PUBLISHING 1: PRINT MEDIA | MAGAZINE DESIGN

Ashila Putri Sandi [0332938]

Publishing 1: Print Media

Final Project: Magazine Design

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INSTRUCTION

Final Project & Portfolio (40%)

The Brief

Magazine Design

Duration of Assignment

6 Weeks (Briefing on Week 8)

DEADLINE

Week 13 Printed Magazine

Week 14 Online Magazine/e-portfolio

Description

You are required to design a magazine based on any chosen topic: sports, fashion, food, interiors music, cars, fitness etc. Consider an area that has personal interest to you. Seriously consider the content of magazine, look and feel, concept, typography the magazine’s name in regard to the target audience.

You have to take into account the best approaches in designing the identity and the branding of the magazine. Define the purpose or function of the content, the magazine’s audience, and the information that needs to be communicated. In order to visualize this task, you will be need to be creative and selective in the application of relevant elements for your magazine design (ie. design and layout, color palette and treatment, grid system, visuals and typography).

The magazine should have at least 16 pages but not more than 32 altogether, including the front cover, content, editor’s note & credits, contributors and resource credits, main feature, review/shorts, single page spread and back cover. We will not consider advertisements in this assignment. Detailed research on the chosen topic is essential and project management skills are vital in order to secure successful completion of this project. Credit all information whether text or images through bylines or photo credits.

The final magazine should contain information and visuals that attract and communicate with the target audiences. You are responsible in every aspect of its pre-production and production including research, concept, content, design elements and the final execution. Remember, you must establish unity across the entire format as identity and concept is essential to a magazine’s representation. Successful magazine layouts must not only be legible and readable, it also needs to be aesthetically pleasing as well as able to offer information in a creative and often conceptualized manner.

You will be guided through lectures, demonstrations, tutorials and feedback sessions throughout the duration of the project in response to the design process of designing a magazine. This includes masthead design, thumbnail sketching, drafting and refining layouts as well as final proofing. You will use Adobe InDesign in your execution of the magazine’s layout and design. Proficiency in Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop is a must.

Requirements

The size of the magazine must be A4. You are required to print the magazine layout in full colour and assemble a realistic mock-up for final submission. It would be easiest to print the spreads on A3 sheets with consideration to pagination. Please credit all sources where necessary.

Additionally, you must document your entire design process with your portfolio submission. This includes but are not limited to:

Research

Research conducted for this project including visual, articles, edited visuals, notes, photographs, mood boards, references, typography, grid system etc.

Concept development

Brainstorm sheets together with notes and sketches or any evidence of formatting, conceptualizing as well as putting content into perspective. Include also a rational on the name chosen as well as the identity and branding of the magazine.

Idea generation

Initial thumbnails, plans, sketches, draft layouts that document the visualization of the concept chosen as well as the pace of the magazine. Evidence of typographic exploration documenting the process of refining the magazine’s typographic identity, layout and grid system.

Design development

Document the process you undertook to produce your project including layouts, refined ideas, pre finals as well as final proofs. Including notes in your layout to justify the design decisions you’ve made along the way is recommended.

Final Artwork

Your final magazine must demonstrate your solution for the brief.

Submission

1. 16-24 page magazine of a professional finishing and quality not only in look but also in content.
2. Research and design process filed chronologically, in an A3 portfolio.
3. Design report in e-portfolio.
4. Online magazine.
5. CD archiving .indd and .pdf files.

Objectives

1. To develop students knowledge and understanding of print media.
2. To develop students ability to create layout for a different application and experience.
3. To develop students familiarity with the dynamics of design and its components.
4. To develop students confidence in working through the design process.
5. To develop students time and project management skills.

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WORK PROCESSES

Week 10

On the first week on this project, we were told to begin arranging our magazine name or what kind of magazine were we going go to and first idea/concept of the cover. Then, I tried to make a mind-map to break down my ideas. I was going to do a fashion magazine, but I changed it to an interior magazine because I was inspired by one of my favorite influencers/designers on Instagram. So, I manage to go through his blog and read the articles. Then, I began to do research and references for interior design magazine.

Fig 1.1 Idea Mind-map

Fig 1.2 Initial Ideas

Week 11

For this week, we needed to make and finalize our magazine cover. My magazine name was "IN-HOUSE Magazine", meaning the interior of a house which basically interior design. I designed 3 options with different pictures and layout because I was not sure about my cover at first. We sent all of our covers to Ms. Sherry and showed the class to get feedback and opinions for improvement. 

Fig 2.1 Cover Draft (1)

Fig 2.2 Cover Draft (2)

Fig 2.3 Cover Draft (3)

Week 12

No class and lecture conducted due to Hari Raya Break.

Week 13

During the break, I tried to complete my content. I looked through a blog called oldbrandnew.com. It's a personal blog which has really nice content, one of them was interior design. I used most of my photographs from this website. Moreover, I tried to search for inspiration, references, and for the layout design of my magazine.

references

Fig 3.1 Layout Reference (1)

Fig 3.2 Layout Reference (2)

Fig 3.3 Photos and Article References

typography

Fig 3.4 Helvetica Bold for Header and Pull-quotes

Fig 3.5 Futura Std Bold (Uppercase only) for subheader

Fig 3.6 Baskerville Regular for body text

grids

At first, I wasn't using my grid correctly, thus my first layout looked very messy and it didn't have the consistency. Thus I tried to apply the grid that I was going to use. I chose to use a 2-column-grid.

Fig 3.7 Applying Grids (second draft)

Fig 3.8 Applying Grids (second draft)

I manage to print out the mock-up of the magazine just to see the actual size of the text, picture placement, and overall layout.

Fig  3.9 The Printed Cover on A4

Fig 3.10 Content Pages Printed on A4

Fig 3.11 Feature Article Printed

Fig 3.12 Feature Article (2)

Fig 3.13 Article Spread

I got several feedbacks from this week and manage to revise my work for the next following week. My point size for body text was too big, and also the page number on the bottom. 

Week 14

Finally, I managed to finish magazine design.

FINAL OUTCOME (MOCK-UP)

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FEEDBACK

Week 10

Make the title a little bit upper. Can choose any photographs for the cover as long as it's related to the topic. The "interior magazine" additional information should be removed.

Week 11

Miss Sherry told me to always use the grid because it would help my work to be more organized and it could maintain the consistency of the layout.

Week 12

Raya break.

Week 13

Ms. Sherry asked me to change the pt size of the footer as well as the body text. She wanted me to make sure the paragraphs align with each other (per column). She said the magazine was really nice, but I should probably look through each page one by one and complete all the layout by the next session.

Week 14

Ms. Sherry helped me to re-check my final design and helped me to fixed minor problems like spacing and leading.

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REFLECTION

Experience

I really enjoyed doing this project because of the chosen topic which was interior design and it was really fun designing a magazine. At first, I thought designing a magazine was going to be easy and all I need was just putting all the pictures, text, and other content on the page. Turns out, there were plenty of things that should be considered about when it comes to designing a magazine. I needed to maintain the consistency of the layout, the hierarchy, and of course the overall look.

Observation

From this project, I observed that we really need to put ourselves in the reader's position to get the feeling of the magazine. Moreover, having the draft of the magazine printed would be very helpful for us, designer to actually see the sizing, placement, layout, and the overall design. Furthermore, I realized that having a grid would be very helpful to maintain the consistency of the layout and make my work be more organized.

Findings

There are a lot of things that need to be considered when designing something that also needs to be published such as a magazine. It is very crucial to maintain the overall look of the magazine especially the aesthetic feel to attract reader's attention. A lot of research must be done in order to produce a good design. The research is including the aspects, layout references, content, typography, picture placement, etc. 

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