Double page spread production log

Double Page Spread Production Log

Tesfah Watkins-Scott

Background 1

Background 2

This image presents a background that I have created on Photoshop using the gradient tool to create the black and white effect. I have thought about using this type of background for my double page spread for many reasons. Through my research into double page spread’s I have found that the conventional background used for the double page spread normally contains around one to two colours to link with the colour scheme, so I have decided to use at least two colours for my double page spread. Before I had come to this conclusion I had also thought about involving the colour scheme which was used for the front cover for my double page spread, but then with a little advice from my teacher I jus decided to keep the background quite mellow and discrete so that the techniques used in the actual double page spread would not be overwhelmed by the background. However, when playing around with this particular background it began to make my double page spread look almost like a poster because, the images and fonts I will be using didn’t really go well with this particular background and almost made it look like they had just been pasted onto the page so I have decided to change this to a background that’s much more easier to work with.

This image shows a plain white background which I have thought about using for my double page spread. I have decided to change my mind about using the gradient background for my double page spread for the reasons stated above. On the other hand, I prefer to use the white background which is shown. The reasons for this is that the colour white will work well with any font and any font colour because the white colour does not clash with any primary or secondary colours. Also I feel that just using the white background will emphasise other areas of the magazine to the target audience. Also, another reason why I will use the colour white for my background is that it will not confuse my target audience away from the main images and articles that will be presented on my double page spread. However, I feel that just using a plain white background for both pages on the double page spread will not appeal to the reader at all so I have decided that I will include the plain white colour for just one half of the double page spread and then I shall use another colour for the other half and see if this works or not.

Background 3 This screen grab is of the third and final background that I have decided to use for my Reggae magazine double page spread. As you can see I have taken into account the two backgrounds I had wanted to use before shown in the previous slides therefore, I have actually decided to incorporate both of the backgrounds I had thought about using for my final decision. However, instead of using the black and white gradient background for my second page on my double page spread I decided to change this to a plain black background. The reasons for this is because I feel that compared with the gradient style background, the plain black background will emphasise the coloured text that I will be using for the Interview that I have planned to include. Furthermore, I feel that the clash between the white background on the first page and the black background on the second page will work very well with my magazine even though these colours are not linked with my colour scheme. This is because, both of these colours together will not distract the reader from the other aspects of the double page spread. I feel that if I were to use quite a colourful background involving the colours red, gold (yellow) and green will cause my main image and actual article to become overwhelmed by the background which will effect the target audience in the wrong way.

1st Page This screen grab presents one of my headlines which I will be using for my 1st page on my double page spread. This screen shot presents my first attempt at creating my headline and making it as appealing as it can be. For this particular headline I have decided to use the font ‘Impact’ to see whether it will suit my double page spread and article. However, for this particular font I had to reduce the font size to 12pt so that the software InDesign would allow the whole sentence to fit without using a hyphen. I feel that reducing the font size to 12pt will be a major problem for my double page spread because, it is meant to be a headline which is supposed to appeal the most on the double page spread because this is used to draw the reader in to the actual article, and to do this I need a bigger font size because I have decided not to use any colour for this headline. So therefore, I have decided that I will change the ‘Impact’ font that I have used for the headline to something different that will appeal to the reader.

This screen shot shows the same headline from the previous screen grab however, this time I have actually changed the font so that the headline is much more appealing to its target audience. Instead of using the ‘Impact’ font for my headline I have decided to go with another font called ‘Stencil’ which is shown in the screen grab to the left. I feel that this font works much better than ‘Impact’ for my headline for many reasons. First of all the ‘Stencil’ font only uses capitals for its characters which allows the text to stand out even more even if the font size was to be reduced. However, because the font is much smaller compared with the ‘Impact’ font it allows me to increase the font size of my headline to 48pt which is much larger than the actual article that follows underneath the headline. Furthermore, I also feel that this font is much more stylish compared with ‘Impact’ because it involves quite straight characters and also rounded characters so that you get the best of both in the headline which I find is very appealing.

Headline 1

Headline 2

Subhead

For the subhead that I have included in the first page of my double page spread I have decided to keep it basic, plain and simple. The reasons for this is because many other sections of my double page spread will contain a lot of bright colours and big fonts to appeal to the reader so I wouldn’t want to overpower my target audience with loads of bright colours and eye catching font sizes. I have decided to stick with the ‘Impact’ font so that my subhead and headlines will not clash together if I was to use the same font. Furthermore, I decided to use a subhead for my article because, I feel that when linked with the headline the audience will be drawn in because the article is quite deep and realistic which will therefore intrigue the audience into reading the whole article. For the subhead I enlarged the font a little so that it would stand out from the main article however, I didn’t make it as big as the headline because the headline is what I want my target audience to see first because, that is what will draw the audience in to actually stay occupied instead of being bored if I had used all the same font sizes.

Drop CapThis screen grab presents a drop cap that I have decided to use for my first article on the first page of my double page spread. I have noticed through my research into double page spreads that using a drop cap at the beginning will appeal to the reader as soon as their eyes go over the article which will draw them in into actually reading the article that follows. For my drop cap I have decided to change the letter colour to red so that it will stand out to my target audience against the plain white background on that page. I have decided to go with the colour red as it goes with my colour scheme which has not been fully expressed on my double page spread as I don’t want it to be too colourful and overwhelming. However, before finding out how to create a drop cap for my article I used a larger font size for that specific letter as I am not used to using the software InDesign. But after researching the many features that are on InDesign I found out how to create the drop cap that I needed.

Step 1

1. For the first step of creating my drop cap I selected the text tool and then highlighted the first letter of the article which was the letter ‘R’ and then used the swatches tool in InDesign to change the colour of this letter to the colour red as shown.

Step 22. The next step into creating a drop cap for my double page spread was to left click the first letter of my article using the text tool, and then after this I had to click the paragraphing tool which is shown in the screen grab. This tool is used to adjust certain aspects of each paragraph including inputting drop caps into the article.

Step 3

3. For the third and final step into creating my drop cap after selecting the paragraphing tool, a different toolbar will appear which is shown in the screenshot above. As you can see where the highlighted number is, the icon next to this shows a small image of a drop cap. Therefore, to create the drop cap I had to increase this number gradually so I increased the number to 4 which doubled the letter ‘R’ four times compared to the article that follows immediately after. As you can see including this drop cap makes the article look much more unique and adventurous instead of using jus plain text.

Pull Quote

This screen shot shows a pull quote that I have assembled to put on my first page of my double page spread. As you can see I have decided to go with the font ‘Impact’ for my pull quote for a few reasons. I feel that if I had stuck with the ‘Stencil’ font that I have used for my headline it would cause either the pull quote or headline to become un-noticed due to the use of the same font which is why I went with ‘Impact’. Even though this will be the same font as the actual article on both pages I feel that the pull quote will stand out just as much through the use of increasing the font size 3 times as much as the font size for the article. This will allow the reader to notice the quote and instantly notice that it is an important part of the double page spread because its so large and highlighted in bright colours which also link in with the target audience. Furthermore, the position of where the pull quote will be placed I feel will also be effective because, it will be just underneath the sub head and headline which are the main features of the magazine so as soon as the audience sees the headline they will also have a glance of the pull quote.

These two screen shots present the two captions that I have decided to use for the two images which will be incorporated into my double page spread. As you can see I have decided to make the captions stand out when contrasted with the actual article because, when the audience looks at the article and then the images I want them to notice the captions underneath to actually explain to them what the images are about in case they are confused. To allow the caption to stand out from the article I had to make a couple changes. This involved changing the colour of the text to a light green colour which links in with the colour scheme, and also I decided to change the sentence to italics to give a nice smooth effect.To get the italics for the caption I basically had to

go to the top left hand side of the InDesign software and then underneath the types of font was a drop box with different styles for the caption such as: Bold, Regular, Bold italics etc.

Sub Image 1

Sub Image 2

This screen grab is of one of the images that will be included in the first page of my double page spread. As you can see it is the same image that has been used in the contents page of my music magazine. The image is of an old album cover I had created a few years ago and I feel that it would link in well with the stories that will be included in the double page spread. I will link this image in with one of my made up reggae artist known as Taja ‘Gaza’. I will link the two together by talking about how the image is the back cover of her brand new mix tape which will be out very soon.This image is of my made up artist Taja ‘Gaza’. I

created this image by getting my model to dress up in clothing that contained the suitable colours needed to link in with my colour scheme and then to also use a prop which was a microphone to give the effect that she is actually singing. However, at first when the photos were taken it didn’t actually seem like my model was singing because it looked too staged therefore, I told her to actually sing a song while I take the image so that it would look as real as possible. That is how the image seems like she is actually singing for real. This will give the sense of verisimilitude to the audience because, the character actually seems like a real music artist. I’m going to show you how I cropped the image and gave it the shadow effect in the next slide.

Step 1

1. First of all I had to get the image that I had taken using a digital camera and then upload this image to Photoshop. I kept the size of the image in Photoshop quite large for the moment as I will be cropping the image and so forth.

Step 22. The next step after doing so was that I had to find a way to get rid of the background in the image. So for this I used the magic eraser tool to get rid of the majority of the background to make life easier. As you can see there are still some parts of the background that still remain so I will have to find another technique to get rid of this because, I am no too familiar with the magic eraser tool which ended up erasing some of the actual features of my model when I clicked next to my model which was not what I wanted.

Step 33. For the next step in creating my sub image I had to get rid of all the left over sections of the background that were still there. So to do this I used the eraser tool instead of the magic eraser tool. The eraser tool allowed me to rub out the background manually so that I can rub out all the background that was left accurately without rubbing out any of my model which is crucial. After this has been done the page will now look like the screen shot shown for this step.

Step 4 4. For the last step in creating my sub image I had to create a copy of the image that I had just cropped out from the photograph I had taken. So to do this I had to go onto the layer of the image and right click the layer and then left click duplicate layer. This will allow me to create a copy of the image. After this has been done I had to try and get a shadow effect by changing the colour of the copied layer to like a light grey. So to do this I had to select the copied layer and then go to the colour panels and select light grey. Once this is completed I had to use the Paint bucket tool and just repeatedly click on the duplicated layer until the whole image had turned into the light grey colour. When completed I just adjusted the light grey image behind the actual image of my model singing to give it the shadow effect.

2nd PageHeadline

This screen shot shows the headline that I will use for the second page of my double page spread. As you can see I have decided to involve a slight bit of colour to the headline to prevent it from becoming quite dull. I have decided to use the same ‘Stencil’ font from the first headline on the other page for this one also. This is because, even though the two pages will talk about different topics of the magazine I still want both pages to be linked in a way because both pages will be seen when one of them is being read by the audience. Furthermore, for the section in the headline that says ‘Reggae’ I have emphasised because it is basically the main theme and genre of the whole magazine. I have done this by increasing the font size of this section so that it will appear much larger than the rest of the headline which will allow the target audience to look instantly and then draw them in using the three colours I have used for the specific word. I used the colours red, gold and green for this section also not only to appeal to my target audience but also because, I want my double page spread to link in with the colour scheme that I have used throughout my whole media product such as the front cover and also the contents page. This will show that I have taken time and care into creating my double page spread and have thought a lot about how to appeal to my target audience.

Main Image

For my main image I was quite stuck on deciding whether to create another image of my other model playing another instrument or perhaps try something completely unique. I knew that because I had used my model as my main image for the front cover of my music magazine, I would also have to make him the main image of my double page spread. After a lot of thinking I decided that I was going to go for a unique image which is shown in the screen shot. I decided to use this image because my headline and interview would go completely well with the image because it suggests that my model and the Reggae legend Bob Marley were close and grew up together in Jamaica creating Reggae music. So therefore I thought why not create an image that involves the both of them and somehow merges the two characters together to support the interview that would follow.

1. For the first step of creating my main image I had to take an image of my model. For this specific photo I took a close up side angled image of my model so that it would resemble a side angled Bob Marley image which I had taken from the internet. I opened the two images up on different sheets in Photoshop and had to find a way of removing the background from both of the images leaving just the characters.

Step 1

Step 2

2. For the next step into creating my main image I had to try and get rid of the backgrounds from both images. For the image of Bob Marley I used the magic eraser tool to get rid of the background because most of the background was dark blue the magic eraser tool worked much easier to get rid of the background as it only involved one colour. However for the image of my model the magic eraser tool did not work as well because there were too many colours involved in the image which caused features of my model to be erased when the magic eraser tool was in use. So instead of using the magic eraser tool I just used the eraser tool to that I could erase the background manually which would allow me to erase it the way I want it to be erased without making mistakes however, this did take much longer than using the magic eraser tool.

Step 3

3. For the final step in creating my main image I first of all had to drag the Bob Marley image into the same Photoshop sheet as the image of my model. After this I then dragged both images together leaving no gap between them as I want both images to look merged together. Next I selected the blur tool and began dragging the mouse over the centre of the two images with the strength of 69% to make sure that the blur effect would be quite strong but not too strong. After this was done I then dragged the layer of my model below the layer of Bob Marley so that the images did not look like one of them was just overlapping the other image because that would make my main image look completely unreal with no care taken.

Final Outcome

The final outcome of my double page spread I feel came out quite well. As you can see many techniques have been used to get my double page spread up to a high standard. I have also stuck with the same red, gold and green colour scheme that I have been using since creating my Reggae front cover. Also, I am pretty impressed with the layout of my double page spread especially with the first page. This is because, at first I was very indecisive with what layout I was going to go for, for my double page spread but I feel that the one I have chosen works very well with the sub images used and makes the double page spread look very organised and neat. Also, for the first page of my double page spread I decided to use two columns that would continue once the first column would be filled up so that it will allow my story to continue without having to finish my sentence in the first column which could leave a huge amount of space which would look very unprofessional. As for the second page of my double page spread, I changed the colour of the writing for my interview because, due to the black background I wasn’t able to keep the writing black for this page so I had to make a change. Instead, I coloured all the questions that the reporter would ask to a dark green colour, then I changed the answers from the reggae artist into a bright yellow colour and for the part of the interview that says ‘Q’ and ‘A’ I changed to the colour red. The reasons for doing this is because it makes my double page spread look unique and not jus stick to the conventional black type. It also allows my double page spread to link in with the Reggae genre of music and the culture of where this type of music comes from because, these colours are represented in Reggae music and also through Religion in the Caribbean and African areas. Lastly, at the bottom of both pages of my double page spread I have included a folio to present the page numbers to link with the contents page, and also I have included a smaller masthead from my front cover to also show that the double page spread is linked with the front cover and contents page.