My Weekly Monitoring Blog - Final Entry

This week was the final week to complete all of my products and hand them in, in time for the deadline. I have finished my products now and am quite proud of them. After all of the planning to create a front cover with a black background, the reality was not as I had hoped and did not look as effective as I had initially intended. I tried to keep the colour scheme as red, white and black as I had originally planned but the product just looked flat and unprofessional.

I then tried to change the colour to a pale pink to replicate the 'ELLE' front cover but this still looked quite flat and didn't really work as the background is too dark in comparison.

This means that I ended up going back to a pale background and adjusting the colour scheme so that it fits with the rest of my magazine (ie. contents page, double page spead 1 and double page spread 2). I used the colours from both of my double page spreads to create a colour scheme of black, pale pink and pale yellow and was quite happy with the outcome as my different pages did end up matching one another, which was something that worried me and looked quite professional.

The contents page originally looked very plain and bland so I had to add a lot more text and change the photo and positions.

I changed the colouring of my first finished double page spread to make it compatible with the rest of my product, by adding pink. As you can see, the article has been added too and the double page spread is competely finished. I also edited the background so that my text and clothes images looked more boxed off and there was more to my product, with a better structure. I also changed the title layout and size so that it stood out more and was the biggest thing on the page.

I kept the article from my "mock up 2" as my audience had really liked the structure of the paragraphs and the language but I completely changed the look of the product, keeping it classy but making it brighter than my first black mock up. I used the pink to relate to my other products.

Overall, I am thrilled with my products and think that The Northern Echo would be pleased with my work too. Time management was an issue at times but I managed to swap things around to ensure that everything was finished in time for the deadline set.

I left myself more work than I should have for this final week as I had not started my final double page spread, A Night To Remember at this point. However, this was not an issue as I knew that I had my images and my article ready to import from my earlier planning. Managing my time correctly earlier in the project allowed me the time to get everything completely finished by the time it was the deadline day.

I believe that this project has been a success and I am happy with the results.

Front Cover Contingency Photos

As you can see from my planning and research blogs, I decided to go with a black background for my front cover and planned to cut out my model from a white background and change it manually on photoshop. However, I tried this and it looked very unprofessional, as my model looked obviously cut out, with a white outline around her that was hard to get rid of.

This means that I needed some new photos fast with a black backdrop. I arranged a last minute contingency photoshoot to make sure I had time to finish the product and not just take the photos. I used similar poses but a different model and a different backdrop. I was pleased with the outcome of this photoshoot.

This is the image I intend to use for my final product as I really like the pose and it is just the right position for my front cover, with a serious face on my model.



My Weekly Monitoring Blog – 2nd February 2012

Again this week, there was disruption to my schedule due to exams but in the end, I ended up managing to get one of my double page spreads to an almost complete standard, which is more than I had hoped to do. I have developed the layout quite a bit so that it looks different from the original although still keeps some of the original features. I have created my logo as I want it, which is something I said I would do this week and I have prepared my images, ready to be used. The fact that I have almost completed one of my double page spreads to the stage where only the article needs to be added is a huge step forward.

This is my original draft shown in my pitch, hand drawn.

This is my almost finished double page spread.

As you can see I have kept some features from the original idea. I have kept the idea of all the items of clothing that need to be packed into this year’s summer, represented by the clothing and the open suitcase. I am very happy with how this worked out. Instead of putting numbers next to each item and making a list in the bottom right-hand corner as you can see on the first draft, it seemed much more practical to put the prices and shops under the actual items. I kept the idea of angles being used in my double page spread, with the boxes behind the text, the main image and the little “Polaroid” style images, as I had intended from the start. I made the main picture a lot smaller as in reality, trying to fit all of the images at the current size and an article and little pieces of text was making the article look very crowded. I decided to make the main image smaller, use three Polaroid style images instead of two and cut the article size down, so that it fit on one side of my page. In my planning work and Unit 1, I had said that I will include competitions and little fact-style pieces of text in my magazine to keep my audience included and allow them to enjoy my features without having to read masses of text, so in my final double page spread, I have included a competition to win a paid-for holiday to one of the top 5 holiday party destinations this year. I decided to include the top 5, prices and the place to book them so that I am offering my audience the best kind of information for them to utilise.

Whilst I still need to add my logo and main article, I am thrilled with this week’s progress and believe that the Northern Echo would be very happy with my work too. The planning is coming to life in my work now.