FINAL VERSION OF CRANKED

Image Editing

Before

After

I unfocused the background, and drained all background colours. This put all the focus on the three main subjects and their instruments. I then sharpened the subjects as I realised they were slightly out of focus. The reason the guy on the right looks pink was to do with the stage lighting, and normally I would've changed it, but I wanted to portray the band more honestly, not airbrushed to perfection. I also managed to select the fire escape and alarm at the back, then use the clone tool to remove them.

After

Before

For this second image, I went against the last notion. On the front page, you want something relatively pleasant to look at. I airbrushed all the creases out of their faces, as it also removed any pixelation caused by the changing of the size of the image in the editing process. I then unfocused the background a lot, so that leg between Will and Dan doesn't get any of the limelight - that leg is unimportant. I also thought back to the interview at NME, who told us to try and avoid the colour Black, as it's not as visually engaging, so I brightened the background. Unfortunately, this created more pixelation, so I had to unfocus it more. By the end, it made the three subjects look like they are glowing, which is a positive thought, quite fitting with the way I wanted them to look - happy, unfazed by the Dramas they've experienced. So I kept it.

First Draft of Music Magazine Layout (includes Evaluation)

 FRONT PAGE

A couple of problems have occurred with this design - the logo is incredibly basic (not in a good way) and my head and arm obscures the text in the byline. This meant I had to completely rethink the masthead. After consulting my audience, I found out that the slanted masthead wasn't popular, despite what I thought about it being more visually exciting. I also found that the logo looked more professional when I removed the stripe, which I replaced with a slight glow. By moving the angle, i was then able to left-align the words in the byline - however, this created a large gap next to the head of Joe (left), meaning i also had to rearrange where the smaller headlines went.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

 The original design left a lot of open space, to stop this, I extended the margins and increased the size of the image in the middle slightly. I also added the sidebar on the right, as this also gave the reader something more visually interesting to look at than a vast block of writing. Unfortunately, this left a large block of writing on the first page that needed breaking up. However, after consulting my audience, i was told that they liked it and didn't think it needed anything in the middle of it. I was also told that they didn't think the lower right image was needed - so that went.

Another unpopular feature was the sidebar, which they felt would be better as a box-out rather than a part of the page.

To get around these problems, I highlighted quotes, making them slightly larger and changing their colour. I shortened the sidebar and widened it.

CONTENTS PAGE