Publishing I - Final Project

Seoh Yi Zhen (0328497)
Publishing I: Print Media
Final Project - Magazine Design

---

INSTRUCTIONS

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.

---

FINAL PROJECT

Week 10

We began this project by thinking of the type of magazine we wanted to do, as well as the magazine name and potential article titles. I decided to do a travel magazine with the name "Drift".

Fig. 1.1: Initial ideas.

Week 11

For this week, we had to finalize the cover design for our magazine. I feel like starting a new design is always the most challenging for me, because I never really have a clear idea of how I want my work to be. Because of that, I designed quite a few and then narrowed it down from there.

Fig. 2.1: Cover draft (1).

Fig. 2.2: Cover draft (2).

Fig. 2.3: Cover draft (3).

Fig. 2.4: Cover draft (4).

Fig. 2.5: Cover draft (5).

Fig. 2.6: Final cover.

Week 12

There was no class this week due to the Hari Raya break.

Week 13

By this time, I had already finished most of the contents for my magazine. I tried out various layouts in order to see which worked best.

Fig. 3.1: Contents page.

Fig. 3.2: Feature article draft (1).

Fig. 3.3: Feature article draft (2).

Fig. 3.4: Feature article draft (3).

Fig. 3.5: Feature article draft (4).

Fig. 3.6: Feature article draft (5).

Fig. 3.7: Feature article draft (6).

Fig. 3.8: Feature article draft (7).

Fig. 3.9: Feature article draft (8).

Fig. 3.10: Short articles draft (1).

Fig. 3.11: Short articles draft (2).

Fig. 3.12: Short articles draft (3).

Fig. 3.13: Short articles draft (4).

 Week 14

Final Design

Link to Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1T27yKXvYMG6G_knUlj71RqIEi-6EtQ9g

---

FEEDBACK

Week 10

Nice ideas for the name. Proceed to design the cover of the magazine.

Week 11
The line down the middle is interesting because it leads the eyes towards the rest of the text. It's unconventional but it works. The point size for the text at the bottom could be slightly bigger.

Week 12
No critique session due to the Hari Raya break.

Week 13

The running head should be flushed left instead of centered because it's quite distracting. Make sure that the pull quotes align with the bottom of the text as well. The second short articles spread is again, unconventional but interesting. The formality of it suits the overall aesthetics of the magazine better.

---

REFLECTION

Experience

Overall, I had quite a lot of fun doing this assignment because I've always wanted to try designing a magazine. It was challenging but interesting to maintain a consistent look and feel throughout the entire magazine. It was also nice to look at beautiful photos of places I want to visit.

Observation

Putting myself in place of the readers gave me a better sense of direction when designing the magazine because I could then design it based on how I would like a magazine to look. I also noticed that having a fixed grid system really helped maintain consistency in every page.

Findings

Designing a full magazine is really tough. Not only does each page have to match the aesthetics of the magazine, but they also need variations in terms of layout so that the readers will not feel bored reading it. Besides that, I found that when having such few elements on a page, it's important to get each element right otherwise it would stick out like a sore thumb.