Magazine research and the processes to create my own.

This is my research page for the 3 documents I chose: 'A Magazine Cover', 'Event Photography' and 'An Advert For An Item Of Clothing'.

A Magazine Cover

 I will be researching fashion magazines/covers to see what kind of things are included. I am going to be looking at Vogue Magazine for this part of my research because it is a very well known fashion magazine.


History-
"In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States sponsored by Kristoffer Wright. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began growing its publication. He changed it to a bi-weekly magazine and also started Vogue overseas starting in the 1910s. He first went to Britain in 1916, and started a Vogue there, then to Spain, and then to Italy and France in 1920, where it was a huge success. The magazine's number of publications and profit increased dramatically under his management. The magazine's number of subscriptions surged during the Depression, and again during World War II. During this time, noted critic and former Vanity Faireditor Frank Crowninshield served as its editor, having been moved over from Vanity Fair by publisher Condé Nast. 


Current Vogue-

The current editor-in-chief of American Vogue is Anna Wintour, noted for her trademark bob and her practice of wearing sunglasses indoors. Since taking over in 1988, Wintour has worked to protect the magazine's high status and reputation among fashion publications. In order to do so, she has made the magazine focus on new and more accessible ideas of "fashion" for a wider audience. This allowed Wintour to keep a high circulation while discovering new trends that a broader audience could conceivably afford. For example, the inaugural cover of the magazine under Wintour's editorship featured a three-quarter-length photograph of Israeli super model Michaela Bercu wearing a bejeweled Christian Lacroix jacket and a pair of jeans, departing from her predecessors' tendency to portray a woman's face alone, which, according to the Times', gave "greater importance to both her clothing and her body. This image also promoted a new form of chic by combining jeans with haute couture. Wintour's debut cover brokered a class-mass rapprochement that informs modern fashion to this day." Wintour's Vogue also welcomes new and young talent." 

Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vogue_(magazine)

This is the most recent magazine out:

February 2012

In the February issue of Vogue – one that heralds the new spring/summer 2012 trends – model Arizona Muse wears broderie anglaise top, £900. Pleated cotton skirt, £690. Both Prada. Vintage earrings, £89, Hirst Antiques. All make-up by YSL Face. All hair by Bumble & Bumble. Hair: Neil Moodie for Windle and Moodie. Make-up: Hannah Murray. Nails: Megumi Yamamoto. Fashion editor: Lucinda Chambers. Photographer: Patrick Demarchelier.

• Editor: Alexander Shulman
• Cover: Patrick Demarchelier
• Model: Arizona Muse

This is just the cover it draws you in with "Sensational new accessories, 10 'Perfect' springs smartest boys, whats new in textures and fabrics...etc." And on the front of the cover there is a model dressed in the newest collection or a celebrity showing off their fashion tips or how to slim down:

On the inside of the magazine is the stories, gossip about the best dressed of year, new trends set, what to wear with what, catwalks coming up, make-up tips and secrets, interviews with celebrities and designers.

They use a 'Header' (title), for the name of the magazine and smaller headings for stories and gossip that is inside. Some of the text is in different colours just to differentiate the stories from one another and it makes them stand out. Just under the Header in very small text is the month that it came out, this is to show when it came out and what issue number it is. The price is on the barcode which is out of the way at the left hand bottom corner.

I will also be looking at another magazine to see how different they are: Cosmopolitan.

I found this cover explaining about what is on the front of magazines and why, on this website: http://www.magforum.com/cover_secrets.htm

The secrets of magazine cover design:1. The key ingredients

Ingredients	Use on front cover
Masthead (logo)	The name of the magazine displayed in a specific typeface. This is the visual branding of the title and is often done in a specially designed typeface to be very recognisable and unique. The masthead is usually used on the contents page inside as well as the front cover, and as a logo for advertising and branding purposes
Dateline	Month and year of publication, often with the price. Note that a monthly magazine usually hits the news-stands the month before the cover date
Main image	In the case of this front cover there is a single image of the model Shania. The image is used in a classic way, the face is big enough to stand out on the news-stand, with the model making full eye-contact
Model credit	This says: 'Shania: So hot.' It is unusual for such a credit to appear on a magazine front cover, but is done on fashion magazines. The photographer and model credit is usually on the contents page
Coverlines	Cosmopolitan magazine uses a lot of cover lines, which are distributed around the main image without detracting from it too much. A mistake often made with cover lines is that they run over an image that has a lot of colour changes, rendering the words invisible. This is a problem here with the red text on the hair on the left and the smaller yellow text against Shania's skin
Main cover line	This is very large - taking up almost a quarter of the magazine cover - and comes in three layers, each with a different colour. It promotes the use of naked male centrefolds, a feature of Cosmopolitan in the UK since its first issue. Note the main cover line is positioned against the model's shoulder so it shows up clearly
Left third	The left third of the magazine cover is vital for sales in shops where the magazine is not shown full-frontage. The title must be easily recognisable in a display of dozens of competitors. The start of the masthead is important here, as are short cover lines that are easy to read. The top fifth of the cover - usually dominated by the masthead - may be the vital part in supermarkets, where magazines are displayed differently
Bar code	Standard bar code used by retailers
Selling line	Short, sharp description of the title's main marketing point (forCosmopolitan: 'The world's No 1 magazine for young women') or perhaps setting out its editorial philosophy

I will be taking this into account when Im making my own. I will put a few of my best shots from the college fashion show into photoshop and add text to them, create a brand of fashion magazine and make up some stories to go on the cover.

Here are my processes:

First I started by adding the photo to photoshop.

The using the 'Brush tool' and a 'Soft round brush' I faded out the crowd using black paint.
I used the 'Zoom' action so I could get right under her armpits to get rid of the remaining crowd that I needed to get really close to see.

Next I chose a font for my heading.

I used white so it stood out.

Then I went to 'Edit', 'Rotate 90%' until it was the way I wanted.

Like this.

I decided that I wanted to add an effect to the picture so I looked on 'Flickr' at 'effects for backgrounds'.

I used this one because it reminded me of spotlights on a catwalk.

So I put it into photoshop.

And then added a layer underneath the text layer but over my photo, so that I could just fade the photo through the effect and the text would be above both of them with no texture on it.

So it was like this.

Then I decided that I would get rid of the orange haze around her head because it was distracting from the photo and the main design for the poster.

Like this.

Then I chose an orange colour for the text that matched the texture.

And then changed the font.

Then I played around with the shape of the text.

Then I made the text bigger and went to 'Layer', 'Layer Style' and then 'Drop shadow'.

I then set a second colour up that was a little bit darker then the main orange colour on the text so that I could create depth in the writing.

Then I changed the 'Spread' and the 'Size' of the glow.

This is how it turned out.

Then I changed the 'Contour' and added a black tint to the corners of the letters as well as the two oranges.

These are the names for the magazine that I came up with. AQ

Femme Fatale

 Femme Fatale means a woman that are seductive and sexy and that is a great name for a fashion magazine.

Flare

JQ

That Magazine

Another that magazine

This idea came from looking at magazine names that were taken and there is a magazine called Another Magazine.

vanity circus

I had this idea because there is a magazine called Vanity Fair so I thought it would be quite funny if there was a magazine called Vanity Circus.

I chose to use the name JQ, because I liked the way it sounded. I then added a bar code. Next I will add gossip and stories to the cover.

Adding more text for stories and gossip.

These are the different places that I tried the text.

Just messing around with placements.

Adding the price to the barcode.

This is the finished image.

I also had another design idea that is quite different.

I have used the same photo and magazine name but it is a different format:

I blacked out all of the crowd and added a grey strip along one side.

Then I added the magazine name.

This is a texture I used on the background.

I added a barcode and the texture.

There was a texture pattern over the model so, 

I painted over her with clear brush so that she was clearer.

Then I lightened her so that she wasn't as dark and you could see her features.

Then I added a issue number.

Next I added some gossip.

Then I changed the colour of the text and used 'Drop Shadow' to add depth to it. I used black to create a shadow.

I decided to use purple because it stood out quite well from the green background but it wan't just plain white.

This is the final image.

I think I am going to use the first poster I made as my final image because  the beautiful colours of the texture I added remind me of catwalk lights flashing as the model walks down the runway. I really like the second design but I just don't think that it stands out as much as the other cover, which just jumps off the screen a you it really catches your attention. 

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