Fountain Of Youth

Research - Magazines

Jemma Webster

For this research I went out and bought a variety of magazines, these include:

·       OK!

·       OK! USA.

·       New!

·       Photoplus – Cannon edition.

·       Angling Centre.

·       High school musical, The official magazine.

·       Star.

This is a variety because each of these magazines are supposed appeal to different people: Men, Women and children. Looking at all these magazines, I have discovered that most of these magazines all have a similar way of designing layouts. I’ve noticed that they all use a messy, all over the place layout because it is more aesthetically pleasing; you want to read more, as a result of it being, un-natural and not in order.

There are subtle differences in the layouts, things like placement of pictures, and not being level with a straight line. I found that this is usually found in magazines for women, like OK! Or Star Magazine.

For Magazines like Fishing, which is aimed for more men than women, a more straight, plain layout with not much colour was used, because, I think that the magazine is more about the information contained within it rather than how it looks.

Magazines designed for children, are much more abstract, with hardly any order or naturalness to it. Everything is uneven and much more colourful as children respond more to Aesthetics more than the subject matter of the magazine.

Photo-shoot

Today we did a photo-shoot for the magazine, we took some profile pictures of each of us, and also some fun group photo’s, these photo’s will be used throughout our magazine, on our interview pages we will have a picture of each of us to accompany the text.

MagCloud.com - Research by Josie Lewis

MagCloud.com

How it Works

1.        

Create

The publisher creates a magazine in a design program. Any program that can put out a letter-sized (8.5” x 11.0”), multi-page PDF will work.

2.       

Upload

The publisher uploads the PDF to MagCloud, fills out the description, and orders a proof. At this point, no one can see it besides the publisher.

 3.

Proof

MagCloud prints, binds, and mails the proof to the publisher. Proofs can take up to 2 weeks to arrive, though most arrive faster.

3.     

Publish

The publisher reviews the proof. If changes are needed, the publisher can upload a new PDF and order another proof. The publisher marks the issue as “published” and sets the price. MagCloud charges 20 cents per page, and the publisher specifies any markup above that.

4.     

Buy & Sell

When the issue is published, people can buy it on the MagCloud website. Buyers will need to have a credit card or PayPal account to buy. At this time orders can only be shipped to the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, but we’ll be expanding to more countries soon.

5.     

Print & Mail

When someone buys an issue, MagCloud prints, binds, and mails it to the buyer. Or send an order to an entire group of people using our unique Ship to Group capability. Orders can take up to 2 weeks to arrive, though most arrive faster.

6.     

Publishers Get Paid

Publishers can check their sales online at any time. Once a month, MagCloud pays publishers any collected royalties via PayPal.

Interview

These are the questions that each of us are going to answer in a recorded interview, the interview for each person will be put onto a seperate single page  in the magazine for each person in the group, the interviews will also be recorded and an audio file of these interviews will be uploaded onto the blog.

Where did you find inspirationto produce and express your encounter?

Do you have any special routines that you like doing during the day?

What are your hobbies?

How often do you get to fulfill your hobbies?

Do you like going out with mates?

Do you have any music or films that you like?

Do you have any jobs?

Do you enjoy your job?

What would be your ideal job?

_______________________________________________________________________

Mat Hallett:

Where did you find inspirationto produce and express your encounter?

Do you have any special routines that you like doing during the day?

What are your hobbies?

How often do you get to fulfill your hobbies?

Do you like going out with mates?

Do you have any music or films that you like?

Do you have any jobs?

Do you enjoy your job?

What would be your ideal job?

_______________________________________________________________

Jemma Webster:

Where did you find inspirationto produce and express your encounter?

Do you have any special routines that you like doing during the day?

What are your hobbies?

How often do you get to fulfill your hobbies?

Do you like going out with mates?

Do you have any music or films that you like?

Do you have any jobs?

Do you enjoy your job?

What would be your ideal job?

_______________________________________________________________

Josie Lewis:

Where did you find inspirationto produce and express your encounter?

Do you have any special routines that you like doing during the day?

What are your hobbies?

 I spend a lot of my time drawing, I go to as many gigs as i can, and i like shopping! I’m really bad at spending lots of money when I go out, and when I don’t go out shopping I’m shopping online.

How often do you get to fulfill your hobbies?

I spend atleast an hour most evenings drawing, and I usually go to two or three gigs a month, if i have the money, and I usually have 2 big shops a month, where i waiste all of my money, I’m always looking online for cheap things though, i spend a lot of my time on ebay.

Do you like going out with mates?

Yeah, I enjoy spending time with friends, and I spend a lot of time with my big sister, and often go out for a drink with her, as she recently moved out so I don’t get to see her as much.

Do you have any music or films that you like?

I’m pretty open to all music genre’s, and my music taste is pretty varied, but mostly I listen to Metal, Pnk or Aoustic.

Do you have any jobs?

Yeah I work in Card factory.

Do you enjoy your job?

Sometimes it can be a laugh, as there are some really lovely people that work there, but other times it can really drag and it get’s incredibly busy there!

What would be your ideal job?

My ideal job would be either a tattoo artist, or an illustrator, or maybe even a graphic designer.

_______________________________________________________________

Alisa Roberts:

Where did you find inspirationto produce and express your encounter?

Do you have any special routines that you like doing during the day?

What are your hobbies?

How often do you get to fulfill your hobbies?

Do you like going out with mates?

Do you have any music or films that you like?

Do you have any jobs?

Do you enjoy your job?

What would be your ideal job?

_______________________________________________________________

Mat Hallett:

Where did you find inspirationto produce and express your encounter?

Do you have any special routines that you like doing during the day?

What are your hobbies?

How often do you get to fulfill your hobbies?

Do you like going out with mates?

Do you have any music or films that you like?

Do you have any jobs?

Do you enjoy your job?

What would be your ideal job?

_______________________________________________________________

Week 4

This is the final week of the task, in which we will spend the majority of it finalizing and double checking, we will be bringing together all the work into a designed layout PDF file, once everything is completed and made sure that there is no mistakes, it will then be sent off to www.MagCloud.com. 

Week 3

In the third week we will be adding descriptive text about our encounter to add to our visual outcome, this will then be checked for spelling and grammar by the copywriter.

We will also be doing interviews for each person in our group this week, everyone will be asked the same questions, and there will also be space for an extra 2 individual questions for each person, Josie Lewis will be interviewing the rest of the group and Mat Hallett will be interviewing Josie. Each separate interview will be on a single page, accompanied by an image of the person.  

Week 2

During the second week of this group task we will each be experiencing our own encounter, on our own designated day of the week,

Jemma Webster’s encounter will be on Monday, the first day of week 2 and she will be going to Portsmouth City Museum.

Aaron Yorke’s encounter is going to be on Tuesday, and he will be socializing on a day out with some friends.

Josie Lewis will have an encounter on wednesday, wich will be..

Alisa Roberts encounter is on Thursday,

Mat Hallett is going to be spending his Friday traveling in his car.

Week 1

This is the first week of the group task, and during this week we will be doing all the planning and research that we need and investigating different ideas and discuss potential issues, and assign everyone with subject to research.

Mat Hallett will be researching in how newspapers publish to attract an audience, and what stories people read.

Jemma Webste will be researching magazine layouts, and finding different looks and designs,

Josie Lewis will be researching www.MagCloud.com, what it does, and how it works.

Alisa Roberts will be researching Typography, which font is effective and readable.

Aaron Yorke will be researching illuminated letters, which is beneficial to the audience.  

——————————————————————————————————-

Typography Research

Our magazine articles need to be written in a font that is easy to read, we have looked at a website on anatomy and we have looked at a different selection of fonts , and discussed what typeface we think is the most suitable for the magazine.

We have looked at,

http://speckyboy.com/2008/09/13/15-amazingly-free-magazine-and-headline-fonts/

This webesite has free fonts that are listed as magazine or newspaper fonts.

 Type Anatomy:  information collected from:http://articles.sitepoint.com/print/principles-beautiful-typography

1) baseline 

The baseline is the imaginary horizontal line on which most characters sit. The only character that hangs below the baseline in Figure 4.5 is the lowercase “q.”

2) cap height 

The cap height or capline is another imaginary line. This one marks the height of all capital letters in a typeface. Notice that the cap height is below the maximum height of the typeface.

3) crossbar 

A stroke that connects two lines in the capital letterforms of “A” and “H” is called a crossbar. A horizontal stroke that does not connect two lines, like the one in the lower case “f” or “t,” is known as a cross stroke. 

4) serif

Serif is the name given to the finishing strokes at the bottoms and tops of certain typefaces. I’ll talk more about serifs when we get into typeface distinctions.

5) meanline

Another imaginary horizontal line that marks the top edge of the lowercase letters is the meanline. Contrary to the way it sounds, the meanline isn’t always exactly centered between the baseline and the cap height.

6) bowl

The bowl of a letter is the rounded curve that encloses negative space in a letterform. Examples of bowls can be seen in the letters “D,” “o,” and “g.”

7) descender

The lower portion of the lowercase letters “g,” “j,” “p,” “q,” and “y” that extend below the baseline of a typeface is known as the descender. The only other characters that typically extend below the baseline are the old-style numerals in some typefaces. These types of numerals, examples of which from the Georgia typeface can be seen in Figure 4.6, were thought to blend better with lowercase roman numerals, and they look particularly good when used within a body of text.

8) counter

The negative space within a letter is called the counter. In some letters, like “A,” “o,” and “P,” the counter is fully enclosed. The non-closed negative spaces in letters like “G,” “u,” and “c” are also known as counters.

9) stem

A stem is the main vertical or diagonal stroke in a letterform. These include the vertical portions of the letters “I” and “H,” as well as all of the stokes in the letter “W.”

10) tittle

This is probably my favorite typeface term. Tittle is the name given to the dot above the lowercase “j” and “i.”

 11) terminal

The end of a stem or stroke that has no serif is known as a terminal. Even the ends of some serif typefaces have terminals, as you can see in the letter “c” in Figure 4.6.

12) ascender

The tops of most lowercase letters form an imaginary line that’s known as the meanline. Some lowercase letters have an ascender, which is an extension that rises above the meanline. Those letters are “b,” “d,” “f,” “h,” “k,” “l,” and “t.”

13) leg

The lower, angled strokes seen in the letters “K,” “R,” and “Q” are known as legs. These are also sometimes referred to as tails.

14) ligature

You may not have noticed in Figure 4.5, but the “f” and “i” of the word “fix” are actually combined into one character. This combination of characters is known as a ligature. Ligatures exist to give the spacing between certain characters a greater aesthetic balance, as Figure 4.7 illustrates.

 5) x-height

The x-height is exactly what you would expect it to be: the height of the lowercase x in a typeface. Essentially the x-height is the distance between the baseline and the meanline of a typeface. Although it’s not very practical, you can actually use x-height as a relative unit of measurement in CSS (ex).

Choosing a body text font

http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/finetypography/ht/body_font.htm

Check the font at 14 points or less. Choose a typeface that is readable at body text font sizes of 14 points or less. In some cases, body text fonts may be larger, such as for beginning readers or an audience with vision impairments. When browsing a font book or specimen pages, be sure to look at how the font looks at smaller sizes, not just at the larger samples.

Consider serif fonts for body text fonts. In the US at least, serif faces are the norm for most books and newspapers making them familiar and comfortable as body text fonts.

Avoid extremes for body text fonts. Choose a body text font that blends in and doesn’t distract the reader with oddly shaped letters, or extremes in x-height,descenders, or ascenders.

Consider serifs for serious text. In general (with many exceptions) consider serif faces for a subdued, formal, or serious look.

Consider sans serif for informal text. In general (with exceptions) consider a sans serif body text fonts for a crisper, bolder, or more informal tone.

Use proportionally-spaced body text fonts. Avoid monospaced typefaces for body copy. They draw too much attention to the individual letters distracting the reader from the message.

Stick with basic serif or sans serif faces. Avoid script or handwriting typefaces as body text fonts. Some exceptions: cards and invitations where the text is set in short lines with extra line spacing.

Use plain, basic fonts for body text fonts. Save your fancy or unusual typefaces for use in headlines, logos, and graphics. As a body text font they are almost impossible to read comfortably, if at all.

Consider how other text will look with your body text fonts. The perfect body text fonts lose their effectiveness if paired with headline fonts and fonts used for captions, subheads, pull-quotes and other elements that are too similar or incompatible. Mix and match your body text fonts and headline fonts carefully.

Intro

For this task we have been put into groups of 5, we are the ‘A Team’, we all have our own speciality which we will be contributing to the magazine, the group consists of:

Jemma Webster - Dark Room

Mat Hallett - Graphics

Josie Lewis - Illustration

Alisa Roberts - Photography

Aaron Yorke - Print

The aim is to create a magazine based on ‘encounters’ each of us will have our own encounter, on a different day of the week, which we will then have our own double page spread with images and text about our encounter.