dremillsblog

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using this technique of 3 images that are similar was aesthetically pleasing for me and i liked the flow of the images, i got this idea from a i-D magazine and it work well in there and i replicated this well as i had the images to do so, i will be using this layout in my mag

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Evaluation

Ok so to start off with, the vision I had for the magazine and what I have now is totally different, the style and layout design and even mood of the magazine is not exactly what I wanted but as I restarted the whole magazine quite late, what I have achieved is acceptable, even though I know I could have done much more.

I started off with a concept and idea of how I wanted the magazine and I spoke with others to gather a idea of how to display my work, I tried to reach out to people who had done similar things and got their opinion on my work, however I feel like this slowed me down as I thought as they are more experienced, they know what they are talking about and I always shunned my ideas to the back, eventually after trying to use other ideas and incorporate them I realised I didn’t actually know how to do that without them there and I ended up wasting a lot of time doing something which was not originally my idea but something which I thought would help me pass, I then lost my recordings of all the times I spent around their houses gathering as much information as possible I made a mistake when creating a zip file for all of the audio and lost the files in the process I lost all motivation and almost gave up with everything and was feeling deflated, after attending my aunties funeral I spoke about my course and what I was doing and other family members reignited my ideas and made me feel like I could achieve what I wanted, so after that I booked in the photoshoot and Once that was completed I had new photos to add in & this kicked in a gear for me and I got back to work on a new design and made a strategy to find what pages I wanted and get the title written and then add a photo and move on to the next page, I found this kept me more productive and I go through the pages quickly and it helped me organise and create a flow throughout the magazine.

I have learned a lot along the way about creative magazine and layouts and it was harder than I thought it was going to be I think I just over thought everything as usual and I believe if I could go back I could have achieved my final result today within the first 4 weeks and then I would have had plenty of time to add in the small details and refine my work until I was happy with it, I understand by doing this I could have even got feedback from teachers and others to see how I could improve and therefore I would have had a lot of spare time to talk about each and every process within my bigot and how I achieved it, I also could have improved the digital sketchbook, I shuffled computer a lot and broke my memory stick so a lot of my screenshots of my work are located on various computers so the development of my work could not be seen as much

I enjoyed this when things were actually coming together how I wanted them to and when I got the new photos in, overall I believe if I was set this task again it would be much better than the first as I would just manage my time better and be more decisive, I overthink a lot of things when I shouldn’t worry I should just place down and worry later.

My favourite part was the photoshoot and also gathering the information, I found out many new things I didn’t know before and I feel like I have grew closer to them as individuals , especially breaking down their lyrics has made me appreciate their music more. I hope to continue to document on my friends as I have 100% belief that they will achieve greatness and I have a lot of priceless footage that also shows their early days and progression alone the way

I am happy with what I have achieve and hope that people can see a glimmer of my vision and I hope the magazine catches peoples eye and makes them want to see more as that was my main objective

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ITM Logo is Inside the mind with the brackets acting as the brain and itm being what is inside the mind, i like the simplicity of this and i added a bevel to this and embossed the letters to give the effect on the text, this worked well and became my logo and way i would abbreviate inside the mind 

this was another concept idea i tried to develop, this was more of a creative design instead of using a typeface i manually drew this on illustrator to create the look and feel of inside the mind magazine genuinely being inside a brain to make it very obvious as to what i was trying to get at, this could be a secondary logo i could use as a element in the magazine or later down the line if this goes online.

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Here is a page i wanted to feature in my magazine, i got the idea from the game Grand Theft Auto, this is a game that both K1 and Mugun play and i believe as it is a worldwide known game i wanted to use the map that they use in the game to display where K1 and Mugun were based in coventry so you could see the area they grew up in and the distance between them as they have not always known each-other their whole lives but have always been close by, i liked this aesthetic as this is a game i also play and i believe it would be a nice touch to the magazine and further express and enhance their character and personality , along side this image i wanted to add a cut out photo of the two subjects and posterised the image to create a cartoon look so it would match the mood and aspects of the game references. Unfortunately i cut my time too close and as i lost a lot of my work that effected my motivation in competing the full piece as i did not have all the assets 

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Minor Formula

Minor Formula made a feature in my magazine as they are more or less family and are a part of the collective in which we have all be trying to grow, Minor formula are a Clothing store and creative platform deeply rooted in music art and street culture, they are a family of forward thinking individuals with the aim to facilitate the cultural expression and support independent creative through their work. Minor formula want to promote collaboration amongst their community and champion the young, talented creatives around them.

i like this concept as it fits in with my narrative and what i am trying to create in a magazine format, working together to help each person take their next step, working in a team and collaborating by making use of every resource and person there is to all grown together.

Their logo is a lotus flower and their motto is ‘Grow out the mud and keep your colour’ which to me represents growing out of your environment and still staying true to who you are at your core, this is a perfect statement to represent their brand and also to be featured in my magazine i would like to come up with a similar motto as the meaning is very true and real personally 

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photoshop documents

This is my photoshop documents where i experimented with my ideas to create page layouts and this is where i placed my page inspirations, i was making aesthetic looking designs so i could use them to break up information in my magazine, this is also where i cut out images of my subjects and removed the background to use them as a element on a page. Some of the designs did not make it to the cut as i left myself with minimum time to lay them out and display them in the correct way. 

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This is K1 Strange’s performance for the production company Plus.Minus.Equals which does something similar to what I am trying to create with this mag, they create documentaries and freestyles for new emerging artists trying to give them a platform to be heard and seen, they also do a small interview and documentary with each artist in their hometown and provide you with more depth about that person by capturing them in their natural habitat, this helped me in my process when interviewing and finding out about peoples lives, when I was capturing footage and information this was all kept in mind. I will feature this in my magazine by writing out the lyrics in this freestyle, I feel like the lyrics are very much K1 Strange and a good way to introduce K1, if I was to show someone K1 that would be one of the first freestyles I will show to give you a idea of who he is and how good he is, I will try add the lyrics in a abstract way or maybe highlight the rhyme words and the wordplay in this is out of this world, sometimes I feel like people don’t take him in fully when they hear his music , whether the bars go over their heads or if they can’t understand what’s fully been said, by having this typed down so you can read, you are able to take in what’s being said and appreciate the artwork

Here are some more good shots from Mugun’s latest entitled Walking Street

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Mugun Walking Street is one of his latest releases and mugun actually styled himself and the video by writing the script for how everything should be, this is going to be one of the songs I will feature in the mag purely for the visuals itself and also Becusse I captures the behind the scenes and process into making this video, I will show on the mag entitled BTS of Walking Street with images from the day and some of the photos of Mugun on the day, as this was all Mugun’s vision I thought it would be good to include this as you can see his personality shine throughout the lyrics is this song and also through the images behind the scenes

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Fonts

This is the fonts that I have selected to use throughout my magazine, I wanted to have a mixture of fonts on each page as each page tells a different story, I had made a rule to make any heading or title would be Apple Garamond & the body texts would be in nimbus sans, the Apple garamond is the old style Apple font and works very well in magazines as it naturally feels like a title style font because it was bold and from my secondary research into type faces the sans and serifs on that font blended well with my imagery and negative space left on the page. The Nimbus sans font was set to be used a 8pct which was a magazine standard and this complimented the Apple font when used as the body text and was easy to ready I think the combination of the two worked very well easy it was easy on the eye the Futura font was used for other headings E.g. explaining the location or anything else I wanted to stand out a different from the nimbus. I originally went with Helvetica as my standard font but I wanted to challenge myself and find something different that fit and was not simple and boring even though the Helvetica would have fit in nicely it changed the look of the magazine and it seemed less playful and fun to read.

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FAS3003: Signature Project

Today we are starting our final project that is based on understanding our own interests and the sources of our creativity, we have the opportunity to showcase everything we have learned so far and express out true colours.

This module will allow us to plan, develop and deliver own own idea whilst embracing our passions and creativity at the fullest.

I would like to use this project to express my vision and show off my possible concept ideas, I have chose to base this narrative on my friends and their journey so far in this music industry. I am very inspired by what they have achieved and also how they have conquered that, by combining music, fashion and visuals I believe these are a key part to success in this industry and 3 elements that I am very interested in and in the future would like to combine these elements to create my work of art.

I have chose to do a magazine that covers information on new emerging artist and this volume will be based on my two friends ‘Mugun’ and ‘K1 Strange’, two very alternative artists who personally for me stand out from the crowd and excel in these key areas of music, fashion and visuals, the magazine will be taking a deeper dive into the minds of these artists and I believe you will appreciate the artist much more once you know more informations about them, it allows you to go beyond the surface level and understand that person on a deeper level and I think this would help you connect with them and become loyal fans.

as this is a 8 week project, I will be gathering information about my chosen subjects and conveying that across into my magazine, I have decided that I will be spending an ample of time with my friends and will be asking them crucial questions to help the readers gain an inner-standing on who they are as people. I will record every session I have with them and allow them to talk freely on specific subjects and questions I will be asking them so I can listen back to the voice recording and type of the information out, I will also do critical research  into similar magazines and also interviews of similar artists to gain a idea of what type of questions to ask and also what type of information people want to know about others. The most obvious questions will be asked to cover the basis but I want to get onto a deeper level and also ask unusual questions which may actually give more insight to that character just based on the choice they made, I want the magazine to keep you hooked and intrigued on every page, some images will speak for themselves and some will be informative, the main aspect of what I want to achieve is that ‘moreish’ feeling where you want to just keep on turning the page.

To start this project I have been doing research into Fashion magazines and also the aesthetics of the front covers to see what type of design resonates with my narrative idea, I have used a website called stacked magazine which shows you various magazines from different iondustries and allows me to step into he zine world and see how the mags are displayed, I have taken screenshots of the front covers that caught my eye or could maybe work with the ideas, I have also started writing out many questions that I could ask to gain the correct information, watching interviews with other Artist that ar similar and also looking into people like Louis Theroux and David letterman to help compose my questions.

I am aiming to create as many pages as possible and spread the information across the magazine, I am looking into many different styles of magazines to see how I could display my ideas throughout, once I have found what I am after I will recreate this style or manipulate it into something that I could use create a aesthetic.

each page will have a image on there and I will be doing some photoshoots in a studio to express their style and show their character and also photography on their surroundings and elements from their life, I will add some hand drawn elements and digital drawings throughout the magazine

People who freely express themselves are in a higher start of being and I believe everyone should feel comfortable to be themselves, I think the story on the two selected artist will inspired people to be themselves and be free, this is something I am passionate about and I believe the whole journey and each stage will have enough information and research to keep the reader engaged .

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Principles of Design

There are many ways and reasons to why layout is key when it comes to design, there has to be balance across the page, this is referring to the different elements within that space such as shapes, text boxes and images.

There are various ways to stand out when creating a page, one is by making use of collaging images together to create a texture that is eye catching or appealing, creating out of the box grid designs which adds a lot of character to the page and helps communicate visually the contents and gives a moresih feel to the magazine making you want to turn the page.

Having various elements overlap and cut out while staying in a structured grid grabs the reader attention and forces them to scan the whole page and look at key details.

Making use of bold typography and blending in images creates something visually compelling giving you a professional feel or a we designed feel to the magazine

Creating contrast on a page with a accent colour is a modern day editorial design found in many magazines that want your attention, the monotone images with coloured elements all catch the eye, colors can have different psychological effects on the brain and after researching into colours and what they instantly say will be an important choice to how I want my reader to feel when reading this page, for example the colour Blue calls to mind feelings of calmness and serenity and when used in marketing it is often businesses that want to project a image of security, where as yellow stimulates our mental faculties by activating our left side of our brain (analytical brain) yellow is uplifting and helps create happiness, fun and enthusiasm.

A combination of all these elements together can easily create a masterpiece and by description will definitely catch your attention, by following a invisible grid things will be in a layout which is aligned perfectly without it being clearly visible there is a grid system, by using the white space on the pages as a natural contrast between each element this would direct your attention to them.

Using the Z rule when laying out images on a page with text also

Using alternative text and fonts and photo arrangements

Creating abstract images, collaging them together

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Here was the style of photo i had in mind when I set up the photoshoot, this was to help show off their outfits and style while also capturing the small details, I believe we achieved this And I am happy with the he results, if I could do this again I would have hired the studio out earlier therefore that would have gave me more time to edit these images and it would have made each image much better

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Style development

Here are some of the fonts I have seen as potentials for my brand of magazine, the first typography I have tested was the ‘Pique’ font which is quite relaxed and playful, it reminds me of a marker pen being used and from researching into other magazines I have seen a similar font which worked well and visually communicated their style and personality, this font seems like it will be very fitting for my magazine as it would attract more of a youthful audience and I believe combined with the clean eye catching image and distintive features on the front cover, this would increase the engagement and attract the right customers, personally if I had seen this font with a eye catching image I would be intrigued and would pick it up to see what was inside, if I would do it, I think people who think similar to me would also see what I seen and have the curiosity to have a look on the inside. 

My target audience and age range would be from 16-35 and anybody who is interested in Music, Fashion and Creativity 

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Front cover

The front cover is going to be very important for me as this will be my first impressions on the viewer and I believe I need to have a eye catching image 

my first initial idea was to create a black book with text on the centre to spark the curiosity of people and on a stand this would stand out and be ‘different’ to the others surrounding and would make people pick it up and when they do to have a quick flick through they will see eye catching imagery and designs and formats that will make them want to continue reading.

After researching into other magazine covers and the different styles of photography and graphics I have decided the front cover will be a eye catching image of the subjects who are in the issue, this is to let you know who and what we are talking about, the image will speak for its self and show the character and personality of the individual or subjects

The name that I am working on is ‘ Inside The Mind’. which is exactly what I will be diving into when I am gathering information on my artist, the idea is to know that person inside and out so we are taking you on a journey through their mind and creativity, to see what makes them who they are. 

I think by understanding the person it will help you relate and form a bond with that artist and therefore be more in touch with their music and sound which inevitably will allow them to appreciate, the purpose of this magazine is to introduce you to new emerging artist and give you a deeper insight to who they are what they do, their processes, hobbies and habits, in the future I wish to keep to a style where my customer base will know and enjoy the read and style of my magazine and use me a source and platform to be exposed to a greater community of loyal listeners who are looking for new music or creatives 

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Interview research

When interviewing mugun and K1 I tried to create a natural relaxed environment, as they are my friends this was easy to accomplish, I set my phone on Audio record and initiated convosation with specific questions which I knew would lead them to give me a strong point of view, questions revolved around things they are passionate about like fashion, music and visual concepts, I didnt want to ask basic questions so tried to make them more complex by asks why and finding the root and core reasons to their characters and why they are that way

I watched footage of the documentary film maker and journalist Louis theroux to see if this would help with my research in interviews and how to extract information I found his methods were quite direct and with his personality it almost made you feel like he was oblivious

Nardwaar is also a interviewer, he is quite the character and has a voice that makes him really distinctive, he manages to find out information that is impossible for him to know and always gets the same reaction from the people he interview as they are bamboozled on how he has attained this information and as everybody is different so, the small details of a incident is what manages to keep them confused. Nardwaar posts his videos on YouTube and are a good watch, I watch these to help subconsciously prepare me for my interview and maybe use some questions from the video

Unfortunately due to be being uneducated on zip files and compressing documents I lost all of my priceless recordings as I sent them in a zip file and removed them off my device and my zip file that was emailed was empty, this did knock me back quite a bit as the information in there was crucial and would have really had the effect of getting inside the mind of these two individuals but I don’t even want to talk about it anymore, it slowed me down for a week and I just tried to make use of what information I did have and spread that throughout the magazine the best way possible

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So long story short, I lost my footage of the recordings I have made which was full of all the information I would be putting inside my magazine, priceless convosations that could not have been scripted and not something you can just recreate, also I found that when I tried to get help off others I would either be left with a task I couldn’t accomplish as it was not my vision or sometimes the ideas that I suggest seemed to not fit the overall image that they perceived so I found myself stuck in what to do and how to execute aswell so I believe I’ve lost a lot of time and crucial choices. In the future I have learned to be more decisive in what I want to do and not to allow others opinions to sway me so easily, The people I was taking advice from are more advanced and are more experienced so I allowed that to be the variable that controlled the output of my work. Over the period I had a feeling like I couldn’t get my visions out and also I’d lost my recordings I lost all my motivation and felt like nothing was going right, so for the last weeks we have I have restarted my document and at this stage I am just trying to get it finished.

I think i lost motivation and as things was not turning out how I wanted them my anxiety has just made me question everything I’m doing and I know it’s not the greatest attitude to have but because it is not turning out to how I wanted it and due to time frame and workload I feel like I will just present what I have and not be happy with the end result and will not achieve what I set out to in my brief

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Here are some of my layouts inside my magazine

This was some tests so I could see how the arranged photo and text would look like, it was designed as I imagined for the day out when k1 performed, image of K1 on the left with text matching colours with some in the image with 3 images in a column style on the other page with shots from the day I chose to use the event flyer which had K1s name on their, a shot of the stage and the named location & also a photo of K1 and Mugun together as they normally support each other when they perform.

You can see where I have tried to create my own style of text by changing the angle of the text in opposite way, this idea was discovered when I was doing my secondary research in magazines and some of the text was displayed in this way and it caught my eye and it look appealing to me and I wanted to add that into my magazine on my feature pages with text describing what was going on or a quote page.

Experiencing the constant shifts is a quite I seen in a book and is just a loose statement which could make you think and everyone would have their own perception so this was to break up the information in the mag.

You can see a small section of my studio page which I freestyled on the layout and just filled each negative space with a text box or a image and I had i idea in my head of where I wanted everything to be, the outcome was how I envisioned it, if I could do this page or all my pages again I would add in small cut out images to act as elements surrounding the information, I would have also emphasised the quirkiness of the page I feel like I could have been more experimental with ideas and had more of a eye catching page.