if it was going to be printed commercially, as the offset process

prints pages at super high speed (300 pages per minute). As I will be only printing one copy of my magzine, I will get it

printed at a professional printers, using a standard printing process.

79

Evaluation

I was approached by the PPA, which

is one of the worlds most established

companies which promote the

interests of the UK magazine and

business media industry. The brief

was to create from scratch and

produce a BMX Magazine. I was

given the freedom to decided the

name of the magazine and what

would go into it. To do so, I needed to

research into existing BMX magazines

thoroughly, looking at each section

separately. Firstly, I referenced the

historical development within the

BMX magazine, Ride. This showed me

how technology had changed the

way things are made, allowing further

development and experimentation

to take place. I also quickly analysed

using arrow form, other front covers

of extreme sport magazines including

Mountain Bike UK and Sidewalk

Skateboarding Magazine, this gave me

a general knowledge on what needs

to be included on a front cover, for

example, price, bar code, title of the

magazine and information regarding

the interior of the magazine i.e

featured articles. The presentation of

the features on the magazine needed

to be interesting, clear and readable,

in order to grasp the potentional

customers attention. As I would be

creating several advertisements to

place in my magazine, I searched

inside magazines and on the internet

for any work that could possibly

inspire me, be it the layout or

technique used. Whilst looking through

the magazine Front, I came across

a very helpful page, which showed a

small image of the front cover with

biro pen written all over it, this was he

designers way of brainstorming ideas

to place on the front cover. I added

this to my research file a for good

practice which could benefit me at a

later date which I start my production.

I started to begin experimenting with

different materials and technique that

I found from inspiring artwork and

design previously. My first piece was

an illustration of Total BMX rider Mark

Webb. I then carried on experimenting

with this BMX rider by creating a

piece of artwork which I based on

designs from the early nineteen

hundreds. As the time I spent on this

design lengthened I found myself

creating my first advertisement for

Total BMX. I thought it was about time

I started thinking about the name

of my magazine, which resulted in a

brainstorm of words relating to BMX

being made. Although a variety of

words were produced, none of them I

thought were strong enough to be the

name of my magazine company, which

is why I resulted in creating a hand

out and asking fellow peers for advice

and suggestions. During the stage

of bouncing ideas off of a particular

student, we came up with Vent.

Straight away, During my research I

found out that mostly all magazines

in the industry have a typography

based logo. Searching the internet, I

found a collection of fonts which could

possibly be suitable for my logo, the

next stage was to type the magazine

name out in each font and back some

of the strongest fonts out, which I then

bastardized and experimented with

in Adobe Illustrator until I picked my

chosen font which was Century Gothic.

Through experimentation I finalised

my logo which I’m very pleased with,

as it is very simple, yet contemporary

by the sharp edges, gradient fill and

radial blurred background.

Now I had my magazine name chosen

and logo finished I needed to start

thinking about the contents of my

magazine and how I was going to

depict this. The first stage in this

process was to create a couple of

pages focusing on the typography I

was going to use inside my magazine.

I looked at appropriate title fonts to

use for each separate feature article

as well as a base body text font

which I will use for every page. With

this chosen I created several colour

palettes which I thought would appeal

to the BMX community through the

relations of shades and colours in their

sport. I went on such pages as www.

flickr.com to find my imagery which

I was going to use for my front cover

and advertisements. After picking a

front cover image, I placed my logo

behind the rider in a realistic fashion.

Taking good practice from my

research, I created my drawn concepts

on what would be placed on my front

cover, using a lowered opacity print

out of my front cover image and

using a biro pen, I drew my ideas

and designs onto paper, which I then

converted into several digital mock

ups, choosing the strongest one.

Before the development of my content

started I created a list of the featured

articles I wanted to write about, one of

which was an interview with two time

BMX Flatland World Champion Effraim

Catlow. I had contacts with him, so

I thought it would be an ideal thing

to put into my magazine. Looking at

several well known BMX websites, I

took inspiration from BMX interviews

to create my own questions that I sent

to Effraim through email. He emailed

me back with in depth answers to all

questions which could only benefit the

article.

80

To create my magazine document

I used a piece of software called

Adobe InDesign. Researching different

sizes of magazines, I came up with

an appropriate size. When creating

my inside pages, I used a variety

of techniques including my own

photography, experimenting with a

professional studio and SLR camera.

I explored the world of mixed media

design, using techniques including

collage and pen illustration. As well as

mixed media, I covered a variety of

digital techniques including digitally

reproducing effects which are made

during photography, page layouts,

producing mixed media artwork and

finalising digitally, producing digital

layouts which present themselves in a

traditional manor, photo manipulation

and creating old style looking designs

in a contemporary manor. After I

finished my magazine, I created a

set of T-shirt designs using artwork

I had already created. I looked into

ways of getting my magazine printed,

both commercially and as a college

project and also put thought into

the presentation of my work, by

researching different ways of binding

documents together. Overall I am

extremely happy with the outcome of

both my research file and final piece

as it shows how far I have came in

the two years of studying teh subject

of Graphic Design. If more time was

given I would have spent more time

producing my advertisements, making

sure that the quality of design would

be the best it could be. I would also

spend more time writing my articles,

making sure they appealed to the

reader at the fullest.

Evaluation

81

http://www.federalbikes.com/09/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/RideUK_134_web.jpg - Federal Bikes advert

http://twoand8bmx.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/twoand8_crucial_ride114.jpg - Crutial BMX Shop/ Two

and 8 BMX advert

http://twoand8bmx.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/twoand8_crucial_ride113.jpg - Crutial BMX Shop/ Two

and 8 BMX advert

http://99seconds.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/crucial_2and8_levi_rideuk.jpg - Crutial BMX Shop/ Two and 8

BMX advert

http://99seconds.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/crucial_2and8_collage_rideuk_B.jpg - Crutial BMX Shop/ Two and

8 BMX advert

http://twoand8bmx.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/twoand8_crucial_ride119_b.jpg - Crutial BMX Shop/

Two and 8 BMX advert

http://99seconds.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/twoand8_crucial_ride117_a1.jpg - Crutial BMX Shop/ Two and 8

BMX advert

http://99seconds.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/crucial_2and8_clavicle_rideuk130b.jpg - Crutial BMX Shop/ Two

and 8 BMX advert

http://99seconds.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/crucial_2and8_collage_rideuk_B.jpg - Crutial BMX Shop/ Two

and 8 BMX advert

http://99seconds.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/movment_jam_poster_preview3.jpg - Movement Jam Poster

http://99seconds.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/kyeforte_twoand8.jpg - Two and 8 advert

http://www.colonybmx.com.au/news/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/colonyguettleradvert.jpg - Colony BMX advert

http://www.colonybmx.com.au/news/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/colony-alex-rideus-feb09.jpg - Colony BMX advert

http://www.colonybmx.com.au/news/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/kenny.jpg - Colony BMX advert

http://99seconds.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/lh_chain_ride.jpg - Loophole advert

http://s3.amazonaws.com/pijinad/pijin_dig_63.m.jpg - Pijin BMX Shop advert

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2240/2417128592_01708275ea.jpg?v=0 - Pijin BMX Shop advert

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_howebmx/2417128592/sizes/l/ - Pijin BMX Shop advert

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_howebmx/2417128592/ - Pijin BMX advert

http://blog.verdebmx.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/verde-x-estate.jpg - Verde BMX advert

http://99seconds.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/profile_garwood_cranks_rideuk.jpg - Profile Racing advert

82

Bibliography

http://99seconds.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/profile_mulville_rideUK_134.jpg - Profile Racing advert

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http://www.23mag.com/mags/ruk/ruk92.htm

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http://www.evanscycles.com/products/a-bike-co/tom-white-wall-tyre-ec023386

http://www.flybikesbmx.com/frames/products/media.html

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/primo/dsg-hub-guard-ec020167

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