Blending mode tasks

The first of my blending mode tasks.

The second of my blending mode tasks.

NME magazine cover

I have learned a lot from copying this magazine cover, mainly the amount of detail that goes into making it, having layers on top of others and showing a large a amount of material yet still the audience can see everything clearly. Also when taking the photo i learnt about hierarchy in terms of photography, making the most important figure at the front, much bigger and more importantly looking straight down the centre of the magazine.
I believe the main point of copying this magazine is to show us as students the level of detail we will need to into when making our own magazines, even when the work looks to the reader to be minimalist.

At this stage i have edited my photograph in photoshop, i did this so i could place another head on top of the photo, to get this 'extra head' i used the pen tool to draw around the head and then copied that onto a new layer, i then placed that photo of just the head on the top layer of my magazine to get it to be in front of the text.  

magazine

Course work posters

This is bad. With this design my main theme is contrast, everything seems at first glance to be very dark and scary but as you look deeper you find that it is not some old creepy door but has quite a light hearted floral door, I used this idea contrasting what you see in your first glance and the actual reality because this is what is used in the film, these monsters are supposed to be big and scary and cruel but as you get into the film we find out that they are as, if not more, scared of children as children are of them.

These two designs, above, were my drafts of ideas using real images to help my make the most of my final poster. This second poster illustrates the true beauty and simplicity of the film, the color scheme is the classic purple and green that represent the main characters, the line 'you wont believe your eye' is a tag line from the original posters. There is also a couple of patter overlays, one of Sully which has been faded so it is clear to see but does not give to much away about the rest of the character. The other is a stone with a crack down the middle, I used this as the whole thing seemed to 'perfect', to 'clean' and as the film is about monsters scaring children I just thought that it would be more fitting to break up the picture a little.

   This is my main design for the poster, the idea of 'embracing your inner monster' was created by me but to develop it i used the main characters of the film, the outer fur is Sullys fur but is used hear as an outer shell to make sure the film does not come off as to dark and scary as it is really a light hearted film, for sullys body, I tried many combinations of blending modes and textures but overall i have decided that the clean black finish stand out from the fur the best. I also experiment with inner shadow but making the image lighter really made the black loose its crisp design.

Hear I have some work in progress shots, these demonstrate the techniques I have used in all of my posters.

Hear I am creating a texture to use in my first draft poster

This technique changes the colour, of the original. This particular blending mode is called colour burn I really liked the affect on the image.

Here is my research information that i gathered before the task,

Avatar

 Hot Fuzz

 Monsters inc.

no staples poems

This first image is showing my work as you would first see it, the front cover and the edge of the first poem, I decided to be very bold with my colour selections as I felt the poems were striking enough to hold there own against the bold backgrounds. The name of my collection is 'the route to serenity' this theme continues through the poems and then onto the back cover where we see a blue sky and one word 'serenity'.  

This is an example of one of my poems, i made sure to keep the original backgrounds the words came with as this gives the work a hand made look, the background it designed to draw your eye and then look deeper into the poem itself.  

Each poem comes with an image to strike the theme of the poem, this image clearly shows the dark nature of this particular piece.


From this exercise the main thing i have learned is that something doesn't have to be perfectly written to look impressive, you can produce high quality piece of work that still have a hand made feel.

This is a scan of my original poem ideas on a page, this really demonstrates the random yet insightful feelings that these poems create as the nature of finding the snippets was a wild venture completed with imagination.    

magazine analysis

Magazine Analysis

Here I have two magazines that, on the surface, are simple tv guides, but both strive to be something more than that. My first magazine 'Live' from the mail on Sunday has very much built on its main basis of being a tv guide by filling its pages with every product and celebrity interview it can whereas my other magazine the 'Radio Times' focuses much more on the tv guide side of the magazine, also it does not include the barrage of products that feature in Live, in does include celebrity interviews but is much more concise with its choosing of story so it can afford to give each story much more room on the page and in the magazine as a whole. Live magazine includes a lot of information and picture along side its tv guide to fit with its vast target audience, the mail on Sunday is the biggest selling Sunday newspaper, thus the Live magazine inside has to have something for everyone, that said it does have a main target audience of working class people usually aging between twenty five and forty five. This differs greatly to the RadioTimes which is much more middle class now due to its more traditional view of the tv guide, at the moment the makers of the Radio Times have been told to try to plan out to a greater target audience but at the moment still stays with a slightly more middle class feel.

When you look at the front page of Live magazine you are hit by a burst of colour and images coming towards you from the centre of the page, this draws the eye away from what is mainly quite a sparse page as apart from that main body of images there are a few simple pieces of text that occupy a lot of white space. There is clear hierarchy here drawing you straight into the centre and once you have scanned all of the images in the centre your eye is then drawn to the largest text on the page, this is slightly above the image, which in this case reads THE 100 this use of very simple text draws the reader back over the image to the bottom of the page to find out what the '100' are this other information at the bottom of the page where what you first see is a banner that is built into the image. Finally you see the title at the top of the page that in itself is quite bland and boring also at the top of the page in very small text, thus not considered important is the date. Use of type is very important to the page, firstly the title of the magazine, Live, is a clear bold white text all in lower case and italics which is made to look separated form the page by a very slight drop shadow. The main cover line is very unusual as it is split over the top and bottom of the page, it is once again in clear white bold text this is done to inform more than amaze as that is the job of the picture. There is more smaller text that is still part of the cover line, it is almost used to break up the large text and make it more interesting, for example one piece of text is put in a banner to make it stand out also as the colour of the banner is red and gold it really contrasted and illuminated the white text that has been placed on top.

Photos are very important to the look of the cover as the cover is fifty percent a great cluster of images, there is layout and hierarchy to the cluster though as the main image you see is one of a woman in the centre and branching out form the centre seem to be many different celebrities from the past and present, when you look more closely you see a lot of little graphics and unusual images that spark your imagination from coloured rings all around the image that seem to be flying add to the feeling of organized chaos, we can see cars, food and links to a very retro London it all seems to be going on in this image, this is designed to make you look deeper into the image. I believe this cluster of images sums up the magazine as a whole, looks to be very crowed at a glance is filled with interesting stories, ideas and in the main unexpected pieces of material that are used to entice the audience. Every image is made to stand out by the use of drop shadow that makes it a much nicer viewing experience for the reader. There is a very warm colour scheme used to enhance the look of the images lots of pinks and yellows are used very subtly in the background, this I very much continued in the picture where a lot of red is used to give a retro feel. As a whole the cover seems warm and inviting, this is done to draw in the reader.

For a magazine cover it is odd that there is no other reference except the main cover line, THE 100 reasons to get very excited ABOUT 2013, to what is going to be inside only the picture which leaves a lot to the imagination, I believe this is key to getting people to actually pick up and read the magazine, a sense of mystery and creativity that really engages the readers imagination.

Now when I open the Live magazine to a double page spread the first thing that hits me is the clear volume of content crammed into what is very limited space on the page, there is a lot of space dedicated to images which whilst impressive on there own do need the text to explain, in this case, the watch. To fit the text they compromise space for the title of the article that seems to be crammed in at the top. There is virtually no white space on the page, add this to the fact that the images are all photographed on black backgrounds in makes for a dark page which makes the page seem even more enclosed. There is once again though clear use of hierarchy in the images as the made one that the editor wants us to see is very large at the top whereas the other two images are smaller and further down, all images are separated by a mixture of body text and pull quote, which are written in large block lettering to reinforce the feeling of the article which in this case is one of futuristic design. To really achieve this look the images being taken on a black background do give the whole article a slick minimal look.

The text is mainly simple body text but a couple of pull quotes are interesting, created in a sans serif text that in large a clear, having it written in black with a gold rim make it stand out from the white page behind. The title of the article is very small which is unusual along with the fact the it is in a very simple serif text that seems dull and alienated at the top of the page pretty much out of sight.

The page is well presented in a clear baseline grid where all the images and text seem to fit effortlessly there doesn't seem to be any text or image straying from the grid pattern that I can see. Having this grid setup is used to make reading easier and make the whole page look more organized. This fits well with the target market of the magazine as there is a lot of information but there is also a large focus on pictures and a well balanced setup make reading easy.

There is very limited attempt at any graphics or textures apart for some little embossed cogs at the bottom of the page in grey. There is also very little ornamentation, a small gold box that sits behind a section of body text. Over all the pages look quite plain, perhaps having everything in perfect columns and grids do make it feel almost over engineered which can be used to present well but do lack excitement.

All of this contrasts greatly with my next magazine the Radio Times. When we first see the cover it is much more traditional in the way in is presented with a singular main picture placed in front of the Radio Times title to make the picture stand out. Firstly though I'm going to think about the typography used in the piece. At the very top of the page there is bold upper case text talking about a free pull out that is with the magazine, this is in bold to make it stand out to the reader to make them feel they are getting more there money, this is why it is very important this text is at the top and in bold as it is the first thing that would grab attention of the reader, to make sure it grabs attention the first word is printed in bright red whereas all the text around it in white, the also helps it stand out. The next text you see is the title which is very similar to the previous text only larger and taller this adds to its hierarchy, this text is used very cleverly to illuminate the picture below as it is behind the main picture to make it seem defined. There are smaller pieces of text though on this magazine for example there is a tag line which once again is printed in white except the first word which is red, this time though the text is smaller and in lower case. This also brings up the matter of colour in the page, it is very important to grab attention and provide the cool easy going background

that makes the bright red and white really stand out.

There are many subtle graphics, such as the small picture is embedded into the text that describes it, this is used to draw the eye and changes the illusion of the reader that they get something free to actually seeing what they get in one swift motion, this makes the reader want the 'free' object more thus making them more likely to buy the magazine. As this particular issue is a Christmas issue there are robins and traditional Christmas family favorites dotted around the page, giving the outlook of a homely feel thus making people who want the family Christmas, there target market more likely to get the magazine.

There is a lot more institutional information in this magazine such as a well positioned bar code in the corner that is very useful but very much in the background also the date is printed below the title in identical font but much smaller. There is also information about the image on the image, so it makes it much more of an advertising device and shows the reader what sort of thing they could get inside which then hopefully encourages them to buy it.

When you open to a double page spread in the Radio Times you see very distinctive differences from Live magazine, firstly that there is a much greater feeling of space for many reasons; first that there is plentiful room for the article title, next is the fact there is one large image that flows seamlessly across the two pages, there is much more white space which adds depth by increasing the flow through text and images. The main thing that creates space is the colour scheme lots of light grey and blue tones that add to the feeling of space. The type is also very important, the font is much more creative as it is a serif text which slots into the text line of text, this involves photoshop skills. This is very much display text but it is not the only form of text this magazine has made interesting, even body text is cleverly designed to be more attractive at the beginning of each section of the article the first letter has been made extra large to add effect and a visual aspect for the reader to enjoy. There are some well positioned pull quotes that really add affect by being close enough to text to by informative and give the reader an idea of what the article is about but slightly away from the text to make sure that they don't interrupt the flow of reading of the reader.

The photography is vital to the feel of the double page spread, there is the main picture that shows a woman lying down looking to the sky, this is important as the film that the article about is Alfred Hitchcock's 'Birds' now this is a very clever photo as the girl is partially covered with birds, these little affects paint a strong image of the film, a photo can show a thousand words. There are images that seem to be stuck to the picture that depict the original film, this is clever affect as it shows progression in the work. There are also quite a few examples of graphic ornamentation such as a gold scroll that appears on the side of the image featuring other films that the viewer would enjoy if they liked the look of this one, this is important as this magazine links back to its roots as a tv guide much more than Live. There are many hints to the theme of the magazine such as snowflakes placed around the two pages.

A grid system isn't quite as prominent in this article but when you look closely the is a simple grid system that the text fits to well although the photograph seems to be slightly out but it doesn't affect the reading of the piece as a whole.

To conclude I believe that both magazines fit there purposes very well, definitely in different ways but to great affect. They have differences in their layout but this is because its what the audience demands, Live does seem more busy but that is because they feature a lot more information than the Radio Times, which does seem much more relaxed. I feel they focus more on not what to add in but what to leave out whereas Live does feature a very large amount of information. I have personally learned a lot about the level of detail these magazines have to put in to suite target audiences even if we as readers don't realize how much we rely on the this level of detail and take it mostly for granted.

By Gregory Dyke

My magazine

 This is the first of my mood boards, the images here feature mainly from magazines, all my ideas and reasons for choosing these images are demonstrated in the brainstorm showed below. My main double page spread is on technology so this was key to my mood board, which is why technological images feature so strongly.  

 This is my second mood board and in many ways is similar to the first, this time i have incorporated many of my own hand drawn images, I believe that the drawings of the phones may be transferable to my magazine and some others, shown below of my mind map.

 This is a key page in the designing of my magazine, it demonstrates all of my main ideas for every key subject areas for my target market, teenagers.

 This shows my main hand drawn images that i may be able to put in my double page spread, all of these are individual images that i can scan in to fit my drafts.

 These two images, above and below, are my drafts for the double page spread, they both feature the grid system thats alines the work to make it aesthetically pleasing and helps separate the text to make it easier to read. I think I will use the above image as i believe it is not only better looking but also clearer in showing the information.

 These are my front page drafts, i personally prefer the top image so i will base my real magazine cover on this.

Here I have my completed double page spread in my magazine, I felt that it was important to vary styles and present my work with a mixture of review, comparison and demonstration. This task helped me to understand the level of detail and effort that has to go into making something look effortless, in presenting the piece in a range of ways it draws attention to the titles and images that then leads onto the full page. I definitely have a new found respect for the people that put together magazines.   

Manual

These photo's show my completed manual of, 'how to build a sketchbook', do complete this task i needed to learn a range of new skills including; inking, scanning, editing in photoshop and putting together an accordion manual. The main thing i learned would have to be the use of photoshop, creating and using new 'layers' and adding color to my own inked images.
I think the main point of completing an accordion book such as this was to understand how, even what seem to be simple and unimportant tasks such as folding, when completed correctly with precision can be just as impressive as some of the drawings themselves.

To show how many layers go into an accordion book such as this and how this work looks on photoshop i have included some photoshop photo's. And also how to fill color an image.

Unit 1 evaluation

I believe that my favorite piece has to be my manual for creating a sketchbook. It helped me to develop and new world of skills and ideas that I now use throughout all of my graphics design work. Combining my ink work and photoshop it made me truly think about the range of processes that I could go through to achieve a professional looking piece. In general the whole unit was a big learning curve for me and although the wide range of processes we completed was demanding it was useful completing hand made and computer designed work.

To begin with i found the most useful thing to do would be to look to the work of professionals, developing skills such as use of blending modes and how they should work together was the aim. We were given artists designs to try to emulate using our photoshop skills and mainly learning the software.

  As you can see there is a lot going on in this piece, combining my new skills in blending modes and using texture overlays I created an image that has very much the same skeleton as the original work but I altered my design so i could further experiment and construct a further knowledge of photoshop. Furthermore obviously the key component of this task was to focus on the colours and texture, but I believe there was a lot to be learned in the creating of the shapes themselves, for example the small almost flower like shapes involved quite a lot of creating, rotating and reflecting.

Experimentation was key throughout the entire unit as getting to grips with a huge range of ideas and aspects of graphics. A piece that I really tried something very different, for me, has to be my no staples set of poems. Cutting out many words from news papers and trying to create an interesting poem was difficult but it did help me to create many ideas that I would never have come up with in my head. I decided to try and symbolise my poems by mounting them on images I created or selected. The idea of a no staples book as such was something I had never used or even seen before. Cleverly creating pages by only cutting a single straight line really appealed to me as it gave my work a rustic hand-made look that was on the up most importance in this piece as the text is all randomly cut then selected so nothing in the piece is exact or 'perfect' so laying out the poem in a pristine book really would just confuse the whole purpose.

My favorite of the poems that I made, 'My teammates called me Frankenstein'.

I really enjoyed making my magazine double page spread, the key to the piece had to be in the planning. In drafting and redrafting from my first basic ideas gave me overall a very clean cut and hopefully flowing piece.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

This shows all of my drafting from mood boards through sketches right up to drafts in order to complete the final piece. It was obviously important to keep the main technology aspect in mind as this was my final ideal. As I have already mentioned in the post I learned so much from creating this, not just the use of software in creating my actual pice but mainly about how much good preparation really pays off in terms of designing and developing ideas into something that you can put your name on and mainly just be proud to show it to others.

My favorite piece, I believe, has to be my manual purely because all all of the new techniques I had to master to create a flowing creative design. Taking my work through drawing and sketching, into inking and scanning and finally editing and positioning in photoshop all the aspects of my work came together to simple make a design that I am feel is the basis of all of my work.