Here's a picture of zac cartmell. He's one of my models i used in my magazine mock up. Here i've learnt to use the editing system to good effect on paint.net, the latest edition. First of all i cut all the unnecessary bits off using the rectangle select tool and cropping. This is good for just getting rid of all the big pieces of background which can easily be disposed of. Next i selected the eraser. With the eraser tool i enlarged and smallened the brush width so that i could get the smaller bits of background and the harder to get bits. It still came out looking rough but i just feathered the surrounding bits of background. The feathering tool made it smoother and made the little rough bits look better. Obviously this isn't brilliant but it's basically just a tester.

COLOUR AND TEXT BOXES.

The contents page is probably the best part of my magazine. Despite this though it still needs work doing to it. More information on different magazine features needs to be added so that the fact it's a monthly magazine makes more sense. The colours work quite well although one or two of the boxes though should probably be changed as in colour and colour fill of the text box. For instance the text box which has Editors notes in looks out of place and looks as though it needs changing.I'll probably change it to the same as all the other subheadings making them white, red and black.

The colour of the whole contents page is good in my view and only needs tweaking. The red, black and white is cohesive with the Riff masthead on the front cover and creates a structural feel to the magazine making it better in appearence.

THE PICTURE- the picture is okay as it goes with the quote below it, however i could probably mess with a few effects so that i can see what it looks like and see if it can be improved. The yellow background could be changed by using different effects on paint.net or someother program.

THE GENERAL LAYOUT OF THE MAGAZINE- The layout looks good in my opinion. Its set out like a proper magazine adding to the realism of which i'm trying to create with my magazine. The subheadings going down the left hand side of the page will be tested over different parts of the page just to see what other ideas look like. The contents at the top of the page works well in white against a red background and that I don't think will change. I like the editors part being at the bottom of the page but again it will be tested elsewhere in my ideas im going to do.  

Other features im going to keep are the website information, the riff piece at the top of the page and the text boxes with the page numbers in, they will probably be transfered onto my real contents page.

These are some different variations of contents pages. After having done my mock up magazine, I decided to experiment and see if I could make any changes to my contents for my magazine. Although im quite happy with my contents page and I think it only needs tweaking, I thought it would be a good idea to rustle up a few ideas and thoughts as to what it could look like in alternative designs. 

The first design to the left, is the opposite to my mock up magazine design. i did the opposite just to see what it looked like. I thought it would be a bit unconventional to put the picture to the left because it doesn't look right and it just doesn't suit. This will probably not be considered.

The middle image is the contents page of which i have now in my mock up magazine. I really like it as its similar to a lot of other magazines and it's quite conventional. As I said I really like my contents page as it is and these images are mere thoughts.

The third image to the right is quite good. I'd probably say it's the second best contents design i've had. The image above taking a complete half of the page is quite good for structure and emphasis and it looks quite neat and concise. I think im happy with my original contents though but I will consider implementing ideas from the other ideas into my real magazine piece. 

front cover ideas

PHOTO- The main photo of Joe is a bit blurred and could possibly be re-taken. Im happy with the position of the photo itself as I want the focus on him and want to stick to the regular conventions of a magazine.
POSITION OF PHOTO- Centred position is what ill stick to.
QUALITY OF PHOTO- Photos a bit blurred, will probably need to be retaken for my proper piece.

MAIN COVER LINE- I will probably need to rethink my main cover line due to it having plenty of issues. The colour of it may be okay but I think the font brings it back. The font, Haettenschweiler, looks a bit too unrealistic to be a proper front cover font and there for I think it needs changing. Ill keep it underlined because it creates emphasis and makes it look good.

BOTH COVER LINES- I might change the front cover and experiment a bit as realism is really lacking in this front cover and I think its the style and necessity of the cover lines on both side of the page.

SELLING LINE- The selling line is also good positioned below the masthead and the font and colour are cohesive with the style of the magazine making it good.

MASTHEAD- I'm happy with the masthead, the red and black with the frosted effect really relates to the name and genre of the magazine and so too the font i used.

PUFF- I'll keep the puff because it helps further the selling point of the magazine with its use of the superlative EXCLUSIVE. It backs up the selling line making my magazine better in a structural way and helps in the magazines main purpose.

THE CIRCULAR PUFF- This will probably be gotten rid of or changed as it doesn't look realistic and looks a bit too chunky and unreal.

PRICE-DATE-ISSUE- These will be kept at the top of the page and it will run over into the red of the masthead because i like this effect and i think it looks good on the page.

These were a few of the ideas I came up with for my front cover. As you can see they are all variations of each other. Having these three cover ideas helps me to not just pick one but merge them together and create different designs.

The first one (starting from the left) has no cover lines either side of the main image. it's a bit more subtle than the middle cover which doesn't give any cover lines or pugs, but what it does is that it gives more information but takes emphasis off the main image. I'll definitely consider this cover idea as it does give information subtly whilst also applying emphasis on "Joe".

The second cover idea has absolutely no cover lines, pugs or puffs putting complete emphasis on the main story. This idea will also be considered for my final piece as it's effective in emphasising the necessity to buy the magazine for exclusive information on one of the worlds biggest rising stars.

The third cover idea, of which I have used for my mock up cover, I may not use for my final piece because it's got too much going on on it. There seems as though there are too much codes and conventions used making it look unrealistic and too 'clunky'. What is mean by clunky is that its all too much and brings the cover down. I don't think overall that ill use this for my final piece because of the above mentioned information.

I shall design my front cover again twice over in the format of the 1st and 2nd cover ideas to get a better look of what they're like and how they are an improvement on my first draft.

front page mock up

This is a rough drawing of which I did when planning my magazine. The date is above the masthead, like any other magazine, keeping it conventional to make it more realistic and to stay safe so that my magazine doesn't stand out of line. My RIFF masthead is black with a white frost effect round the edges. I did this as it looked distorted like distortion you'd get in an edgy rock band. I aligned the masthead, title and a cover line to the left again to suite the conventional style of a normal magazine. I put a cover line in front of  the main image to explain the main images context.
The main image is placed in the centre with a close up shot of the models face. I did this to emphasise that he's the main piece of the article and all eyes should be on him.
Bar code is down on the right for conventional reasons, all bar codes are usually down on the right so i kept to this.
I used a couple of puffs to give some extra information on the content of the magazine and I positioned them to the  right out of the way of the cover line and other more main features on the left.

contents mock up

My contents page was inspired by other magazines in terms of layout. The features being shown down the left side of the contents page enable an easy clear passage in terms of knowing the content of the magazine. The picture on the right backs up the quote below it giving it more meaning and purpose.

At the bottom i added the editors say on the magazine. This is just to create realism and make the magazine even more reliable.

My inspired piece from Q magazine

DPS mock cover

This is the original design for my double page spread. The spread is kept simple with colours red, white and black in the piece. I kept it simple to reflect the simplicity and common background of the artist being displayed. The reason I put one picture in  there and more text is because I wanted the artist to clearly be the main focus of the article rather than the design and typology of the spread.