After I made the decision to replace the image I was using, the first thing I continued with was rescaling the secondary image in the bottom corner. As shown in the print screen above, the photo was slightly too large and so I used the image sizing to manipulate the dimensions in order to correlate the width with the width of the article columns.
As well as this I added page numbers into the corners of each individual page. I knew that the colour scheme I used for the numerics would need to synchronise with the overall colour scheme of the magazine in order to demonstrate continuity, and so I left the dark blue as a temporary shade. The numbers themselves (14 and 15) were chosen because the main topic of the issue is usually placed somewhere towards the middle of the magazine, so I wanted a number that wasn't immediate but not too embedded in the magazine.
I had already written the article with the understanding beforehand that I would need to embed a quote of significant meaning and purpose to highlight in bold somewhere on the page. As I wrote in one of my previous posts, I was torn between two particular quotations:
- 'Once you've been comfortable in your own shadow for so long the spotlight can be too much'
- 'I've got to make the most of the sun now that I'm out of the shade'
The quote in the print screen above is a version of the first bullet point. I picked it because it has denotations that relate to struggle and link with hardship. It challenges the glamour of the industry which would make the reader engage with this artist since it implies that he doesn't conform to the supposed stereotypes of modern artists. As you can see the print screen version is different to the one I wrote. I was experimenting with the way that it reads because I knew that it needed to be a concise but easy to understand statement. This is why I altered it back to my original draft, since it wasn't as long-winded.
Although it is hard to see at a first glance, the smallprint in the top corner adheres to a common convention in most magazines. I have referenced the web address that my music magazine would use, 'www.outlawrhapsody.com' because this tempts the reader towards more content as well as promotes the multimodal platforms of the company. Minor details, such as '.co.uk' in place of '.com' have been modified in my finished design since my magazine is for British audiences.
The next step was to include another formulaic convention. On most magazine articles, there is a caption that offers some contextual insight into what the images show. Since I have used two, I used the basic guidelines of 'main' and 'below left' to identity which shots I am referring to. For the main image, I stated:
- Jax shooting the music video for 'The Ship has Sailed'
The Ship has Sailed is obviously referring to the title of a song in his new album. I selected it because it has melancholy connotations of loneliness but also because there is a traditional vessel on the horizon in the photo (very hard to spot) which offers a connection with the image.
My description of the secondary image is as follows:
- Jax on his family ranch aged 17, with what has now become his trademark guitar
For the readers who are curious about the context of the photo, this offers knowledge into the artist's background which is essentially his personal life. Consequently they will gain satisfaction from knowing that his guitar is depicted as a part of him, reinforcing the theme of companionship that I wanted to imply. As can be noticed, both the image captions and website reference are in a simple font and colour so as to not distract too much from the subject.
My vision at this point centralised on layout. I felt like compacting the article onto one half of the page wasn't ambitious enough in terms of visual presentation. I decided to attempt a format that situated the text around the borders. I had to use a blank canvas in the backdrop because the lighting was too dim for the text to stand alone, hence the white boxes. As you can probably see I didn't end up following through with this plan, for several reasons. Firstly, it obscured the image to a point where it seemed incomplete and fractured. Secondly, the boxes I used to give the text prominence gave the overall layout too much structure and as a result I felt like I had lost the natural impression that I wanted to evoke. And finally it lost the sense of conciseness because the text had expanded over both pages and was taking up too much room, creating an uneven ratio from text to picture.
Reverting back to my established layout, I started to focus on minor details since I had pretty much finished altering the positional phase of each feature. I changed the colour of my quotation from white to a sea blue. This gave it more significance in how the variations of the blue colour across the double page seemed to connect visually, establishing a synchronous effect.
In continuation of this, I adapted the page numbers to a similar lighter blue in order to stand out and match the quote located directly above it. Another small modification I made was making the quote more concise for readers at a first glance. I simply replaced 'start to get' to 'be'.
I had almost forgotten to finish copying out the article, but with the layout finally definite, I copied the last of my draft onto the page so that it aligned with the first column. I gave the standfirst a darker blue colour to differentiate it from the quote but also to appear bold in the pale background.
At the end of most magazine articles, there is often a summative sentence or paragraph highlighting the promotional facts mentioned throughout. This is done mainly for the audience's benefit so that they don't have to reread what was stated in the article. Fortunately it outlines these facts in a different typography to clearly identify them.
Within my own article, I refer to Jax's UK tour and the upcoming release of his new album Charming Shores, so I remind the reader of both of these at the conclusion of the article.
The reason it is written in a unique font and colour is that it's significance to the magazine is very limited, it is simply promoting the artist and their work, so I want to express this.
The finishing touch was a headline. In my early designs I had used 'Jax Crowford' as a basic draft to occupy the space where the headline would potentially be located. In replacement of that, I needed a title that offered a witty but engaging tease into the article that fans of the artist would be able to interpret. I used the reference 'Ashes to Embers' because in the fictional history of my artist I said how Ashes to Embers was the name of his debut album that metaphorically symbolises his growth in fame and talent. It serves the same purpose here, but by adding the rhetorical question 'is the fire still burning?' it turns into an extended metaphor that establishes a sense of danger and urgency revolving around his career.
The font is bold and the colour correlates with the standfirst. A last possible alteration was to use a drop capital to signify the start of the article, but I thought that is was apparent enough through the difference in colour.
This is the finished draft of my double-page spread. I am very happy with how each feature has contributed to the overall structure in order to create an organised layout and an engaging visual style. At a later point I may add some subheadings into the article to segregate the large volume of texts, but it may lose the sophisticated formality, so we'll see.
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