Magazine Design - Exploration
This brief was to create two magazine spreads based on the theme Exploration. The magazines had to consist of a cover, splash page and turn page. One made up of a 6 column grid system and the other an 11 column grid system.
For the theme I chose to base mine on the exploration of women in extreme sports. I chose this theme as I felt it was different and interesting, this could lead to a wide variety of layout, typography and compositonal designs.
For the theme I chose to base mine on the exploration of women in extreme sports. I chose this theme as I felt it was different and interesting, this could lead to a wide variety of layout, typography and compositonal designs.
Research
To begin with I researched several different magazine styles, I didn't just want to look at sporting styles as this was very limited so I looked at a wide range of these. This helped me to figure out different ways as to which I could use typography, imagery and layout to create my magazine style. To figure out what size column and grid system I intended to use I drew out several different full size spreads on layout paper, I was guided to do this to see the realistic sizing that would be needed.
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I had a great vision of the types of imagery or women in extreme sports that I wanted to showcase, so I went about finding as many images as possible, this way I had many options when it came to designing my spreads over what would work and wouldn't.
Thumbnail Sketches
After I carried out my research and knew what size my column and grid structure would be, I began to sketch out my ideas onto layout paper. This process was difficult as I had never properly designed a magazine spread before and wanted the result to be impactful but apply to the target audience as well.
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Digital Developments
Once I felt I had a good selection of sketches and ideas, I moved onto developing these digitally. Many of these were just try outs and I found that quite a few of the imagery I had chosen was very pixelated when enlarged, this is clear in many of the developments. This is however what the development stage is all about so I was not worried, I had a few images that stuck out to me as impactful which I kept on experimenting with typeface choices, colour and composition.
There was a lot of trial and error, however in the end I was happy where this took me.
There was a lot of trial and error, however in the end I was happy where this took me.
6 column
Cover Development
Landing Page Development
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Turn Page Development
The developments which I had designed so far were not inspiring and impactful enough and not reaching my desired outcome, therefore I went back and experimented more with the landing page especially.
I was much happier with the outcome after going back and trying out different layouts. I really wanted the heading to stand out in a way that brought attention but also not taking away from the chosen image.
I was much happier with the outcome after going back and trying out different layouts. I really wanted the heading to stand out in a way that brought attention but also not taking away from the chosen image.
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11 Column
Cover Development
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Landing Page Development
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Turn Page Development
Finalising the Designs
After many different ways of figuring out how I wanted my magazine designs to turn out I narrowed it down and finalised my designs. Below I have captured the 'behind the scenes' to show how my grid system was working and the chaos on the pages, which is all part of the design process, it's never clean and tidy in reality.
Final Magazine Spreads
6 Column
11 Column
