Construction:

CONTENTS: I knew what I wanted to do for my contents page, and the process that followed was pretty straight forward…

I started off by putting my chosen pictures onto Photoshop

After transferring the pictures, I changed the brightness and contrast of each picture…

…I created a new document, changed the canvas size and used the ‘fill’ tool to make the whole thing black…

After that, I placed it where it was supposed to be

To get the background onto InDesign, I clicked on ‘File’, ‘Place’ and then opened up the file

…to save the document, I clicked on ‘Use OS Dialog’ so that it was compatible when it came to placing the image on InDesign, and saved it as a JPEG

I tried to use the ‘magic eraser’ tool on my cow picture with the aim of removing the background around it but, instead, I ended up erasing more than what I intended

To reduce the amount of erasing I’d have to do, I cropped the image and used the eraser tool to get rid of the background. I had to zoom in a couple of times so that I got the outline of the picture exactly

:COW

I combined the cow image and the magnets image together by dragging one on to the other, in this case, the cow onto the magnets

Then I re-sized and moved the image around till I was happy with it

I enlarged the canvas size and then darkened around the edges by using the burn tool and then dragged it onto a new document where I smudged it towards the bottom and erased the white background

:COW + MAGNETS

I created a new layer on InDesign, as I would have to do each time I wanted to place something, and placed the image, once again, moving it and resizing it so I got it as I wanted

I saved it using OS Dialog, this time as a PNG as it had a transparent background

I created several white boxes by copying the previous layer repeatedly. I did this so that the width of the boxes were the same, then I put them all at different lengths and typed my contents text inside them

Contents Page: FINISHING TOUCHES

For one of the questions in my questionnaire, the options laid out received, near enough, an equal amount of votes. To make my magazine as successful as it could be, I decided not to ignore my feedback and, someway or another, at least attempt to include all of the articles from my feedback, in my contents page

I added a page number –like I would have to remember to do for the remaining parts of my magazine

Previously, I’d left a small gap between the background and main image, (shown below), after looking at it a couple of times I decided to get rid of the gap which, I think, made my contents look stronger

I added an additional page number in the left hand corner of the page, making it clear to the reader, if they are interested in the article involving ‘The Magnets’, that the article can be found on page 16 and the reader can then turn straight to that page.

Also, if the reader continued to read through the contents page they would be able to see what the article was placed under, in this case, as ‘The Magnets’ article is on page 16, the reader would be able to find it within the segment ‘Platapus Presents’

FRONT COVER:I found a font that I liked and thought would suit my magazine. I got it from the internet by using the font website www.dafont.com and because I didn’t want to download it, and I couldn’t save it as an image, I print screened it onto PowerPoint, cropped it and then saved it

When the image was on Photoshop, I erased the white background.

I wanted the masthead of my magazine to be a cross between a light orange and a dark yellow so, using regular yellow as a starting colour, I experimented with the colour arrows and when I got the colour I wanted I used the

fill tool to fill in the white parts inside the letters.

After I finished creating my masthead I saved it as a PNG and placed it into InDesign later

I added text boxes, filled in with the colour black and used them as the top and bottom strips; I used coloured text boxes because I thought it was the obvious thing to do considering that I would be typing in them anyway, it was also easier than creating a rectangle, filling it with black and then inserting a text box on top. I left out the features for the top and bottom strips simply because at this point I hadn’t decided on what to type in them

As I thought the colour of my masthead looked too light, I went back into Photoshop and used the burn tool to make the black parts look darker and, overall, make my masthead look more defined when on my magazine; then, I placed it into InDesign once again

I changed the brightness and contrast of the original picture to make the shapes clearer and to bring out and emphasize the colours within the image

I placed the image onto InDesign, beneath the layers that were set in place currently, and unfortunately it was too small; the picture didn’t cover a lot of the space on the left side of the front cover

To solve this problem, I went back into Photoshop and smudged the left side of the image, towards the edge, and burned it so that it would blend in with the black background that I planned on using as a part of my solution.

I then enlarged the image so that my main ‘story’ would have a certain presence (with or without any text being there)

BEFORE: AFTER:

I almost forgot to add the simplest thing on a magazine -the barcode. I created my own as I’d decided to make my magazine free, I did this using a barcode generator on the internet(http://www.terryburton.co.uk/barcodewriter/generator/) , then saving it as a JPEG, cropping it a little with the help of Photoshop and then placed it where I wanted it on InDesign, rotating it once or twice in the process to get it in the direction I wanted it to go

I filled in the bottom strip with bands from the indie/rock genre and added duplicated white boxes to act as a separator so that the reader wouldn’t become confused as to which band is which

I filled in the top strip with the repeated words ‘LIMITED EDITION’

FRONT COVER: FINISHING TOUCHES

I added ‘plus’ (+) features in the left third, therefore, sticking to the codes and conventions of a magazine

During the construction stages, I’d tried leaving out the left third articles but it didn’t look like the front cover of a magazine, it looked too spacious, and also, I hadn’t really planned on leaving the left third empty in my flatplan so, in the end, I just stuck to my original flatplan idea

I had to go through a variety of different greys until I found the right contrast between my grey background and coloured font

I added names for each finger (band member –making them realistic) and then brought them all together, in a way, by calling them ‘ESPY’

As the area beneath my masthead looked too spacious I added a strapline, changing the gradient to achieve the effect that I wanted. I didn’t think this suited my magazine, so I changed it to a colour that I thought would bring my entire front cover together –lilac

For both my top and bottom strips, I added a white outline so that the strips didn’t blend in with the dark background

I found a picture on the internet of a platypus silhouette and put it onto Photoshop, I chose this image because it went with my masthead of ‘Platapus’ and could therefore act as a logo for my magazine. As I knew I couldn’t use any images off the internet, I used the internet image as a stencil, filled in the white area with a bright colour and erased the background, I did this so, technically, I’d created my own picture of a platypus for my logo

For my article image I changed the brightness and contrast and then used curves so that the image had the right amount of dark areas and light areas. After that I used the dodge tool to lighten areas of the box that, I thought, were too dark; I saved it, then put it onto InDesign where I added a heading, which I used the method of trial and error to get to both my final font and font colour, I added page numbers, which were in the same font as the contents page number so that I had a running theme.

I changed the colour of the platypus stencil, (above), a number of times till I got the right colour, placed it in InDesign, resized it and then put it in the corner of the page on top of the text ‘Platapus Presents’

D.P.S: (DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD)

To get my article into columns, I selected my D.P.S pages and clicked on ‘Layout’, then, ‘Margin and Columns’ where I selected the amount of columns I wanted

I created text boxes within the column guidelines then, copied and pasted my final checked article inside the text boxes; however, I repeatedly got confused as to which parts had already been copied and which parts had already been pasted which made the process a little more difficult.

As well as that, I had to keep on adjusting the size of the text boxes so they fit the columns perfectly and I had to keep rearranging my article around because sentences weren’t ending or lining up where they should’ve been.

The first time around, I chose to have three columns, however, this later proved to be too many; so I re visited Margins and Columns and changed the amount of columns to two

I didn’t have to add many finishing touches to my double page spread because I’d already completed most of it through its production.

The final touches that I did add, were minor things that I’d almost forgot to include, e.g. page numbers, which were simple but essential in a magazine, or small details that I thought would make my article look more professional e.g. the album information

D.P.S: FINISHING TOUCHES

After many adjustments, my article was finally in its place and measuring up to the guidelines, I also changed the colours of some of my letters so that they could be seen by the reader

I re-cycled my barcode image from the front

I added page numbers to make my D.P.S look realistic

cover and used it as ‘BoxHeads’ album cover, by rotating it so the image was vertical, I used it to accompany the article.

After experimenting with the effects, the album cover looked less like a barcode and more album-like, to make it more realistic, I added an album title which also helped to make the article make sense; to make the title noticeable I put it in a white box

I changed the font and colourings of the first letter of my article to create a drop capital

Final Saving Stages: JPEG

As my front cover and D.P.S were on the same InDesign document, to save my front cover as a separate JPEG, first, I had to select the my front page. Then, I went on ‘File’, ‘Export’ –changed the name so that it didn’t replace the existing InDesign file- and when the ‘Export JPEG’ box came up, I clicked on ‘Range’ so that it wouldn’t save my front cover and D.P.S as one file, changed the quality to maximum and then, finally, pressed export. Then, I just repeated this process for my contents page.

However, when it came to saving my D.P.S as a JPEG I had to alter the process slightly. When the ‘Export JPEG’ box came up, instead of just clicking ‘Range’ and then exporting, I had to select ‘Spreads’ as well (so that the JPEGs were separate) and then type 2-3 into the box next to the word range so it changed both pages into JPEG’s